Comprehensive Guide on How to Do Oil Painting

This guide on how to do oil painting will take your artwork a leap forward.

Do you want to learn how to paint a horse and ocean waves with oil painting techniques? These step-by-step instructions promise to elevate your artwork.

Oil painting is not just an art form, it's the joy and wonder of bringing subjects to life on your canvas.

You can paint dynamic artwork!

the art of how to do oil painting

Oils are a timeless and versatile art form that has captivated artists for centuries.  Whether you're 18 or 80, the techniques shared here will help you refine your skills in oil painting.

We will be painting a beautiful horse in action, while capturing the movement of the ocean waves.

Each step is carefully explained with accompanying images. By the end of the tutorial, you'll not only have completed a painting, but also expanded your artistic skills.

Be encouraged as you to push the boundaries of your creativity. Prepare your materials and get ready to paint an engaging piece of artwork.

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prepare your materials

This painting is on a 12x16 inch canvas. 

After the painting was done, it seemed like the expanse of the ocean drew the focus away from the horse. If I was to do it over again, I would use a shorter rectangle like a 'ad' 11x14 canvas to put the focus more on the horse. A 16x20 canvas would make a dynamic painting.

This painting and all my "oil paintings" are actually alkyd. Alkyds look and handle the same as oils. They are workable for an hour or more. But unlike oils they completely dry in 24 hours.

My favorite, Griffin alkyds by Winsor and Newton come out of the tube in a paintable consistency, so there is no need to use additional mediums. They have a small 'ad' set of 6 colors.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Do Oil Painting

First sketch a light drawing on the canvas. Then we'll start the horse painting with an underpainting, paint the ocean and sky around the horse and finish by painting the horse and other details.

Do a light sketch, not this dark.

Do a light sketch of the horse on the canvas with pencil or light, thinned paint.

If the drawing is done on paper first, transfer it to the canvas with 'ad' Graphite paper.

It's necessary to sketch the horse that dark. He is darker to show in the photo.

Notice the horizon line is above the center of the canvas.

While painting the background refer to the finished painting for the ocean waves.

It's a good idea to measure down from the top of the canvas and draw the horizon with a straight edge. It needs to be basically level.

How to Do Oil Painting with Ease

Oil paintings are painted dark to light and thin to thick. Some people say, fat over lean, that's the same as thin to thick.

• We do an underpainting with thin dark colors, leaving the light places unpainted.
• As the painting progresses, we paint thicker and lighter.
• The final layer and touch-ups are done with thick paint.

how to paint a Horse

The best way to do an oil painting is to start with an underpainting.

Underpaint with the mixed black paint.

Mix Burnt Sienna with Phthalo Blue to create black. Notice some of the black is painted warmer and other areas are cooler for variation and interest.

More sienna makes a warm brown and more blue makes a cool black. It's your choice.

Thin the paint substantially. My solvent choice is the odorless mineral spirits 'ad' Gamsol. It makes the underpainting dry fairly fast.

Paint a thin layer of the black paint on the darkest parts.

Use more thinner with less paint on what will be the highlight areas. The white canvas showing through makes the colors lighter.

Leave the bright highlight areas unpainted. No white paint is used at this step.

underpaint the head

Underpaint the horse's head and hooves in a similar manner. Pay close attention to the details, using a small brush for the finer points.

Paint the darkest values first.

Finish underpainting the head.

paint the mane and tail of the horse

Underpaint the mane and tail with dynamic brushstrokes that show movement. Turn a bright or flat brush sideways and use the edge to brush the strands of mane.

The bottom of the tail will be covered with water.

Now we see the full form of the horse.

This is the time to make any corrections on the drawing. The underpainting is thin and wet. It is easy to remove and make any changes at this time.

Use a clean brush with thinner, brush one stroke to pick up paint. Clean the brush and repeat as necessary to remove whatever needs to be changed.

See the blue arrow where I put too much mane down on the back. Some color remains. But after it's dry, it's easy to paint over.

Transforming Canvas into a Dynamic Scene

Sometimes the background is painted before the focal point. This time we started the horse to give his underpainting time to dry. While the horse is drying, we'll work on the background.

Block in the values of the ocean. That's how to do oil painting, by laying out the values first.

Then the horse was dry, so the sky came next. After the sky, the waves and beach are continued.

block in the ocean waves

Mix a thin green with the Yellow Ochre and Phthalo Blue.

Start with a level horizon line. We add life and movement to the painting with the waves coming in at an angle. Pull the brush strokes in the direction of the water's movement.

Paint the dark values of the water. Leave the foam and light-colored water unpainted.

Paint the horizon and beach foam lines.

Paint the water the way it's moving.

Paint the sky

The underpainting of the horse's mane is dry, so the horse color won't be dragging out into the sky.

Start the sky color with a pile of white, add a touch of Burnt Sienna and a little Phthalo Blue, mix. Add just enough thinner or medium to make it paintable.

1. The light is coming from the left, so start painting the sky in the upper right corner. The blue will get lighter towards the left. Add more white as you paint left.
2. Clean the brush and mix a tiny bit of Burnt Sienna into a pile of white without thinner. This time start painting at the horizon and paint the tinted white up over and into the blue sky.
3. Softly blend the white mixture to look like a hazy sky. With alkyds, I let the two layers set for an hour before blending. If you do it too soon, the two colors all mix together with no variation.
   

You may want a cloudy sky.

You may prefer a hazy sky.

You may choose not to do the blending of step 3. You may stop at step 2 that looks like a cloudy sky. It's your choice.

how to paint the ocean waves and beach

It's best to start painting the ocean before the sky is dry.

Painting the ocean water.

1. Start at the horizon with a blue, toned down with a little Burnt Sienna and white. Stroke the paint on from side to side and let the top edge blend softly into the sky. You may choose to blend them with a clean, dry brush after the ocean is painted. The soft edge creates distance.

2. Mix and paint a subdued blue for under the edge of all the foam rolls. The color will get lighter under the foam roll on the wave closer to the horse.

3. Shallow water looks greener. Mix some yellow, blue, a touch of Burnt Sienna and white for the flat water in the sunlight. Leave the foam on the flat water unpainted at this time.

4. Mix a light blue for the foam trails going up the face of the waves and in the shadowed water.

how to do oil painting of the ocean foam

We will paint the capping foam rolls in two steps; first the shadows, then the sunlit tops.

1. Mix a light, muted blue for the foam shadows. Use very little thinner. Scrub it on in a circular motion to simulate the movement of the foam. It's fine, if some of the dark water under the foam mixes in. It's all in the shadows.
2. White straight out of the tube is a cool white, so we mix a warm white. Use thick paint with nothing added. Load the brush with a lot of paint. Hold the brush flat (not up and down like a pencil) and pull it horizontally to release the paint. The clumps of the paint will create texture.

We'll paint the beach next!

Paint the foam shadows.

Paint the foam highlights with thick paint.

Painting the beach

Dry brush the beach area.

Mix Burnt Sienna with Phthalo Blue and white to mute the color.

Use a small amount of paint (nothing added) on the brush.

Dry brush the beach areas. Lightly drag the brush across the sand areas. The texture of the canvas will pull the paint off - hit and miss, creating texture.

Dry brushing and scumbling are part of how to do oil painting.

Later after it's dry, we will put some water over the sand.

paint the splashing water

We know oils are painted light to dark. That's what we do with the water splashing up by the horse. Use the same colors used in the waves and foam.

1. Underpaint the dark values of the splashing water and foam.
2. Paint the foam highlights and droplets.
   

Underpaint the splashing water.

Paint the highlights and droplets.

details and finishing the oil painting

Time to look over the painting. Step back and look at the painting at a distance and see what is needed to finish up. Let's start with putting highlights on the horse.

painting the horse highlights

Mix a light blue for the horse's highlights. This is much the same color used in the foam shadows.

Here is a photo of the exact color I mixed and used for the highlights. Even though it looked too blue on the palette, it will look white on the horse.

Years ago, I started using a 'ad' paper palette that can be thrown away after painting. It's easier than scraping yucky paint off a palette after a full day of painting.

Look at the horse to see where its contours are bulging toward us. That's a place for a highlight.

Place a small amount of paint for the highlights. Then softly blend out the edges.

Personally, I didn't paint the highlight above the eyeball. It's the bare canvas showing. It would be best to have paint on it, but I was chicken because it's such a small area.

Place the highlights on the contours.

Softly blend the edge of the highlights.

paint the final details

1. The sky is dry now, so we can paint some of the mane out over the sky. Use a small round brush or a script liner brush. Pull some strands of mane out over the sky. It the background is dry and they don't turn out right, they can be removed and repainted.

2. There are too many individual water droplets in the splash area. It was fun to painting them, but I will join some of them together for continuity.

Paint the finishing details.

3. Finish the beach water and foam, paint in the direction of the movement. Use both shadow and highlight colors for variety.

4. Pull some of the foam over the shadow edge, so very little shadow is showing in some areas.

5. Paint some water and/or foam on the beach sand.

From Blank Canvas to finished artwork

In this detailed page of how to do oil painting, we've walked through the essential steps to create a breathtaking scene of a horse running in the ocean.

From sketching, underpainting to detail work, always painting thin to thick and dark to light. You now possess the skills to enhance your techniques and appreciation of the art of painting oils.

The wonderful art of painting allows you to express your creativity and share your unique perspective with the world.

Keep painting and explore different subjects on additional pages on ArtbyCarolMay.com. A wealth of resources awaits to inspire and guide you further.

discover new horizons and keep painting!