The word "pastel" in paper names means two completely different things, and the confusion causes a lot of disappointed first-time buyers. A "pastel paper pad" usually means paper built for pastel artists — chalk pastel users who work in muted grays, tans, and creams. It almost never means paper that is itself pastel-colored: pale pink, mint, lavender, butter yellow. If you want the second kind, you're in the right place. Here's what to actually buy.
The naming problem
"Pastel" has two meanings in art. It can describe a medium (soft chalk pastels, pastel pencils) or a color quality (pale, desaturated, soft). The paper industry uses the first meaning. The average person searching "pastel paper pad" is usually looking for the second meaning. The result is that most pads you'd buy expecting pastel colors are actually muted papers built for pastel artists, and the actual pastel colors you wanted aren't there.
This is what the major brands mean when they say "pastel paper":
Canson Mi-Teintes. "Assorted" includes white, champagne, buff, moonstone, steel gray, light blue. "Pastel paper pad" is the pad for using pastels on, not a pad of pastel colors.
Fabriano Tiziano. "Soft" and "Warm" pads have some pastel-colored sheets but also include creams and beiges. Not the same as an all-pastel pad.
Strathmore 400 Series. "Pastel Pad" with multiple colors is a mix of neutrals and pale tones. The "pastel" in the name means pastel-medium paper.
What you probably wanted
If you searched "pastel paper pad" and meant the color quality, you wanted something like this:
Pale pink (powder pink, dusty rose).
Mint green (pale, soft, cool).
Lavender (light purple, no gray).
Butter yellow (pale, warm).
Soft peach or salmon.
Five pale, soft, actually-pastel colors. Not gray. Not champagne. Not white. Our Uglypads Pastels is built around exactly this — the colors you get when someone says "pastel colors" in everyday conversation, not the colors pastel artists use as a working ground.
When actual pastel colors are the right answer
Actual pastel-hued paper is the right call when you're:
Drawing portraits of children or delicate subjects. The soft ground flatters soft subjects.
Doing botanical or floral illustration. Pale grounds work with flower colors instead of fighting them.
Designing stationery, cards, or paper goods. Product design often calls for soft-color grounds.
Working in delicate colored pencil. Soft pencils on soft paper reads as intentional, not underdone.
Making anything that wants a gentle, quiet aesthetic. Brights shout. Earth tones ground. Pastels hush.
When actual pastel colors are wrong
You're doing high-contrast graphic work. (Use brights.)
You want strong value contrast. (Use earth tones or brights.)
You're using heavy ink or marker that would overwhelm the softness.
You're doing traditional pastel chalk work. (Then you actually want Canson Mi-Teintes or the "pastel paper pads" in the traditional sense.)
Media that work on Uglypads Pastels
Colored pencil. The best combination. Soft pencil work on soft grounds.
Graphite. Reads cleanly against pale backgrounds.
Gel pen. Black, metallic, and deep jewel-tone gel pens all look great on pastel.
Fineliner and ballpoint. Clean line work against a soft ground.
Gouache. Opaque paint on a soft ground is how a lot of children's book illustration is made.
Uglypads Pastels at a glance
Five pastel colors, five sheets each, 25 sheets total at 175gsm. 9 x 12 inches. No white, no gray, no champagne. Just actual pastel colors. If that's what you searched for and couldn't find, this is the pad.
If you want actual pastel colors, buy the pad that's actually pastel-colored. Everything else is a pastel-artist tool dressed up in a pastel-sounding name.
