That's what Conte pencils and sticks are - pastel. I had forgotten how much I hate it - I've used it in many forms before and it ruined a bunch of my drawings. I used to have a big portfolio with some of my larger art in it, including a few pastel pieces and some done in vine charcoal. Pretty stupid to keep them in a portfolio, but where can you keep them where they won't spread their cancer and destroy everything they come near? I opened the portfolio one day to pull out the art and it was all covered with pastel dust and vine charcoal. I threw it all out in disgust - there's no cleaning that stuff up.
I did find my Conte pencils and a bunch of sets of the thin little sticks - got excited about it and started drawing, to immediately encounter the problems. It's not at all like compressed charcoal, which I like and have no problems with, but more like vine charcoal, which makes massive dust that doesn't stick to the paper and falls off to get all over everything. So the only Conte pencil I like now is the 1710, the compressed charcoal pencil that's used and recommended so strongly by Jeff Watts.
I absolutely couldn't control this crap at all, it spread all over everything and - ah screw it! anything else I say would just be a rant - I guess it already is. I'm done. No more dry pastels for me!!
I should add - I have no problem at all with the Russian academic techniques from the video (previous post) - but I'll be drawing with pencil or charcoal pencil rather than Conte Sanguine or Sepia.
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