How to Paint With Oil Painting. The Simplified Guide

For now, you will only need the paint, a palette for mixing the colors, some brushes and a canvas. Those are the main materials you will need. Once you have more experience you can get some palette knives, mediums, thinners or an easel to work with.

Tip: You don’t have to buy the most expensive equipment for now. You can even use a piece of glass from a portrait to use it as a palette. The flat and smooth surface of it is perfect for mixing colors.

Place your canvas somewhere you feel comfortable and place your reference in front of it. You can use an object like a fruit, spoon or even a picture from your cellphone or laptop as a reference.

Make sure that you can see the object from where you are sitting or standing. Try to use a simple object with not so many shapes to practice with. The simpler the object, the easier it will be to paint it. For example, in my first painting I used a candle as a reference.

If you want to paint something you will first need to describe it with your eyes. What kind of shape does it have? What colors can you see on it? Does it have lights or shadows? Answering these questions will help you to understand what you need to do.

Tip: Try to simplify the object. For example, if your object is an apple what you need to do is to think about it as round shape. When thinking about the colors, if what you want is to make it look realistic try to find as many colors as possible. And for the shadows you need to keep in mind that shadows aren’t black. You will find some dark colors in the shadows such as brown, navy blue and purple.

This step could be tricky. Mixing is something that improves with practice so don’t be too hard on yourself on your first try. Try to get the colors that you see on your reference.

You can use different tools to help you to get to the color that you’re looking for. You can use a color wheel or even a phone app to help you with that.

Tip: If what you want is to darken a color avoid using black, it will make your paint look bad. Use a dark brown color for warmer tones and a navy blue for colder tones. If what you’re looking for is to brighten it, avoid using white. Instead use a little bit of yellow or red.

The only way to learn is to do it yourself. It won’t be a masterpiece at your first try but remember you will improve every time you practice.

Try to make it look as much as your reference. If you mess something up you can clean it with a wipe and start again on top of it.

Tip: On the previous step you learnt that you shouldn’t use white and black colors when mixing. You will need this two colors when painting absolutes.

Light reflection is one type of absolute, it tends to be white. Total darkness or an dark room is another absolute, you should use black to paint it

It will take quite some time to dry completely. It depends on the paint and also on the colors you used. Some colors dry way quicker than others. Be patient. Let it rest in some place you think no one will touch it.

Tip: When it gets completely dry, you can add another layer of paint , if you want to add more details or correct a mistake you made.

No one will be good at his first try. Keep practicing every time you can and enjoy the ride.

You can even watch painting process videos online to find more about what you can do.