Martin Aveling
I first discovered pastel pencils as a teenager when my mother gave a set of Derwent pastel pencils. I still recall the tingle down my spine as I opened that fresh new box of so many colours and started to put pencil to paper. I was instantly hooked. The powdery nature of the pastel pencils felt as though it was made for depicting the rough, dusty texture of bones, and yet I was also able to achieve firm lines and detail by sharpening the pencils to a fine point. My productivity and enthusiasm went up dramatically and, two decades on, I am just as obsessed as ever.