How to Oil Paint: What You Really Need.

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Once you understand what is involved in learning how to oil paint, it really isn't that difficult. Oil paint is more forgiving than watercolor and a bit more fun than acrylic.

The real trick is to get off to the right start. Let's go over what you'll need.

How to Oil Paint Part One, Colors:

I use the same color palette every time, although I don't use every color on it for every painting. Likewise, I use different amounts of each color depending on the painting. So, I recommend putting out uneven amounts of each color.

It's better to put out more paint than you need rather than too little. A thin palette leads to a bland and lifeless painting. You need enough color to put down nice thick brushstrokes.

Here is a list of the colors I use and the order I put them in on my palette:

titanium white, cadmium yellow light, indian yellow, cadmium orange, cadmium red, venetian red, burnt umber, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, thalo blue, thalo green, dioxazine purple.

Now, you don't have to put them in that exact order, but it helps to keep them organized in a way that makes sense to you. Be sure to do it the same way every time. Always put colors in the exact same place every time. Otherwise, you'll waste a lot of time searching for colors.

Here are the colors that I tend to use the most of:

titanium white, indian yellow, burnt umber, ultramarine blue.

Those colors get used up quickly, so I put extra of each color on my palette.

Here are colors that I use very little of:

cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, thalo blue, thalo green, dioxazine purple.

You don't have to put quite as much of these colors out, but be sure to put enough out be able to use them without needing to put more out immediately.

I talk about color and the palette more in other articles, so let's move on to brushes.

How to Oil Paint Part Two, Brushes:

When learning how to oil paint, brush choice can make your life easier.

I use mostly the same brushes. I prefer either filbert or flat brushes for the bulk of my painting. You can experiment with round brushes if you like.

I only use thin liner brushes for signatures or small details on a face. Other than that, they hardly ever get used.

Choose a brush based on two things:

One, the size of the area you need to fill. To fill larger areas, use a larger brush.

Two, the size of the brushstroke. If you like impressionism, pick a brush that is about as wide as the brushstroke you want to make. Then you can fully load the brush and make a nice expressive stroke.

You don't have to buy all those brushes in the picture. Truth is, I've never even used some of them. Just try a few different brushes and see what you like, then buy more of them in different sizes.

Also, keep your oil brushes separate from your acrylic or watercolor brushes. I don't like to go back and forth.

How to Oil Paint Part Three, Medium:

I'm not much of a fan of toxic solvents, turpentine, and chemicals. I'm not going to go into much detail, but try the M. Graham Oil Mediums. Use it to thin your paint and clean your brush.

They use walnut oil. They also have a faster drying alkyd medium that you can use as well.

How to Oil Paint Part Four, Canvas:

I prefer linen, but it's also more expensive. Oil paint does a bit better job on linen. I like the ones that don't have as much texture such as "Masterpiece Vincent Oil Primed Linen Canvas" available from DickBlick.com.

If you are just starting out, regular canvas will be fine.

If you have trouble deciding on a size, here are some guidelines:

Smaller paintings don't take as long or require as much paint. However, fine detail becomes a bit tricky. I recommend not putting in too much detail no matter what size you choose.

Larger paintings take longer and will require more paint. Larger brushes will most likely be needed as well. Even though you have more space to work with, don't feel like you need to add more detail. In fact, you might even want less detail with larger paintings.

I usually go with either 12x16" or 18x24". They are good all around sizes.

How to Oil Paint Part Five, Style:

Don't feel like you have to put in a bunch of detail. Simplify the composition, especially background objects. The more detail you put into an area, the more it competes for attention.

In this scene, I wanted to make the dock area the center of attention. So, I toned down the background keeping it loose, and I used the purest color and highest contrast in the dock area.

I kept the color scheme simple. The photograph I worked from didn't look like that, but you never want to copy the photograph exactly anyway. Nor do you want to copy from life exactly. Make it into a "painting."

At first, it may be difficult making "changes" to what you see. This is why I recommend doing copies of old master paintings. This will help you study the way they used color, composition, brushstrokes, all of that. You can then take what you learned and apply it to your own scenes.

Also, don't feel like you have to copy a painting exactly. I usually make changes to color or make the painting a bit looser. Look in the gallery here under "fun stuff/practice" to see some paintings that I did from old masters.

Gradually work into a more expressive style. Find what you like and expand on it. You don't have to figure out your style on day one of your art career.

Learning how to oil paint should be fun. Just take your time and learn a little as you go. Learn something, then figure out how you can use it in your art before trying to tackle a bunch of new skills at once.

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