A Comprehensive Guide on How to Oil Paint

You want to learn how to oil paint, but you have some questions. Welcome, you're at the perfect place for information.

This guide includes what is the best paint, brushes, colors and the basic guidelines of oil painting, including a short demo of oil painting using the 2 rules of oil painting.

Oil paint is an easy and pleasant medium to use for creating our modern masterpieces.

Are you looking for answers to your questions about how to oil paint?Oils make gorgeous paintings.
Are you looking for answers to your questions about how to oil paint?Oils make gorgeous paintings.

how to oil paint

Get the answers you need to start your first oil painting.

What oil paint supplies do we need?

This section includes; What do we paint on, what brushes do we use for oil painting, how long does it take oil paintings to dry, and what is painting medium?

What are the best oil paints?

When we are learning how to oil paint don't skimp on quality.

Choose artist quality paints.Use good paint for your artwork.

It's best to choose professional, artist paint. There are many good brands of oil paints.

You may be wondering why use artist quality paint because student paint costs less?

Student paints are less expensive because they contain less color pigment. Less pigment means the paint doesn't cover as well. We may have to use several coats of student paint to get bright, juicy colors.

Artist quality paints contain more color pigment. So, they take less paint per painting. That makes them a better buy after the initial investment. 

High quality artists paints produce good quality paintings.

how long does it take oil paintings to dry?

Oil paintings may take a few days, up to a week or two (depending on the weather) to dry for safe handling.

The various colors dry at different rates. For example, Burnt Umber, Raw and Burnt Sienna dry faster. The cadmium and quinacridone colors dry slower.

Some colors dry with sheen and other dry flat without any shine.

Depending on the color and how thick the paint is, it may take days, up to several months for an oil painting to dry completely.

Alkyd paint dries fast

Alkyds are our modern version of 'oil paint'. They are made with exactly the same pigments as oil paint.

Alkyd paintings dry within 24 hours.Alkyd painting on canvas

Their color pigments are carried by alkyd resin instead of oil.

The resin speeds up their drying time. They are workable for several hours, but dry within 24 hours.

All the colors dry at the same time with the same finish.

They handle and look exactly like oil paints. Their faster drying time makes it easier when we are learning to oil paint.

Griffin alkyd paint is an artist quality alkyd made by Winsor and Newton. They been my 'oil paint' since the 1980s.

They are easy to use and they come out of the tube ready to use without adding any medium.

what do we paint on?

Gessobord is great for painting details in oil paintings.Gessobord is great for details.

When we are learning how to oil paint, we have a choice of three painting supports.

Canvas is the traditional oil painting support. The canvas is stretched over and around wood bars.

Cotton canvas is best for everyday oil painting. Linen with its smooth texture is great for portraits, but it's more expensive.

Panels may be made from wood or synthetic woods such as Masonite. They need to be primed with gesso in preparation for painting.

An excellent archival panel is Gessobord. It is primed and ready for painting. It has a smooth surface that is excellent for portraits or other detailed paintings. 

Canvas boards are a third option. Canvas boards are suitable for student work and practice while we are learning.

Ready-made stretched canvas and canvas panels from the art stores are primed with gesso. The gesso keeps the paint from sinking into the canvas.

They are ready to paint on, we don't have to anything extra.

what brushes are used for oil painting?

Oil painting brushes are generally either soft or stiff.

Soft brushes are made from real animal hair or soft synthetic hairs. They are used for smoother types of work, such as portraits and some still life paintings.

Stiff brushes for oil painting are generally made from hog hair bristles. They are good for expressive work where we may want the brush strokes to show in the finished artwork.

Hog hair brushes are my favorites for ocean paintings.

What paint and brushes do we need to start oil painting?Express yourself with an oil painting!

what brushes should we start with?

Hog hair brushes are great when we are learning to use oils. Stiff brushes move the paint around better and are easier to use with oil paint.

Flats or filbert brushes are both ideal for oil painting. Brights have shorter bristles, so they will leave more brush strokes for bolder creations.

Start with a couple of brushes like #8 and #12.

When learning how to use oil paint, get the feel of using the paints before investing in more brushes.

Using a palette knife to mix colors saves paint compared to mixing with a brush.

Learn more about mixing colors

what is a painting medium?

Many oil paints come out of the tube ready to use. So, you may not need a painting medium.

Other oil paints come out of the tube thick and stiff. Thick paint is difficult to brush. Mixing the paint with a painting medium makes it easier to use.

There are a multitude of different painting mediums we could purchase.

We can make our own painting medium by mixing half linseed oil with half solvent (turpentine or mineral spirits).

Store the medium in a glass container with a screw tight lid.

We have a second way to thin oil paint. Oil paint is manufactured with linseed oil. So instead of using a medium, mix in a little extra linseed oil to make the paint easier to use. This will cause the paint to dry a little slower.

What colors do we use?

When we are learning how to use oils, begin with the three primary colors, plus white.

  • Cadmium Yellow Light
  • Cadmium Red Light
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Titanium White is the best white for all around painting.

We use more white than any of the colors, so be sure and get a large tube of white.

Winton oil colors are considered the best student paints because they contain more color pigments than many other brands. 

Find oil painting supplies, here.

the rules of how to oil paint

There are two basic guidelines for oil painting.

Oils are painted THIN to THICK. Some people say, "Paint fat over lean." It's the same thing.

If we do it the other way around by painting thin over thick paint, the painting may crack after a period of time.

Start a painting thin (lean) by mixing the paint with some painting medium, turpentine or mineral spirits. The thin layer of paint will dry quickly.

how to oil paint

  1. Start your oil painting with thin layers of paint. Paint thin dark colors first.
  2. As the paint progresses use less thinner. 
  3. The final layer will be straight paint. Paint the thick light colors last.

As the painting progresses, use less medium and start using thicker, fatter paint. The fat paint dries slower.

The final, fat layer of paint will be straight out of the tube with no medium added. This gives the final layer plenty of time to dry without cracking.

Paint oils from DARK to LIGHT.

Thinly paint the dark colors first. The final colors are the lightest and thickest colors.

White, light colors are hard to paint over with dark colors. White on the other-hand, is opaque and it easily covers darker colors.

how do we start an oil painting?

Start an oil painting by putting a line drawing on the canvas, panel or canvas board. Use paint that has been thinned with a solvent or medium.

Alternately, do a light pencil drawing directly on the canvas. Or do a drawing on paper and transfer it to the canvas with graphite paper.

More tips on how to start a painting.

oil painting demo

Oil painting offers a unique richness and depth that can transform your artwork. If you're eager to begin painting with oil, understanding the essential rules and techniques can make all the difference.

This section will guide you through the crucial steps to create beautiful oil paintings, so you get the most out of this classic medium.

start painting oils

This short demo is an excellent way to get the feel of oil painting. Get your supplies and try it!

Reference for an oil painting demo.We will paint this mountain lake.
  • Phthalo Blue and white paint, you could also use a dark brown, black or Prussian Blue.
  • The painting is on an 8x10" canvas. You could use a canvas paper pad or a canvas board.
  • A flat or bright brush is ideal for painting the edges of the mountains.

A good way to paint a landscape is to start at the top of the canvas and paint down toward the bottom. This enables the closer items to overlap those behind them, thus creating the illusion of distance in the painting.

Other paintings may be done in a different order.

how to oil paint

Oils are painted THIN to THICK and DARK to LIGHT.

  1. Thinly underpaint the dark colors.
  2. Paint the medium values with medium thickness.
  3. Finally, paint the highlights and details with thick, light paint.

These rules are the same for alkyd and acrylic paintings.


sketch the large shapes

Outline the composition and lay in the sky.

Outline the large shapes with thinned paint.

Start painting the sky darker at the top and lighter toward the mountains. Let the sky dry a bit. Then we will smooth it out later after painting the mountains.

1. thinly paint the darks

Paint the mountains from the back forward.

Paint the mountains from the back to the front with THIN, DARK paint, each one is darker coming forward.

The mountains are darker at the top and lighter at the base to simulate mistiness.


2. paint medium values

Paint the water with the mountain reflections.

Paint the water and the reflections with fewer details. Paint the dark first, then medium, then light.

The dark reflections are slightly lighter and the light reflections are a little darker.

3. highlights and details

Paint the final details of the reflections and refine the sky.

Load your brush with THICK, LIGHT color. Stroke the highlights on the water horizontally.

Soften the sky with a clean brush and make any other final adjustments you desire.

do you want to start oil painting?

Do an easy oil painting on canvas.A dog oil painting tutorial

Practice the same oil painting rules you just learned with this fun dog tutorial:

  • Paint dark to light.
  • Paint thin to thick.

The painting uses a simple color scheme with only three colors and white.

Black, grey and brown are not included in the three colors.

You get to use the easy method of mixing black, brown and grey from the selected palette colors.

begin painting more oils

Learn how to do oil painting.Paint with the rules of oil painting.

This exciting tutorial is for intermediate artists. It uses the rules of classic oil painting.

Paint dark to light. Paint thin to thick.

First you underpaint by blocking in the dark colors of the horse.

Then block in the background water and paint the sky.

While painting thicker and lighter, complete the beach and the ocean waves.

After the sky is dry, highlight and detail the horse.

How do we clean oil brushes?

Oil paints contain oil and we will need a solvent to dissolve the oil and clean our brushes.

Good lighting is essential for painting.There are lots of fun things to paint!

Modern day artists use odorless mineral spirits or odorless turpentine.

The odorless mineral spirits, Gamsol made by Gamblin is considered one the best solvents for studio painting. Keep it in a covered container between painting sessions.

An apron or dedicated paint clothes are a good option for painting art.

Baby oil is noted for taking fresh paint off of clothes. Kiss-Off Stain Remover is supposed to work, but I have never tried it.

If we clean our brushes well with mineral spirits, they may not need additional cleaning. We may periodically clean the brushes with Masters Brush Cleaner which also conditions the brushes.

Paper towels are handy to wipe the brush between colors and for clean-up later.

Where should we paint?

A dedicated painting area will encourage us to paint more often. We can leave our supplies out, so they are ready for painting at any time.

Good lighting is a necessity for painting.

A north window is considered the ultimate light for artists. Otherwise use daylight bulbs which contain full-spectrum lighting.

Regular incandescent bulbs provide a warm light. Paintings done under regular bulbs will appear cool and dull in daylight.

Florescent lights have a blue light that skews our color perception. However, daylight florescent bulbs are available at many building supply stores.

We need good ventilation in our painting area. An exhaust fan or a window cracked open are a good option.

A drop cloth will protect the carpet or floor.

More about our home art studio

what should we paint?

Start learning to paint with small, simple paintings.Start painting small.

Small paintings are fun!

Start out with small paintings you can complete in one session.

Choose a simple subject for learning how to oil paint.

Paint the things we see around us in our environment.

Be wary of using commercial photos or paintings that have copyrights.

Pixabay.com has photos without copyright restrictions. Or paint from some of your own photos.

Get ideas for your first paintings.

You now have a firm foundation on how to oil paint. We've gone from paints and brushes to the technical aspect of painting oils, cleaning brushes and lighting sources.

You are equipped with all the necessary knowledge to start your first oil painting project!

have fun oil painting!

more oil painting