Holbein Oil Pastels: A Top Choice for Professional Artists
Holbein Oil Pastels offer smooth application, vibrant color, and blend excellently. It's made with high-quality pigments and wax; they work well for layering, detailing, and fine art techniques.

Holbein Oil Pastels are endorsed by the Oil Pastel Association of America, and that says a lot about their quality. To the Artist, they feel more like a chalk stick without the dust, so it’s nice to move around on the paper. This is the result of over 60 years of research by the ever-achieving Holbein, who is an expert in the oil pastel field. The modern and fully automated manufacturing process, as well as the ultimate quality control methods used for this product, ensure a uniform color distribution throughout the entire stick.

Versatile Applications of Holbein Oil Pastels Across Techniques & Surfaces
The shape of the oil pastels of Holbein is rectangular, helping artists get a better grip and scrape off material as per their requirements. These oil pastels can be applied to any surface, and they can be seamlessly used over acrylic or oil paint. Because of the paraffin and the highly refined mineral oils that are contained in the pastels, they never completely dry or crack, but works need to be mounted under glass for protection. Each pastel measures about 70 millimeters in length and is available in one of the 225 available colors!
- Mixed media layering – Apply over dry acrylic or oil paint for vibrant accents and textures.
- Texture techniques – Use scraping, sgraffito, and impasto effects to add depth and surface interest. For the mineral oil and paraffin base, these pastels never crack.Wide surface compatibility – They adhere beautifully to paper, canvas, wood, board, and even metal.
- Blendable consistency –They blend smoothly with fingers, stumps, or brushes, creating smooth transitions.
Why Holbein Artists Oil Pastels Are So Popular?
Holbein Oil Pastels offer bold color and smooth texture. It is perfect for artists who want quality results without any mess.
Rich Pigment and Smooth Application
Holbein Artists' Oil Pastels are loaded with high-quality pigment. The formula is smooth, which allows the pastel to glide across the surface with little pressure. You can fill large areas quickly or build up subtle transitions.
Great for Detail and Layering
Holbein artists oil pastels are soft enough to blend easily, yet firm enough to hold a sharp edge for line work and small details. You can layer colors without cluttering your artwork. They hold up well on different surfaces like paper, canvas, or board.
No Dust, No Fixative Needed
One major benefit of Holbein Oil Pastels is that they don’t produce dust. You won’t need a fixative to keep your work in place. As a result, the oil pastels of Holbein are ideal for indoor use and classroom settings where clean handling matters.
Shop Holbein Oil Pastels now at Blick Art Materials for professional and reliable customer support.
Product Pros & Cons of Holbein Artists' Oil Pastels
Artist Likes
Most artists find oil pastels of Holbein to be creamy enough to be easy to work with, and pigmented enough to offer that great color result. Contrary to other oil pastels, Holbein’s pastels don’t use vegetable oils, and so their color won’t crack.
- Pigment-rich and bright colors
- Soft and easy to work with pastel
- Amazingly wide color range covers every possible need
- Mineral oils prevent color cracking
- Good in combination with Sennelier pastels for a soft-hard, complete result
- Good for detailing
Artist Dislikes
However, there’s a need for a glass mount after finishing, as they will never completely dry. Professional artists use these in combination with Sennelier pastels, which are even softer, thus achieving a complete drawing result.
- No color-specific wrapping
- Requiresa glass mount after finishing the work
Where to Buy Holbein Oil Pastels
Looking to buy oil pastels of Holbein? These professional-grade pastels are widely available through reliable art supply retailers. Whether you're after a full set or just a few colors, here are two trusted sources:
Blick Art Materials: Blick carries the full Holbein range, available in sets and open stock. Their detailed product pages and artist reviews make it easy to compare and choose what suits your style.
Amazon: For convenience and fast delivery, Amazon offers a variety of Holbein Artists' Oil Pastels sets with customer ratings to guide your purchase. It's a quick way to restock if you already know what you’re looking for.
Final Considerations
Holbein Oil Pastels are the best of their kind, and they can be used for a variety of purposes, such as pastel painting, or blending with acrylic or oil paints. Considering the quality of this product, it is quite reasonably priced, but buying sets of it is always preferred over individual picks. If you’re a professional, try these together with the Sennelier pastel,s as these two products complete each other. If you’re not a professional, you’ll find that Holbein’s Oil Pastels will easily cover all of your needs.