Oil Painting: Landscape and Oil Paintings for Beginners. Fundamentals of oil painting Oil painting techniques

Have you ever dreamed of painting a beautiful, expressive oil painting? In this article, you will find some tips to help you immerse yourself in the wonderful world of oil paints. Once you master the basics of working with oil paints, the canvas will become your fantasy world!

Method 1 of 5: Prepare space for creativity

Method 2 of 5: Preparing Oil Paints

Method 3 of 5: Start writing

The brush should be held by the handle or its protruding part, but up to the metal frame. This will allow you to properly hold the brush during strokes without squeezing it too hard.

We draw. It all depends on what you want to depict. We recommend reading a book or special sites about specific types of painting (portrait, landscape, animal painting, seascape, sky, flowers, still life, etc.), because each type has its own different techniques and techniques that need to be learned and which cannot be covered in a general information article.

• First, make a sketch of the future picture with a pencil on canvas. This will help to build a composition, fine details, straight lines, etc. before starting work with paints. Having made a sketch, you can easily make changes to it. First - a sketch with a pencil, and then - painting with paints (of course, if you do not plan to draw something abstractly random).
• As an exercise, practice with black and white to draw a palette of all shades of gray from white to black. This will give you a sense of saturation and contrast.
• Do not be lazy and look at a large number of instructional videos and sites about painting on the Internet. Many generous artists have left a wealth of information online for you to use. Search for words such as “painting lessons” or “painting lessons” and see what the search engine gives you.
• Feel free to ask for help from a more experienced artist. He can look at your work and give constructive advice on how to improve your technique.

Do not forget that just a few things can make the process of painting much more enjoyable. Understanding the basics of how oil paints work will help you get the best results in your painting. For example:

• In the process of creating your painting, it is important to understand at what stage you are. One of the rules: draw according to the method from “thin to thick”. This means that it is best to apply a light coat of paint with less oil to the canvas first. So loose paint will consist of one part paint and two parts thinner. As you progress through the stages of your work, each subsequent layer will contain more oil and less thinner. Too much oil can cause the layer to wrinkle when it dries.
• When applying colors, make them brighter than in real life. Then the picture will not seem dull and tired.
• Try to keep the same color in the same place on the palette - so instinctively you will reach for the right color, as your sense of color and shade will develop as you work.
• On canvas, don't get carried away with mixing colors. It's very easy to turn a section of a painting into a dirty brown spot by frequently trying to fix something on several layers of different colors. If you are trying to fix something and you didn’t succeed on the first try, then it’s better to erase the entire area with a rag - the paints will easily come off the canvas.
• Oil paints take a long time to dry, so you have enough time to wipe off the paint within 24 hours of application. As with other paints, if the layer is too thick, then it will not dry completely for a long time.
• If you are painting outdoors, then stand so that the sun does not fall on the canvas or on the palette. Both the canvas and the palette should be in the shade, in excessive sunlight you will mix the colors incorrectly and, when you come home, you will find that the picture turned out to be dirty and dark.
  • When working on the street, you should limit yourself to fewer colors. You can prepare the necessary colors at home and then you do not have to take all the colors on the “battlefield”.

Rinse your brushes well during color changes. When you are ready to wash your brush from one color to use another, dry the brush thoroughly with a rag before sending it to the solvent. So you have enough solvent for longer and the brushes are better washed. Rinse the brush well in the solution, and then dry thoroughly with a cloth.

Give your creativity time to work. After applying the first coat, about 48 hours should elapse before the painting dries and is ready for the next coat, without smearing the first day's work.

• The work must dry in a cool, dry place where it will not be smeared, scratched, touched, etc. Do not leave the painting to dry in the dark, this can lead to yellowing of the colors, as a light film will cover the work.
• Don't leave the painting to dry in a place where there are a lot of insects - they leave terrible stains on fresh paints when they stick to them.

In order to learn how to draw with oil paints, 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 by going into such a store without prior preparation, because the seemingly obvious set of what canvas, brushes and oil paints are considered to be for a good start in this matter will not be enough. This article aims to enable you to virtually visit an artist's shop, as if accompanied by an experienced mentor. So, let's begin!

Canvas

The first thing you and I 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 a fabric that is primed in the right way, tightly stretched over 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 the fabric over stretcher themselves, they themselves primed it. Since these recommendations are intended for novice artists, we will not delve into the topic of stretching a canvas on a stretcher, we will talk about how to choose the right surface that is already ready for work, namely, a canvas already primed and stretched on a stretcher.

It's best to canvas canvas it 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 graininess of the canvas is various irregularities and knots in the fabric, in the weaving of the threads of the canvas. If there are many such inclusions, the threads are coarse, then you have a canvas with a high grain size. It is suitable for drawing objects with a strong texture, such as old brick walls, knotted tree trunks, stones, rock fragments, etc. Here you can work with large pasty strokes, use a palette knife. Therefore, such a canvas is not suitable for painting objects with a delicate texture, for conveying delicate light and shade transitions. The gentle 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 such a canvas that is best purchased by novice artists; by the way, you can make a more detailed preliminary drawing with a pencil on it. And you can easily erase the part of the picture that 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 frame is made. Usually it is linden, pine or birch. The wood must be well finished, dry, smooth, free of knots, chips, rot and wormholes.

Oil paints

To begin with, you should not buy a large number of colors, it will be quite sufficient to purchase a set of 10-12 colors. The most important thing is that this set should contain blue (azure, cobalt), red (medium cadmium, light or dark), yellow (medium cadmium), black (gas 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 such a minimum will be enough for you, but it’s better to diversify a little, even if your first oil palette for now! To find out what color is in the tube, look at the color bar on the label. Complete your set with blue paint (sky blue), ocher shade (ocher light or golden), the so-called "flowers of the earth" - natural umber, natural sienna, as well as natural shades of green colors - olive, grass green, light green, etc. .

Once again, we remind look at the label of the tube. Or you can buy a ready-made set of paints. Over time, you will understand which paints are spent on you faster, which are not. In addition, before buying paints, it would be good to know in what colors you intend to paint a 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 get acquainted with the color table, the names of which are the same for almost all manufacturers, so it is quite possible to navigate by color and see the correct names of the colors and shades you like. The prices of oil paints from different manufacturers are different, 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 shop window 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 in varnish, then in paint. It's so 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 the already finished work with well-dried paints with varnish. As we have already mentioned, varnish gives richness to colors and, most importantly, protects your work from external influences. When the varnish dries, the surface of the canvas can be wiped from dust. Varnishes vary in composition, they are mainly made on the basis of soft resins.

Solvents

A very necessary and important thing for oil painting. Thinner 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 consists of linseed oil, varnish and turpentine. It is this diluent that is poured into the oiler. If it was not at hand, Pinene No. 4 solvent will come off, plus linseed oil.

butter dish

A special container where a tee or solvent is poured. It is usually attached to the palette, for which it has a convenient clothespin mount. Oilers are plastic and iron. It is more convenient to have an oiler with a threaded cap, then you will not spill anything, and the unused contents will not dry out ahead of time.

Palette knives

A necessary and important tool in an artist's arsenal. These are special spatulas designed to clean off paint residues from the palette, apply and remove paint from the canvas. There are special pictorial techniques when work on canvas is done with a palette knife, and not with a brush. On sale there are sets of palette knives of different sizes and shapes.

Palette

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

Easel

- a very convenient thing in order to objectively evaluate your work, to see the shortcomings. The work fixed on the easel is a professional approach. You can work in front of the easel both standing and sitting. Periodically, you need to move away from the canvas for some distance to see all the details. When buying an easel, be guided by its strength, reliability of fasteners, the size and model that suits you.

sketchbook

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, has reliable strong straps for carrying. The sketchbook can be of various sizes, with legs that can be adjusted in height and without them. When buying a sketchbook, you need to make sure that it is reliable and durable, 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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For those who have never studied music, an evening in the company of musicians using professional terms can become a real whirlpool of intricate, beautiful language. A similar situation can arise when talking with artists who paint in oils: in an instant, the conversation turns to discussing the advantages of canvas from one material or another, the subtleties of pigments, recommendations for choosing a brush for painting, and an analysis of the method of painting on a wet layer.

The variety of language that goes hand in hand with the art of oil painting may seem overwhelming at first, but if you take the time to familiarize yourself with its terms and best practices, you will be able to use all of these concepts with ease. If you're a beginner, don't expect the realism of the Old Masters to sink in right away. It will take some time to learn the specific properties of oil paint, especially the drying time and the strict rules for layering.

As with any environment, it's best to spare yourself high expectations and allow yourself room for experimentation and discovery. To help vibrant artists who want to try oil, we spoke to two artists and painting instructors. As a result, we got five tips for beginners.

1. Safety First

Before you begin, it is very important to determine where you will be painting. Many substances, such as turpentine, release toxic fumes that can cause dizziness, fainting, and eventually breathing problems. Turpentine is also highly flammable, and even rags that absorb it can self-ignite if not properly disposed of.

It is imperative that you work in a ventilated area that has access to a safe disposal method. If you can't work in such a space, try painting with acrylics, which can easily take on some of the properties of oil paints with the help of special media.

Pigments in oil paint often contain hazardous chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin, so you should wear protective gloves and clothing. You can buy something new for this purpose, or use old clothes for your studio wardrobe. In addition, artists usually buy latex gloves in bulk; if you are allergic to latex, replace them with nitrile gloves. Finally, if you are working with loose pigments, be sure to wear a respirator.

These steps may seem obvious, but they can prevent chronic exposure to toxic materials and lifelong health problems.

2. Take the time to study your materials

After all the security measures, you can start to slowly figure out which materials and tools you like best. Typically, an artist just starting out with oil paint will want to put together a set of brushes, rags, palette, painting surfaces, primer, turpentine, and a few tubes of paint.

For Margot Valengine, an artist who teaches throughout the UK, the most important tool is the brush. “If you take good care of your brushes, they will last you a lifetime.” Start with a variety of styles, looking for variations in shape and material. Valenjin advises buying them in the store yourself, and not on the Internet. So you can physically understand and feel all the properties and differences of brushes.

When it comes to paints, Valenjin recommends investing in less expensive paints if you are a beginner. A tube of professional paint can cost around $40, so it's best to buy cheaper paints while you're still practicing and experimenting. As you progress, you will begin to figure out which brands and paints you like. “For example, it turns out that you like red from this manufacturer, and blue from another. Once you know a little more about colors, then you can spend on buying pigments that suit you.”

In addition to brushes and paints, be sure to buy a spatula to mix paints - if you use your own brush instead, the bristles will wear out prematurely. Many beginners also consider it a duty to invest in a palette, but Valengin notes that this is completely optional. Find a piece of glass at home, wrap the edges with duct tape - and that's it, your paint palette is ready.

Many artists use acrylic gesso, a thick white primer, to prime canvas, but rabbit glue can also be used. You will also need a solvent - turpentine, for example - and several types of oil-containing substances. For example, the use of linseed oil will allow paints to dry faster, while drying oil will extend this period.

Oil paint dries So slow , and even if the surface appears dry, the paint underneath may still be wet. When using oil paint, you should always keep two rules in mind:

1. "From thin to thick". Start with small strokes of paint and add less turpentine as you go; otherwise, layers of paint will dry unevenly, and your image's surface will crack over time.
2. If you don't want your paint to crack, always apply oil over acrylic.

3. Limit your palette

When you go to buy paint, you will most likely be greeted by a wall-to-wall rainbow. But instead of buying everything, stop at a few colors - choose your tubes carefully. “The most productive method to start with is to limit your palette,” says Cedric Chisom, an artist and educator in Virginia. “The best choices to start with are cadmium orange and ultramarine blue.” When you work with two opposing colors like blue and orange, it forces you to focus on value - how light or dark your color looks - rather than intensity or saturation.

If you add one more color to your palette - cadmium yellow (pale yellow) or alizarin crimson (magenta) - you will see how few colors you need to create any other shade. “You can buy all kinds of green paint in the store, which you can also make yourself from mixing yellow and blue. Creating your own shades is a great exercise for beginners,” Valenjin adds.

If you are not strong in color theory, create a table of your own experiments. Draw a sheet and add one color to each cell. Then add a similar amount of one other color and consider all combinations.

4. Try painting with a spatula

The first exercise that Chisom recommends to his students is painting a picture with a spatula instead of brushes. “One of the main problems is related to the assumption that pencil drawing skills are transferred to painting. Students become obsessed with painting and quickly run into the fears associated with oil paint: the material is not dry, this color can structure the image better than the line, that the success of the painting depends half on the chosen surface.”

Using a spatula forces you to abandon ideas of precision and line and focus on how stretching color and shape can create an image. Chisom recommends working on at least an A4 size surface, as more space can encourage you to make more confident strokes.

5. Draw the same object over and over

When I first studied oil painting at Cooper Union, it annoyed me wildly that we had to paint the same still life over and over again for three months. But looking back, how important it is to have a constant subject when mastering the technical aspects of painting.

If you keep painting the same subject for an extended period of time, you are moving away from the pressure that comes with choosing a subject for your painting. Instead, your creativity will be completely spent on applying paint to canvas. If your focus is on the technique of oil painting, you can start paying special attention to each stroke: what it means, how thick or thin it is, how it directs the light. “When we look at a painting, we can see brush marks, we can see which brushes the artist is using. Sometimes artists try to remove traces. Some people use rags,” Valenjin says. “The brushstrokes of the artist give the painting its uniqueness.”

An artist's style can be as conceptually complex as the subject they are painting. This is especially true in the case of “wet” work - when the next layer of paint is applied to the previous one that has not yet dried. When you work in this style, it's difficult to apply paint in a way that gives the illusion of a realistic painting, so the tangibility and fluidity of the paint becomes a central idea. Or sometimes, as in color field painting, the piece uses large planes of color to create an emotional or atmospheric effect.

Sometimes, instead of telling a story, paintings tell a story that way.

Oil paints are quite a complex material and it will not be possible to quickly master oil painting. Even great masters can correct and remake their works more than once, bringing them 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 overflow and smooth flow of colors.

It doesn’t matter if you are an artist with many years of experience or just starting to master the fine arts, 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 consistently, mouth, nose, face oval, neck, hair. This can be done with a pencil, charcoal or carbon paper. After drawing the drawing, it must 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 drawing was applied can interfere with the paint, thereby changing its color. It is better to do this with a special fixer. You can make a sketch with highly diluted oil paints, in which case fixing is not needed.

There are two main techniques for working with oil paints: in one go - Alya Prima and multilayer.

Professional artists usually choose the technique of multi-layer prescription, as it makes it possible to better convey depth and reveals all the possibilities of oil painting. The essence of this method is that having drawn a contour, they make underpaintings - they place light spots and shadow accents on the canvas. Do this with a thin layer of highly diluted paint. Then the picture is written more densely in all the variety of colors and shades. And in conclusion, glazing is done - applying translucent colors to the already dried main ones. This allows you to create a deep color with an overflow 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 multilayer painting, then you should study some of the nuances associated with the properties of oil paints. If the initial layer is not allowed to dry out, then during the second application, the oil may dry out - become dull. Such defects can be eliminated with retouching varnish. You can also use oil, while the remnants that are not absorbed into the paint are removed the next day with a blotter. In ancient times, masters wiped 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 it is worth applying paint more thickly. But in no case is it thinner, otherwise the paint will simply crack when it dries.

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

Most people choose needlework or other artistic options as a hobby. Moreover, because of the same mass-produced goods, the demand for things made by oneself is increasing. Photos or computer images are printed multiple times. You can do a unique thing by learning how to paint oil paintings. If you watch the video lessons of famous artists, then even a beginner can understand this painting technique.

Even if you try to repeat your plot perfectly twice, you still cannot make an exact copy. This creates the uniqueness of works of art. How to start and learn how to create paintings?

Materials that will be required for work:

• host.
• Different colors.
• Brushes.
• Solvent and a small container for it.
• Special palette for mixing.

Masters also use palette knife- special metal elastic shovels with wooden handles, with which paint is applied to the base. It is important for a beginner to master brushes.

In addition, the masters paint pictures on easel or a high-quality sketchbook, if they go to work in nature, to depict oil paintings from life.

Landscapes for beginners is a complex subject. It is better to create pictures with the help of imagination or using photographs. This will make it easier to depict the landscape.

According to professionals, easier to work on an easel, as it is easier to step back and look at the result of the work. At first, you can try to practice on the surface of the table, but it is better to take some board and put it on your chair at a certain slope. You will see an overview of your work and you will be able to evaluate its quality well, notice your shortcomings in time.

Remember that paint wears out quickly Therefore, you need to purchase them individually and in large quantities. The form of release is of different sizes. White paint is the fastest to leave, but black paint is consumed in very small quantities. First you need to decide on plot, and then buy paints of the appropriate colors and shades.

In order to draw an autumn bouquet, you will need one set, and for a summer bouquet, a completely different one. In order not to waste your budget on unnecessary colors, it is better to take only the necessary ones in approximately the right amount. All colors and shades can be obtained with only three main colors(yellow, red, blue), as well as white and black.

Gallery: oil painting pictures (25 photos)

Creating and selecting a base step by step

If you want to make it easier for yourself to draw, buy in specialized stores ready-made foundations for work on which you can immediately apply paint. They cost a decent amount of money, but they are just right for a beginner, as they greatly simplify the work.

Another great option is application of fiberboard. In the household of every man there are scraps of this material, which remains after the repair. It is easy to find it by asking friends, relatives or a loved one. Someone definitely used it and keeps the remains of this material in the garage.

The shape of the sides of fiberboard is different, one looks very smooth, and the other is rather rough, remotely similar to a woven structure. Both forms can be used, but more parts and layers of primer should be applied to a rough surface, otherwise the color may become dull, as the paint will sink a little into the structure of such a product.

If for the first time you decide to try to paint a landscape oil painting, you can take a ready-made fiberboard base with primer already applied. The sheet should be taken small, no more than a landscape one.

If you want to make a base from WPV with your own hands, an easy and inexpensive way is using plain gelatin, you can add PVA glue to it so that the color turns white. It is necessary to apply this primer in several layers with the preliminary drying of the past. Three times will be enough. You should feel that the surface has changed. After preparing the base, you can proceed to create a picture.

Master class oil painting

After creating the basis and preparing the materials, we proceed to work in stages:

• Make a line drawing on the canvas with a simple pencil or paint.
• Take care of the distribution of shadows and highlights (where there will be bright and dark areas).
• Create the background and all large objects.
• Engage in drawing small shapes and details.

Sometimes back off from the picture to evaluate the results of their activities. In the process of drawing, mix different shades of colors on the palette. The last action is the design of the picture for the frame.

Master class in oil painting for beginners

In this master class we will draw the sea!

Drawing Description step by step:

First of all, you need to prepare a picture with which you are going to paint the sea. Put the canvas on the easel. Create the first strokes on the canvas, making the main background. Wait a little until it dries completely. If you follow the tips of the master class, then you will be able to paint a picture with oil paints with the sea. After finishing drawing, you need to decide on the name, most importantly, do not forget to leave your initials at work. Authorship is very important because it makes your work stand out.

Conclusion

If you understand drawing, you can understand that it is not difficult to depict a landscape or paint. You can also draw with ready-made canvases, because this is the easiest thing to do.

We paint oil paintings: photo