Oil Painting Lessons

Oil painting is a very exciting and rewarding way to paint. It offers the widest range of color and texture, and an infinite number of ways in which it can be worked. It's also a great medium for beginners, because you can quite easily cover your mistakes.

The basics of oil painting can be mastered fairly quickly. If you're just starting out, don't worry about painting a masterpiece the first time, just pick up your brush and be willing to learn.

Painting in oils is one of the most easiest ways to start painting. You will need a bit of dedication, time, an area in which to work, some basic guidelines to follow, and of course - materials.

When you're just starting out, go slowly, take your time and don't rush it.

Oil Painting Materials

The very first thing you'll need to do is buy a few oil painting supplies. You will need an easel, a canvas, some oil paints, some brushes, colors, color palette to mix your colors, palette knives to mix them with, and some sort of thinner.

When you are starting out, don't go overboard with the materials. You don't have to spend a fortune. Buy the basics and don't concern yourself too much about the quality.

At this point you don't need an expensive brand of paint, but when it comes to brushes, do choose quality. Good quality brushes can save you a lot of headaches and can have a huge impact on how your projects turn out. They will also last much longer than the cheap ones. So don't compromise with the brushes.

Guidelines

Painting is a skill and like any skill, it can be learned and improved. No amount of natural talent is going to make you a master painter. Michelangelo had to learn, Picasso had to learn, all the great artists studied for years in order to become masters of their trade.

Painting is not as difficult as most people assume, especially with good guidance and step-by-step instructions, but it's not easy either. There are a lot of details you should be aware of.

It is absolutely crucial to learn and understand the basics – from perspective and composition, to color theory and brushwork techniques. Only by mastering the basic principles will you be able to create quality art.

Nowadays, all this valuable know-how is quite easily attainable through quality, well structured DVD lessons. If you're really serious about progressing beyond the amateur level, I would highly recommend Learn & Master Painting DVD Course. This is the most complete video instruction painting course that I know of. Definitely worth a look.