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I began drawing as a child, and quickly mastered graphite, charcoal and colored pencil. Eventually, I gave water colors a try and found them to be a relatively easy medium to work with. The same went for Pastels. But what I really wanted to try was oil painting.
For some reason, though, the thought of oil painting intimidated me, despite my prior success with other mediums. I had dipped my toes into the pool a few times, and it only confirmed my fears. It wasn’t until I finally dove in that I discovered what a versatile and forgiving medium oil paints really are. So, when you’re ready to dive in, consider these tips:
1.) Don’t Skimp on Quality: It definitely doesn’t pay to buy cheap, or low-quality, art supplies. Like they say, you get what you pay for. For example, low-quality oil paints often fail to correctly adhere to the canvas and usually change color over time. The same goes for cheap paint brushes, which don’t hold the paint well, and often paint unevenly.
2.) Too Much of a Good Thing: Surf over to any online art supply store and type in “oil paints”. Then prepare to be awed, and somewhat intimidated, by all the colors that are available. The good news is you only need a select few of these colors, which you can then use to make whatever color you need. A basic set of colors might consist of Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue, Cobalt Blue, Viridian Green, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, and Ivory Black. Not only will it save you money, but using a limited palette will also give more unity to your paintings.
3.) Don’t Try to Paint the Sistine Chapel: Bigger may be better, but not when it comes to learning how to paint. Small canvases are a lot cheaper and won’t set you back a fortune when your planned “masterpiece” turns into a “learning experience”.
4.) Fat Over Lean (Whatever That Means): If you don’t want your painting to look like it was painted during the Renaissance, with tiny little cracks crisscrossing the surface of it, then make sure you follow this simple, yet critical, rule of thumb in oil painting: apply paint with a higher oil to pigment ratio (fat) over paint with a lower oil to pigment ratio (lean) to avoid cracking. Basically, this means you want your bottom layer to dry faster than your top layer, so start with a thinner like turpentine, followed by, for example, linseed oil.
5.) Dark to Light, Dark to Light, Dark to…: Are you detecting a pattern here? Always work from dark to light in your paintings. For example, when defining your masses, block in your darkest tones first. After that, start building up your medium, or mid-, tones, and finally your lights. When you’re finished, you can lighten your lights and darken your darks, creating just the right contrast.
6.) K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple Starting-out. I probably can’t hyphenate “Starting-out”, but I needed something more appropriate, and respectful, than “Stupid”. If you’re painting a portrait, don’t start painting the pores and peach-fuzz on your sitter’s face before you even get the shape of the head right. Always get the large masses worked out first, before fussing over the details.
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