Learn How to Paint Art for Beginners

You can learn how to paint wonderful artwork - right at home.

This beginner's path and set of quick-start projects will walk you through your first paintings step by step.

On this page, you’ll find ideas of what to paint, the supplies we really need, the fundamentals of good art (values, color, composition), and beginner-friendly tutorials where you learn by doing.

If you’re still deciding which medium to start with or how to get into painting on a budget, see Step #1 How to Get into Painting for an overview.

You can learn how to paint art with tutorials and tips.

Enter the awesome world of art!

Enter the awesome world of painting art!

How to Paint Art for Beginners: A Simple Path and Quick Start Projects

If you’re brand new: skim Sections 1–3, then choose one beginner tutorial from Section 4 and paint along.

If you have some experience: feel free to jump straight to the tutorials in Section #4. Use the other sections as a reference whenever you need them.

1. Why and What We Paint

It's no secret why artists paint. We paint to share things we see, what's important to us, express our emotions, or even document history.

Finding ideas and inspiration is a fun part of learning how to paint.

Keep a watch for things to paint.

Everyday life is full of inspiring ideas for a painting. The wonders of nature hold endless paintings.

It may be the bird perched on the backyard fence. We may find interesting things to paint on vacation.

It could be the dog curled up in front of the fireplace or the precious face of a child.

Start a file of ideas.

Keep your eyes open for inspiration. Look at paintings in books, on-line or at art shows.

If you don't have time to sketch things, take some photos that will jog your memory later.

Where to get more ideas for future paintings.

2. What Painting Materials Do You Need?

Quality materials make painting enjoyable and affect the outcome of our paintings.

What are the necessary supplies we need to learn how to paint? Basically, we need: a small set of paints, a couple of brushes, a simple palette, and something to paint on.

What Type of Paint Should We Use?

You may actually try different types of paint to decide which one you prefer.

The most popular types of paint are oil, watercolor and acrylic. Any of these three paints are great for learning to paint art.

Watercolor is a popular painting medium.

Painting watercolor is easy to learn.

Oils dry slower, allowing the artist time to blend and rework the passages before it dries.

Watercolor is often used for delicate, intricate works. Once their techniques are learned they make wonderful paintings.

Acrylic paint is fast drying and relatively inexpensive. It can be painted on various surfaces. One of my art friends does little landscape scenes on rocks and she sells almost every rock.

Visit an extensive explanation of the 3 popular paint mediums.

What Are the Essential Supplies?

You don’t need a big studio or a huge collection of art supplies to start painting. A small, simple kit is more than enough for your first paintings, and it keeps the focus on learning instead of shopping.

Begin with just a few basics:

A limited set of colors (a yellow, a red, a blue, plus white for opaque paints)
One or two brushes suited to your medium
A simple palette or plate for mixing
A surface to paint on (canvas, board, or watercolor paper)

As you follow this beginner path and complete a few small paintings, you’ll quickly discover which extra colors, brushes, or surfaces you actually enjoy using.

It’s better to start small, paint more, and slowly add to your supplies than to feel overwhelmed by too many choices.

For the full beginner supply checklist (exact colors, brush sizes, surfaces, and budget tips), see How to Get into Painting, especially - Get Budget-friendly Supplies.

3. Fundamentals of Painting Art

When we’re learning how to paint, we all have questions.

Some common concerns are about composition, color theory, mixing colors, and how to avoid mistakes that can weaken a painting.

What Is Composition and Why Is It Important?

Composition is the way things are arranged in a painting.

There are different types of compositions.

An intriguing composition of Koi

A good composition:

Invites the viewers into the painting.
Allows their gaze to move around the painting.
Avoids any blocks or hindrances that stop the eye.

Artists use the rule of center lines and the rule of thirds to create pleasing arrangements.

We want to avoid mistakes with lines, shapes, tangents, positioning and grouping items.

Get my tips for creating strong, beginner-friendly compositions.

Composition - Thumbnail challenge: (5–15 minutes)

Take any simple subject (a mug, a plant, a window).
Draw 3 tiny rectangles (about 2 x 3 inches).
Arrange the subject differently in each rectangle (close-up, from above, left/right).

Circle the thumbnail that feels most interesting. Why does this one work better?

How Do We Avoid Mistakes? Start by Seeing Values

We all make mistakes (myself included). It’s part of learning. The key is to learn from them so we don’t keep repeating the same ones.

One of the biggest early challenges is paying attention to values - the lightness or darkness of your colors.

It’s easy to fall in love with color (I do!) and forget about values. But even the most beautiful colors will look flat if they’re all in the middle value range.

Your paintings become much more powerful when you use a good mix of light, medium, and dark values.

The colorful painting below has many medium values, but there is good contrast between the light and dark values.

Colors are awesome!

Look at paintings in grayscale to see the values.

Values are the backbone of paintings.

You’ll see a big difference when you use a good range of light, medium, and dark values in your work.

Try this:
Before your next painting, do a tiny value study with just 3 values; light, medium, and dark. Then use that as a guide when you paint in color.

Quick Start - Practice Seeing Values

Select 2-3 paintings you admire, at work, online, in a book or magazines.
Snap a photo of each one with your phone and convert the photos to grayscale (black and white).
Look for the lights and darks. Where are the lightest areas? The darkest?
Now do the same with 2-3 paintings that feel “unimpressive” to you. Compare the grayscale versions. Do they have less contrast in values?

Notice how much the contrast in values affects the impact of the painting. That's why values are called the “backbone” of a painting.

Learn more about seeing and using values in your paintings.

Do I Use Color Theory to Mix Colors?

Yes, definitely.

We learn about color theory with the artist color wheel.

Artists use the color wheel often.

We learn color theory from the artist’s color wheel. It teaches:

Primary colors
Secondary and tertiary colors
We learn how colors relate to each other (warm and cool colors, complementary pairs, etc.)

Over time, many artists memorize the color wheel and use it almost automatically.

Visit the artist color wheel page to learn more color theory.

Quick Start - Warm and Cool Colors (5 minutes)

1. Look at the color wheel image above (or your own color wheel).

2. Make a list of the warm colors you see.

3. Make a list of the cool colors you see.

HINT: Warm colors contain yellow. Cool colors normally contain blue.

How Do We Learn to Mix Colors?

Beginning artists should start with the three primary colors; red, yellow and blue.

Mix colors from the 3 primaries.

We know mixing red and yellow creates orange.
Yellow and blue make green.
Blue and red make a violet (purple).

Mix oil, alkyd or acrylic with a palette knife. Watercolor is mixed with a brush.

Use small dabs of paint and slowly add bits of the darker color to the lighter color until you get the desired color.

It doesn't take much dark color to change a lighter color. Get tips on mixing colors.

Quick Start - Mix Your Own Colors (10 –15 minutes)

1. Put a small amount of each primary color (red, yellow, blue) on your palette.

2. Mix the secondary colors:

Red + yellow = orange
Yellow + blue = green
Blue + red = violet

3. Bonus: How to Mix Tertiary Colors

Yellow + orange = yellow-orange; red + orange = red-orange
Yellow + green = yellow-green; blue + green = blue-green
Blue + violet = blue-violet; red + violet = red-violet

Great job! You have mixed 6 new colors that you don't have to buy.

How Do I Choose the Right Colors for My Paintings?

Each of the painting tutorials have a list of the colors used in that particular painting.

How do choose the colors for a painting?

This painting only used 3 colors.

For your own paintings, lean toward a limited palette with the least number of colors possible. This makes color harmony easier.

A simple way to choose your colors:

Decide on the main color for your focal subject. It may be a warm or cool color.
Choose a color that's the opposite of the subject's color. For example, if the subject color is warm, choose a cool color or vice versa.
Add a third color that complements or highlights the first two colors.

See the details on how I chose the colors of the turtle painting.

Quick Start – Plan a Simple Palette (5–15 minutes)

1. Pick a subject you want to paint (for example, a turtle, a flower, or a cup of coffee).

2. Choose one main color for your subject.

3. Choose its opposite on the color wheel for your shadows and darks.

4. Add one extra color for small accents or highlights.

Next Step: Strengthen Your Fundamentals

After you’ve completed 1–2 tutorials, visit:

Fundamentals are easy with a practical 3-point plan on How to Paint Good Art.

4. Learn How to Paint with the Tutorials

The best way to learn painting is by actually doing it! The tutorials are great for practice and learning how to paint at the same time.

Choose the tutorials that pique your interest and start painting. You may be drawn to the fluidity of watercolor or the rich textures of oil paint.

You may want to browse all my step-by-step painting tutorials.

Oil Painting Tutorials

Please Note: The oil tutorials may also be used for acrylic or alkyd paint.

Learn to paint oils step-by-step tutorial

Learn and paint with the oil painting rules.

Learn to begin painting oils with a step-by-step tutorial.

Begin painting oils with a colorful bird.

Now try this: Choose one beginning oil tutorial from above and set a time this week to paint it.

How to Paint Watercolor Tutorials

The best way to learn how to paint is by actually painting.

Paint 3 basic watercolor techniques.

Begin painting watercolor step by step.

Start here: Pick one beginner watercolor tutorial from above and set a time to paint it.

5. How to Stay Inspired and Find Your Style

We stay inspired by painting often. Many professional artists paint daily, but even short, regular sessions will keep you moving forward.

Join your local art association and paint with other artists.
Go to art shows, and visit art museums.
Share your paintings with friends, family, and other artists.
Try painting different subjects, using new colors, or a different medium for a while. I often switch back and forth between oils and watercolor.
Notice what you enjoy most and explore it. It may become your new style.

How Do I Find My Own Unique Style?

Experimenting with different painting styles is part of finding our personal artistic voice.

Realism depicts subjects as they are in real life. It takes sharp observation, technical skills a lot of time and patience. It's a challenge, but it can be very rewarding.

Abstract art works with shapes, colors, and forms, that may or may not represent real-life subjects. It conveys emotions and ideas rather than discernible objects.

Impressionism emphasizes light and color, instead of realistic details. The impressionist often uses bold brushwork to create vibrant and dynamic paintings.

Trying different styles expands our horizons and we can discover new ways to express ourselves.

Our artwork may not be a specific style, but it will be uniquely ours.

Don't hesitate to experiment.

Realism requires patience.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve covered what to paint, your materials, fundamentals, and tutorials. Here are some final quick answers to common questions beginners ask:

How Do We Clean the Brushes?

Clean brushes are a joy to use.

Be sure and clean your brushes before the paint dries in the brush!

Watercolor and acrylic brushes clean-up with water.

Swish the brushes in a container of water. Acrylic may require some mild soap the get all the paint out.

Oil paint is cleaned up with odorless mineral spirits. Gamsol is recommended for studio painting.

Lay the cleaned brushes flat, horizontally to dry.

Don't put them upright to dry, stuff will run down into the ferrule and eventually ruin the brushes.

Can I Learn to Paint If I Can't Draw?

Yes, you certainly can. Start by looking at things as simple shapes - a triangle for a Christmas tree, a square for a sandwich, or a circle for a ball.

When we get the shapes right, our subject automatically starts to look like what it is. As you paint, you’ll gradually pick up more drawing skills, so don’t wait to be “good at drawing” before you start painting.

If drawing is holding you back - a simple trick to start you painting right away.

How Long Does It Take to Learn How to Paint?

There’s no single answer. How fast you learn depends mostly on how much and how often you paint. For example, one person might paint once a month for 6 hours, while someone else paints four times a month for 1½ hours.

The more frequent painter usually improves faster, because skills grow with regular practice, not just long sessions.

Is Oil Painting Harder Than Watercolor for Beginners?

I don’t think oils are harder (I’m a bit biased, because I learned with oils!). Oils dry more slowly, which gives you extra time to blend and adjust. Watercolor is beautiful but less forgiving, because it dries faster - making adjustments harder.

You can learn to paint in any medium with a good teacher and some patience - choose the one that excites you most.

How Often Should I Practice Painting as a Beginner?

Daily painting puts our learning into warp drive!

Many of us can’t paint every day. But painting once a week is a fast track to steadily becoming a confident, proficient artist.

The key is to paint as often as your schedule allows, and keep coming back to it.