A pastel is an art medium that consist of powdered pigment and a binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, or a pan of color, though other forms are possible. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.
Leon Dabo, Flowers in a Green Vase, c. 1910s, pastel
Commercial oil pastels
Scenery painter in Schlosspark Charlottenburg, Berlin
A pastel frottage created by rubbing pastel on paper laid over stone
A crayon is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax and oil.
A colorful selection of crayons
A wide variety of crayon boxes have been produced over the years
Early Dixon crayon ad from Aug 1901
A March 1905 ad from Crayola