Painting plays a huge role in the development of culture; it has been developing for many centuries, introducing the world to new techniques. Drawings cavemen prove that painting allowed one to demonstrate one’s thoughts and feelings. Their creativity is characterized by features: contours made with ash, chalk, clay - these are animals that are hunted; the man is a hunter. It turns out that already in prehistoric times there was a unique technique.
Animals from the 12th century
Colorful painting appeared somewhere in the 12th century, so to depict the body of living creatures they used ocher, which was accidentally found in a cave, while hooves and horns were painted with charcoal. The desire to create colorful “works” forced people to discover new things, thanks to which primitive oil paints appeared in the 7th century. After studying old works, scientists discovered natural pigments in them.
What can you draw with?
However, how to draw oil paints artists figured it out only in the 15th century. Jan van Eyck actively used them for his works, arousing increased interest in them from others. Over time, he was the first to create rules explaining how to properly use such paints.
The case of a painting from the Dutch school of painting
Work methodology Dutch school always amazes with its realism and beauty. They were able to create paintings that to this day delight both ordinary museum visitors and connoisseurs. So in the 80s, the attention of experts was attracted by a picture with a bouquet of flowers from which a drop of dew allegedly fell onto the table. Experts came to unanimous opinion that the drop is so very real that you even want to brush it away. It turns out that it “hasn’t dried up” in 600 years. Such “drops” make painting eternal.
What types of oil paints are there?
Oil painting for beginners will be difficult, but interesting, because the color palette
represented by a large assortment:
- titanium white;
- cadmium red;
- viridon greens;
- the paint is bright red;
- purple dioxin;
- gas soot;
- cadmium yellow;
- cadmium orange;
- azure, etc.
How to paint in oils to achieve expressiveness and realism? We need to develop and gain experience. To do this you will need to set aside time, be patient and some drawing supplies.
Where can I find paints?
Art stores offer a large selection of professional creativity kits. For beginners, you can buy a small, inexpensive kit to try; it will be quite enough for creating small paintings. It is recommended to master this technique by depicting bright things, for example, fruits or vegetables, not plain, but with iridescent sides.
For oil painting, not only paints are useful, but also:
- canvas (a cardboard sheet will do);
- several brushes.
Canvases are most often represented by rough fabric or paper with a special primer coating. Beginning artists are better off purchasing a canvas stretched on a stretcher. As for brushes, they are divided according to: hardness; size; the hair used to make it. So, hard and wide ones are useful for the background, soft ones for drawing, and thin ones for small strokes.
How much “oil” and paints does a beginning artist need?
You shouldn’t buy sets that are too expensive, because you will only use part of them. For those who are just starting to master the “oil”, it is enough
5 different brushes:
- wide flute;
- averages No. 2, No. 3;
This set is enough for any painting. Don't despair if nothing works out right away, everything comes with experience. Once you learn and practice drawing techniques, you will achieve success. Yes, the techniques are complex, but they are necessary. You will learn how to mix colors and create new shades. It turns out that the entire process of creating a work consists of constant editing of tones. It is very exciting.
What a painter should know
Only a diligent person can achieve the visible desired result from the first attempts. It is also important to have at least some drawing skills. It will be useful to take classes and watch instructional videos; they will help you handle oil paints and brushes.
Step by step training
So, how to paint with oil on canvas? We invite you to familiarize yourself with how to work on a painting. Stretch the canvas onto a stretcher and prime it so that the paint lays evenly and does not soak in. The simplest and most reliable soil is considered water-based paint combined with PVA, 1:1. Before applying to the canvas, the mixture is stirred well and diluted with water, the composition should be the same as cream. You can work with the canvas only after your fingers stop sticking to its surface.
Next, we paint in oils step by step, following our instructions. We create a background, it can be just a painted part or some kind of drawing. You will need a palette knife, it is very convenient to distribute the paint, getting an even and thin layer. This will allow the oil to dry much faster; as you know, this process is very long and can take months. Be prepared to postpone further work for a long time.
Dried canvas - the next stage
Once the canvas has dried, you can begin to draw a sketch; on a light background this is done with a pencil, and on a dark background with a pencil. Be sure to make the outlines before you start painting with oils.
If your painting will consist of several parts, then paint the largest object first. For example, you draw a jug, cups, a vase, plums, candy, a tablecloth. This means that you will use a variety of colors.
An integral part of the picture - shadows
Start painting with oil from a jug, apply to the palette Brown color and spread it slightly. Dip a brush into the resulting mixture and apply strokes. Having completed work with this item, you need to deal with its shadows, this will help you brown paint, but of a darker and deeper shade. To do this, add black butter to the brown butter and combine them well. The shade for the shadows is ready, where they will be located is up to you to decide. Then you start working on the cups; they are made of the same material (conditionally), which means that the work with them is similar to what was done earlier. Remember that light hits objects at the same angle.
At the next stage, we deal with the vase filled with plums. Don't try to make a glass vase, as there should be many shades that... real life displayed in glass. For beginner artists, it is better to make a faience version, which, in addition to painting, will require ordinary shadows. The easiest way to draw plums is that they look natural, which means they overlap one another.
And finally
Paint the fruits dark blue. In those places where they touch each other you need to draw a thin line, as if separating them. For realism, you need to add fruit cuttings, but not to every berry. When it comes to candies, the main thing is to make the right contours. You can paint them however you like.
After completing the work, leave it to dry, turning it “facing” the wall.
A week ago, Yulia Skripnik, editor of the MYTH.Creativity platform, sent me a message: “Nastya, hello! Can you do an article next week with an exercise in Classical Painting Lessons?” I answered that I would, and a thousand and one fears of a creative person began to swirl in my head:
“I don’t know how to paint in oils. I'm in last time I picked up oil paints several years ago, and I can’t say that this experience was successful. “What if I can’t do anything at all and I’ll just ruin the canvas.”
Putting aside my fears, I began to study the book. Of course, in paper form, simply because its smell itself is inspiring.
The book is divided into 4 chapters and each of them has several lessons. My plan was to read the book until the last page and then choose which lesson I would do. However, there was so much new knowledge and inspiration that already on page 48 I took oil paints and thinner out of the box and climbed into the wardrobe in search of an old, outdated T-shirt. What does this have to do with the T-shirt? Read on 😉
Lesson 2, which we will study with you, is devoted to imprimatura with wiping. I also didn’t know what it was until I started reading the book, and that’s okay.
Imprimatura(from Italian imprimatura - first layer of paint) - a term used in painting: color tinting of the surface of a ready-made white primer.
You've probably seen work done using this technique.
Materials:
- Drawing materials- paper and pencil, or charcoal if you are going to draw directly on the surface
- Primed surface- wooden surface or canvas
- Palette
- Oil paint natural umber. You can use natural sienna or earthy green - experiment with colors
- Titanium white or quick-drying, such as alkyd. They are convenient because they dry overnight
- Linseed oil(optional)
- Cotton rag- a torn T-shirt will do (it is not recommended to use paper napkins)
- Large bristle brush
Above I have listed the materials recommended by the author of “Lessons in Classical Painting” - Juliet Aristide. I didn't follow all of these recommendations. The “same” material may not always be at hand; you shouldn’t give up creative experiments because of this.
First stage: staging a still life
Then it's time to start drawing. I did it directly on canvas with a pencil, however, the author recommends doing it on paper first and then transferring it using tracing paper. And this good advice, because trying to use an eraser on the canvas risks creating “dirt.” I also didn’t focus on the drawing because the goal of this lesson is tonal underpainting.
Before you begin to imprimatura with wiping, it is worth checking how the surface of the canvas or wood panel absorbs paint. Some types of cheap acrylic primer hold paint well; it will be difficult to wipe it off until the color of the surface is achieved. If you come across such a soil, you can first coat the entire surface with a very thin layer of linseed oil.
Now comes the fun part! You need to cover the canvas with a thin layer, intensively blending the paint with a hard, fairly large bristled brush. The author recommends not to be afraid of too dark a color and not to dilute the paint, because otherwise the layer will come out too thin, but I thought that my paints had been lying idle for a long time and had thickened, so I added a solvent, and this really was a mistake.
Advice from the book: If the picture is too large and complex to complete in one session, the process can be divided into stages (for example, the first half in one day, and the second in another)
Let's start wiping. The outline of the design shows through the layer of oil, so it’s not difficult. You need to constantly change the rag to use clean parts. For large areas it is convenient to wipe off the paint index finger, and for small elements I wrapped a rag around an orange stick.
The wipe-off underpainting can be completed after stage 4, but adding dark and light accents gives the piece a more finished look. Therefore, using the glaze method, I added white and dark color deepened the shadows.
The work is ready! Several obvious mistakes were made, the jeans were stained with paint, but the main thing was that I got incredible pleasure from conquering my fears.
I used to be afraid of books about classical painting; it seemed to me that they were created at least for students of specialized universities, but it turned out that this was not at all the case.
I urge you not to be afraid either! Try something new, go beyond the usual materials and techniques.
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Oil paintings are bright works that can decorate any room. They look much more impressive than paintings made, for example, in pencil. The artist is required to invest considerable resources and effort. Therefore, if you decide to take up this art, then be prepared to spend money.
Instructions
- First you need to stock up right away necessary materials: primer, brushes, glue, canvas, paints. You'll spend the most on oil paints. But you also need to be able to choose cheaper things correctly. Particular attention should be paid to the choice of canvas. The material it is made from directly affects your paintings. Therefore, you should give preference to canvas made of hemp or flax.
- Do not start drawing right away, you must stick to established order. Pre-glue the purchased canvas so that the paint does not penetrate to the wrong side and does not wet it through. This is quite easy to do; wood glue is suitable for this. When you complete this procedure, take the canvas to dry in a room that is as ventilated as possible. By the way, check if you did everything correctly. An indicator of this will be the strength of the adhesive fold (it should not crack).
- The next step should be to prime the canvas. Without this you cannot start drawing. Application of primer requires care and close attention. If you do this carelessly and carelessly, the material will not be distributed evenly and will simply ruin the painting.
- Now you can proceed directly to the drawing itself. Take paints and brushes, start slowly and carefully apply strokes. There is no need to be afraid that smudges may form on the canvas (if you use oil paints, this is excluded, since they have a rather thick consistency). Once you have painted, let the painting dry.
Don't forget that to create a perfect drawing you need to stretch the canvas very tightly. Therefore, we advise you to buy a good subframe. If you do not use this tool, you may end up with only a drawing ruined by cracks.
Video lessons
If you have a great desire to paint with oil paints, but you don’t know how, then it doesn’t matter. It's never too late to start learning to paint with oil paints. You can always try and create your own personal masterpiece.
How to paint with oil paints - choosing paints
In order to start painting, first of all, you need to purchase oil paints. The choice of paints must be given Special attention. After all, both the aesthetics of the painting and the success of your training depend on the quality of the paints; the question of whether you will engage in oil painting will be decided. Do not chase discounts and sales, as they often sell low-quality goods. At a minimum, you need to purchase 7 tubes of paint in primary colors. In the future, by mixing different colors, you can get any other color.
How to paint with oil paints - art tools
To paint with oil paints we will need:
- various brushes;
- canvas;
- palette knife;
- palette;
- solvent for paints.
Brushes come in round, bristle, and flat. It is advisable to purchase at least 3 brushes of each type, different sizes. Please note that natural brushes are softer, while synthetic brushes are rougher. Also, do not forget to prepare a pot of water for brushes and rags.
How to paint with oil paints - workspace
The workplace should be prepared so that nothing disturbs you and it is comfortable to create. It is best to use an easel for painting rather than a table. It is advisable to place it where there is predominantly natural light. It's better to draw on fresh air because the paint has a strong odor. If this is not possible, then the room should be equipped with a window, an opening window or a balcony. You need to ventilate the room periodically. The easel must be adjusted in height to suit you. When adjusting the easel, it is worth taking into account your position, whether you will be standing or sitting. In order not to stain the floor, it is advisable to cover it with paper, polyethylene or fabric. Oil paints penetrate deeply into the structure of the fabric, so wear things that you don’t mind getting dirty. If you have long hair, then it’s best to braid them or put them in a ponytail, and to be sure, wear a scarf. 
How to paint with oil paints - sketch
- When creating an oil painting, it is advisable to start with a sketch. The work begins with the layout on the sheet. It is necessary to think about where the main semantic center will be located.
- You need to decide on the color scheme. You can achieve the desired color on the palette. Since it is almost impossible to get the same color twice when mixing two or more colors, it is necessary to prepare secondary paint for the entire drawing. Oil paint that has not been mixed with other colors is called pure color. After creating the sketch, we begin to work with a brush and paints.
- Any drawing has a source of light and shadow. To make the drawing more realistic, you should add shadows and highlights. It is necessary to determine from which side the light falls in order to depict it in the picture. Evaluate the picture from the outside, add the missing accents.
- The palette must be lubricated with oil so that it is saturated with it, otherwise it will absorb the oil that is in the paints.
- Initially, manage the space on the palette correctly, leave the middle for mixing colors, the left for colored paints, and the right for white.
- To obtain a lighter shade, white should be added.
- To obtain a darker shade, add black paint.
- When painting with paints, adhere to the basic rule: first we paint with liquid paints, then with thick ones, and nothing else. If you do not adhere to this recommendation, then incorrectly placed layers will simply crack when drying.
- The paint layer dries for about three days. Take your time to apply the next layer.
- With a palette knife you can draw, for example, create a landscape.
- If there is any excess paint left after work, don’t worry, you can save it. Place it in a jar and cover it with film to prevent it from drying out.
- After work, do not forget to pay due attention to your brushes. They need to be washed, otherwise they can be thrown away.
- The finished painting needs to be varnished.
Painting with oil paints is not difficult if you follow the tips above. Conquer the heights of your skills!