It could be argued that pastel pencils fill that gap between coloured pencils and soft pastels. Coloured pencils can be sharpened to a fine point and are very much a drawing medium, as there is a limit to the thickness of line that can be produced even when using them on their side, which produces a wider mark. A much livelier drawing can be created by making rapid gestural marks and the effect produced can be enhanced further by overlapping these marks with different colours. The pigment in the coloured pencil is quite hard, so they don't have to he sharpened too often unless some intricate detail is needed.
The pigment in a pastel pencil is much softer, so the point will wear down quickly. This means that if you want to make quick successive marks with a sharpened point, each one will be slightly wider than the previous one as the point becomes blunted. This can be used to good effect, but the look of the drawing will be different to that produced in coloured pencils. One other difference between the two types of pencil is the way in which the colours can be blended. Pastel pencils can
