ART BY SIMANTEL Home | Drawings | Computer Art | Paintings | Cartoons | Art Links | Portfolio | Harlan Simantel
Oil Painting Tips For Beginners
The practice of art isn't to make a living. It's to make your soul grow. -Kurt Vonnegut
Simplify, simplify
When you first start painting, all the tools and instructions may seem complicated. Don't spend a lot of money on materials when you're not sure you'll continue with this hobby. Instead of five brushes, buy two -- one big and one small.
Buy just one canvas panel (12" x 16"). Use an old chair for an easel.
Start with a small tube of black and white, the cheapest paint you can buy. If you really want to use color, buy a tube of cadmium red medium, ultramarine blue, and cadmium yellow medium. You can mix all your colors from those three tubes and white -- and save money. Use a scrap sheet of smooth wood (12" x 12" or larger) as a palette for mixing paint.
Try water-based oil paints
If you don't like to work with solvents like turpentine or mineral spirits, try oil paints that you can mix and clean up with water. You won't need to worry about harmful odors and room ventilation. Acrylics will give you the same health benefits, but they dry extremely fast. (See the related article on acrylic painting.)First learn to draw well
Your paintings will only be as good as your drawing ability. But you can improve with practice, as with any manual skill. If you can't wait to start painting, go ahead, but spend time sketching as well.See Drawing tips for beginners.
Copy paintings from how-to books
One way I learned to paint when I started out in high school was copying the step-by-step paintings in the Walter Foster series, which may be now out of print. You may find used copies in online bookstores such as Powell's and Amazon. There are also many other useful how-to painting books.Watch painters on TV
I was lucky enough to watch my high school art teacher (Jack Barber) paint. And I was inspired by watching a video about Winston Churchill, who was a gifted amateur painter. You can learn a lot by watching TV painting teachers, though I don't always care for their formulaic styles.Sketch out your painting plan
One of the first things Jack Barber taught me was to draw a rough rectangle and then draw the scene I planned to paint inside the box. You don't always have to do this exercise when painting from a photo, but sometimes it helps in simplifying the scene. When you're making up a painting from your imagination you'll be helped by this method. Don't stop with one sketch; draw variations and new compositions, then choose the best one.
Solve muddied, messy colors
Next to drawing, the biggest problem for a beginning painter is painting into wet paint. You want to add a different color in an area you've already painted. But it just mixes together and you're frustrated.Here are a few ways to solve this problem. Try painting thinly at first with more turpentine; don't get it too runny. Later when you paint over these areas with thicker paint, you get a better result. It's best to brush the thick color on in one fell swoop and leave it. If you keep brushing the thick paint around, you mix it with the underneath paint and you'll get "mud."
The second solution is using a drying medium, such as "Liquin." Add it to your paint as you mix colors.
Another solution is to paint without using any medium, or little of it. Paint straight from the tube is relatively dry. When you paint thicker paint over the top of existing paint (providing the first layer is rather thin) -- you tend to get the color you want, without muddying.
Tip: Oil painting took me about six months to get used to when I was a beginner. If you just keep painting and don't give up, you will adapt to this new medium and figure out how best to master it -- just by painting a lot.
If you're just fed up with slow-drying oil paints, try alkyds. They dry in 12-24 hours, much faster than oils. If you want even faster drying times, try acrylics; they dry almost immediately.
Mirror
Check the progress of your painting by holding up a mirror to it. Any design flaws will quickly show up.Keep your values simple
Values are gradations between dark and light in any color. When painting from life or from a photo it helps to use roughly two dark values and two or three light values of any given color. Think of the foliage on a tree. The shadow areas can be simplified into two values of green. And the light areas can be simplified into two or three values of yellow-green. For instance, I simplified this scene I painted outdoors in my neighborhood.
Ventilation
I paint in a spare upstairs bedroom. It has two windows and a ceiling fan. I added some weatherstripping foam underneath the door to keep fumes from drifting into the rest of the house. I also use "Turpenoid," which is an odorless paint solvent and medium for oils and alkyds.Paint "studies"
You don't have to paint from edge to edge and make a complete painting. You can paint a single tree or a face by itself (also called a "study"), and forget the background, or leave it simple. Just as you sketch in a sketch book, you can do the same in oils. It's good practice.
Learn to paint better by looking at lots of paintings
Check out art history and how-to books at your local library. Browse bookstores. Surf the internet for art sites (See "Links I Like"). A helpful site to find nice samples of great historic art is Artcyclopedia.I get inspired and motivated by studying other artists' paintings. "The Artist" and "American Artist" are two fine how-to magazines for those who like representational paintings. If your library subscribes to one or both, you'll discover a wealth of well-illustrated articles.
Do you need to be "in the mood" to paint?
If you wait for inspiration to strike, you may rarely paint. Professional artists and writers go to work every day no matter how they feel.Paint mentally
After you've painted a while, you may find yourself mentally painting what you see around you. Your hands aren't busy, but your mind is. I find myself looking at a small area of the world around me and analyzing the scene, thinking about how I'd paint it, simplifying shapes and colors. Just this morning I saw a clematis with a cast shadow against our garage wall. I wanted to paint the simple scene, so I painted it in my head. I'm convinced this mental activity helps me to paint better.
I once read that basketball players who stand on the court without a ball (some of the time) and visualize themselves shooting and making their shots actually improve more than athletes who only practice with a ball. When I was in junior high school and in love with high jumping I wanted to break my personal record. So before I fell asleep I visualized myself clearing the bar over and over again and feeling the exhiliration. The next day I competed and broke my personal record, just as I had imagined.
Write down your painting goals
50 paintings this year...paint three times per week, three hours each day...sketch landscapes from my imagination...paint a scene from an upside down photo...join a life drawing class...paint with only two colors and white...paint a night time scene...paint three paintings outside in my neighborhood...paint with alkyds and acrylics...go to the library and check out some painting books...try a palette knife painting...paint from my digital photos...These are the kinds of goals I write down and keep in my spare bedroom studio.
Find inexpensive picture frames
Garage sales are a great place to find frames at bargain prices. If you paint on masonite you can always use a hand saw to cut down a panel to fit an odd-sized frame. Frames are often expensive; I don't want to pay those prices. If you sell some of your work it's great if you can sell the painting and let the buyer find their own frame.Scan your paintings for internet viewing
If you have a web site where you can show your paintings to the world, you only need a scanner to import your masterpieces. It's best to work small, 12" x 16" or 9" x 12", so you can scan the paintings (after they dry, of course) in one or two passes, then tile them together in an application like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. Save them as .jpegs and keep the file size under 50k so they'll load fast for your visitors.Use your fertile imagination
Painting from photos or from other artists' paintings is skilled copying, useful in learning the mechanics of painting. But try to exercise more creativity by painting from your imagination. Paint your dreams. Paint a fantastic landscape. Invent your own style. Sketch some random ideas. Paint in a style you admire but haven't tried (Cubism, Surrealism, Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism). Play with your creativity.
Paint with a palette knife
Here's a way to keep things simple: use just one painting tool -- a medium sized palette knife.
You'll want to choose a subject without a lot of detail. Paint from back to front. For instance lay in the sky; mountains next; then distant trees; and closer trees last.
Try adding a drying medium such as Liquin to your paint mixtures. With the knife, lay the paint on your canvas, then leave it; try not to fuss with the paint, especially when painting wet paint over wet paint. You can paint quite thinly at first -- you don't have to pile the paint on.
For detail, such as tree branches, use the edge of the knife.
What's great about palette knife painting is that it forces you to paint boldly and broadly. You can't help but paint the big shapes and areas. It's difficult to paint small areas and details, so you're left with more of a rough impression of the scene when you're finished. Often, that's more satisfying than fussy, overworked detail.
Keep your first paintings
You might be tempted to throw out your first paintings, or paint over them. But keep some of them. It will help you measure your progress and improvement when you compare them with later paintings. Try not to compare your work with others. You're only in competition with yourself.Take a class
Try to find a teacher with a good reputation for effective teaching. Your local community college non-credit classes or evening education classes are good bets. Getting to know fellow artists can be stimulating and energizing; share your passion and frustrations. However, I've found most of my improvement comes from time spent working by myself at home. There's no substitute for hours and hours of persistent practice.How do you develop a personal painting style?
Your painting style should come naturally, just like your handwriting. Don't worry about it. An exception would be if you want to deliberately try a certain historic style of painting like Pointillism or Cubism. But if you're painting traditional subjects such as portraits and landscapes in a representational or realistic manner, just go ahead and paint what you see; the style will take care of itself.A success secret
If your first efforts are what you'd call failures, you may be attempting subjects that are way too complex and difficult. Bite off what you can chew. Paint simple scenes such as a big blue sky with a few clouds and mountains silhouetted in the distance. Paint a single, simple flower rather than a bouquet. The more successes you have, the more confidence you'll feel. And most importantly, you'll enjoy painting. If you continually fail, you'll want to give up in frustration. Try to attempt what you're pretty sure you can successfully paint.When my nieces were quite young I taught them to play catch with a ball. I got quite close to them and gently tossed them the ball, making sure they caught it most of the time, and praised them. They loved the game. I gradually backed up so they could make catches further away. A high success rate of catches kept them keenly interested; it feels good to succeed!
We adults are no different than kids. We like to do what we are successful at. It's just as important for us to make small, sure steps of success in painting as we go along so we feel satisfaction well up inside ourselves.
On the other hand, challenge yourself. Don't be content with paintings that are too simple. You may get bored and fall into a creative rut.
All art work Copyright © Harlan Simantel
Your e-mail feedback is welcome.