I start with an underpainting of hard pastels, usually on toned pastel paper.  In this demo I'm using a dark charcoal gray LeCarte pastel card.  I block in the large shapes of the composition, in some places using complementary colors to the final painting. I work dark to light.

Here you can see I'm adding more light colors, using medium soft pastels.  I am still blocking in the big shapes with  very little detail.

I'm beginning to add more of the local color, defining more detail.  I am still using medium soft pastels in the mid-tone range.

More local color~~ more details.

Here i'm adding highlights and details, using my softest pastels.

More highlights and details... pick, pick, pick...ok, I'm done!