Which pastel brands i should choose for my art?

Question: Which pastel brands i should choose for my art!?

My mom had some old pastels, and they're 20 years old!. I tried them, i drew with them and they're amazing!. They have a square shape and they're hard, they don't break easily!. I did not even see the brand name because they were all mixed up in a bag!.
I would like to buy more colors , but a high quality type of pastel and also with the description that i gave above!.
Which brand matches the characteristics that i gave!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

If you like a firmer pastel, Holbein makes a fantastic square-shaped pastel!. Other fine quality (firm) squares are Caran d'ache, Faber-Castell and Lyra Polycrayon!. Some square-shapeds are often inferior - the colours in Nu-Pastel, Alphacolor, Mungyo and other student-priced brands tend to fade rapidly!. Buy the best you can afford - you generally get what you pay for with art supplies!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hi,

Taking in account their age, if I'm not mistaken they may be Gumbacher (sp!?), which, if I'm not mistaken; are now under another brand (Prismacolor !?)!.
Anyway, talking about soft pastels, what you can do is buy a sample set from Dakotapastels!. This will give an idea of each brand!.
It all depends upon the subjects that on is painting, techniques and support!.
My favourite support is Colourfix from Art Spectrum!.
My favourite set is the 80 halfs from Sennelier!. I recently purchased the 80 halfs plein air set!.
You can check some of my works at http://www!.hushcolours!.com and if you have any more questions, there's a contact on my website!.
I also have a resources page there!.

Kind regards,

JoséWww@QuestionHome@Com

i thought ken bromley was amazing

thanks for amswering my question

xxxWww@QuestionHome@Com