How to Paint Oil Painting

Create sketch drawings. Use a pencil to outline the subject you want to draw. You can sketch directly on canvas or draw on tracing paper and use carbon paper to convert the drawing to canvas. When drawing subjects, you should pay attention to composition and use negative space.

• Composition is the arrangement of objects on a picture. You should arrange it well so that your eyes focus on the whole picture instead of just looking at a single point.
• Negative space is the space around the object. If you use a real-life object to draw on canvas, you will draw difficult areas by looking at the space around the object instead of directly at the object. Consider how to fill in the negative space when starting to paint the picture to highlight the subject.
• Note the overlapping shapes as they add depth to the composition. If your object doesn’t have overlapping shapes, you should rearrange it. This will make the picture look more realistic.

Find a light source. To create a realistic picture, you need to clearly show the highlights and shadows. Look at the object and determine the angle of the light and the position of the bright and dark areas.

• All light sources cast shadows but if the light is shining directly above the subject it will be very difficult to see the shadow. Try moving the light or object so that shadows and highlights are more visible.
• You won’t be able to have extremely dark shadows or extremely bright highlights. In fact, you will have roughly the same range of degrees. Don’t worry about the light not making shadows and highlights visible.

Consider the use of color. For beginners with oil paint, it is often difficult to mix colors to match the color of the object. The reason is that the brain also provides an ideal color standard; you see the sky is blue so you will mix the blue paint only to realize that the paint color is brighter and more colorful than the actual sky color. The trick here is to get rid of the symbolic colors the brain uses and study the actual colors being used. This will change the brightness of the paint color.

• The picture when viewed at night will have a darker and richer color than when viewed during the day – a time when paintings will usually have brighter colors.
• Check the color of the object under the light; On a sunny day, the object will have a yellow sheen. When it’s overcast, the light is scattered through the clouds, causing the object to appear gray. There are also colored lights – neon signs or colored light bulbs that affect the color of the object.

Observe the movement of the object. Are you painting stills with little or no movement? Or is your subject in a field on a windy day with lots of movement? Focusing on the movement of the subject is very important for you to plan for the brush strokes. Realistic paintings will have brush strokes that create movement or stillness.

Tinting. Oil paint takes a lot of days to dry but this is a disadvantage that can be ignored. However, it’s nearly impossible to mix the same color twice, so mix a large amount and keep it for later so you can use the same color.

• Use the color wheel to help you know how to mix colors. The color wheel will show you level 1, level 2 and level 3 colors along with how the colors are mixed.
• Pure colors are colors that have not been mixed with white or black. You have a level 1 tint card to create a level 2 color.
• To create a subtle tint, you’ll add white. As such, the color will be brighter and have a pastel tone.
• To create a shade, you would add black to any color.
• To create a mid-tone (tone), you’ll add white to a bold color (any color already mixed with black). Intermediate color is used a lot because it shows the colors we see every day.

Start painting. You can choose any paint method you like, such as fully coloring parts or painting multiple layers of color over the entire picture. However, when painting oil paintings, you will apply the liquid first, then solid method, that is, you will apply the liquid paint first and then the solid paint.

• Try painting basic objects. All objects are made up of some basic shapes like cube, cone, cylinder, and circle. Paint these shapes as real objects, like an orange box, or paint over their flat shapes.
• To thin the paint, you will use a paint thinner (linseed oil or turpentine) in combination with the paint. You will only take a small amount at first and then gradually increase until you get the desired paint texture.
• It takes about 3 days for the first coat to dry before applying a second coat, so be patient while the paint dries.

Try many different methods. There are many ways to make painting perfect but learning all of that when you are new to oil painting will be too much for you. Instead, focus on learning just a few techniques at a time.

• Try color matching. This is the process of subtly mixing two or more colors (like the color when the sun goes down). To do this, you will add several layers of paint so that they are next to each other on the canvas. Then, use a flat-tipped brush to evenly blend the colors, blending in the direction you want to create a color scheme.
• Creates color glaze. That is, you will use a mixture of 1/3 linseed oil, 1/3 pine oil and 1/3 clear polish to create a transparent color. You can mix this with any color to create a see-through color on dry paint. ^[2]
• Use dot art to create small dots. Use a brush with natural bristles (a dry brush is more effective) and dab vertically on the canvas. You can overlap dots to create opaque objects.
• Use an oil paint mixer to paint. This method is suitable when painting landscapes and creating movement on canvas. Scoop some paint onto the bottom edge of the knife and sweep across the canvas to create thick coats of paint.

Fix errors. You have about 3 days (when the oil paint is still wet on the canvas) to correct the mistakes or completely remove it with a wet cloth. Before deciding to complete the picture, you should step back and look at the whole picture to see if there is anything that needs to be changed.

Save unused paint. If you still have a lot of unused paint on your palette, you should save it for the next time you paint. Scoop the color into a small container or leave it in the palette and cover with cling film.

Brush cleaning. Oil paint will damage the brush if the paint dries, so you need to clean the brush immediately after use. Use turpentine and an old towel to wipe off the paint as much as possible, then rinse with warm water and a little dishwashing liquid. You can sweep the brush tip over the palm of your hand to make sure all the paint has been washed off. Insert the brush into a jar or cup with the brush tip facing up to dry. Make sure the brush is left in a well-ventilated place while it dries, such as in a cool place – on a shelf or on a table, not in a cupboard or drawer.

Wait. For the oil paint to dry completely, it will take you about 3 months or so if you use multiple layers of solid paint. Place your painting where it will not be affected or damaged and let it dry for as long as necessary.