your Comprehensive Guide on How to Oil Paint

Do you want to learn how to oil paint? You're at the perfect place for information.

Oil paint offers a unique richness and depth that can transform your artwork. Oil paint is an easy and pleasant medium to use for our modern masterpieces.

This guide includes what is the best paint, brushes, colors, the rules of oil painting and how to use them with a step-by-step oil painting tutorial.

Oil painting is easy!

Oil painting is easy!

how to oil paint

Start your first oil painting.

What oil painting supplies do we need?

This section includes; The recommended oil paint, what to paint on, what brushes we use for oil painting and the colors we need to begin?

What is the best oil paint?

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

Use quality paint for your artwork.

It's best to choose artist paint.

High quality artist paints produce good quality paintings.

You may be wondering why should we use artist quality paint when student paint costs less?

Student paints are less expensive because they contain less color pigment.

Fewer color pigments mean the colors are not as vibrant and 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 pigments. So, they take less paint per painting. That makes them a better buy after the initial investment. 

Alkyd paint dries fast

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

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 look and handle exactly like oil paint. Their faster drying time makes it easier to learn how to oil paint.

Griffin alkyd paint is an artist quality alkyd made by Winsor and Newton. They been my favorite '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 oils on?

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

Gessobord is great for details.

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

• Ready-made stretched canvas from the art stores is 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.

Cotton canvas is best for everyday oil painting. Smooth textured linen is great for portraits, but it's more expensive.

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

Gessobord an archival panel 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. They are suitable for student work and practice.

what brushes do we use for oil painting?

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.

Synthetic oil brushes are good, too. They seem to wear better than hog hair, so I am switching over to synthetic brushes. That is - except for seascapes. Hog hair brushes are my favorites for painting the ocean.

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

Choose from flat, filbert or bright brushes. They are all ideal for oil painting. 

• Flats have long bristles that carry plenty of paint. 
• Filberts are long like flats, but their corners are rounded off. They work well for paintings where we don't want the brush marks showing.
• Brights have shorter bristles that leave brush strokes for bolder creations.

I don't recommend small or round brushes for learning. They make us too fussy.

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

When you are learning to oil paint, get the feel of using the paint before investing in more than 2 brushes.

What colors do we need to start?

Begin painting with the three primary colors, plus white.

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

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

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

If you're eager to begin painting with oil, understanding the essential rules and techniques can make all the difference.

oil painting rules - fat over lean

There are two basic guidelines for oil painting.

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

• Start oil paintings thin (lean) by mixing the paint with a solvent. The thinned paint dries quicker than thick paint.
• As the painting progresses, do less thinning. The thicker paint dries slower.
• The final thick (fat) layer of paint will be straight out of the tube with nothing added.

Note: If we paint thin over thick paint, the thick paint underneath is still slowly drying. While it is drying, it may cause the top thin layer to crack.

2. Paint oils from DARK to LIGHT.

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

It's difficult to paint dark colors over white, light colors. White on the other-hand, is opaque and it easily covers darker colors.

how to oil paint step-by-step

This tutorial is an excellent way to get the feel of oil painting.

It will guide you through the crucial steps of oil painting, so you get the most out of this classic medium.

Get your supplies for this tutorial

• Choose a blue color of your choice, Burnt Sienna and a warm yellow like Indian Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium or Cadmium Yellow Light.
• The painting is on an 11x14" canvas. You could use a canvas paper pad or a canvas board.
• Flat and bright brushes are both ideal for oil painting. In this painting I used #3, #4 and #5 flats.
• Odorless mineral spirits is the solvent used for thinning the paint and cleaning brushes. Gamsol is recommended for painting indoors.

how do we start an oil painting?

It's good to have a reference to paint, actual things or a photo.

Many times, artists will do thumbnail sketches to figure out the composition, forms and values. But for our tutorial, we will be painting from a photo that has all that done for us.

We start by putting a line drawing on the painting surface with paint that has been thinned with a solvent.

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. That's what I did.

More tips on how to start a painting.

Use a painting reference.

Put a line drawing on the canvas.

Let's review the rules of oil painting

1. paint thin, dark colors

Mix a brown by combining blue and Burnt Sienna.

Make the mixture black for the eyes, nose and feet by adding additional blue. 

Thin the paint with solvent.

Paint the thin, dark colors.

Paint the darks on the body with the thinned brown paint.

Paint the eyes and foot pads black. Add more thinner for the grey nose.

The book is a dark brown and the pages are lightened with extra thinner.

how do we fix mistakes?

It's easy to correct mistakes in the thin stage.

Clean the brush with solvent. Blot the excess solvent on a paper towel.

Brush away the mistake with the clean damp brush. Repeat if needed.

Thin paint is easy to remove.

When it's thick paint, scrape the thick paint off with a palette knife.

Clean the brush with solvent. Blot the excess solvent on a paper towel.

Brush away the remaining paint. Rinse and repeat, as needed.

paint the background

The background is painted in one shot, so we won't use solvent. If your paint is too stiff, thin it with some medium.

Mix your blue into a pile of white paint.

Don't thoroughly mix the color on the palette, unless you desire one even color.

Paint with artistic brush marks.

Doing some mixing on the canvas, it gives the painting an artistic appeal. 

Notice the value difference between the left and right side. 

Start painting with the darkest color in the upper right corner.

Lighten the blue with more white as you paint toward the left.

Also, lighten the blue as it goes down to where the bear is sitting.  

Get more tips on how to mix colors.

The solvent will make the dark colors dry quickly, so we can start painting the medium colors.

2. paint the medium colors

Mix Burnt Sienna with white and a touch of blue to get a variety of light browns.

Start painting the bear with the medium value colors.

Leave the lightest areas unpainted.

Paint over the darks with a very light stroke. Gently apply a thin layer of paint that allows the dark color to show through.

The darks should be fairly dry so they won't mix with the lighter paint. If they do mix - look under the left ear, the colors mixed. So, what do we do? 

Paint away from the dark color, then stop and wipe your brush on a paper towel. Reload with clean medium color to continue painting.

Note: Only wipe the dirty color off with a dry paper towel. Don't clean it with solvent because solvent on the brush will pull the paint off the canvas. 

The red arrows point to places painted very lightly or left unpainted for the next step.

3. paint the thick, light colors

The lightest colors are paint only, no medium added.

Mix Burnt Sienna and white for the left side of the painting. Mix a warm yellow and white for the lightest colors on the right side.

Tap the light colors on creating fur.

Load the brush with plenty of paint.

Tap the canvas lightly on the edge, corner and/or the tip of the brush. (Do not use a painting stroke.) Change the position of the brush each time it touches the canvas.

The light colors will mix with the medium colors. When you run out of paint, reload the brush again with plenty of paint.

Continue touching the canvas and lifting the brush up after each touch to create the fur texture.

paint the bear's feet and book

Let's put together all 3 steps in the photo below.

1. Painting thin, dark color
2. Medium colors
3. Thick, light colors

Paint fat over lean and thick over thin.

The bear's feet:

• First, paint the shadows under the book with thin, dark paint. 
• Next, mix and paint a medium shadowed color (blue, Burnt Sienna and white).  
• Last, mix and paint warm highlight colors on the light part of the feet.

I got carried away with the light under the book where it would be shadowed. Later, I removed the wrong color and repainted it.

The book:

• The left pages were painted with warm, yellow white.
• The right page was painted with a light medium color used on the feet. Then warm white was painted above the medium color.
• To create more interest, brown was intermittently painted on the left side of the book cover.

Mix a little of the foot's shadow color with white to get a warm, pale grey. Use it to shadow the left side of the bear's muzzle. The right side is a warm yellow white.

Paint the shadows on the bear's seat.

finish the painting

Now you know the basics of how to oil paint.

Your oil painting is finished.

Only one more thing to paint.

Paint the medium colors on the bear's seat. As you paint, gently paint into the shadows to make a smooth transition.

Paint the highlights last and gently blend them into the medium colors to make it resemble fabric.

Touch up anything that catches your eye and your painting is finished.

frequent questions about oil painting

You may have a few more questions about how to oil paint.

There are lots of fun things to paint!

tutorials for more oil painting

Do you want to do another oil painting?

A dog oil painting tutorial

This fun dog tutorial is great for more practice with oil paint.

Use the 2 rules you just learned in 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.

how to oil paint flowers

This is an easy flower painting.

You can paint these white daisies.

It's easy to paint these daisies in five steps.

1. Assemble your materials and sketch the daisies on the canvas.

2. Paint the dark background before the white flowers.

3. Paint the petals with the background colors in the shadowed areas and highlight the sun-kissed areas with a warm white.

4. Paint the center buttons from dark to light to show their contour.

5. Paint the leaves and stems as you desire.

begin painting more oils

Paint with the rules of oil painting.

This exciting tutorial is for intermediate artists.

It uses the rules of oil painting: Paint dark to light and 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.

have fun oil painting!

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.