How to start painting with oil paints. Tips for those who want to start painting with oil paints

Oil painting- this is the most popular and favorite technique of many world-famous artists, both of past centuries and of our time. Due to their plastic structure, oil paints dry for a long time, which makes it possible to correct the drawing over a long period of time. Oil painting always looks elegant and sophisticated. Learning to paint in oils is a difficult task, but it brings a lot of pleasure to the artist. If you have not yet mastered this technique, start right now: who knows, maybe the future Aivazovsky or Vasnetsov is hidden in you? What does a novice artist need to have for oil painting?

List of necessary items for oil painting

Oil paints.
Brushes: you can use natural bristle or synthetic brushes (the choice of brush depends on how much money you have and what result you want to achieve).
Wooden palette.
Oiler for thinner.
Thinner (used to prevent paints from being too thick).
Canvases (canvas on a stretcher, canvas on cardboard, or primed cardboard are equally good).
Special liquid for washing brushes.
Kistemoyka.

Oil paints– paints created from oil, pigment and turpentine. For oil paints, linseed, hemp, poppy, nut or safflower oil is used. Pigments affect the color of paint and can be synthetic or natural. Oil paintings remain in excellent condition for many centuries: when drying, oil paints retain their color, they are not afraid of light and frost. Thanks to their paste-like structure, oil paints have excellent covering properties.

Brushes: Oil paints are best applied with natural bristle brushes or synthetic brushes. Each artist should have brushes of different hardness and different shapes - this will help to display the desired structure of the picture and make even small details clear.

Wooden palette– this is an irreplaceable thing in the arsenal of an artist who loves to paint with oil paints. For convenience, you should have two palettes: one large - for painting in the studio, the second - a small one for traveling. Please note that a plastic palette is not suitable for painting with oil paints.

Oil can– a special container for diluent, which is attached to the palette using a special clamp.

Diluent used to make paints less thick. For oil paints, petroleum, tee or linseed oil are most often used as a thinner. By the way, people who react negatively to odors and people with allergies are better off using petroleum, since it has no odor.

Canvas- This is the material on which paintings are painted. The variety of canvases these days can confuse a novice artist. In any art supply store you can find a large selection of canvases on a stretcher or on cardboard and canvases wound on a roll. Canvases are made from linen or cotton, which makes their structure varied - from fine-grained to coarse-grained. Most often, artists use medium-grain canvases.

Liquid for washing brushes– This is a special product for cleaning brushes from paint residues. It is much easier to clean the brush with this liquid than with other thinners, and with proper care the brush will last much longer.

Kistemoika- a small vessel, often in the shape of a small bucket, with a spiral mounted on top to secure the brush. With the help of a brush washer, only the necessary part of the bone is in the washing liquid, which allows you to save the handle of the hand from damage.

Buy, quality oil paints, as well as all the necessary accessories for oil painting, you can find in our store. We will be happy to help you!

In order to learn how to paint with oil paints, or it would be more correct to say, to write with oil paints, you need to have certain knowledge in this area, namely, to understand the variety of tools that are currently presented in a wide range in stores for artists. A novice artist may get lost when entering such a store without prior preparation, because a seemingly obvious set, such as canvas, brushes and oil paints, will not be enough for a good start in this business. This article is aimed at enabling you to virtually visit an artist store, as if accompanied by an experienced mentor. So, let's begin!

Canvas

The first thing we will choose is canvas. As a basis for painting with oil paints, you can choose various materials: board, cardboard, metal plate, glass, plastic. But if we are talking about classical painting, then, of course, you should choose fabric that is primed in the right way, stretched tightly on a stretcher and ringing like a drum. Yes Yes! The canvas should not sag, its surface should be perfectly flat. In the old days, and even now, many professional artists stretch fabric over stretcher themselves, they prime it themselves. Since these recommendations are intended for beginning artists, we will not delve into the topic of stretching canvas onto a stretcher; we will talk about how to choose the right surface that is ready for work, namely, a canvas that has already been primed and stretched on a stretcher.

It's best to canvas sheet was linen, it can be of medium or fine grain, have a smooth smooth surface without knots, the thickness of the canvas should be uniform everywhere. The grain of the canvas is various irregularities and knots in the fabric, in the weaving of the canvas threads. If there are a lot of such inclusions, the threads are coarse, then you have a canvas with high grain size. It is suitable for drawing objects with a strong texture, for example, old brick walls, gnarled tree trunks, stones, rock debris, etc. Here you can work with large impasto strokes and use a palette knife. Therefore, such a canvas is not suitable for painting objects with a delicate texture or for conveying delicate light and shadow transitions. The delicate transparency of grapes and the face of a young girl cannot be drawn on such a surface. For such purposes, it would be right to choose a canvas finer workmanship, smoother, that is, fine-grained. And it is precisely this kind of canvas that is best purchased for beginning artists; by the way, on it, you can make a more detailed preliminary pencil drawing. And you can easily erase a part of the drawing you don’t like.

Pay attention to the quality of the stretcher, that is, the wooden base on which the canvas is stretched. We have already talked about the inadmissibility of its sagging, it remains to add that it is necessary to evaluate wood quality, from which the subframe is made. Usually it is linden, pine or birch. The wood must be well processed, dry, smooth, without knots, chips, rot or wormholes.

Oil paints

To begin with, you should not buy a large number of paints; it will be quite enough to purchase a set of 10-12 colors. The most important thing is that this set contains blue (glazes, cobalts), red (cadmium medium, light or dark), yellow (cadmium medium), black (carbon black), white (zinc or titanium white) paints. If you already know how to mix primary colors and get additional ones from them, then even this minimum will be enough for you, but it’s better to diversify a little, even if it’s just your first oil palette! To find out what color is in the tube, look at the color stripe on the label. Complete your set with blue paint (sky blue), ocher tint (light or golden ocher), the so-called “colors of the earth” - natural umber, natural sienna, as well as natural shades of green colors - olive, herbal green, light green, etc. .

We remind you once again, look at the tube label. Or you can buy a ready-made set of paints. Over time, you will understand which paints are used up faster and which ones are not. In addition, before buying paints, it would be good to know in what color scheme you plan to paint the picture: will it be delicate pastel shades or rich contrasting painting? What size will your work be? This may also influence your choice. And, of course, it would be nice to familiarize yourself with the table of colors, the names of which are the same for almost all manufacturers, so you can easily navigate by color and look at the correct names of the colors and shades you like. Prices for oil paints from different manufacturers vary; they directly depend on the chemical composition of the paints. Paints that contain natural rather than synthetic pigments will cost more.

Brushes

Lucky

In the window of a store for artists, among other things, you will see various artistic varnishes. They are designed to work directly with paints, that is, the brush is periodically dipped into varnish, then into paint. This is what is called " painting on varnish" or "through varnish." Why is this being done? In order for the painting to be immediately bright and juicy. And it is better, of course, to protect finished work with well-dried paints with varnish. As we have already mentioned, varnish gives richness to the colors and, most importantly, protects your work from external influences. When the varnish is dry, the surface of the canvas can be wiped off dust. Varnishes come in different compositions; they are mainly made on the basis of soft resins.

Solvents

A very necessary and important thing for oil painting. The solvent is needed to dilute the paints, in order to clean the brushes before finally washing them with soap suds.

Tee

This is a ready-made composition for diluting oil paints. It usually contains linseed oil, varnish and turpentine. It is this diluent that is poured into the oil can. If you don’t have it on hand, Pinene No. 4 solvent plus linseed oil will do.

Oil can

A special container into which a tee or solvent is poured. It is usually attached to the palette, for which it has a convenient clothespin attachment. Oilers come in plastic and iron. It is more convenient to have an oil can with a screw-on cap, then nothing will spill and the unused contents will not dry out prematurely.

Palette knives

A necessary and important tool in an artist’s arsenal. These are special spatulas designed to remove paint residue from the palette and apply and remove paint from the canvas. There are special painting techniques when work on canvas is done with a palette knife rather than a brush. There are sets of palette knives on sale in different sizes and shapes.

Palette

Oh, this is a real calling card of any artist! You also need to be able to choose the right palette; the colors on the palette should be placed closer to the edges, leaving room for mixing in the center. Palettes come in different shapes and sizes.

Easel

- a very convenient thing for objectively evaluating your work and seeing shortcomings. Work mounted on an easel is a professional approach. You can work in front of the easel either standing or sitting. From time to time you need to move some distance away from the canvas to see all the details. When buying an easel, focus on its strength, reliability of fastenings, size and model that suits you.

Sketchbook

A special device for painting outside the home. This is a kind of suitcase in which you can place everything you need for work: brushes, paints, solvents, canvases, cardboards. It is quite compact, opens and closes, and has reliable, strong carrying straps. The sketchbook can be of various sizes, with or without legs that can be adjusted in height. When buying a sketchbook, you need to make sure that it is reliable and durable, and has good fastenings. The sketchbook can also be used as an easel at home.

Here are, perhaps, the most basic tips that we hope will be useful to you when choosing materials for painting with oil paints. If you have the full set of tools that we talked about, you can safely start painting your first oil painting! Good luck and creative inspiration!

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Oil paints are quite a complex material and you won’t be able to master oil painting quickly. Even great masters can edit and redo their work more than once, bringing it to perfection. But along with the difficulties, oil painting opens up new horizons in creativity, makes it possible to make light sketches and more complete deep works, embodies the play of light and shadow, creates a shimmer and smooth flow of colors.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an artist with many years of experience or just starting to master the fine arts, whether you are going to create a masterpiece or make a small sketch - first you need to choose oil paints, brushes, canvas and other necessary tools.

Before you start working with color, you need to transfer the drawing to the canvas. If you decide to paint a portrait, then sequentially, mouth, nose, oval of the face, neck, hair. This can be done using a pencil, charcoal or carbon paper. After applying the drawing, it needs to be fixed on the canvas. This is done so that the paint adheres better to the base. In addition, particles of the material with which the design was applied can interfere with the paint, thereby changing its color. It is better to do this with the help of a special fixer. You can make a sketch with heavily diluted oil paints, in which case fixing will not be needed.

There are two main techniques for working with oil paints: in one step - Alya Prima and multi-layered.

Professional artists usually choose the multilayer painting technique, as it makes it possible to better convey depth and reveals all the possibilities of oil painting. The essence of this method is that after drawing the outline, they make underpaintings - placing light spots and shadow accents on the canvas. This is done with a thin layer of highly diluted paint. Then the picture is painted more densely in all the variety of colors and shades. And finally, glazing is done - applying translucent colors to already dried main ones. This allows you to create a deep color with a shimmer effect.
The disadvantage of this method is that it takes six to twelve months to create a painting.

If you decide to master the technique of multi-layer painting, then you should study some of the nuances associated with the properties of oil paints. If you do not allow the initial layer to dry, then during secondary registration the oil may dry out and become dull. Such defects can be eliminated using retouch varnish. You can also use oil, and the residues that are not absorbed into the paint are removed the next day using a blotter. In ancient times, craftsmen rubbed heavily dried paint with a cut onion or garlic, this improves the adhesion of the layers to each other.

Each new layer should be equal in thickness to the previous one, or the paint should be applied more thickly. But in no case thinner, otherwise the paint will simply crack when it dries.

Over time, oil paints become a little transparent, and those unwanted areas that were covered up begin to show through the top layer. Therefore, you can finally get rid of unwanted elements only by scraping them off while they are still wet.
Works using the Ala Prima technique are created much faster. In addition, this method is simpler and perfect for beginners. The point of painting using this technique is to complete all the work before the paint hardens. That is, from the start of work the artist has no more than three to four days left. Short terms can also be an advantage if you decide to “quickly”. The drying time is affected by the thickness of the stroke: the thicker the paint, the longer it will take. Therefore, diluted paints are often used here, sometimes allowing them to shine through the oil. This creates the effect of lightness and light.

The art of painting is a vast layer of world culture, rooted in the prehistoric period. During the Paleolithic era, drawings depicting animals and birds began to appear on the walls of caves in which primitive people lived. It is characteristic that primitive contours drawn with ash, clay or chalk always depicted animals that could be the object of hunting. If people were depicted, then they were necessarily hunters.

Buffaloes and mammoths

More conscious painting, and already in a sense colorful, appeared later, in the 12-10 centuries BC. For example, a buffalo was depicted with ocher, accidentally found by a cave artist, and its horns and hooves - with coal, deposits of which were everywhere in those days.

Oil paints for painting in an extremely primitive form began to appear in the 10th-7th centuries BC. Spectral and chemical analysis determined the presence of natural pigment in the patterns on basalt stones. Several images were painted with paints that contained egg yolk and white.

How and with what to draw?

However, truly artistic works with oil paints appeared only in the 15th century AD. The art of painting has acquired a material basis. Oil paints began to be widely used by artists thanks to the efforts of the Dutchman Jan van Eyck, who actively promoted them and even created an entire theory on the topic “How to paint with oil paints.”

Incident at the Museum

The Dutch or Flemish school of painting is one of the most subtle artistic techniques. Each brush stroke of the masters of the 15th and 16th centuries is distinguished by unprecedented naturalism. When Flemish paintings, still lifes and landscapes were exhibited at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow in 1984, an expert group of artists gathered to evaluate the paintings. One of the paintings suddenly attracted everyone's attention. The painting showed a vase that sat on the kitchen table with a bouquet of freshly cut flowers. A drop of dew fell from one of the flowers onto the tabletop. It was depicted so realistically that the group leader asked all the artists present: “What is your opinion, how do you see the level of technology?” The painters replied: “The drop is so real that you want to brush it away with your hand...”

The drop of dew depicted by the Flemish artist has not dried in six hundred years. Perhaps, thanks to such drops, the art of painting is eternal.

Oil paints for painting

A modern set of colors in the artistic palette contains about twenty names:

cadmium red;
titanium white;
cobalt blue;
fuchsin is persistent;
cadmium yellow;
ultramarine blue;
lemon cadmium;
pink paint;
the paint is bright red;
viridon greens;
scarlet cadmium;
azure;
light yellow ocher;
cadmium orange;
mauve paint;
light green cadmium;
Indian yellow;
gas soot;
purple dioxin;

How to paint with oil paints so that the image is rich and expressive? Of course, experience is needed, which does not come immediately. But the first steps can already be taken now, and for this you need to purchase some supplies.

Where can I buy?

Specialized art stores sell a variety of kits and kits for artistic creativity. Oil paints for beginners in a small set can be bought relatively inexpensively; they will be enough for drawing simple pictures. It is best to master the basics of painting by depicting any objects. This could be a bowl of fruit, a yellow apple with a red side, a cut watermelon or a bunch of grapes. Novice artists do best with fruit and vegetable themes.

How to paint with oil paints if you have nothing else at hand? Of course, you need a canvas or cardboard sheet of a suitable size for the work. They can be purchased at the same art store, along with thinner and several art brushes. Canvas for oil paints can be sold ready-to-use, coated with a special primer, or in the form of a piece of coarse fabric that you will have to prime yourself. If you do not have experience working with ground coating, then it is better to buy a ready-made canvas already stretched on a stretcher.

Paint brushes come in several types depending on size, hair quality and hardness. Each type is designed for a specific job. Wide and hard brushes are suitable for applying backgrounds; softer brushes perform more important work in drawing the details of the image. And thin ones are needed for final finishing, applying the smallest touches.

How much to buy?

Art sets that include paint brushes can be quite expensive, but you shouldn't buy them because only a small part of the set will be used and the rest will sit idle. For a beginning artist, you need 3-5 brushes of different styles. This is a wide flute, two medium-sized brushes (numbers 2 and 3) and a pair of brushes numbered 1 and 0. In this set you can paint anything: from a still life or landscape to a portrait of your favorite dog. Although a portrait with oil paints is a very delicate work, and you will be able to cope with it only after gaining experience.

There are several painting techniques that you can follow to achieve success. The technique of painting with oil paints is complex and varied. To depict any object, it is necessary to create many shades by mixing colors. Moreover, even an experienced artist cannot guess the right combination the first time. The work of creating a painting is based on constant correction of the initially obtained tone. This is a fascinating, but quite unpredictable process.

What is required from an artist?

How to paint with oil paints to achieve a good result the first time? First of all, perseverance is required from the artist. In addition, you need at least basic skills, the so-called basics of painting. Oil paints, a painting master class that will teach you how to use them, become clear and easy to use as you study them.

Education

What is the best way to use oil paints? We offer the first stage master class for beginners.

After the canvas is stretched onto a stretcher, it must be primed. This is necessary so that the paints are not absorbed into the fabric structure, but are laid out in an even layer over the entire surface of the canvas.

The simplest, but fairly reliable primer is a mixture of PVA glue (polyvinyl acetate dispersion) with water-based paint for finishing work. The proportion should be in equal parts, 1:1, the mixture should be stirred well and before applying to the canvas, diluted with a small amount of water to the consistency of thick cream. After this, you can cover the surface of the future painting with primer. As soon as the primer has dried, check it with a light touch of your fingers for adhesion. If it does not stick, then the canvas is ready for use.

Next stage

Next you need to apply the background to the canvas. This can be a background picture or a monochromatic painting of a certain part of the picture. For this work, you can use flat, hard brushes or a palette knife - a pear-shaped metal spatula. This tool is convenient for applying paint in a thin, even layer, and then making the coating as thin as possible so that you don’t have to wait too long for it to dry. As you know, oil paints dry very slowly; this process can take a month or two. Therefore, you need to be prepared for a long break from work.

The background coating has dried, you can proceed to the next step.

Next in line is drawing the contours of the sketch. This is done with a pencil lead if the background of the picture is light in color. On a dark background, contours can be marked with sharpened white chalk. In any case, it is necessary to outline all the contours before the process of painting with oil paints begins.

If the picture should depict several objects, then you need to start with the largest one. For example, this is a ceramic jug with a handle, and four cups are placed around it. Next to them is a small vase with plums, and behind it are several sweets scattered right on the tablecloth. This plot involves the use of several colors of oil paints: brown, dark blue, black, yellow, red and white.

Shadows as part of the drawing

Since the drawing begins with a ceramic jug, a little brown paint is squeezed onto the palette, which must be diluted to the desired consistency. You can put the finished paint on a brush and make the first strokes. After the jug is drawn, it should be shaded. This will require the same brown paint, but darker. Add a little black to the existing one and stir. Then we apply the shadows, it’s not difficult, the painted jug itself will tell you where the dark stripes should be.

The jug is ready, let's move on to the next part of the drawing, the cups. They are also ceramic, and thus the task is simplified. After all the cups are depicted, they are also shaded. It is necessary to monitor the direction of the shadows, since the conventional light in the picture falls on both the jug and the cups at the same angle. Compliance with the rules of angular lighting is one of the foundations of painting.

Glass or faience

The next stage is a vase with plums. There may be certain difficulties in the image here. The vase should not be made of glass, since glass gives many shades, in some places it is transparent, in others it is darkened. Depicting these nuances will be quite problematic. It is better to draw a vase made of earthenware, which will require elementary shadows and nothing more.

With plums, everything is also simple, the main thing is to depict them from such a perspective, as if they were partially covering each other. If the drawing is done from life, then this is not a difficult task.

Finishing touches

Dark blue paint is most suitable for depicting plums. In places where they touch, it is necessary to indicate this with thin curved lines. You definitely need to draw plum cuttings; they will emphasize the artist’s idea. But naturally, not every plum should have cuttings; in total, five or six of them should be depicted, no more.

And the last “characters” are candies. The main thing here is to outline believable contours, and you can color the wrappers however you like. After the painting is finished, it must dry. It’s better to put the canvas somewhere in a corner, facing the wall and check it from time to time.

Oil painting is one of the most popular fine art techniques. It was actively used in the past, but it is no less relevant now. Painting done with oil paints looks elegant and noble. However, learning to paint in oils is not an easy task, although it brings a lot of fun.

Oil painting - differences from other types of painting

Among the main differences between oil painting and other types of painting, it is necessary to indicate the following points:

Almost all modern paints consist of dry pigment and liquid, but oil paints also contain oil, usually linseed. Due to this, the paint dries slowly, but if it dries, it is very difficult to wipe it off

Oil paints are thick and come in tubes. From these, paints are squeezed onto a palette and mixed with each other to find new shades. If they harden, they are diluted with oil or solvent.

In oil painting you can paint for a long time. First, one layer is applied, then the design dries for three days, and then new colors can be applied on top.

It takes three to six months for the drawing to dry completely. Then a protective layer of dammar varnish is applied to the image.

Oil painting for beginners - preparation for work

Oil painting begins with careful preparation for work. It consists of the following stages:

Choice of colors. Even when painting with oils for beginners, it is not recommended to buy very cheap paints. It is better to give preference to a product at an average price. In terms of color, it is recommended to choose white, yellow, red, blue and black. In various combinations you can already get other colors from them.
Buying brushes. Paint brushes should be simple, but of high quality. Let them be flat, round and bristly in varying thicknesses. Soft brushes are not suitable for oil paints.
Preparing other tools. Painting with oil is unthinkable without a palette knife (a thin spatula for mixing and removing paint), a palette, canvas, rags, a jar for cleaning brushes, solvent or linseed oil. It will also gradually be possible to purchase an easel, tool box, protective film and an apron.
Organization of the workplace. The easel must be placed in a well-lit and always well-ventilated place. The floor will need to be covered with something, as it can easily be damaged by drops of paint. The height of the easel should be adjusted according to the height of the artist, and depending on whether he will stand or sit while working.

Oil painting lessons - basic step-by-step technique

If you imagine oil painting lessons in the form of a basic step-by-step technique, you will get the following algorithm of actions:

Sketch. First, it is recommended to make a sketch of the future painting with a simple pencil on canvas. It should include building a composition and drawing small details. You also need to think about how to fill the background near the main subject of the drawing. Then, based on the sketch, you will apply paint. However, you can skip the sketch if you plan to draw something abstract.
Colors. First, just sort your future painting into parts in your head - what colors it consists of, and how you can get them (by mixing what colors). Then start “producing” those colors on your palette. Work with shades and brightness of colors, trying to achieve the desired result. At the same time, remember that mixing several paints to re-create exactly the same color that you made initially is almost impossible. That is, paints need to be mixed with reserve so that not only today, but even tomorrow and the day after tomorrow you have something to paint.
Drawing. When working with oil paints, you need to paint according to the “thick on thin” principle. We are talking about using thinned paints first, and then applying thick paints on top of them. Also, begin to master oil vivacity by practicing on simple forms first, and gradually move on to more complex subjects. Let each layer of paint dry well (three days!), and only then move on to the next layer. While the paint is still wet, you can correct the drawing.
Varnishing. After the painting is completely finished, it is necessary to dry it thoroughly. Depending on the number of layers, it may take three months or more to dry completely. It should dry in a dry, well-ventilated area. Then, to protect the paint from fading and deterioration, the painting can be varnished. And once the varnish dries, the image can be hung in some prominent place.

The Aquamarine painting school invites you to classes in mastering the art of oil painting. We conduct classes both individually and in groups. Our experienced teachers will teach you how to paint with oil paints correctly: enjoy the process and be satisfied with the result.