Pastel Calculator — Sticks & Paper Needed

This calculator estimates pastel quantities from your finished surface area and a coverage rate per stick. Because pastels cannot be mixed on a palette, every colour you plan to lay down needs its own stick, so we share the total work out across your colours and round each colour up to a whole stick.

Sticks per colour = ceil((Total area ÷ Coverage per stick × Wastage) ÷ Number of colours)

Total sticks = Sticks per colour × Number of colours

Coverage rates used

These are rough single-layer side-coverage estimates (about one full stick ≈ 0.05 m² of single-pass tonal block-in). No manufacturer publishes a cm² per stick figure — real coverage depends on technique, pressure, paper tooth and how many layers you build, and multi-layer pastel work consumes pigment far faster. Treat these as a starting point and adjust the Advanced coverage fields to match your own working style.

• Soft pastels: ~500 cm² per stick — high pigment, deposits heavily and is used up fastest for blocking in
• Hard pastels: ~700 cm² per stick — more binder, lays down less pigment per stroke so a stick lasts longer
• Oil pastels: ~400 cm² per stick — buttery, thick deposit
• Pastel pencils: ~300 cm² per pencil — thin core for detail, consumed quickly over area