Creating Soft Portraits Using AKVIS Pastel — Step‑by‑Step

AKVIS Pastel vs Traditional Pastels: Digital Techniques That ShineArt keeps reinventing itself at the intersection of tradition and technology. Pastel — with its soft textures, luminous colors, and immediacy — has long been a favorite of artists who prize direct mark-making and emotive color. Today, digital tools like AKVIS Pastel bring many of those qualities into the software realm, offering new workflows and creative possibilities. This article compares AKVIS Pastel and traditional pastel media across materials, technique, results, workflow, cost, and conservation, highlighting where digital methods shine and where traditional pastels remain irreplaceable.

What is AKVIS Pastel?

AKVIS Pastel is a digital filter/plugin designed to transform photographs or digital images into artwork that mimics pastel drawings. It simulates textures, paper grain, chalky strokes, and the soft blending typical of pastel media. AKVIS Pastel offers adjustable parameters — such as stroke size, paper texture, color intensity, and smudging — and often integrates as a plugin for image editors like Photoshop or functions as a standalone application.

What are Traditional Pastels?

Traditional pastels are sticks of pigment held together with a minimal binder. They come in several types:

• Soft pastels: high pigment, vibrant colors, easily blended.
• Hard pastels: firmer sticks for precise lines and detail.
• Pastel pencils: encased pigment for fine control. Artists use textured or smooth papers, sometimes primed, to hold layers of pigment. Techniques include layering, blending, feathering, scumbling, and lifting/picking out highlights.

Direct visual qualities

• Color and luminosity

  • Traditional pastels offer immediate, richly pigmented color and a tactile luminosity that results from light scattering in layers of particulate pigment on the paper’s surface.
  • AKVIS Pastel can produce bright, controllable color and simulate paper reflectance and pigment layering, but the effect is generated by pixel manipulation and relies on the display or print medium for final luminosity.

• Texture and tooth

  • Real pastels interact with the paper’s tooth; the physical granularity is visible and variable by touch.
  • AKVIS Pastel simulates tooth convincingly by applying digital grain and brush algorithms. The simulation is consistent and adjustable, but lacks the physical depth of layered particulate pigment.

• Stroke and mark-making

  • With traditional pastels, strokes carry the artist’s pressure, angle, and speed — every mark is unique.
  • AKVIS Pastel reproduces various stroke styles algorithmically; you can emulate many mark types, but the spontaneity of hand pressure and subtle irregularities are approximated rather than genuinely produced.

Workflow and creative control

• Speed and iteration

  • Digital: AKVIS Pastel enables quick experimentation — multiple variations, undo/redo, and nondestructive layers if used within an editor. You can test dozens of looks in minutes.
  • Traditional: Changing a composition or palette can be time-consuming; corrections may be limited without losing delicate layers.

• Learning curve

  • Digital: Lower technical barriers for achieving a pastel look. Familiarity with image editors helps but one can get pleasing results quickly.
  • Traditional: Requires practice to master pressure, blending, and layering; tactile skills and material knowledge take time to develop.

• Customization and reproducibility

  • Digital: Settings can be saved, repeated, and batch-applied. Reproducibility is exact across files and editions.
  • Traditional: Variations are inherent; reproducing the exact same pastel drawing multiple times is difficult.

Tools, materials, and costs

• Upfront & ongoing costs

  • Traditional: Costs include pastels, paper, fixatives, framing — recurring as materials are used up. High-quality pigments and archival papers can be expensive.
  • Digital: Costs include software license (AKVIS Pastel license or subscription), computer, and possibly a drawing tablet. After initial investment, producing more works carries minimal material cost.

• Accessibility

  • Digital: Accessible to people with limited studio space, easier for those with mobility limitations, and integrates with digital workflows (printing, selling online).
  • Traditional: Requires physical workspace, ventilation for fixatives, and storage/protection for fragile works.

Archival stability and conservation

• Longevity

  • Traditional pastels are inherently fragile — smudging is a risk; fixatives can reduce smudge but alter appearance. Proper framing under glass and archival paper is necessary for longevity.
  • Digital works, when saved in high-quality formats and backed up, do not degrade. Prints of digital works depend on printer and paper archival quality but can be produced multiple times with the same appearance.

• Conservation concerns

  • Pastel conservation involves preventing abrasion, humidity control, and careful handling.
  • Digital images require backups, file format management, and attention to color consistency across devices and prints.

Expressive considerations

• Physicality and presence

  • Traditional pastels have a physical presence and texture viewers can sense; they often read as “handmade” and carry the artist’s gesture.
  • AKVIS Pastel images can feel stylized and polished; they can convincingly evoke pastel aesthetics but may lack that tactile aura.

• Hybrid workflows

  • Many artists combine both: start with AKVIS Pastel or other digital tools to explore composition and palette, then recreate or refine the chosen design with real pastels for tactile finish. Conversely, artists may scan and digitize pastel works, then enhance or retouch them digitally.

Use cases where AKVIS Pastel shines

• Rapid prototyping of pastel looks for clients, concept art, or editorial images.
• Batch processing photographs to create a consistent pastel-style series.
• Artists who need the pastel aesthetic but work mainly in digital portfolios or prints.
• Accessible option for people who can’t manage the physical demands or materials of traditional pastels.

Use cases where traditional pastels are superior

• Works meant for close gallery viewing where texture and pigment depth are central.
• Artists who value the physical process, improvisation, and direct mark-making.
• Situations where one-off, handcrafted originality is prioritized over reproducibility.

Comparison table

Tips for getting the best results with AKVIS Pastel

• Start from high-resolution images to preserve detail when applying heavy pastel effects.
• Use layer masks and multiple passes: apply different settings to background, midground, and foreground for depth.
• Combine AKVIS Pastel with manual digital painting: retouch highlights and edges with a tablet for a more handcrafted feel.
• Calibrate your monitor and use soft-proofing before printing to match colors and contrast.
• If you intend to make prints, test different papers; textured fine art paper can help bridge the look of real pastel.

When to mix both approaches

Consider a hybrid pipeline if you want both the speed and reproducibility of digital methods plus the tactile qualities of real pastels. Example workflow:

1. Create multiple digital variations in AKVIS Pastel to choose composition and palette.
2. Print a high-resolution reference on textured paper or use the digital as a color guide.
3. Render the final piece in traditional pastels, using the print as underpainting or reference.
4. Scan or photograph the finished pastel and make subtle digital adjustments for final output.

Final thoughts

Both AKVIS Pastel and traditional pastels have distinct strengths. AKVIS Pastel excels at speed, consistency, and control, making it ideal for digital workflows, prototyping, and reproducible art. Traditional pastels offer a tactile, immediate connection to the medium and physical texture that digital tools can only approximate. The most productive path for many artists is not choosing one over the other but combining them: use digital tools to explore and iterate, and traditional pastels to bring physical presence and hands-on expression to the final artwork.