Oil paints are great for painting on canvas. Classic paintings like the Mona Lisa were painted in oil, as were the wonderful works of the Impressionists - think Monet - or the immortal works of Van Gogh.
Steps
Step 1. Buy oil painting material that is of good quality, the best you can afford
If you are a beginner, you can get almost everything you need in one fell swoop by purchasing gift boxes complete with all the accessories you need for painting; they are often found in convenient wooden boxes or boxes, where you can keep them or which turn into easels. The minimum tools to have are:
- A canvas ready for painting (mounted on a frame), of the dimensions required by the painting you want to make. It is also best to buy a good quantity of smaller canvas panels; you will need them to practice and make preliminary drawings. Alternatively, you can use the gypsum paper or linen scraps that they sell in blocks, provided that they are suitable for oil painting and that they have been chalked. If possible, buy canvas panels that have the same proportions as the large canvas; otherwise, draw on the panel yourself the dimensions you need to work on.
- A basic palette of oil colors. Any set contains most of the essential colors. The indispensable range of colors consists of red, blue, yellow, burnt sienna and a large tube of white. If you are looking to buy Winsor & Newton brand loose tubes, take Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Permanent Rose and Ultramarine Blue or French Ultramarine Blue (they are chemically similar). To choose the primary red in a set with many colors, focus on Permanent Alizarin Crimson or any red tending to purple, avoiding those towards orange. You might be okay even without the burnt sienna, but there are reasons why it is so used and they are not limited to rendering the shades. If your set doesn't contain it, use reddish brown instead.
- Buy the oil and the solvent. Linseed oil is the medium most used by painters who use oil colors. Other artists, on the other hand, prefer walnut oil. If you want your painting to dry faster, using a medium such as Winsor & Newton's Liquin will speed up the drying of oil colors. You will also need turpentine, or another odorless solvent - such as Turpenoid - or white spirit. These are extremely fluid liquids, with a strong or barely perceptible odor, which are used to dilute colors and have the opposite function to mediums. Odorless solvents, such as Weber's Turpenoid or Gamblin's Gamsol, are considered harmless to health, but it's always best to work in a well-ventilated environment when using volatile substances. The same oil paints can be considered non-toxic in comparison to turpentine, but only because they do not produce fumes. However, some colors contain highly toxic ingredients, just think of cadmium and cobalt, which are dangerous if ingested. So remember: never eat, drink or smoke while painting with oil colors.
- Buy removable oil paint, such as Dammar paint. The paint produces fumes that can be toxic, so it should only be applied outdoors or in a well-ventilated room. Use paint paint that is removable. The varnish is the final coating, applied on the colors once they are completely dry, and works as a protection. The addition of a clear, removable paint, in fact, produces a very glossy effect and protects the colors from the accumulation of dirt and grease. Every 25 or 30 years, the paint should be removed by a restorer (or by the artist or the owner) and applied again, as it is destined to yellow over time and is therefore not intended to be permanent. This is what gives old paintings that characteristic brownish patina; they just need a clean and a new coat of paint to get them shiny again as if they had just been made. It is not mandatory to buy the paint before the painting is finished, as you will still have to wait for the colors to dry before you can apply it. Touch-up paint, on the other hand, can be used as soon as the painting is dry to the touch. It does not damage the underlying color layer, but the painting must still be completely dry. This will give the painting a temporary finished look which will come in handy if you want to sell the painting faster.
- Buy brushes. Better if rigid. Bristle brushes are the cheapest if you want to save money, but good quality synthetic brushes that are as stiff as bristle brushes can also work. Some painters, to obtain particular effects with oil colors, use soft sable brushes with long handles. Get a good variety of sizes: large, medium and small, which you will need to paint large areas of color, fill shapes and objects; very small, suitable for finishing touches or if you like realism in the details. A soft brush with a thin round tip can be used for the rigging of a ship, the whiskers of a cat and any other detail that requires interventions with filiform strokes. If you are a beginner, the advice is to get yourself a set of animal or synthetic bristle brushes, and to experiment with the styles that each of them allows you to achieve.
- In addition to the brushes, you will need spatulas and a non-serrated butter knife to use as a palette knife (the accessory for mixing and, sometimes, spreading the colors). Spatulas can be cheap, especially if you buy plastic ones. However, metal spatulas do not stain and will last for years if cared for. There are many different shapes of spatulas, each with its own specific use, and you can use them instead of brushes to paint your picture.
- Charcoal or pastels to prepare the sketches on the canvas.
- A palette to arrange the colors while you paint. You can use either the classic small wooden board with a thumb hole on the side, or a more improvised support, such as a ceramic, glass or melamine plate. It still takes something that will last if washed with turpentine. Many artists make use of gray palettes, as colors look more natural on gray. You can achieve the same effect by using a small glass plate (the one of the frames is fine too) under which you will have placed a sheet of gray paper.
- Two small bowls for the oil (or Liquin) and the solvent. Some sets come with two bowls included that can fit into the palette.
- Cenci or rags to clean the paint. They can be of any type. Blotting paper may be fine, but fabric rags are better because they are reusable after a good wash. Strange but true, cloth washable nappies are perfect for this purpose. Instead of paper, however, it is always better to prefer rags of soft fabric, such as old t-shirts and the like. Avoid fluffy fabrics that shed lint, as you will also use rags on already painted canvas. Use pieces that you can throw away, unless you want to reuse them by washing them all the time.
- An easel to work on. It doesn't have to be expensive. Even the cheapest easel will support reasonably sized canvases at an optimal angle for your work, and will have adjustable legs to accommodate standing or seated painting. Unless impediments due to age, injury or illness, it is advisable to paint in an upright position. This will also allow you to take a few steps away from the canvas whenever you want to check the painting before continuing with the painting. As an alternative to the easel, you can place the canvas on a chair or any other support, or improvise other solutions.
- All the tools you need for sketches and project studies - crayons or charcoals, sketchbooks or paper of any kind to draw on. You don't need ultra-professional stuff, unless you like your sketches to the point of wanting to keep them.
- A safe, dust-free place to store your canvas to dry without the danger of something touching it, smudging the colors. Drying times for oil paints vary by type and can range from a few days to several months. There are colors that require up to a year of "rest" before being able to apply the paint.
Step 2. Armed with a sketchbook or piece of paper, prepare a sketch of your subject, using only black and gray crayons, or a black pen and gray crayon
If it's square, make it square. If it will be rectangular or oval, decide whether it will be vertical or horizontal. Draw the very small sketch, just to design how the areas of light and shadow will be composed in the finished work. The sizes vary from the stamp to the business card - the idea is to see it as if we were looking at it from afar or in a preview of an image gallery. Make lots of sketches until you find the best composition, without worrying too much about the details.
Step 3. Using the charcoal or pencil, prepare a study of the work on paper
It can be both detailed and chiaroscuro, or a quick drawing that gives the right idea of the points of light and shadow. This depends on the degree of detail and realism you plan to bring to your painting. Even a freer pictorial style needs preparatory sketches, studies that clarify your ideas on at least five points: white, brightness, average values, dark values, black. Some painters do not like to use black and white colors, but they evaluate the brightness according to the following scale: very light, light, medium value, dark, very dark. It depends on the effect you want to achieve. If you don't like the sketch, keep redoing it until you are satisfied with the result.
- Already in the sketch phase, be sure to establish a unique light source for all the elements involved, from the subject in the foreground to the details to the background. Pay special attention to the direction of the shadows. They must all go to the same vanishing point, and will be shorter when the sun or a lamp is up, and longer as the sun (or lamp) rises or falls in its diurnal motion. Light is what gives the composition three-dimensionality. Draw the shape of the shadows carefully.
- If you are working on an abstract subject, do the freehand studies and decide where to place particular elements such as splashes of color or more material brushstrokes. Or skip the sketch phase and move on to the next point.
- He goes on to study the subject on canvas panels, on canvas paper or on block canvas. Use charcoal or purple crayon. Draw a frame that has the same proportions as the main canvas, you will need it to establish the position of the elements in the big picture. Prepare these studies by drawing only the outlines. But include everything that will play a fundamental role in the composition. Anyway, once this phase is over, your study must look like one of those drawings that children have to color following the numbers shown in the shapes. If you need to correct any mistakes, wipe off the charcoal or pastel using a damp cloth, let the canvas dry, and then try again.
Step 4. Arrange the colors on the palette and mix them
Align yellow, blue, red, and more white well spaced. If you have it, place the burnt Sienna too. Leave all other colors in the box if you bought a complete set.
Step 5. Switch to the color study
Paint on the last sketch made, filling the areas with color. Since at this stage there is no need to go too thin with the details, try to distribute the color using the spatulas. If you don't like the choice of colors, scrape them off with the palette and keep them in a corner of your palette for when you need a slightly muddy brown. Slowly, you will be able to find the right mix of primary colors; however, keep the discarded paint, as with appropriate additions you can obtain different shades of gray and brown. There is no waste when handling a palette made of primary colors. Keep experimenting with the study of color as long as you like; at this stage apply the paint with a fairly large brush and do not pay too much attention to detail. If necessary, produce more than one studio, changing color mixes each time, until you get the shades you like best. All this practice takes place with the colors as they come out of the tube, you do not need either oil or solvent. If you like the result, you can carry the style to the main canvas and paint the colors in bright strokes with the palette knife, without intervening with oils and solvents. This is a very fast and expressive style of oil painting.
Step 6. Draw the outlines using a light crayon or a piece of charcoal
For landscapes, the use of a purple pastel is particularly suitable, since this color harmonizes well with the pigments of the view without darkening or staining the light colors, which instead black would. Plus, the charcoal and purple crayon are easily removed with a damp cloth - don't be afraid to make changes to your drawing. Draw safe; if you don't like something, delete it and try again.
Step 7. Prepare oil and solvent in two bowls
Clean your brushes and spatulas. If you used a color studio brush, dip it in two fingers of Turpenoid and squeeze it into a cloth.
Step 8. Put a touch of burnt sienna on the palette
Or, if there is no trace of white or there is a lot of it, use the mix of colors you discarded to create the brown. Dilute it by dipping the brush in the solvent, turpentine or Turpenoid or Sansodor (the products of the Winsor & Newton brand are great). With a wet brush, mix a drop of color until it is very fluid, lively and clear. Paint the light parts on the canvas based on your final study. By adding a little color, he creates the average values and then the dark ones with burnt sienna, always continuing to dilute the paint until it has the fluidity of the ink. Even dark and very dark areas will need to contain a certain amount of solvent. The more solvent you use, the faster this layer of vibrant sienna will dry.
Wow. Burnt sienna usually still looks pretty fresh at this stage. It is quite simple to make changes if you feel the need. Take a rag and clean the part you don't like and repaint it with the correct value, or add another color. If you thought that oil painting should come out perfect the first time, well, you were very wrong: it is very simple to correct or make changes during all phases of the work. This layer will dry very quickly, it will take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour. The most diluted parts will already be dry to the touch even before finishing the rest of the canvas
Step 9. Remember the "fat over lean" dogma
It is a structural rule. The first layer - the sketch - is very thin, almost all turpentine (or other equivalent substance), little oil. Just enough oil to make the background colors shine. The color must have almost the consistency of watercolor. If you want to get a rather nice effect, try overlapping different colors (always very thin and thin). For the next layer you use the colors as they come out of the tube, exactly as you did for the color study. This layer corresponds to the average "build", neither fat nor thin. From here on, any addition of oil or Liquin will make your colors more and more fat. The “fat over lean” dogma is a technique based on specific chemical-physical reasons: the thinner colored layers dry before the fatty ones. The more greasy the color, the longer it will take to dry. The thin-colored layers, therefore, must be underneath; reversing the order, you would run into several problems: a thin color, for example, drying over a greasy color that is still wet, would crack and split.
- Worst case scenario, a painting done in a “lean over fat” order could leak off the canvas on a too hot day.
- Never use oil pastels under oil paints - their chemical formula includes mineral oils that never dry out. You can possibly add touches of oil pastel to an oil painting, but only on the last layer and not before it is dry to the touch.
Step 10. Spread the colors first in large uniform areas, then add more color to make the details light or dark, or turn them towards red, yellow or blue
Mix the colors half on the palette and half on the canvas. Start by dedicating yourself to the areas of light and shadow, filling them with the main color, then intervene with more paint to modify them in detail. Gradually shade and blend the colors slowly if you want a smooth paint, without too obvious brush strokes. If you are interested in creating an expressionist-style painting, tap quick brushstrokes where you want a greater material consistency to concentrate, or use the palette knife to apply the colors roughly. Orchestrating a juxtaposition of smooth and wrinkled surfaces will give your canvas a strong vitality. So, at this stage, try to be varied in mixing colors with solvents and oils. Add oil if you want to apply the paint in a compact and even way, and use the brush to smooth out too obvious touches. As long as it's wet, you can work on the layer as you like, adding oil or solvent to make it fatter or leaner respectively. But if it's already starting to dry, don't add solvents to greasy colors.
Always follow this rule, unless you want to get a special "ugly" effect, for example if you are trying to paint the face of a zombie complete with a realistic rendering of decaying meats. In this case, you can place a nice amount of greasy paint in a thin pocket on his cheek, let it dry incorrectly and then break the bubble that will have formed and let the crusts of lean paint dangle as if they were a flap of dead skin; the greasy color inside - still liquid - will drip out of the "wound" with a very realistic bloody effect. Once the chemical-physical dynamics at the base of oil painting have been taken into account, there are no mistakes that cannot be of benefit to us for some not bad special effect
Step 11. Oil paintings stay wet for days
This means you can paint all day, mix all the messes you want, go to bed - maybe box the palette to keep your cat from walking on it - wake up in the morning and make new changes - it'll still be wet. You can use the palette knife to scrape off entire areas of the canvas and start over. The long drying times of the oil paints allow you to alter, rectify and refine as many times as you want before deciding that the painting is finished and can dry peacefully.
Step 12. Let the paint dry
It will take at least two weeks, unless you have used Liquin as a medium. Liquin dries faster than the color in the tube, so mix a little bit into all the paint you are going to use to allow it to cement itself to its fullest. Liquin is not fat, but the color in the tubes is. There are oil colors on the market made with alkyd resin as a binder which have the advantage of having fast drying times, ie from a couple of days to a week, depending on the thickness and fluidity of the paint.
Step 13. The painting technique of the great modern masters did not foresee that the brushstrokes were visible
Start as described above and prepare the first layer with burnt sienna diluted with solvent. Then use the painting of the tubes, without additions, to create the detailed painting of your subject in black and white (Black Ivory and White Titanium). Spread the paint very well on the canvas, applying broad and relaxed strokes. Let it dry completely. It will almost look like a black and white photo. Once the paint on the canvas has dried, mix the oil with your colors, make them fluid well, and paint over the dry grisaille. By making the color transparencies on the black and white painting you will create a play of light and shadows between the layers and give a three-dimensional brightness to your work. Only by spreading the color in slow, thick strokes, until you get a solid layer of paint, will you be able to achieve this effect. It is the typical appearance associated with oil painting.
This method takes a lot of time to build, as each layer must be completely dry before you can move on to the next. If you don't want to wait all this time, let the grisaille dry and paint it over with the right colors, dissolved with a little oil. As soon as this layer is dry too, do the finishing touches to the details. As you can see, oil painting lends itself to being both simple and elaborate, according to your needs
Step 14. At the end of the day, clean the brushes by dipping them in the solvent and squeezing them with a rag to remove any residual paint
Squeeze the color out of the brush well before re-soaking it in the solvent, so you will avoid unnecessary waste. Place cloths and other tools away from open flames, electrical circuits, heaters and any other sources that could start a fire. If possible, close everything in a metal box. Placing the palette with fresh paint on it in the refrigerator will slow down the drying process of the colors and will be able to use them for a few more days. But make sure no one mistakes them for food!
Step 15. Store wet paintings in a safe, dust-free, cool and away from light sources
You can make a drying rack from a clothes closet, to which you will have added vertical panels a few centimeters apart to create convenient slots where you can lay each canvas. This solution will solve your space problems, especially if you are a very prolific painter and have your garage now full to the ceiling. Remember that solvents are volatile substances and, as such, they give off fumes during the drying process. Therefore, avoid storing wet canvases in very busy areas of the house, and make sure that the studio where you work is well ventilated. Dry the canvases in a vertical position: this will prevent dust from accumulating on the fresh painting.
Step 16. When you paint on a “gallery” canvas, almost 4 cm deep, you do not need to frame your finished work
Continue the painting on the sides too, or color them black or create a decorative motif; in short, indulge yourself. In this way the picture will be ready to hang as soon as it is dry.
Step 17. Once the canvas is dry to the touch, wait at least another month before proceeding with the touch-up paint
After eleven months, apply Dammar paint (or other removable paint) and let it dry for a few days. At this point your painting is finished and it will last even longer than you want.
Advice
- Burnt sienna is an excellent base from which to start to create complexions of any tone and nuance, except those so black as to have blue shades on African ebony shades. If, on the other hand, your subject has yellowish skin, add some yellow ocher. With a hint of red you will have the right shade for Irish doc or brown hair.
- Oil painting by skilled artists is dense and compact, with a texture close to that of butter rather than liquid. The painting of beginners, on the other hand, is much more fluid, because it contains a greater amount of oil than the pigment. The same is true for tubes of paint; if you prefer to paint with thin and fluid paint, the tubes for artists will last you longer than those for students of the same size, as you will have to add more linseed oil yourself to thin the color. Furthermore, oil is cheaper than colors. The pigments are ground into a finer powder inside the tubes for professionals, so they are present in a higher concentration. To save money, get some Liquin Impasto (Winsor & Newton) or other equivalent medium; in this way, if your style requires that you spread the paint in thick layers with the help of a palette knife, you will not spend a fortune on tubes for professionals.
- Flaxseed oil is an edible vegetable oil, but what you find in herbalist's shops or organic shops is not formulated for artistic use. There are various types of oils for use in painting, each with specific peculiar properties. Feel free to experiment to find the medium that suits you best.
- Student oil paints are very fluid: with a small amount it is possible to cover large portions of the canvas.
- Don't buy tubes that are too big - unless you need them.
- When you start painting a lot, get a large tube of ultramarine blue and a giant tube of white. The ultramarine is one of the most used colors - except perhaps in portraits, where the burnt sienna is the master.
- It is perhaps self-evident to detect this, but you will need white in huge quantities, as this color is used for everything from shades to shading. If you are starting out and have bought a set of colors, buy a larger tube of white separately.
- If you ever have the good fortune to get good enough to get people to pay for your paintings, remember that oil paintings are the most profitable. Common sense associates oil painting with the concept of something lasting, precious and permanent.
- Always use a tripod if possible.
- Do not let the brushes soak in the solvent with the bristles resting on the bottom of the jar. The hair will be permanently distorted and the brush will be thrown away. Rather, suspend the brushes in the jar with the help of a bit of spiral wire fixed to the mouth, or lay them down with the smallest possible angle, just enough for them to soak. Putting a pebble on which to lay the brush head in the solvent saucer can make things easier.
- If you've bought an inexpensive set of very liquid colors, buy equally inexpensive brushes and work small. Analyze the consistency of the color and try adding solvent for a lean primer before adding opaque colors. At this point, work on transparencies. Practice on canvas or canvas paper before purchasing more expensive canvases and colors.
- Water-dilutable oil paints are a new type of product. They are used with linseed oil and solvents which are also soluble in water. But they can also be diluted with water and that's it. However, this can change the tone of the colors a little, making it cloudy. Then, use the solvent to make washes that will go on the canvas, and use the water only for cleaning. Do not mix the products: use only water-soluble mediums with water-dilutable oil colors.
- Alkyd oils (e.g. Winsor & Newton's Griffin line) have oil-modified alkyd resin in the binder. They are designed to dry faster: touch dry within a day or two instead of 1-2 weeks. You can add Liquin to traditional colors to get the same effect as alkyd oils, or you can mix the two lines of paint. Always remember the “fat over thin” rule: colors with Liquin go under fat colors.
- Gypsum is a base to be used as a primer for oil painting. You can also buy canvases that have not been plastered and take care of the priming yourself, or you can use plaster to cover wood or fiber panels, hang them on the wall and paint them as if they were murals. Gypsum has many uses, but you won't find it in beginner kits. They sell it both black and white and even transparent, should you want to leave the underlying canvas visible.
- To make cleaning at the end of the day easier, try to always use the same brush when studying the subject. Paintings made with a single brush have a certain uniformity in the texture of the strokes and in the color.
Warnings
- Do not smoke, do not use lanterns, open flames or stoves near rags soiled with oil paint or flammable materials.
- Do not throw sticky substances, solvents or old paint residues into the toilet. These substances end up in the environment with the risk of polluting it. Worse, drying up could damage the plumbing system and create problems due to their toxicity. If you live with your parents, this could cause you serious problems. If you are renting, likewise with the landlord. If it's your home, you'll still have to pay the plumber. Basically, the toilet is not a good place to throw in toxic paint! Although it is fine for organic waste and spoiled food.
- When using oil paints you need to be in a well-ventilated area. If the smell becomes annoying, it is probably dangerous. An odorless solvent is a bit safer, but it is still not a good idea to dry the paintings in the same room where you sleep, unless you have a hood to extract the fumes. Using oil paint is like using spray paint at home - be careful, these are toxic and flammable fumes.
- If you paint outdoors, be careful not to spill paint or thinner on the grass. They could be harmful to the environment. Recycle the remover and the jar you used to clean the brushes. Let the can with the solvent rest so that the paint residues settle to the bottom. At this point, pour the solvent into a clean jar and keep the residues for disposal, which must be done according to the rules established by your municipality. Sometimes, when you use a little solvent, you can dry the jar and scoop up the residue with paper towels. This way you will have to dispose of solid waste rather than dealing with semi-liquid residues.
