Basics of painting with oil paints. Learning to paint in oils

All people have tried to draw since childhood. Some people do it well, and in the future a person will connect their life with art, but some people don’t succeed in everything. Everyone has been to a gallery or art exhibition at least once in their life. And, of course, from time to time there was a desire to take and draw something yourself, just for yourself. Today we will tell you where to start our creativity.

For oil painting you will need:

1. Stretched canvas;
2. Palette;
3. Pencil 2B;
4. Decorator brush 25 mm;
5. Brushes for working with oils;
6. Oil paints.

Oil paints are sold either in specialized stores or in regular supermarkets. They come in two types: a set, which contains several different colors of paint, or they are sold individually. It is best to buy oil paints separately. Firstly, this way you can replenish your collection by using some colors more often and others less often. Secondly, if you run out of paint of a specific color, you will just need to buy more, rather than purchasing a whole set.

It is best to choose special brushes for working with oil. The most convenient brushes are made from pig bristles. They are harder and will work great for your job. It is better not to experiment and do not paint with your fingers, this can be dangerous, since oil paints are very toxic.

You may also need a palette for your work. If you plan to paint constantly, then you should buy a special wooden palette. But in principle, glass or a plate can serve as a palette. The paint should be squeezed out onto the palette gradually, from left to right. You should never immediately mix light and dark colors. The middle of the palette should remain empty, where we will mix our paints. There are also special whites that can be used between paints. Usually a lot of them are consumed, so it is better to stock up on them in advance.

Oil painting technique

There are several types of techniques for working with oil: a la prima and multi-layer.

A la prima is a technique that involves quickly applying paint to a canvas. This technique does not require preliminary pencil sketches. We still paint the landscape in oils gradually, but very quickly. If you did not have time to finish your painting, you can finish it the next day, since the paint will not have dried by this time. In this technique, it doesn’t matter at all whether we paint the sky with oil, or paint the mountains with oil, or paint water with oil, the main thing is a generous amount of paint.

Multilayer technique Suitable for longer work. This technique involves applying several layers of paint. When we paint nature with oils, we need exactly this technique. Since in one painting, you can combine many images and transfer them on canvas.
We always paint a landscape in oils step by step. Don't grab everything at once. To begin, draw what you want onto the canvas with a pencil. This is done in order to correctly distribute the ton and paint in the future. Afterwards, it is recommended to apply primer. In principle, there are canvases already saturated with soil. The primer itself helps the paint adhere better to the canvas.

LET'S LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES THAT YOU CAN TRY TO DRAW IN OIL:

1. How to paint grass with oils.

This is the easiest thing you need to start with. Prepare the necessary paint and make several shades of green on the palette. Initially, if you doubt your abilities, draw what you want with a pencil. And then, use paints. Apply paint onto the canvas smoothly, from bottom to top. Use darker paint at the bottom, and lighter paint at the top. Work carefully with the brush, do not make too many lines so that they do not turn into a blot.

2. How to paint water with oil.

Water is the next stage, already more complex. Try to convey shallow water and depth with shades of paint. This can be done by using a lighter blue color or, conversely, a darker blue. Take a canvas and roughly mark on it with a pencil the places where it is deep and where it is shallow. Prepare paint on the palette. Apply paint to the canvas gradually. First, draw the area where it is shallow, use light colors of paint for this, then depth, here dark will come in handy Blue colour. Don't forget about color transitions. You can also create waves using small strokes of white paint.

3. How to paint trees in oils.

First draw a tree on the canvas with a pencil. Try to convey the tree branches, foliage and contours as naturally as possible. The pencil is very easy to erase and this will allow you to practice before working with paints. Then take on the paints. First, draw the trunk itself, brown paint, add small stripes more dark shade, depicting the bark of a tree. Draw the branches in lighter tones. Foliage can be any color. If the tree is spring, then you can “play” with green shades, but if it is autumn, then yellow, red and green colors are perfect.

4. How to paint grapes in oils.

The drawing of grapes requires special attention. Before work, carefully study either similar works or photographs depicting this berry. One of the most difficult elements will be the leaves, which will require special attention. If this is still very difficult for you, just draw berries. Draw bunches of grapes with a pencil. Try to stick to a natural oblong shape. Afterwards, first paint the contours of the berries with darker paints, paint over the rest of the berries with a little lighter paint. Use white paint or other light colors to create highlights.

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Painting is one of the most mysterious and alluring forms of creativity., which makes it possible to use a brush and your own imagination to create a colorful three-dimensional world on canvas.

Every year painting becomes more and more popular. A large number of people, from the youngest to the most mature, want to engage in painting and develop themselves in the creative field. Most believe that in order to engage in drawing, painting, acting, singing, etc. talent is required. Yes, to some extent it is important, but the most important thing is the desire and desire to achieve results. Every year a large number of painting courses for beginners are created.


In order to learn painting, you can take an experienced teacher to teach you the basics, or you can try to learn how to paint oil paintings on your own. Learn oil painting from scratch It’s absolutely not difficult, the main thing is your desire.

To practice painting, you will first need to purchase everything necessary materials:

  • Oil paints;
  • Oil painting brushes;
  • Linseed oil, thinner and dammar varnish;
  • The palette is the one with which you will be comfortable;
  • Canvas, preferably on cardboard, this is most suitable for beginners;
  • Easel;
  • Container for washing brushes.

For the first time, you need to try to paint small pictures. It is best for beginners to start drawing flowers or bouquets of flowers.


In order to learn how to draw, you need to learn how to apply color to canvas. There are a huge variety of ways to apply paint. The paint can be applied impasto, with a sponge, with a semi-dry brush, shaded with a finger, etc. You can use a toothpick or the tip of a dry brush to remove wet paint from the canvas.

Merging tones achieved by applying two colors next to each other and gently rubbing them: as soon as the border begins to merge and acquire a completely different color, then you have achieved fusion.

Applying paint with a palette knife. The paint is applied, and then it is cut with the edge of a palette knife, creating an interesting and unusual texture.

Impressionism. It is formed by dotted strokes applied with a bristle brush or palette knife, which then need to be rubbed.

By adhering to the basic rules of drawing lessons step by step, you will get better and better each time.

Almost all great artists created in oils. Their paintings still look impressive hundreds of years later. In order to achieve the same landscapes and oil painting, you need to know many nuances of working with this material. This article will give only some idea of ​​the technique of working with oil paints. The basic understanding and creation of your own style will come intuitively while writing your masterpiece.

What are oil paints

Before you start working with oil paints, it’s a good idea to know that they are all a mixture of dry pigment and linseed oil, which dries by oxidizing in the air. This oxidation causes the coloring matter to crystallize, so that once completely dry the oil cannot be removed.

Paints are packaged in metal tubes, from which they must be caught on a palette and mixed together with a palette knife. Oil is a fairly thick material. It can be quite difficult for an unprepared person to cope with it for the first time.

What tools are needed for oil painting?

You need to choose special brushes for oil painting. They should be quite tough and elastic. They are ideal for applying a variety of strokes and adding volume to a painting with paint, but they are quite inconvenient for mixing oil. For these purposes, it is better to purchase a palette knife: a small metal spatula with a wooden handle.

You will also need a tool with which you will adjust the drawing while it is still wet. This could be the same palette knife, a damp cloth or a rubber scraper.

In order to make it convenient to paint, it is better to purchase or make your own easel on which you can place the canvas. The fabric itself is stretched over a frame, which also needs to be taken care of in advance. To keep the colors in the painting bright for as long as possible, they need to be fixed with varnish.

Oil painting technique

To create an oil painting, you first need to prepare the canvas by mounting it in a picket fence and priming it. The next step is mixing paint of different colors on the palette in order to obtain the desired shade. It is then applied with a brush to a vertically standing canvas. Each layer must be left to dry completely. Otherwise, the colors will mix with each other and the image will be “dirty”. The drying process occurs rather slowly: sometimes at least three days must pass before a new layer can be applied. In total, you can work with oil for up to 12 hours in a row. Then the work needs to be put aside so that it dries.

There is no specific system for painting oil paintings and landscapes. All these rules about writing from top to bottom or vice versa from bottom to top actually have no basis. Experienced artists say that it is better to paint a picture with separate color spots in order to immediately assess their compatibility with each other. It’s good to immediately identify the darkest place in the picture and the lightest one and compare the other color accents with them: is it darker than the darkest place and isn’t it lighter than the lightest one.

Features that are important to know

  1. Each new layer must be the same thickness or thicker than the previous one, otherwise cracks may appear in the oil painting.
  2. Three to six months after the painting has completely dried, the image must be secured with Damara varnish.
  3. While the paints are wet, it is very easy to create a gradient. To do this, you need to apply in stripes the shades that you want to transform into one another, and then with a dry brush start mixing them together, moving in a horizontal or vertical direction, in accordance with the rest of the strokes. You need to work with a medium brush and move from the darkest color to the lightest, and then return with a clean brush from the light area to the middle one. Add a couple of parallel stripes of the desired colors to secure the result.
  4. When working with oil paints, the fixing layer should under no circumstances be adhesive.
  5. There is no need to overuse paint thinners. Despite the fact that creating an oil painting is much easier if the paint is a little thinner than in a tube.

Where to begin

Before you create your first creation, you need to understand what you will be drawing and outline the sketch with a pencil. It is better to choose a drawing with large details. All small parts can get “lost” even in the most careful oil strokes. If you want to repeat some image or motif you like, you can transfer it to canvas in advance using carbon paper. To do this, it will need to be transferred to thin tracing paper, and only then transferred to the canvas itself. Your sketch must be secured with a fabric primer or a thin layer of fixing liquid, which is sold at any art supply store.

How to create a sketch correctly

Experts advise sketching the future composition with a charcoal pencil, because it is easiest to remove it from a primed surface by simply wiping it with a damp cloth. True, the charcoal sketch will definitely need to be fixed to the canvas with a fixing compound. Otherwise, it will mix with the paint and give it a dirty tint. In addition, coal dust will prevent the paint from fixing to the fabric. Also, to create a sketch for oil painting on canvas, you can outline the charcoal sketch with a simple pencil, sanguine or paint thinned with turpentine, and then brush off the coal dust.

Working with color

If you know anything about the relationship between colors and their shades, then most likely you can do it without a color wheel. It will help everyone else to take a more competent approach to choosing a color palette for their painting. All colors are divided into warm and cold depending on the undertone that is present in them. Warm colors include colors with a yellow tint, and cool colors with a gray tint. All colors that are located opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary, for example, yellow and purple are complementary colors to each other. If such colors are nearby in the picture, they will enhance the brightness of themselves and the neighboring shade. If they are applied one on top of the other, they neutralize each other. In order to get the desired shade, you need to add a little additional color to the original color and experiment with the proportions. For example, to create a muted yellow-orange color, it is not enough to simply add orange pigment to yellow paint. You will need to reduce the intensity of both shades with a drop of purple paint, which is complementary to them. In order not to get confused in these subtleties at first, purchase color circle. After painting a few pictures, you will already be working automatically, forgetting about the circle. In order to teach your eyes to recognize a larger number of different shades, as well as learn to find the best color solutions, it is better to take an oil painting course. An experienced teacher will tell you what you should pay attention to, how to “curb” color rendering and what exercises will help you become a more sensitive painter.

Oil painting by famous artists

Here are some oil paintings to help you get inspired and get you started painting.

Russian artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, like no one else, conveyed all the depth and beauty of the sea. His paintings amaze with their realism. He used mostly small and neat strokes for more precise detailing.

Isaac Ilyich Levitan also uses small strokes in his works. With their help, he manages to show foliage on trees and in a pond, fresh green grass. His paintings are very lively and at the same time absolutely calm.

Unlike the above-mentioned Russian artists, Van Gogh was a lover of broad strokes and sweeping lines. He did not pay much attention to detail; his striking feature was the dynamics in his work.

Contemporary painting

Among living artists, oil paints also remain a favorite material for creativity. Here are just a few paintings to give you an idea of ​​modern oil painting.

This painting was created by artist Laurent Parselier. With soft and neat strokes, he paints light, a lot of greenery, sun glare and like a light breath of wind.

Another contemporary artist- Joseph Lorasso. He creates oil paintings, depicting important points from life ordinary people- hugs, kisses. On his canvases people are bored, kissing, shy, showing tenderness and passion. He chooses mostly dark and muted colors so that nothing distracts from the scenes depicted.

The Polish artist Justyna Kopanya has also amazingly learned to depict the surrounding reality in oil. She manages to convey the texture of the fabric, the lightness of the sail, the smoothness of the water. She adds dimension to her work not only with color, but also by layering paint, which creates a very unusual effect. It is impossible to take your eyes off her paintings.

Here is just a small part of what you need to know about oil paints and the nuances of working with them. Oil painting on paintings is always something impressive and beautiful. Even if at first everything doesn’t work out for you, don’t give up! Create and, perhaps, your painting will be admired not only by relatives, but also by visitors to world-famous art galleries.

Most people choose needlework or other options as a hobby. artistic creativity. Moreover, due to the same mass-produced goods, the demand for handmade things increases. Photos or computer images are printed multiple times. You can make a unique thing by learning how to paint oil paintings. If you watch video lessons from famous artists, even a beginner can understand this painting technique.

Even if you try to perfectly repeat your plot twice, you still cannot make an exact copy. This is what creates the uniqueness of works of art. How to start and learn how to create paintings?

Materials required for work:

  • Host.
  • Different colors.
  • Brushes.
  • Solvent and a small container for it.
  • Special palette for mixing.

Masters also use palette knives- special metal elastic shovels with wooden handles, which are used to apply paint to the base. It is important for a beginner to master brushes.

In addition, masters paint paintings on easel or a high-quality sketchbook if they go to work in nature to depict oil paintings from life.

Landscapes for beginners are complex plot. It is better to create pictures using your imagination or using photographs. This will make it easier to depict the landscape.

According to professionals, working on an easel is easier, since it’s easier to step away and inspect the result of the work. At first, you can try to practice on the surface of the table, but it is better to take some kind of board and place it on your chair at a certain angle. You will get an overview of your work and you will be able to evaluate its quality well and notice your shortcomings in time.

Remember that paints are used up quickly, so you need to purchase them separately and in large quantities. The release form comes in different sizes. White paint disappears the fastest, but black paint is consumed in very small quantities. First you need to decide plot, and then buy paints of appropriate colors and shades.

In order to draw an autumn bouquet you will need one set, and for a summer bouquet a completely different one. In order not to waste your budget on unnecessary colors, it is better to take only the necessary ones in approximately the right amount. All colors and shades can be obtained with only three main colors(yellow, red, blue), as well as white and black.

Gallery: oil painting pictures (25 photos)























Creating and choosing a base step by step

If you want to make drawing easier for yourself, buy in specialized stores ready-made basics for work on which you can immediately apply paint. They cost a decent amount of money, but they are just right for a beginner, as they greatly simplify the work.

Another great option is use of fiberboard. Every man's household contains scraps of this material, which remains after repairs. It is easy to find it by asking friends, relatives or a loved one. Surely someone has used it and has leftovers of this stuff in their garage.

The shape of the fiberboard sides is different, one looks very smooth, and the other is quite rough, vaguely similar to a woven structure. Both forms can be used, but on a rough surface it is worth applying more parts and layers of primer, otherwise the color may become dull, since the paint will sink a little into the structure of such a product.

If you decide to try painting a landscape in oil for the first time, you can take a ready-made fiberboard base with a primer already applied. You need to take a small sheet, no larger than a landscape one.

If you want to make a DPV base with your own hands, an easy and inexpensive way is use of simple gelatin, you can add PVA glue to it to make the color white. This primer must be applied in several layers, allowing it to dry first. Three times will be enough. You should feel that the surface has changed. After preparing the base, you can proceed to creating the picture.

Master class oil painting

After creating the foundation and preparing the materials, we begin work in stages:

  • Make a line drawing on the canvas using a simple pencil or paint.
  • Focus on the distribution of shadows and highlights (where there will be bright and dark areas).
  • Create the background and any large objects.
  • Start drawing small shapes and details.

Sometimes move away from the picture to evaluate the results of your activities. As you draw, mix different shades of colors on your palette. The last step is to frame the painting.

Master class on oil painting for beginners

In this master class we will draw the sea!

Description of drawing step by step:

First of all, you need to prepare the picture with which you are going to paint the sea. Place the canvas on the easel. Create the first strokes on the canvas, making the main background. Wait a little until it dries completely. If you follow the advice of the master class, then you will be able to paint a picture with oil paints of the sea. After finishing drawing, you need to decide on a name, most importantly, do not forget to leave your initials on the work. Authorship is very important because it makes your work stand out.

Conclusion

If you understand drawing, you will understand that it is not at all difficult to depict a landscape or take up painting. You can also paint using ready-made canvases, because this is the easiest thing to do.

Painting oil paintings: photo