Artists use different media all the time to have variety and enjoyment of creating something from their norm. We get tired of working the same thing all the time and need a change of pace. Usually, artists do this within their specialty. Such as, an acrylic artist might try oils and may even incorporate those two media together. A sculptor might try their hand at woodworking as a change up from clay. Not to say someone cannot go to a whole different path, it normally is within the same genre of media.
Pencil and paint artists like to flip back and forth between drawing and painting. It gives us a whole different feel to the work. There are several media within this realm to use: charcoal, drawing pencil, ink, oil pastels, soft chalk pastels, oil paints, acrylics, gouache. Each has a different application technique and feels differently as the process happens. It makes a nice break from the everyday most used medium. Probably the medium the artist is more adept to but a change is nice.
One of my personal favorite mediums beyond oils is soft pastels. Soft pastels come in a variety of forms from the stick to pastel pencils you can actually sharpen with care. Working with the pastel pencils is similar to colored pencils with the wonderful ability to blend. Blending with colored pencils has to be done in layers, with pastels you can blend as you go. The pastels are very malleable in the way they handle.
Like all other media pastels have a technique. The downfall most beginning artists experience can either be too much pastel on the paper, or not enough. Another ill that may strike their work is to blend the pastels too much causing them to disappear into the paper. There are certain precautions to take when working with pastels, they are very dusty so careful handling of the excess dust is necessary. It is a good idea to tap your artwork over a trash can periodically to expel that excessive dust. Blowing the dust will only scatter it and in the process may taint another part of the artwork.
Experimenting with other media and even combining them is healthy and will give you a refreshing experience of change. Don’t be afraid to try new things, you never know what might turn out to be beautiful!