Oil Pastel Drawing Ideas To Inspire Beginners

Oil pastels are a fantastic drawing medium for beginners. They’re relatively inexpensive and come in a wide range of colors.

They’re also easy to get started with; all you need is a piece of drawing paper and your choice of oil pastels.

If you’re new to oil pastels, here are a few ideas drawing to get you started:

  • Try creating a simple landscape or cityscape
  • Draw a portrait of your favorite celebrity or musician
  • Create a still life of flowers or fruit
  • Draw your pet or favorite animal

For more drawing ideas, check out my 30-day drawing challenge. If you want to get better at drawing with oil pastels, I think you’ll enjoy this challenge.

Woman Lying in Water

Woman Laying in Water
Artist Credit: nedartstudio

This drawing features a beautiful woman lying in the water. She’s wearing a long flowing dress and is surrounded by flowers. This is such a lovely piece.

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake
Artist Credit: drawing_yeoleum

I love the texture that was used to create this strawberry cake. You can start by sketching out a rough outline of the cake, then begin layering in different colors of white, red, and yellow to create the cake’s layers and frosting.

Oil Pastel Tomatoes

Oil Pastel Tomatoes
Artist Credit: 0_stel

These ripe tomatoes look amazing. The artist mentioned that freshly ripe tomatoes have a mustard color, which is why you see yellows in the drawing.

Pink Flower

Pink Flower
Artist Credit: dearannart

Here’s a simple tutorial that shows you how to draw a cute pink flower using your oil pastels. As you can see, creating beautiful art doesn’t have to be complicated.

Blue Night Sky

Blue Night Sky
Artist Credit: drawing_ksj

If you enjoy landscape-style drawings, you’ll love this blue night sky. You can watch a video timelapse of this drawing to help you create your art.

Black and White Cat

Black and White Cat
Artist Credit: 0_stel

A cat is a perfect subject for an oil pastel drawing. The contrast between the light and dark colors creates a beautiful effect. Plus, the touch of salmon used for the cheeks and ears is so cute.

Swans Swimming

Swans Swimming
Artist Credit: keita_pastel

As your skills improve, you’ll love drawing more advanced pieces. This beautiful painting features two swans that are swimming in a lake. If you like this art style, check out the Keita Pastel YouTube channel for helpful tutorials.

Fig Cake

fig cake painting
Artist Credit: drawing_yeoleum

If you’re looking for a fun and unique drawing idea, you can try making a fig cake. This cake features alternating layers of cake and fig fruit.

Blue and Purple Sky

Blue and Purple Sky
Artist Credit: dearannart

Have you ever looked at the sky and seen all the beautiful colors? If you have, you know just how inspiring the sky can be. The next time you feel creatively blocked, drawing the night sky is a great way to let your imagination run wild.

Whale in the Ocean

Whale in the Ocean
Artist Credit: _n.i.a

Whales are such stunning creatures. I love drawing them. If you want to know how to draw this whale, the artist has created a helpful tutorial showing you how to draw a whale in the ocean.

Cloud Scenery

Cloud Scenery
Artist Credit: geuliza_

I love the colors that were chosen for this oil pastel drawing. Scenery art is fun because you can get creative when choosing your colors.

Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry Pancakes
Artist Credit: drawing_yeoleum

I love food art, from drawings to paintings; I find them to be so fun and creative. You can visit the Cafe June shop to purchase original dessert artwork.

Where Rivers Flow

River oil pastel painting
Artist Credit: itsjustcloe_

The colors chosen for this river art go so well together. The artist did a great job of including details such as river rocks, the sunlight peeking through, and more. Let your creativity flow when creating your water landscape.

Oil Pastel Bird

Oil Pastel Bird
Artist Credit: art.by.raqesh

If you’re looking for an excellent beginner-friendly drawing, here’s a reference of a bird standing on a branch. The background is a beautiful yellow and orange sky.

Flowers in a Vase

Flowers in a Vase
Artist Credit: erini.jin

There’s nothing like a traditional still-life painting like this one that showcases flowers in a vase. If you’ve never done a still-life painting, I recommend trying it. Simply place flowers in a vase a draw what you see.

River Landscape

River Landscape
Artist Credit: art.alga

A river landscape is a beautiful thing to behold. The flowing water, the rocks and trees along the banks, and the wildlife that calls it home all come together to create a scene of tranquil beauty. For artists, a river landscape can be an inspiring subject to capture on paper.

Window Scene

Window Scene
Artist Credit: shruthi_artzz

If you’re looking for drawing ideas, you can recreate what you see when you look out the window. There are also plenty of window references that you can find online, such as the one below.

As you can see, oil pastels are a fantastic drawing medium for beginners. They’re relatively inexpensive and come in a wide range of colors.

From landscapes to portraits, the possibilities are endless with your oil pastel art.

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Hello! I'm Tiffany, a crochet pattern designer and creator of the Crochet Project Planner. Crafting has always been an integral part of who I am. It’s how I express myself and make something beautiful out of seemingly ordinary materials.