Paul Rubens Artist Soft Pastels 36-Color Set Review: Vibrant Color at a Friendly Price

Introduction

Soft pastels are one of those mediums that many artists avoid because of the dust, the chalky feel and the mess. But for those willing to lean into it, they offer rich pigment payoff and a level of immediacy that few other mediums match. The Paul Rubens Artist Soft Pastels 36-color set promises a lot of that experience at a price that sits well below the premium pastel houses, and after spending real drawing time with them, they make a strong case as a first serious pastel set.

There is one immediate point of confusion worth flagging: Paul Rubens also sells a 40-color set alongside this 36-color set, and the difference between the two is not obvious. That four-stick jump is an unusual size step, and without a published swatch chart for either set it is hard to say exactly how the palettes differ. From product images, the 40 set appears to include a few more bronze or earth tones, but that is difficult to confirm without holding both in hand.

First Impressions and Build Quality

The 36 set arrives in a genuinely sturdy box with printed artwork on the front. It feels like a premium product the moment you pick it up, which is not always the case at this price. Inside, a small pamphlet introduces the pastels, and a piece of foam protects the sticks in transit. What you will not find is a color chart or pigment names for the set contents, which is a small but real gap for beginners.

The pastels themselves are small round cylinders, roughly an inch and a half long and just over half an inch in diameter, about 14 to 14.2mm across. They are reminiscent of Unison pastels in form, though not in softness or price. A light touch against paper releases plenty of pigment, and the sticks deliver strong color with very little pressure, which is exactly what you want from a soft pastel.

Palette: Bright, Vibrant and Light on Darks

Swatched on gray paper, the colors come across as bright and genuinely vibrant. That is mostly a strength, but it is also the biggest criticism of this set: there are not many darks. Outside of a deep purple, a black and a dark warm gray, the palette leans bright, which makes shadow work harder than it needs to be. A dark brown would have been a welcome inclusion rather than another bright burnt sienna.

The yellows are also very similar to each other, with three at one end of the row and four at the other that are close to interchangeable. Swapping one or two of those for darker earth tones would have made the palette more versatile. Depending on the genre you work in, this limited dark range can make subject selection harder, especially if you rely on a ready-made palette rather than mixing your own colors. The 40-color set, with its apparent earth tones, may address some of this, but without a published pigment list for either set that remains speculative.

How They Perform on Different Papers

Pastel performance is inseparable from paper choice, and this set behaves differently depending on the surface. On Hahnemühle velour paper, which has a soft velvet-like cloth feel, blending proved a little harder and the sticks took more working to build darker tones, though a surprising number of layers were achievable. OnUART sanded paper, the experience is dramatically different: barely touching the surface releases strong, even color, and the pastels blend and mix beautifully on that tooth.

This is a good reminder that testing any new pastel on more than one surface matters. If you are exploring papers, velour, sanded paper and pastel mat all produce different results, and sanded paper in particular shows off how much pigment these sticks carry.

Softness and Value Compared to Premium Pastels

When people talk about soft pastels, they mean sticks like Unison, Terry Ludwig and Sennelier, where almost pure pigment delivers heavy coverage with a whisper of contact. The Paul Rubens sticks sit in that same soft pastel category but are not as soft, which means slightly more binder and slightly less pigment payoff. That is expected and fair given the price difference.

Against a premium half stick from Unison, the Paul Rubens stick is noticeably firmer but still releases rich pigment with a light touch. For the price and the quantity of usable pastel you get, the value structure of this set reads as reasonable. Those little cylinders also go further than they look; in actual pastel work a single stick covers far more ground than its size suggests.

Who Should Buy This Set

This set is a genuinely good starting point for anyone new to pastels who wants quality without paying premium pastel prices. It is also a strong fit for students a little past the beginner stage who want strong, saturated color in their work. And it is not only a beginner product: as an addition to an existing professional pastel collection, it works well as a supplemental set.

Two caveats worth knowing. First, there is no lightfastness information provided, which is a common frustration with pastel sets and a topic that always sparks debate in the pastel community. Second, the sticks carry no color names or pigment labels, and neither the pamphlet nor the box lists the palette. Experienced pastel artists tend to organize sticks by tone and do not need labels, but beginners would benefit from at least a printed swatch reference. Wrapping the sticks in labeled paper, as some manufacturers do, would be helpful, though it is a nice-to-have rather than essential.

Conclusion

The Paul Rubens Artist Soft Pastels 36-color set is an easy recommendation as a first serious pastel set: sturdy packaging, vibrant pigment, comfortable handling and honest value. Its limits are clear too, with too few darks, some redundant yellows, and no lightfastness or pigment naming information. A larger set with a wider range of hues, particularly darker earth tones, would be a welcome next step from Paul Rubens. For beginners, students and artists looking to add saturated color to an existing collection, this set earns its place on the desk.