How to use oil paints correctly. How to draw with oil paints: a guide for beginners

Oil painting. Basics. Bill Martin's Lessons for Beginners.

There are things you need to know before you start painting in oils.
All paints are a mixture of dry pigment and liquid. In oil paints, the coloring pigment is mixed with linseed oil. Linseed oil is an oil that dries out in the process of air oxidation. It absorbs oxygen from the air and crystallizes the paint pigment permanently. Once the oil dries, it cannot be removed.
Oil paints are thick. They are produced in tubes. Paints are squeezed onto a palette, and mixed with a palette knife to obtain new shades. Then they are applied to a vertically positioned canvas with hard elastic brushes.
Oil paints dry very slowly. Usually you need to wait three days before putting on the next layer. Such a long drying time is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The big advantage is that you will have time to think about what you have drawn. This is very useful when you make gradient transitions from one color to another. Or, if you are unhappy with how it turns out while the paint is still wet, you can scrape it off with a cloth, palette knife or rubber scraper, and repaint.
The downside is that if you put wet paints of two different colors next to each other, they can mix with each other sloppily. The palette, brushes and damp cloth must be handled very carefully so as not to smear yourself, clothes, food and furniture.
You can work with paint up to 12 hours in a row, then you must leave the work to dry for three days, after which you can continue working. When the paints have dried, you can put new colors on top. A work can have many layers. Each subsequent layer must be the same thickness or thicker than the previous one, otherwise cracks will occur.
After the work has completely dried (from three to six months), you need to apply a protective layer of Damar varnish.

PICTURE.

A complex drawing is quickly lost when applying oil paints, so it is better to designate a drawing with simple figures and contour lines. The drawing can be done directly on the canvas, or it can be prepared in advance and transferred to the canvas.
When applying the drawing directly to the canvas, it is better to use diluted paint. Since it's already paint, you don't have to isolate it from subsequent coats.
You can also use charcoal. The charcoal charge will need to be isolated from the next layers with a fixer. Soft charcoal is easier to fix with fixer than pressed charcoal.
The drawing can also be applied with a pencil to the canvas. Then also fix with a fixer. The sharp tip of the pencil can make cracks in the primer layer, so you can additionally apply another transparent layer of primer. If you have applied another coat of primer, no fixer is required.

In the photo: a spray can with a fixer, in a box - carbon paper.
It is better to prepare a drawing for transferring through carbon paper on thin tracing paper, then it will be easier to translate it. Attach the drawing to the canvas. Translate it with carbon paper. Outline your drawing with carbon paper underneath. Use a ballpoint pen in a contrasting color to see which areas you have already translated and control the thickness of the lines. The applied pattern must also be fixed with a fixative or a thin glazing layer of a transparent primer.

TRANSITION FROM ONE COLOR TO ANOTHER

Consider a graduated transition from one color to another. Oil paints, because they take time to dry, allow you to move them around on the canvas while they are still wet. That is why it is much easier to make smooth color gradations with oil than with other paints. This can be done with any brush. But flat brushes are best, and round ones are worst. For small and large stretch marks, the same principles work.


Paints are mixed on a palette and applied to their intended places on the canvas. Then the brush is moved back and forth in a crosswise manner between two gradations of color until a result that satisfies you is obtained. Then parallel strokes are carried out for the final processing of the site. Work with a clean brush from dark to medium, and then again with a clean brush from light to medium.


(A) In this example, the brush strokes are ALWAYS perpendicular to the highlight. Moving the brush in a circle, we try to make strokes perpendicular to the highlight, respectively, we get the shape of strokes of a twisted brush.
(C) Depending on the location of the primary colors of the stretch, an idea is created of the plane in which the surface is located. Notice how the shades are positioned to represent a flat surface (left) and a curved surface (right).

WE CREATE FORMS

All forms are created from five basic forms. These shapes are: ball, cone, cylinder, cube and torus (donut, bagel). Parts of these shapes form any objects that we see. Imagine half a cylinder on a cube - and you get the shape of an American mailbox. A half ball and a cone will give you the shape of a teardrop, a fir tree is a cone, an oak is a hemisphere (half a ball), and a cylindrical mug usually has a handle in the form of a half torus (donut).


Chiaroscuro creates a form. Each of these shapes has well-defined locations of light and shadows. The sphere is characterized by a sickle and ovals. The cones have a triangular illuminated part and everything else is in the shade. Cubes and flat surfaces contain stretch marks (gradient transition of light into shadow).
The cylinders are made up of strips. Thor - from crescents and stripes.
Concave versions of these shapes have the same chiaroscuro, but without reflexes.
If you learn how to draw these five shapes, you can draw anything.

The sphere (sphere) is defined by crescents and ovals. Balls are painted with crescent-shaped and twisted brush strokes.


The cones are made up of triangles of light and shadow. Cones write with triangular brush strokes.


The cylinders are made up of strips of light and shadow. Cylinders write with parallel brush strokes.

Cubes and any flat surfaces follow the same rules. Graduated transition from light to shadow. If the depicted surface is parallel to the canvas, then it is depicted in one even tone. A cube is a combination of intersecting planes. Each side of the cube contains a chiaroscuro stretch. The cube is drawn with parallel brush strokes.

The torus contains aspects of the other two figures. It has bands of light and shadow like a cylinder in the center and crescents like a sphere around the edges. Thor is written using twisted strokes and crescent strokes.


Here you can see that to convey the shape of the object, you need to use light and shadow, and not contour lines. Light can confuse you, so first try to see the shape of the object, and only then - how exactly the light falls on this shape.

COLOR MATCHING


The rainbow gives us examples of the pure colors that surround us in the world. The colors of the rainbow are in order: red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue-violet, violet. When these colors are framed in a circle, we get a "color wheel". The color wheel is a necessary thing when matching colors.


The circle is positioned so that yellow, the brightest light color, is at the top, and purple, the darkest, is at the bottom. From top to bottom, on the right, are yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red and red-violet. These colors are called warm.
From top to bottom, on the left side, are yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue and blue-violet. These colors are called cool.

Additional colors.


Any TWO colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called COMPLEMENTARY colors. Red and green are complementary colors to each other, as they are located opposite each other on the color wheel. Yellow and purple are also complementary to each other. Yellow-green and red-violet are complementary colors. Complementary colors placed side by side on the canvas reinforce each other. Complementary colors when mixed on the palette neutralize each other. On this plate, complementary colors are at opposite ends of the scale opposite each other. If we move towards the middle on this scale, we will end up with a neutral gray color, the least saturated of all.

All colors have shades. Pure spectral colors in this picture are marked with letters.
So, how do we choose colors, keeping all of the above in mind?
We only need to answer these three questions.
1. What color will the color we need come from, where is this color located on the color wheel? (meaning the spectral color).
2. How intense is it? (the more we add an additional color to the color, the less saturated the color we need becomes).
3. Hue (how dark or light it will be).

Here's how it all works.


Paints are sorted by color on the palette.


We select the color, like a brown leaf.
The spectral color will be red-violet. White is added to match the hue. Yellow-green, complementary to red-violet, is added to reduce its saturation.


We select the color of the green leaf.
Spectral green. Cadmium green is our base color. It contains a bit of yellowness, so we reduce its saturation with red-violet (quinacridone pink). Yellow-green and red-violet are complementary colors to each other.
White is added to refine the shade.


We select the color of the silver electrical tape.
The spectral color is blue. White is added to clarify the tonal saturation. Orange, complementary to blue, we add and get gray.


We select the color of a three-dimensional object. A piece of soap.


Let's pick the middle one first. The spectral color is yellow-orange. A very small amount of additional blue-violet is added to reduce the intensity of the color. And a little bit of white.


To get light areas of our soap, add white to the resulting color of the middle. To get the color of the shadow, add another blue-violet to the color of the middle.


So, the colors of the soap are selected. Usually, to get the color of the shadow on the subject, you need to add an additional color to the main color of the subject. For darker shadows, use the main color of the subject, but with less white. In some cases, adding an extra color doesn't darken the color enough, that's when we add some black.

SHADOWS

Shadows create light. Shadows fall into three categories. The first is the shaded part of the subject, known simply as the SHADOW. The second is a falling shadow from an object, which is formed by the fact that the object obscures the light from the light source. The third category is the shadow of neighboring objects.


The shadow part of an object is a darker, less saturated version of its base color.
Direct light produces dark shadows. Diffused light produces less intense blurry shadows.
Reflected light in the shadow (reflex).


Light falling on an object from its environment is called reflected light or reflex. The color of the objects that surround our object significantly affects the reflected light. See the green reflected light in the left ball? Notice the reflected red in the middle ball. The color of the environment is an integral part of all shadows.


The light and shade saturation of the surrounding objects also affects the reflected light. The first ball just hangs in the air. The second ball also reflects the white surface. The third ball reflects a black surface. The light and shade saturation of surrounding objects is also an integral part of the shadows.

Falling shadows.

A drop shadow is always characterized by being darkest and most focused at the source of the shadow (the subject). Drop shadows are written in a darker, less intense color than the color of the surface they fall on.


A drop shadow color always contains the complementary color to the lighting color and the complementary color to the surface color on which the shadow lies.
See the blue tint in the shadow of the subject that is illuminated by the orange light? And an orange tint in the shadow of an object lit in blue. In the shadow of an object illuminated with red light, there is a tint of green. And notice the red-purple hue of the shadow cast by the object illuminated by the yellow-green light.
Drop shadows are about shape and texture.


Drop shadows describe the environment of an object. On the left, the wall is defined by the falling shadow of the glass. On the right, the shadow indicates the presence of a mound.


The edges of the shadow determine the texture of the surface that the shadow falls on.
Grass on the left and mud with rocks on the right.

Drop shadows in direct and diffused light.




Direct light (left) usually comes from a single light source, such as the sun or a spotlight. It gives high contrast and rich dark drop shadows.
Diffused light is usually obtained from several light sources. It gives low contrast and fuzzy drop shadows.


Objects with little or no drop shadow are ALWAYS in ambient light, where they appear flatter and less textured.

Shadows from neighboring objects.


These are the dark shadows we see where objects touch each other. The dark line around the closed door, the dark line under the coffee mug, the dark line between tightly clenched fingers - this is the shadow from neighboring objects.
It is relatively independent of the direction of illumination. These shadows in the shadows are usually the darkest places in the drawing.


The narrow dark strip under the cylinder on the left tells us that the objects are separated. The cylinder on the right is connected to its base.

CONTRAST

Let's use light and shadow together.

Contrast is the ratio of the lightest and darkest part of an object or its surroundings.

Tone scale.

Left is high contrast, right is low contrast.

When objects have high contrast, they appear closer to us. When the contrast is less, objects appear farther away from us. Those rocks in the distance seem to us located farther from us, their contrast is lower than the contrast of the rock closest to us.


The gradual saturation of objects with contrast makes them visually closer to us.


The distance can be determined from the contrast of the falling shadow and its surroundings.

Low contrast


Objects in ambient light have the lowest contrast.


Objects without a drop shadow are always in ambient light. If an object has a medium to dark tonal range, it should have a drop shadow.


If the object has a tonal transition from medium to light, then it will appear as if in a haze or fog.

CONTRAST CREATES A TYPE OF LIGHT. High contrast corresponds to bright lighting. Low contrast corresponds to ambient light, far distance, and haziness.

TEXTURE

Texture helps define what you see.

Best of all, the texture is visible when the light passes into the shadow. On smooth objects, flare is a distorted display of the light source itself. The sharper the focus of this reflection, the smoother the surface of the object. A glass bottle has a smoother surface than aluminum, which in turn is smoother than candle wax. We know how these objects focus the highlight on themselves.

On objects without bright highlights, the texture is visible well and is determined by the transition from light to shadow.

These ten objects are arranged in order of their degree of texture.
Notice where your eye is immediately looking to appreciate the texture of an object.

We look at the transition of light into shadow to determine how textured an object is.

Texture in diffused light.

On the left - direct light, on the right - diffused.

Objects in direct light appear more textured than objects in ambient light.
The log and towel appear softer and smoother in diffused light. Objects appear less textured in ambient light because the transition from light to shadow takes longer.

GLAZING / GLAZING LAYERS

Glazing layers are applied over the dried paint.

Transparent layers of oil paint are called glazing. Translucent - these are layers of glazing. To obtain a glaze, the paint is diluted in a ratio of 1/3 Dammar varnish, 1/3 turpentine and 1/3 linseed oil. Glaze is a thin transparent layer of paint that is placed on another dried layer to get a shade of the third color. For example, if you put diluted quinacridone pink (clear color) on blue, you get purple. If you glaze exactly the same color, then you will strengthen it. Falling shadows on complex textures are often glazed. Glazing slightly darkens the color. (See the lesson "Paints" about transparency and haze).

This is glazing.

For example, the shell of a beetle needs to be greened.

Glazing liquid is mixed on a palette with cyan green (transparent color) until the desired degree of transparency is achieved.

Then the mixture is applied with a kolinsky brush to the drawing in a horizontal position. We leave to dry overnight. When using glazing, you can change the color of the drawing without changing the direction of the strokes of paint on the main layer.

Glazing is obtained by using a diluted matte color over the dried color of another paint. The glaze layer does not change color and is a translucent layer.

The paint is also mixed on a palette with a mixture for glazing and applied to a horizontal surface with a kolinsky brush.

White (matte color) with glazing give us rays of light. Leave the work to dry overnight.
http://demiart.ru/

You will need

• - oil paints of different colors;
• - brushes with natural bristles (bristle and core);
• - canvas;
• - primer;
• - fine sandpaper;
• - easel;
• - palette;
• - drying oil;
• - palette knife;
• - solvent;
• - turpentine;
• - varnish;
• - the cloth;
• -a cup.

Instruction

Buy high-quality oil paints, brushes and other necessary supplies for painting at a specialized store or department. Pay special attention to paints and brushes - these are the main tools of the artist. Good brushes retain their original shape after each stroke, bad ones practically do not bend and do not return to their original shape when dipped in oil paint.

Stretch the canvas on a stretcher. For painting with oil paints, a dense cotton or linen canvas is used. It must be primed before work. Apply the first coat of primer horizontally. Smooth the surface with sandpaper and, to get rid of small cracks, apply a second, vertical, coat of primer.

Set the canvas on the easel. Pour some turpentine into a cup to cleanse while brushing. After the primer dries, it will take about an hour. Sketch a picture.

Wipe the palette with linseed oil and wipe dry. Then squeeze oil paints onto it. You can hold the palette in your hand or put it next to you while you work.

Mix the drying oil with the dark oil paints that you will use for the base of the painting. Introduce a little solvent into the mixture with a palette knife. This will give the paints fluidity, and they will lay down on the canvas more evenly.

When working on a painting, apply oil paint in neat strokes. If your work is large, then paint with bristle brushes. Perform separate sections with a fine drawing with calico tassels.

Correct mistakes and inaccuracies in the picture by wiping off the paint with a palette knife and using a piece of cloth soaked in turpentine. Then sand the area and moisten with literally one drop of linseed oil.

You will need

• Oil paints, primer, glue, fixative, palette, brushes (preferably flat and made from natural materials), palette knife, easel, simple pencil, eraser, tracing paper, carbon paper and other useful little things purchased by artists for ease of work.

Instruction

Buy a canvas. They are usually linen or cotton. Cotton canvas is cheaper and easier to handle. Linen is fine-grained, suitable for prescribing small details, and coarse-grained, on which it is good to reflect the texture (for example, stones, the sea). Instead of the traditional one, burlap, plywood, hardboard, and metal are also used to work with. Paper can also be used, but will not be durable.
The cheaper canvas is the one stretched over cardboard. It is thin and easy to transport, no more than 0.5 x 0.7 m in size. Canvas on a stretcher is more expensive and heavier, but larger - up to 1.2x1.5m.

Along with the canvas, purchase all the necessary supplies: oil paints, primer, glue, fixer, palette, brushes, palette knife, easel. If you sketch on paper and then transfer it to canvas, you will need transparent paper (you can take tracing paper) and. In the process, something else may come in handy, so check with the seller.

Glue and prime the canvas, and then let it dry. This operation is done so that the paint does not destroy it and lies well on the canvas.

Further, everything will depend on the technique of execution. If the picture is small, and the experience of creating paintings is still small, try the technique in one step (alla prima). This means that the picture should be completed in one or more approaches, but in time before the paints dry. The drying time of oil paint is on average about 3 days, depending on the thickness of the layer. The picture will get those tones and colors that you create by mixing. Additional colors will be obtained due to the translucence of the soil. The picture itself will be lighter and lighter.

Usually artists use a multi-layer technique: it reveals all the possibilities of oil painting. Its essence is that the author of the picture divides his task into several subtasks, which he then implements in different layers. First, a first thin layer is created, called "underpainting". For its implementation, the paints are diluted. Underpainting helps to determine the composition, tone, shape, shadows and light and shade.

In the next layers, the artist writes down the details, subtleties of form and color, and texture step by step. In the last layers, linseed oil is added to give saturation and color stability. After the paint has dried, it is varnished. The duration of this period depends on the thickness of the layers, and averages 6-12 months.

Related videos

note

Learn about the laws of composition and mixing colors before you take on oil.

Work with watercolor and gouache for a while to get the hang of it. According to the technique, oil is closer to gouache - the paintings are dense and opaque.

An easier way to master the art of drawing is to study in a group or individually with an experienced master.

Useful advice

For a test pen in oil painting, do not buy expensive materials. Working in this technique requires the necessary training, skills and patience. Go from simple to complex.

Drawing with a pencil on the ground must be applied carefully so that the ground does not crack. You can insure yourself by applying another layer of soil.

When using a multi-layer technique, remember that each layer should be equal in thickness to the previous one or be greater than it. Otherwise, the oil will crack.

Wait for the previous one to dry before starting the next layer.

If you do not like the result, carefully remove the unusable layer before it dries, or apply another layer on top.

Sources:

• http://www.kartinanz.narod.ru/info/oil.html
• oil painting

Foreign artist and good art school teacher Johannes Vloothuis teaches thousands of students how to paint in oils (among other painting techniques). Johannes gave us the top 10 tips for oil painting artists. I think you will agree that every artist should know these basic techniques in painting.
1. Use white underpainting or quick-drying whitewash.
One of the common problems that oil painters have is that when you add a layer of paint on top of another, they tend to blend. For example, it is difficult to add snow on mountain tops when the first coat of paint is still wet.
When an artist goes into a frenzy and encounters such a problem, he gets frustrated and puts the painting aside and returns to work a few days later. There are special new whites that can solve this problem, unlike standard titanium whites. They are called quick-drying white or white underpainting.
2. Thin lines in oil.

Most, if not all, oil painters get frustrated when trying to draw thin lines with oil paint, especially on wet paint. Even signing a painting is not easy if the signature is small. Here are some ways to achieve this without waiting for the oil to dry:

• Use a plastic card instead of a spatula
• Use acrylic paint over dry oils
• Another innovative way is to use pastels. Usually it does not dry, but you can fix it with a layer of varnish.

3. Underpainting on canvas.

If you visit an art gallery and look at the oil paintings up close, you will see the voids in the strokes in the painting with the color of burnt sienna - this is an underpainting. It provides the following benefits:

• On a white background, it is more difficult to evaluate and choose a color
• In the open air in sunny weather, a white canvas will be too bright. You can, of course, wear glasses, but there will be obvious problems with color matching
• It's almost impossible to paint an entire white canvas in a quick, spontaneous plein air and you'll end up with white gaps between the strokes.
• Oil paint is not 100 percent opaque, so the gaps in the underpainting between strokes will play an important role in the perception of the picture. If you are painting a picture with warm colors, for example, autumn, then it is better to make an underpainting in a cold color.

In the image below, you can see that a warm underpainting was used, then we added shadow, sky, and foliage colors.

Underpainting Johannes Canyon Vista


The completed landscape of Vista Canyon by Johannes Vloothuis
4. Applying oil in a thick layer

One big advantage of acrylic and oil paints is the ability to apply a thick, thick layer that can convey a three-dimensional look. Other paints such as watercolors and pastels are not of this quality. My advice is to start with a thick layer of oil paint and work your way up to a thin layer. Add drops of paint only for small details - tree trunks, stones, flowers, leaves.
In the picture below, you can see that the flowers and leaves are applied in a thick layer and therefore a foreground effect is created.


Carmel Mission Johannes Vloothuis
5. Dry brush to create texture

In order to paint heaps of leaves, a lawn, foam in the roar of waves and waterfalls, use the Dry Brush technique. Dry brushing is a term used to refer to the technique of applying paint by "spreading" a small amount of paint. The drybrush technique can make a tree look shabby, paint lots of small leaves, paint foam near the water, and add weeds to the grass.
For a more visual representation, in the video below you will see how to draw a tree using the "dry brush" technique.

6. Painting on an already dry canvas

Alla Prima or wet on wet is a popular drawing technique in oil painting. However, the time and size of the painting may not allow you to complete the artwork in one sitting. Working on dry painting does not give the desired blending effect. This can be a problem when doing water reflections that require blending.
In order to work on dry painting, I recommend first adding a thin layer of Liquin Oil Thinner. The new paint will dissolve, but will not merge with the previous layer. This way you can soften the edges of the image!
7. Invest in professional quality paints and save on canvas.

Canvas is an expensive and mostly secondary expense, however, many professional artists choose to use this high quality canvas in their paintings.
I admit that there is some benefit when it comes to drybrushing on canvas as it frames the painting nicely, but I don't think such a benefit is worth the high cost.
available in our online store.
You can prepare your paintings by simply applying Liquitex super-heavy plaster with a paint roller onto a wood panel. This will leave random raised little bumps, mimicking linen fabric. Use masonite or birch for the panel. And, instead of wasting money on canvas, splurge on professional paints and you'll reap the rewards.
8. Use different colors to create more interest in the painting

Solid monochrome colors are boring, so leading artists exaggerate and add multiple variations of similar hues in the same area. Try this: Partially blend the colors on your palette until you've evened out the saturation (roughly 50 percent blending). Apply more force when squeezing out the paint. You should be able to see subtle color variations in every stroke. This takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, your paintings will look more alive.
You can also use a multi-colored mixture to paint foliage, grass and rocks. You will learn about this in the short art video below, which shows you how to draw different types of green realistic foliage.

Also watch the video to learn how to mix colors and what strokes you can draw thick fir trees.

9. Draw fog for the depth of the atmosphere

I think fog is completely undermined in landscape painting. Scenes where fog is beautifully drawn can deliver a deep atmosphere to your painting.
In an art gallery, I once saw a beautiful picture of the Upper Yellowstone Falls with a lot of fog, where it fell down to the bottom. However, I could see through the fog and it looked very realistic. This has been achieved through the use of white zinc, which has a characteristic translucency. You can also use it to add haze to distant mountains and other areas where fog can add atmosphere.


10. Use your fingers

There is an unfounded fear of using oil paint, especially if there is skin contact. Be aware that leading manufacturers list toxicity levels on paint tubes.
I love mixing oil paints and I want the strokes to be even. Fingers can touch and apply the right pressure on the canvas, applying good strokes. You can't do that with a brush.
Well, buy high-quality spatulas and brushes in our online store in the appropriate section  and section

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 oil painting, the canvas becomes your fantasy world!

Steps

Part 1

Beginning of work

Choose colors. You understand, before you paint a picture with oil, you need to purchase oil paints. Of course, the choice of paints these days is more than wide, but you should not buy cheap paints. Yes, you'll save money, but cheap paints tend to be of sub-par quality, making your artistic experience...not the most enjoyable. Spend more money, but buy one jar of quality paints, not 2-3 cheap ones.

Stock up on everything else. Aspiring artists often succumb to the demon of economy and do not buy what they need. In principle, this is not as bad as it seems, however, there is something without which oil painting will not be such a pleasant and easy experience!

Prepare your workspace. Since you will need a lot of things to paint almost all at once, you need a lot of space. An easel or table should be placed where no one will disturb you. It is desirable, among other things, to work in a place well lit by natural light. It would also be nice to put something like a blanket on the floor so as not to stain the floor with drops of paint.

Part 2

Drawing evaluation

1. First, make a sketch of the future picture with a pencil on canvas. This will help to build a composition, small details, straight lines and so on before starting work with paints. Having made a sketch, you can easily make changes to it. First a sketch with a pencil, and then a painting with paints (of course, if you do not plan to draw something abstractly random). Don't forget composition and negative space.

   • Composition - the position of objects in the picture. The composition should be such that the eye is drawn to the drawing as a whole, and not some part of it.
   • Negative space, in turn, is the space around the object in the drawing. If, say, you are drawing some real object, then you can draw complex places without any problems if you look not at the object itself, but at the space around it. Think about how you will fill the negative space in the picture so that the object still stands out and does not get lost in the background.
   • Consider overlapping and overlapping shapes and use them to add depth to your drawing. If the composition is such that nothing intersects anywhere, then it's time to change the composition. Depth will make your drawing more realistic.

2. Find a light source. In order for the drawing to come out realistic, you cannot do without the image of darkened and illuminated areas in the picture. Look at the object and think at what angle the light falls on it, where the shadow, penumbra and highlight will be located.

   • If there is a source of light, then there will be a shadow - a fact. However, if the light comes from above, then the shadow can be difficult to see. Try moving the light source or the subject itself to make the shadows and highlights more visible.
   • Perhaps you will not have darkness, which is darker than dusk, and radiance, which is brighter than dawn. What is there, most likely, your shadow and non-shadow will differ from the strength by a semitone-tone. If your light source does not give a clear light-shadow boundary, then don't worry. This is fine.

3. Choose colors. For beginners, it can sometimes be very difficult to match the color of an object with the color of the paint (especially when the paints must be mixed to get the desired color). This is because the brain "sees" colors in a rather idealized way - you can start mixing paint to paint a blue sky, and then realize that your paint is much brighter and bluer than it should be. How to deal with it? Try to move away from the symbols your brain uses and study the actual colors used. This will change the brightness of your colors.

   • An object drawn at night will be darker and richer in color. A subject drawn during the day will be brighter.
   • Check the color of the light source. On a bright sunny day, your subject should be golden yellow. On an overcast day, the light scattered through the clouds will give the object a grayish color. Light can even be colored - neon lamps are an example of this, and this will also change the color of the object in the same way.

4. Look at the movement of the object. By the way, is your object being drawn moving? Or moving, and how? Maybe not only the object itself is moving, but everything around? Consider this movement, it will come in handy at the stage of planning further work with the brush. In realistic-looking paintings, brush strokes convey movement (however, the reverse is also true).

Part 3

Creating a masterpiece

Mix colors. Oil paints in this sense are ready to "forgive" almost any mistakes - they dry very slowly. However, it is worth remembering that mixing two paints in the same color twice is almost unrealistic. What lesson can be learned from this? That's right, you need to mix paints "wholesale", with a margin, so that the next day you have something to draw.

• Use the color range to make it easier to mix colors. With the help of gamma, you will see the primary, secondary and tertiary colors, as well as understand how to make them.
• Pure colors are those that have not been mixed with either white or black. When primary colors are mixed, secondary colors are obtained.
• Light coloring is obtained by adding white to the color.
• The shadow, respectively, is obtained by adding black.
• To make the tone, add white to the shadow (color + black). Tones are used quite widely, they depict most of the colors from, so to speak, everyday life.

1. Start drawing. You can draw in any way and technique convenient for you, even drawing in parts, even in layers, at least somehow. However, since you are working with oil paint, it is worth remembering the great rule: thick on liquid. In other words, first you need to paint with diluted, liquid paints, and only then on top of them - with thick ones.

   • Try to draw simple objects. All figures consist of several simple shapes: a cube, a cone, a cylinder, and a ring. Draw them first as real objects (say a box of oranges) or as flat shapes of themselves.
   • How to make the paint not so thick? Take turpentine or linseed oil, mix it with paint and, in general, that's it. Add thinning agent in small doses, slowly, to get exactly the consistency you need.
   • It will take three days for the paint layer to dry enough to allow a second coat to be painted over, so take your time and let the paint dry.

2. Try different drawing techniques. There are dozens of such techniques, but if you, a beginner, start learning them all, then your head will spin very quickly. You'd better choose a couple of techniques and focus on them.

Part 4

Final touches

Correct all errors. You will have something like three days while the paints are still wet, during which time you can both correct the mistakes and completely wipe them off with a damp cloth. Please note that there is no need to rush to declare the drawing ready - first you need to critically evaluate it and think about whether something can be improved.

Save the rest of the paint. If you have mixed so much paint that most of it is not useful to you, save it for the next time. Put the paint in small containers, cover them with cling film.

Clean your brushes. If the oil paint dries on the brush, the brush will be easier to throw away, so don't put off brush cleaning. Take turpentine, an old rag and go ahead - scrub off the paint and rinse the brush under running water until it, flowing from the brush, becomes transparent. Check the bristles with your hand afterwards to make sure all the paint has been washed out. Put clean brushes in a jar - bristles up, not down! Make sure that the room where the brushes are drying has good air circulation. It's best to simply place the brush jar in an open area, such as a shelf or desk, rather than in a closet or desk drawer.

Wait. When is oil paint completely dry? This can take up to 3 months, or even more if the picture consists of many layers of paint. Put your creation where no one will disturb it, and let the air do its withering work.

• To make oil paints dry faster, store them in a well-lit, dry, and warm room. In addition, when choosing paints, give preference to those that dry faster.

1. Cover the painting with varnish. When the paint is completely dry, you need to protect it, and for this you need a varnish. With varnish, you also protect colors from fading (to one degree or another). When the varnish is dry, you can congratulate yourself - your picture is ready, hang it somewhere in a conspicuous place!

   ADVICE OF THE SPECIALIST

   Kelly Medford is an American artist based in Rome, Italy. She studied classical painting, drawing and graphics in the USA and Italy. He works mainly in the open air on the streets of Rome, and also travels for private collectors. She is the creator of Sketching Rome Tours, during which she teaches guests of the Eternal City how to create travel sketches.

   Plein air artist

   The painting should be varnished only after the paint has dried - not before. Kelly Medford, plein air artist, says: “Different types of paint take different times to dry, which determines when they should be varnished. Oil paints dry top down, and it can take six months to a year before the paint dries and you can protect it with varnish. varnish does not allow the paint to breathe and prevents final drying, so that if applied too early, the picture can simply be ruined.

• The color "black ivory" takes a very long time to dry - try not to use it for background coatings.
• Do not use linseed oil to dilute light colors - they will quickly turn yellow.
• Use baby oil or olive oil to remove oil paint from your hands. Apply a little oil to a rag or tissue and wipe your hands with it. Don't wash your hands until you've wiped off the paint, otherwise this method will be useless. Oil paint is easy to get away with if you knock out a wedge with a wedge - another oil. After you wipe the paint off your hands, wash them with soap and water.
• To prevent the paint palette from drying out, place it in water or put it in the refrigerator.
• Don't put the palette in the water for too long or it will become oily from the paint.
• Wear latex gloves to avoid getting your hands dirty.
• Rinse the brush thoroughly in warm water before using new paint.
• To make the image three-dimensional, draw strokes around the object. For example, if you are painting a floor, use horizontal strokes.