Oil Painting

[Rooster]

I've been painting for years but I've never went to art school nor studied it, so all of my attempts have been really quite inconsistent. The main problem I have is mixing paints. I just find it really difficult, especially for realistic flesh tones and trying to stick in shadows. I'm pretty good with just drawing (one of my previous jobs required a lot of accurate pencil work), it's just the application of paint that I have a real problem with. I'd like to paint more but it costs a lot of money and I don't like just drawing something decent only to ruin it and waste money with amateurishly applying paint in a random fashion. If anyone could give me some advice, some tips or hints or even link me to a guide or something then I'd be most thankful.

[StoneFrog]

Well do you think its that its the material that your uncomfortable with or the fact that your not sure what colours to mix?

I can't say ill be huge help im untaught myself, only had art classes when i was at school.
one thing i'd recommend is getting some oil pastels, since they blend really well and with spirits are really good to practice with.

[Dr Mindbender]

In my experience acrylics are the best all rounders of the paint world if you're serious about getting into painting. You can pick up a starter pack for about $20. Oil paints are expensive, and you need to purchase thinners. The other disadvantage is its extremely thick so only good for works in the impressionist style specifically. Water colours on the other hand are cheap quality and dont hide your guide sketches or underlying coats very well. Acrylics on the other hand are cost effective, water soluble and are the best for detail. Just make sure you wash your brushes straight after cause when it cures it leaves a plastic coat which can be very tough to get out of the bristles when dried.

FYI best mixture for (caucasian) flesh colour is 1 part red, 1 part white and 1 part yellow. Acrylic flesh colour can be bought individually.

Good luck.

[StoneFrog]

TBH i disagree with saying its "only good for works in the impressionist style", oil paints have been around a lot longer then impressionism. Pallet knife is a good way to get good thin layers of colour as well as thick layers.

Acrylics are good since they're a lot cheaper, same with water colours.

For that colour mixture i'd actually ad some brown. Another tip do a base layer of green(light green darker where the shadows would be as a thin base layer) its something i was showed, works well. If your doing faces remember the skin tones around the mouth and eyes are often have hints of: yellow,purple,green.(one of the reasons to do the green layer i said)

[Anarchrusty]

FYI best mixture for (caucasian) flesh colour is 1 part red, 1 part white and 1 part yellow. Acrylic flesh colour can be bought individually.

Good luck.


I am sorry my friend, but both advices aren't very usefull.

To get caucasian flesh tones you need cadmium red light, yellow ocre and a buttload of white. Keep adding white to this basic mixture untill you get a tint you find to be approximable to what you want.
To smoothen to brightness of it, you can add any kind of blue or green in tiny bits, remember, it is easier to add than to extract.
Alternatives might be: sienna natural with some blue and red, and again lots of white.

Usefull colours for skin tones are also burnt and raw umber, raw sienna and off course lots of white (again).
If you need any tips on painting, feel free to ask.

[Rooster]

Thanks for the advice. I actually paint in an impressionistic style (well, at least I try to). My favourite artist is Bacon and I love Gogh.


Acrylics are good since they're a lot cheaper, same with water colours.

Are acrylics really that much cheaper? How do they differ in texture and thickness from oils? I normally just buy tubes of oils because I can usually get a good deal on them but I think I saw some documentary or something where it should an aritst mixing his own paint (with the powder and a binding agent). Does anyone have any experience with this?


For that colour mixture i'd actually ad some brown. Another tip do a base layer of green(light green darker where the shadows would be as a thin base layer) its something i was showed, works well. If your doing faces remember the skin tones around the mouth and eyes are often have hints of: yellow,purple,green.(one of the reasons to do the green layer i said)

What does it mean to add a bass layer? I normally just try to mix paints before I stick them on the canvas. Do you have to wait for the base layer to dry first?

[Turinbaar]

There is a dialectical relationship between colors that is useful to know when painting. A color weel is a good tool that demonstrates the relationship between colors. There are the three prime colors, red, yellow and blue. Each of these has a complimentary color that a combination of the other two primes, for instance red is complimentary to green, which is a combination of blue and yellow. When complimentary colors mix, they create muted in-betweens. All of these, primes, complimentaries and mutes, are necessary to incorporate into a painting at one stage or another. Their successful combination will illuminate each other.

When begining, it is best to draw by pencil onto the canvas the subject. Once this is completed (and sprayed with fixative) I like to use lynseed oil mixed with burnt umber to separate the values. Once this dries I gradually layer on the color, begining with mutes, and moving towards a more pure prime color (these will be highlights, more than predominatant tones), getting thicker with the paint as I go.

These are some basics, and I hope they help.

[Rooster]

Well do you think its that its the material that your uncomfortable with or the fact that your not sure what colours to mix?

I'm unfamiliar with oils in general. I used to paint all the time in water colour. I'm unsure of what colour to mix to get just a general skin tone and secondly, I'm not sure about how to get shadows. I realise that you cant just add black. But I have real trouble with eyes and trying to get a consistent looking shadow over the whites, the iris and the skin.

[Anarchrusty]

Base layer means you make an underpainting. It basically is the endresult in hue values such as green, or it could be a dull brownred such as sienna. Depends on where you want the endresult to end. On top of that you add layer upon layer, if really thinned it's called glazing.

Good acrylics aren't that much cheaper than oils. It depends on what quality you are working with, at this stage I'd suggest you work with a student grade quality such as Talens Amsterdam or Daler Newton.
Acrylics dry up much quicker than oils, and require only water and medium, and in some cases acrylics retarder (if you want more time to work on a layer).

If you do not like glazing or want to combine it with other techniques, scumbling is good. Scumbling means applying small amounts of dry paint to a dry layer and kind of brushing it all over, making an opaque layer semi transparent or translucent.

[Anarchrusty]

I'm unfamiliar with oils in general. I used to paint all the time in water colour. I'm unsure of what colour to mix to get just a general skin tone and secondly, I'm not sure about how to get shadows. I realise that you cant just add black. But I have real trouble with eyes and trying to get a consistent looking shadow over the whites, the iris and the skin.


Eyes: paint them in skintones, than carefully apply thin layers of a very white blue over and over untill you get a satisfactory result. In general eyes reflect the colours of the environment but this is a good way to start.
Shadows: if the lights are warm (for instance red or yellow) and affect those parts of the skin that way, make your shadows cool (blue and green with lots of white mixed in as a basics) and vice versa (cool flesh, warm shadows).

[Dr Mindbender]

I am sorry my friend, but both advices aren't very usefull.

To get caucasian flesh tones you need cadmium red light, yellow ocre and a buttload of white. Keep adding white to this basic mixture untill you get a tint you find to be approximable to what you want.
To smoothen to brightness of it, you can add any kind of blue or green in tiny bits, remember, it is easier to add than to extract.
Alternatives might be: sienna natural with some blue and red, and again lots of white.

Usefull colours for skin tones are also burnt and raw umber, raw sienna and off course lots of white (again).
If you need any tips on painting, feel free to ask.

Yeah i knew the exact shades were offshoots of red, white and yellow but i couldnt remember exactly. I havent done acrylic painting for a while now.

[Rooster]

Base layer means you make an underpainting. It basically is the endresult in hue values such as green, or it could be a dull brownred such as sienna. Depends on where you want the endresult to end. On top of that you add layer upon layer, if really thinned it's called glazing.

So, an under paint reflects the tonal values. Darker hues for the shadows and lighter hues for the highlights?


I like to use lynseed oil mixed with burnt umber to separate the values. Once this dries I gradually layer on the color, begining with mutes, and moving towards a more pure prime color (these will be highlights, more than predominatant tones), getting thicker with the paint as I go.

This is hard for me to picture in my head. So I make up a thin layer of paint. The separation of values I'm having trouble with visualising. Then I stick on a base layer of flesh tone, then work in more details with more colour? Wouldn't overlaying thicker paint obliterate the original layer?

[Turinbaar]

This is hard for me to picture in my head. So I make up a thin layer of paint. The separation of values I'm having trouble with visualising. Then I stick on a base layer of flesh tone, then work in more details with more colour? Wouldn't overlaying thicker paint obliterate the original layer?

Yes, spread a thin layer of paint mixed with linseed oil over canvas, and use a cloth to wipe away areas that you want to be bright. Make sure these ares are clearly marked out when drawing the lines in pencil (this makes it so much faster and easier). Then paint in the shadows with a mixture that has less linseed, and allow the canvas to dry.

Once it has dried add in the shadows thin layers of dark purple and linseed. Purple is handy because it can be pushed in either a warm or cool direction. Once these undertones are established, paint in the lighted areas in the basic muted tone (i.e. the color of the object mixed slightly with its compliment). Remember to keep it thin, and to paint it only once the value layer has dried (this way you can wipe away any mistakes in coloring and start over without damaging your progress). Once this basic mute light vs purple shadow is established one may begin to push the shadows in the direction of either cool or warm, depending on the mood of the painting, and to push the lights into the opposite direction.

The relationship between the light and dark areas will depend on the mood of the painting. A cool painting will have cool colors in the areas of light, and warm shadows, and a warm painting will have warm light and cool shadows. The extremes of color, the core-shadow and highlight, as well as all things in between them and their mutes, necessarily depend on this relationship. A warm painting predominated by the color orange will necessarily have core shadows that are essentially blue, and it will have highlights of the same color (though tinted nearly white as to not be readily noticeable). These, especially the highlights have minimal linseed, and are to be added last.

These dominant colors will necessarily be accompanied by the other colors of the wheel, as mixtures and variants in hue to the mood of the piece, and these will necessarily require their compliments, though in slightly muted form, as so not to overpower the main colors of the piece and change the mood to something unwanted. These serve as transitional colors from the dominant tone to its extreme darks and lights, and its compliment. A warm painting dominated by orange will need instances and mixtures of red and yellow to give a variety of warmth in the light, just as the shadows will need instances of purple and and green. These extra colors are best kept under control by muting them and then mixing them with one of the dominant colors of the painting (depending on wether the mute in question is to be placed in light or shadow), though this too can get out of control and can muddy the entire painting. Underpainting is a good way of letting darker, heavier tones show through layers of lighter warmer tones, and is a way of muting color through layering. Mutes must be kept in balance with the extremities of light and dark, hot and cold, in order to give depth to them.

Above all be sure that you know exactly what you are laying down before you pick up a brush. Give each set of layers in a painting session time to dry and yourself time to plan out the next set of layers. Never try to force a painting into existence, as this technique is subject to diminishing returns.