Oil Painting Tips For Beginners

Oil painting is a fantastic medium and was the generally preferred choice for old master painters. Oil paint is slow drying and versatile, allowing you to easily manipulate it on the canvas.

I started out with acrylic paints but was quickly frustrated by the extremely fast drying times and the changing in colors as the acrylic paint dries. So I decided to make a transition into oil paints.

It was certainly a steep learning curve but I am extremely glad I made the transition.

Unfortunately oil painting can seem very daunting to a beginner. Compared to acrylic painting, there are many rules you must follow to ensure the paint dries properly and you can easily get overwhelmed by all the procedures.

 If you are interested in oil painting, then these oil painting tips should help you out. I note though these are just to get you started. You will need to conduct more research as oil painting is a very complex craft.

If you are a seasoned oil painter yourself and have some tips to add, please feel free to contribute in the comment section at the bottom.

Oil Painting Tip 1: Paint Fat Over Lean

This is probably the most important rule of oil painting, especially if you are painting wet on wet (a technique where you do not let the paint dry in between layers).

Fat paint refers to how much oil is present. By adding an oil medium to your paint, you are making it fatter. By adding a solvent to your oil paint, you are breaking down the oil and making it leaner.

The fatter the paint, the slower it dries.

The reason for painting fat over thin is that the layers on top must dry slower than the layers on the bottom of your canvas. If not, the paint will crack as it dries.

A simple way of tackling this is to have a process for painting. Start with very lean paint (paint plus solvent). Then add layers which are slightly fatter (paint plus a mix of solvent and oil medium). Every subsequent layer should be fatter than the prior (more oil medium / less solvent).

Oil Painting Tip 2: Paint Thick over Thin

This is a similar principle to the fat over lean rule, in that it is based on the drying time of oil paint. Thick oil paint dries slower than thin.

So in theory, your first layers should be very thin, almost glazes of paint. Then as you build up your painting you be adding increasing amount of substance and oil.

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