Your first contact with chalk may have come in the form of writing on a chalkboard or drawing on construction paper. Even before that you may have drawn on your driveway or sidewalk.

Ever play hopscotch? When you didn't have chalk you knew to grab a soft light colored stone to draw your line with. Some didn't work but some did. There's a lot of "tooth" on a sidewalk and it takes rocks well.

If you found a bit of an old brick you could make some red lines because of the color of the clay used. Artists have been using natural earth colors made from clays and minerals since the dawn of art. But leave it to a Frenchman...

Brand named artist drawing products have been around since the 18th century when French scientist Nicolas-Jacques Conté invented a new formula for a graphite and clay based pencil encased in wood. Conté expanded available colors by using various natural clays and other ingredients.

Artists can thank Conté for the classic "artist's" chalks. Available in stick or pencil form, the Sanguine (Blood) or red Conté is the most recognizably used Conté color. Basic Conté chalks come in earthy natural shades of reds and browns, as well as grades of black and white. Like pastels, Conté chalks come in a full spectrum of colors.

Standard blackboard chalk is made of soft, powdery limestone fossil rock consisting of millions of hexagonal fossils of coccoliths, a certain type of marine plankton. The softness of chalk varies and you must use a light fixative to prevent smudging, as with charcoal.

You can purchase gray scale pastel sets for quick outdoor sketching or more studied value work in the studio. Most prepackaged sets contain 8 to 16 values from black to white. If you want to get past the colors and right to selecting the underlying values of a subject, you might find this medium an interesting change of pace. You must use a few light coats of fixative if used in a sketchbook. Otherwise you'll end up with a gray mush.

For quick drawing in color, pastels are the most immediatly satisfying medium you can use. They take to paper quickly and are easily manipulated and blended. Pastel pencils are suggested for basic drawing and sketching.

Pastels are not actually chalks per se, they are prepared from a paste made of pigments, fillers, and gum arabic which is formed to shape and thoroughly dried. Full and half sized sticks are rolled into small cylinders or formed into sticks.

Pastel paper has a fine tooth or weave specifically developed for pastel and charcoal and is available in a wide variety colors and tints. You can use a light fixative during the drawing of, and after completion of a pastel drawing.

Warning: Having a few different colors of pastel on hand can lead to a full blown pastel painting!