by You’ve finally had it with endless scrolling, and the idea of making art feels more like a lifeline than a hobby. But now you’re staring down a decision that somehow feels bigger than it should be: pastels or ink? One feels like a slow exhale. The other is pure adrenaline in liquid form. Here’s what to expect when you take the leap—and how to pick your poison. More help!
Let’s start with pastels. They look innocent enough. Little sticks of color. No brushes. No mixing trays. Just your hand, the page, and the kind of calm that comes with watching color smear and layer like soft butter. You drag it across the page, and suddenly there’s depth. A shadow appears. Blend with a fingertip and boom—a lemon becomes a real fruit, not a yellow lump.
Classes built around pastels tend to be chill. Think lo-fi beats, people sipping tea, and someone muttering “huh, that actually works” in the corner. There’s room to fiddle, fix, and try again without any dramatic flair. Mistakes feel fixable. If your pear looks more like a pear-shaped UFO, no one bats an eye. Someone else is probably wrestling with a haunted-looking flower.
Then there’s ink. Not the neat kind from your high school pen. We’re talking alcohol ink, traditional brush ink—liquid stuff that runs like it has a mind of its own. You drop some on the page, tip it slightly, and watch chaos unfold. You want a tree? Great. You might get a psychedelic cloud instead. It’s like trying to guide a waterfall with a spoon.
Ink painting classes throw you straight into the action. There’s no tiptoeing around the learning curve. It’s bold strokes, risky moves, and sudden art. Someone next to you might gasp because their black line just turned into a bird by accident. There’s no undo button. You either roll with it or turn the blob into a moon. That unpredictability? It’s oddly freeing.
So what should you go for?
If you’re the type who likes control, wants to build something slowly, and prefers your messes in small doses—pastels will feel like a welcome exhale. You get to fix, layer, and come back later with a fresh idea and cleaner fingers.
But if you’ve had a week where everything felt too structured and you just want to throw color at something and see what sticks—ink is pure therapy. It’s fast, messy, and surprisingly emotional. You might not know what you’re making until it’s staring back at you, and that’s half the magic.
Stuck between the two? Try both. Let pastels show you how satisfying it is to fix something tiny until it feels just right. Then jump into ink and let it all go. Art’s not about doing it perfectly. It’s about showing up, getting your hands dirty, and remembering you’re allowed to surprise yourself.