Smooth writing in painting. Oil painting technique. Multilayer painting. Technique of the old masters

The greatest masterpieces were painted with oil paints; it was, and still is, the preference of masters of painting and painting. famous artists. But working with such paints has its own unique characteristics and peculiar differences in techniques. Therefore, many beginning artists have some difficulties in painting. In this article we will try to figure out how to paint with oil paints, what types they are, and also consider several techniques in oil painting.

In specialized stores, oil paints are presented in a large assortment; there are many brands under which such art products are sold. What is special about oil paints?

The composition includes various pigments: mineral, organic, synthetic and earthen. The same components are present in other types of paints, be it acrylic or watercolor.

Oil paints differ from others in the binding component - linseed oil. It is this that gives the brightness and saturation of color, and it is because of it that such paints take a long time to dry.

But a fresh layer of oil applied to the canvas can be changed, that is, you can repeatedly adjust the drawing and apply new layers on top of the old ones.

Another feature of oil paints is that they are diluted not with water, but with a special solvent, which also uses vegetable oil. This thinner is sold in art stores, just like the paints themselves.

What types are there?

• In every specialized store you can find three types of paints: Highly artistic.

• These are paints that are purchased by professionals in their field. They consist only of high-quality components, and therefore have a high cost. But for a good painting you need good paints that will not lose their shine or change color over time.

• Studio.

Manufacturers of oil paints are located in many countries around the world. Experienced artists have already selected for themselves the options that are suitable for the job. Many people combine their sets from different companies, which is also acceptable.

Oil paints are also divided into transparent and opaque. The latter are denser in structure and therefore do not allow light to pass through them. Each package must have special markings. For example, the designation “*” indicates the durability and longevity of the paint on the canvas. The more such symbols on the paint, the longer the finished canvas will last. The best paints last more than 100 years.

The symbol in the form of a filled black square indicates that the paint is not transparent; if it is half transparent, it is translucent.

The pigments that give paint a particular color can be divided into organic and inorganic. The first type gives brighter shades, and the second gives natural colors. With a good ratio of pigments, manufacturers achieve beautiful and high-quality shades.

For the production of oil paints, imported linseed oil is usually used, since flax, which does not grow on the territory of Russian Federation, has unique properties, thanks to which art paints have their own unique quality characteristics.

On video: how to choose paints for oil painting.

About drawing techniques

Preparing for creativity does not take much time, especially since in modern art stores you can purchase everything you need for work. Already stretched and primed, canvases can be found in any size - from the smallest to the largest.

A painting done with oil paints looks very impressive. The strokes applied by the artist look as if they are separate from each other. Many people think that oil painting is a fairly simple activity, but this is absolutely not the case. Let's try to figure out how to learn to paint with oil paints.

Each master has his own drawing technique, which has its own characteristics. The standard ones are:

• multi-layer application;
• alla prima - one layer.

Performing multi-layer application is a very complex technique in which you need to be as careful as possible, knowing all the properties and characteristics of oil paints.

When applying one layer, be aware that the paint may shrink and cracks will appear in the painting. In this case, artists let the first layer dry completely and paint the second. Many craftsmen use this technique more often, since the material consumption is lower.

Basic Rules

So, let's learn how to paint in oils. What rules must be followed:

1. A prerequisite for painting any picture is light. Only properly set lighting can achieve the desired effect.
2. Artists begin their work with the outline of the future painting. Coal works well for this. It can be easily wiped off with a rag and the failed element can be re-drawn. The lines that are drawn with charcoal must be fixed on the canvas.
3. In a painting, all the tones and shadows are obtained by constantly mixing colors. You need to clearly understand what colors need to be mixed to achieve this or that shade.
4. Masters begin to paint their picture from the most striking elements of the composition. That is, first you need to select the darkest element and the lightest one. Then you can start all the other details.
5. Once the basic sketch is done, you can move on to drawing. But you shouldn’t focus your attention on one element. It is necessary to gradually use the entire canvas.
6. Artists recommend using white in much larger quantities than paints of other colors, since they are used more often.
7. The finished painting takes three days to dry, so you can make adjustments to the canvas the day after the work is completed. The missing area can be removed with a spatula. This will not harm the canvas or the entire painting as a whole. The work will remain just as solid.
8. For beginning craftsmen and amateurs, using professional paints is not profitable, since beginners will mostly draw sketches.
9. For oil paints, you need to prepare a special storage place. What you need for painting (paints, brushes, canvas, palette) should be in one place, and at the first need they can be taken and used.
10. After the canvas has completely dried, do not wipe the surface with a dirty rag or touch it with your hands. It can hurt appearance general drawing.

Step by step painting with oil paints looks something like this.

Artists who can boast of a large number of canvases will tell you how to paint your first paintings correctly. There are certain painting techniques for oil painting on canvas. A novice artist needs to start working under the supervision of an experienced teacher. As soon as the painted drawings begin to work out and your techniques are identified, you can paint in oils yourself.

Sellers at art supply stores can also tell you what to write on with oil paints and how to start painting. There are many schools where people of any age learn to paint. Learn to draw only from good craftsmen painting!

Master classes on oil painting (2 videos)

Paintings step by step (23 photos)

Oil painting. Basics. Bill Martin's lessons for beginners.

There are things you should 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. Flaxseed oil is an oil that dries out through the process of oxidation with air. It absorbs oxygen from the air and crystallizes the paint pigment on a permanent basis. Once the oil dries, it cannot be removed.
Oil paints are thick. They are produced in tubes. The paints are squeezed onto the palette and mixed using 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. Typically you need to wait three days before adding the next layer. This long time drying is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Big advantage The point is that you will have time to comprehend 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 rag, 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 may blend together unevenly. The palette, brushes and damp canvas must be handled very carefully so as not to smear yourself, clothes, food and furniture.
You can work with paint for up to 12 hours at a time, then you must leave the work to dry for three days, after which you can continue working. When the paints have dried, you can apply new colors on top. There can be many layers to a work. Each subsequent layer must be the same in thickness or thicker than the previous one, otherwise cracks will occur.
After the work is completely dry (from three to six months), you need to apply protective layer Damara varnish.

DRAWING.

A complex design is quickly lost when applying oil paints, so it is better to label the design 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 a drawing directly to the canvas, it is better to use diluted paint. Since it's already paint, you won't have to seal it from subsequent layers.
You can also use coal. The charcoal fill will need to be isolated from subsequent layers with a fixer. Soft charcoal is easier to fix with fixative than compressed charcoal.
The drawing can also be applied with a pencil to the canvas. Then also secure with fixative. The sharp tip of a 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 can of fixer, in the box there is carbon paper.
It is better to prepare a drawing for translation using carbon paper on thin tracing paper, then it will be easier to translate. Attach the drawing to the canvas. Translate it using carbon paper. Trace your drawing with carbon paper underneath. Take advantage of this ballpoint pen contrasting color to see which areas you have already translated and control the thickness of the lines. The applied pattern must also be secured with a fixer or a thin glaze layer of transparent primer.

TRANSITION ONE COLOR TO ANOTHER

Let's consider a graduated transition from one color to another. Oil paints, because they take time to dry, allow you to move them around the canvas while they are still wet. This is why it is much easier to create smooth gradations of color with oils than with other paints. This can be done with any brushes. But flat brushes are best, and round brushes are worst. The same principles apply for small and large stretch marks.


The paints are mixed on the palette and applied to their intended places on the canvas. The brush is then moved back and forth in a cross pattern between the two gradations of color until a satisfactory result is achieved. Then parallel strokes are carried out to finalize the area. 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 the strokes of a twisted brush.
(B) Depending on the location of the main colors of the stretch, an idea of ​​the plane in which the surface is located is created. Notice how the shades are arranged to represent a flat surface (left) and a curved surface (right).

WE CREATE FORMS

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


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

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


Cones are made up of triangles of light and shadow. Cones are painted with triangular brush strokes.


The cylinders consist of stripes of light and shadow. Cylinders are painted 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 Thor contains aspects of two other figures. It has stripes of light and shadow, like a cylinder, in the center, and crescents, like a sphere, at the edges. Thor is written using twisted strokes and crescent strokes.


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

COLOR MATCHING


The rainbow gives us examples of the pure colors that surround us in the world. The colors of the rainbow in order: red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue-violet, violet. When these colors are arranged in a circle, we get a “color wheel.” Color circle - 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, from the right, there are yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red and red-violet. These colors are called warm.
From top to bottom, on the left side, there 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 because 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 enhance each other. Complementary colors neutralize each other when mixed on the palette. On this plate, complementary colors are at opposite ends of the scale opposite each other. If we move toward the middle on this scale, we end up with a neutral gray color, the least saturated of all.

All colors have shades. The pure spectral colors in this picture are indicated by letters.
So how do we select colors keeping all of the above in mind?
We just need to answer these three questions.
1. What color will make the color we need, where is this color located on the color wheel? (meaning spectral color).
2. How intense is it? (the more additional color we add 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.


The paints are arranged by color on the palette.


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


Select the color of the green leaf.
Spectral green. Cadmium green is our base color. It contains a little yellow, so we tone it down with red-violet (quinacridone pink). Yellow-green and red-violet are complementary colors to each other.
We add white to clarify the shade.


Select the color of the silver electrical tape.
Spectral color blue. We add white to clarify the tonal saturation. Orange, complementary to blue, is added and we get gray.


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


First we select the middle. Spectral color – yellow-orange. We add a very small amount of additional blue-violet to reduce the intensity of the color. And a little bit of white.


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


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

SHADOWS

Shadows create light. Shadows are divided into three categories. The first is the shadowed part of the object, known simply as the SHADOW. The second is a falling shadow from an object, which is formed when the object obscures the light from the illumination source. The third category is the shadow of neighboring objects.


The shadow portion 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 surroundings is called reflected light or reflex. The color of the objects that surround our subject 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 shadow saturation of 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 the black surface. The light and shadow saturation of surrounding objects is also an integral part of shadows.

Falling shadows.

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


The color of the falling shadow always contains additional color to the color of the lighting and a complementary color to the color of the surface on which the shadow lies.
See a blue tint in the shadow of an object that is illuminated by orange light? And an orange tint in the shadow of an object lit in blue. In the shadow of an object illuminated by red light there is a shade of green. And notice the red-violet hue of the shadow cast by an object illuminated with yellow-green light.
Drop shadows are associated with shape and texture.


Falling shadows describe the surroundings of an object. On the left, the wall is defined by the falling shadow of the glass. The shadow on the right indicates the presence of a mound.


The edges of a shadow define the texture of the surface on which the shadow falls.
Grass on the left and dirt with rocks on the right.

Falling shadows in direct and diffuse light.




Direct light (left) usually comes from a single light source - for example, the sun or a spotlight. It produces high contrast and rich, dark cast shadows.
Diffuse light is usually obtained from several light sources. It produces low contrast and unclear cast shadows.


Objects with virtually no cast shadow are ALWAYS in diffuse light, where they appear flatter and less textured.

Shadows from neighboring objects.


These are the dark shadows we see in places where objects touch each other. Dark line around closed door, a dark line under a mug of coffee, a 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 parts of the drawing.


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

CONTRAST

Using light and shadows together.

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

Tone scale.

On the left is high contrast, on the right is low contrast.

When objects have high contrast, they appear closer to us. When contrast is lower, objects appear further away from us. Those rocks in the distance seem further away 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.


By the contrast of the falling shadow and its surroundings, you can determine the distance.

Low contrast


Objects in diffuse light have the lowest contrast.


Objects without a cast shadow are always in diffuse light. If an object has a tonal gradation from medium to dark, it should have a cast shadow.


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

CONTRAST IS CREATED BY THE TYPE OF LIGHT. High contrast corresponds to bright lighting. Low contrast corresponds to diffuse lighting, distant distances, and haze.

TEXTURE

Texture helps define what exactly you are seeing.

The texture is best seen when light fades into shadow. On smooth objects, glare is a distorted reflection 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 an aluminum bottle, which in turn is smoother than candle wax. We know how these objects focus the glare on themselves.

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

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

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

Texture in diffused light.

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

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

GLAZING/LAYER LAYERS

Glazing layers are applied on top of the dried paint.

Transparent layers of oil paint are called glazing layers. Translucent are layers of glaze. To obtain glaze, the paint is diluted in a ratio of 1/3 Damara varnish, 1/3 turpentine and 1/3 linseed oil. Glaze is a thin transparent layer of paint, which is placed on another dried layer to obtain a shade of the third color. For example, if you put diluted quinacridone pink (a clear color) onto blue, you will get purple. If you glaze the exact same color, you will enhance it. Falling shadows on complex textures are often covered with glaze. Glazing darkens the color slightly. (See the “Paints” lesson about transparency and matte).

This is glazing.

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

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

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

Glaze is created 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 the palette with the glazing mixture and applied to the horizontal surface with a core brush.

White (matte color) with glazing gives us rays of light. Leave the work to dry overnight.
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There is no more rewarding medium than oil painting. It is also undeniable that oil opens up endless possibilities for the artist. Since its inception, oil has enjoyed enormous popularity and most discoveries in the world of painting have been made using this technique.

Of all the painting techniques, oil painting is the most difficult. This difficulty especially arises when moving from watercolor. A completely different principle for composing shades appears. In watercolors, paper was used for illumination; when working with oil paints White color soil has almost no significance. Mixing of colors occurs with the constant presence of white.

There are seven primary colors in nature. If you start mixing these paints, you can easily see that some primary colors are obtained by mixing other primary colors. Only three colors - red, yellow and blue - cannot be made up by any mixtures, and they must be present on the palette in finished form. Knowing this, an experienced painter will not look for ready-made paint for each color of an object, but will think about how much red, yellow and blue will be included in the desired shade of color.

In oil painting, paints are lightened by adding white (zinc or lead). Therefore, the painter must learn in practice how to obtain shades of color by whitening the primary colors.

What is the best order to squeeze paints onto the palette? The order may be different, but constant. For example, today you cannot apply ultramarine to top corner palette, and tomorrow - in the lower left. The painter becomes so firmly accustomed to the constant position of the colors that he selects mixtures of colors without looking at them. Everything is done mechanically. Similarly, knowledge of the location of paints, developed in practice, allows you to look more often at nature and the canvas than at the palette.

Paints mixed with one another often lose their saturation (brightness). It is difficult, for example, to obtain sufficiently bright orange, green and purple paints. That’s why sometimes bright orange, green, blue and violet paints in tubes, ready-made, wouldn’t be out of place on the palette. But this is optional. Only black paint may be necessary separately in a tube, since it, made up of three main paints, is not dark enough. Although black color is considered the result of almost complete absorption of all parts of the spectrum, in nature we almost never encounter pure black color, since there is no absolutely complete absorption in nature. In practice, white (reflecting all rays of light) and black have color shades. You should remember this when working and do not use white and black paint in their pure form. Black paint, skillfully used, allows you to create very beautiful and subtle mixtures with other paints. For example, mixed with cadmium orange, it produces a beautiful green with a warm tint. Black mixed with warm colors gives complex warm shades, mixed with cold colors gives cold shades.

Opaque paints apply thickly, so that the bottom layer is not visible. Transparent ones, on the contrary, can give a different shade to the bottom layer, which shines through them. This is glazing - a very powerful technique in classical painting. Nothing prevents you from diluting opaque paints thinner with a thinner and making them like transparent paints; there will be a glaze effect, but not as rich as with real transparent paints. Translucent ones will do this a little better. But still, transparent paints are unique. The secret is that if you place them on a bright white background, they create a watercolor effect, as if they glow. The old masters used glaze, transparent paints to create soft transitions of flesh tones. They can “unite” a painting of different colors by covering it with a thin layer of transparent paint, this will give it a common shade.

The principle of any paint is the pigment and its binder. It can be different, the main thing is that it holds the pigment and remains strong when drying. The properties of binders to dry quickly or slowly give rise to different techniques for their use. In this sense, “oil” is universal. Oil paint allows you to imitate quick-drying paints if it is diluted with solvents. Or, if diluted with oil, it allows you to lay it out leisurely, blending it with other colors, which gives very smooth transitions. It is opaque, which allows you to write in several layers. By applying varnish on top, you can adjust the gloss (richness) or dullness of the painting. Its disadvantages, for example, slow-drying white, can be “defeated” by using acrylic white in places, or adding driers to them (an additive to speed up drying). Acrylic paints can be applied over oil paints and vice versa.

You also need to know that individual paints (ultramarine, kraplak), laid on a white surface with a transparent layer, bear very little resemblance to the whiteness of these paints. Thus, in order to successfully write with oil paints, you need to have only five colors in your sketchbook: lead or zinc white, yellow (cadmium lemon), blue (cobalt blue or ultramarine), red (thioindigo pink, cadmium red, cinnabar), black in pure form (burnt bone, thioindigo). From these five colors you can create any color that exists in nature, any paint that is commercially available.

It is impossible to say in advance what colors need to be mixed to depict what is visible. You should not mix more than three colors, not counting white. When composing a color from two or three colors, you do not need to mix them on the palette for a long time. When pure colors are kept in the mixture, a variety of shades are produced on the canvas.

Stretching the canvas onto a stretcher is done as follows. It is advisable to wash new unprimed canvas in hot water to remove sizing agents from it. When washed, the canvas shrinks slightly, which subsequently has a positive effect on the preservation of the painting. The wet canvas needs to be straightened and hung to dry. It is better to stretch the canvas in a slightly damp state. Place the stretcher horizontally on a table or shield, face up, remove the blades from the grooves, knock the stretcher tighter, check for distortions. Then place and level the canvas on top of the stretcher, slightly stretching it diagonally and temporarily securing it with nails in the corners (drive the nails approximately one-third of the way). Then, in the center of the sides of the stretcher, the canvas is stretched and secured with 2-3 nails every 3-5 cm, preferably also temporarily. As the canvas is stretched, you must carefully ensure that the sides of the stretcher and the threads of the canvas are strictly parallel. To do this, you need to mark one of the threads with a simple pencil at a distance of 5-6 cm from the edge of the canvas and make sure that when stretched it goes strictly along the edge of the stretcher bar. The same can be done when stretching the canvas on other sides.

The nails are not driven in a straight line, but somewhat randomly, like a snake. This is done so as not to split the subframe. The nails are driven in at an equal distance from each other, and each nail on one side must correspond to a nail on the opposite side of the subframe.

Gluing and priming the base is a very important and difficult stage in working on a sketch or painting. The quality of the painting, the preservation of the painting, as well as the course and method of conducting the painting process largely depend on the quality of the soil.

Practice visual arts knows many recipes for preparing various soils. Each artist, based on his creative needs, knowledge, manners, and temperament, experimentally develops his own recipe for soil. Of course, such experimental work should be carried out thoughtfully, taking into account technical and technological laws. You need to have a good knowledge of primer materials, priming methods, and techniques for working with paint materials.

When executing a work of art, the painter must set himself the task of fulfilling his plan not only with a creative method, but also with the most advanced technical methods, ensuring long-term preservation of his work.

There are many different systems for painting, but the most common of them, especially during long-term work, is multi-layered. With a multilayer system, the entire work process is divided into separate main phases, performed in a more or less specific sequence: 1) tinting the soil; 2) drawing; 3) underpainting; 4) registration; 5) glazing; 6) completion.

Ground tinting. The color of the soil is great importance, because the coloristic effect of the picture largely depends on it. A ray of light, passing through layers of transparent paints and falling on a tinted ground, will be partially absorbed, and partially reflected and emerge on the surface of the painting painted in one color or another, depending on the shade of the ground and the transparency of the paints. In order to use the color of the primer most effectively, you should prepare it from highly opaque paints, and in further registrations use predominantly transparent paints, keeping the tone of the primer translucent, since body and dense paints will cover the color of the primer, and it will not matter. Transparent paints placed on a tinted primer give the painting depth, expressiveness and brightness of tone. Transparent paints allow light to shine through a large number of various tones and shades, depending on the thickness of the layer and color intensity. Thick and opaque paints give a very small number of shades, and when mixed with transparent ones, they reduce the purity of their tone. Covering paints are used mainly in pure form or as a base on which transparent paints are applied. True, with abundant mixing with varnishes or glaze fillers, you can get some transparency of the covering paints, but, in any case, with a very limited color range. The color shades of paints can be enriched by introducing transparent fillers into them: aluminum stearate, chalk, blancfix, kaolin, alumina, crushed glass, etc. In practice, artists usually use white. The advantage of the white pound is that it can be used with any method of writing, in addition, it almost completely reflects light, imparting intensity to the colors.

Dark primers give depth to the paints; when applying a pasty layer of zinc white, strong lights are obtained. For many artists, the color of the primer was the main halftone, and they subsequently kept the lights in colors complementary to the primer. Often the tinted ground was left completely unpainted in some places or lightly covered with transparent or translucent paints. Rembrandt preferred a slate-colored primer, Rubens preferred red-brown and umber, Levitsky preferred a neutral green primer, Borovikovsky used a neutral gray primer, Bryullov used light brown, Alexander Ivanov tinted the primer with light ocher. Compared to dark soils, light and white soils are less dangerous; if the color of the soil changes and the density of some paints decreases, the soil will not darken and color the painting with its tone.

Drawing. The drawing is prepared either separately on paper and then transferred to canvas, or directly on canvas. It is often recommended to draw on canvas with a brush. If the drawing is done with a brush, you need to ensure that the layer of paint is evenly distributed on the canvas, avoiding paint bleeding along the contours of the drawing.

Underpainting It is customary to call the first registration of a pictorial foundation a color. It is a preparatory stage of work on a painting or a long study using a multi-layer painting method. Unlike imprimatura, underpainting, as a rule, performs three functions: compositional, plastic and coloristic. The underpainting in many ways predetermines the progress of the work and the final result of the painting.

Underpainting using white can also be multi-colored. Whitewash, taking into account further glazing, is slightly tinted with the necessary color shades. In this case, the underpainting looks very light, the colors are very bleached. In both examples of underpainting using white, at this stage of work the main attention is paid to the texture of the paint surface. The surface of the underpainting paint layer can be smooth or, on the contrary, body-like, thick-layered with a strongly pronounced relief texture, up to an illusory transfer of the texture of the material of the object with a plastic solution to the form, a large mass of light and shadow.

When working on the underpainting, it is recommended to use well-drying paints, zinc white, etc., or add a binder that speeds up drying. Well-drying paints using varnishes ensure a strong bond between the paint layer and the ground and serve as a base or, as they say, a “bed for painting.”

A small amount of cobalt drier should be used as such a binder, and to dilute paints, a tee of the following composition should be used: mastic or dammar varnish 200 g, polymerized oil 20 g.

At the next stages - in registration - after a well-dried underpainting, with thin transparent glazes and translucent overlay of paints, the artist achieves the final pictorial, plastic, coloristic and figurative integrity of the work.

Do not apply paint strokes chaotically and haphazardly. This destroys the form, introduces diversity, disorder and does not contribute to the transfer of material, volume, space. The shape, direction and nature of the stroke in painting depend on the shape of the object, the nature of its surface and material. You should know that a brushstroke applied thickly (impasto) brings the image closer to the viewer, while a stroke applied thinly and smoothly moves it away. For this reason, it is advisable to make the background in a still life or landscape less pasty than the foreground objects. When depicting the sky, distance or the color of fog, you should not apply paint as heavily and thickly as we apply it when depicting the earth, dense or heavy objects. It is better to lay them in a thin and loose layer. The nature of the surface of the smear is different. It depends on the tool, how the stroke is applied, the thickness of the paint, and the base on which it is applied. All this, taken together, has a certain influence on the quality and beauty of color, pictorial and plastic emotional decision sketch, its integrity. In other words, the texture of the paint surface is an important means artistic expression. Textural constructions are constantly being modified, improved, and a new solution is being found.

It should be added to what has been said that the scale of color spots, strokes, and smears depends on the size of the pictorial plane. The size of the stroke must be adjusted to the size of the sketch or painting. IN monumental painting the scale of the color spots is especially important.

You can paint with oil only on a wet or only on a dry layer of paint, but in no case on a semi-dry one. If you paint on wet paint, the painting will lose color and fade. When the paint begins to dry out and a film forms on its surface, an attempt to apply another layer on top of the dried layer may result in the work being completely ruined. If you need to rewrite a place, it is best to remove the paint with a palette knife without touching the canvas’s soil. If the place that needs to be rewritten is completely dry, to connect the new paint with the old, you need to wipe it with raw potatoes or onions, and when dry, write on the starchy surface.

The methods and techniques for applying a paint layer and, accordingly, the resulting texture of the paint surface of paintings and sketches are different. You can paint with paints in a thick or thin layer, in strokes or shade the paint with a brush, make mixtures with other paints, with white or put them in their pure form without mixtures, dilute the paints liquidly and apply transparent layers so that the lower paint layers or the color of the base are visible and thereby create new color tone, etc.

Among the variety of methods for applying a paint layer, leading ones can be distinguished, such as the vision of the painting process using the multi-layer painting method and the painting process using the alla prima method, in which paint is applied wet in one layer. Often the mentioned painting methods are combined in one work. Within each method it is possible various ways and paint application techniques.

The first method of multi-layer painting involves the obligatory division of the painting process into a number of successive stages - underpainting, registration, glazing (sometimes they are called the first, main and final painting layers). On top of all paint layers, when the work is completed and well dried, a protective coating layer of varnish or other compounds is applied. Completion of work at each stage should be accompanied by breaks to allow the paint to dry completely. The method of multilayer painting involves the widespread use of glaze and optical properties of paints. Thus, it is sometimes difficult for an artist to achieve the desired pictorial effect in one go. To do this, he can use two or three overlays of transparent and translucent paint layers on top of each other. The method of multi-layer painting remains leading for many centuries. It is indispensable when performing long-term works, genre thematic compositions, and large-sized paintings.

The completed painting or sketch, painted with oil and sometimes tempera paints, is coated with varnish and other compounds. The covering layer protects the paint layer from dampness, dust, dirt, soot, gases and at the same time increases the intensity of the sound of the colors of the painting or sketch. It is recommended to apply the topcoat no earlier than a year and a half after completion of the work. This is due to the need for the paint layer and the oil in it to dry completely. It should be borne in mind that with a lack of light or in a dark room, without an influx of fresh air, the drying of the oil slows down, it can turn brown and change the tone of the painting. Paintings exposed to light are better preserved in the future.

Varnishing and drying of the coating layer should also be done in a bright, dry, ventilated room at normal room temperature and humidity. It is not recommended to apply and dry the topcoat in damp rainy weather, as dampness has a negative effect on the strength and transparency of varnishes.

For work, you can use a flute or a wide squirrel brush. The varnish should be applied slowly, otherwise it will foam. Any brush hairs that get into the coating layer must be removed immediately.

A varnished painting, until the varnish has dried, must be protected from dust, dirt, mechanical and other damage to the varnish film.

Greetings, dear readers!
In this article we will talk about the basics of working with oil paints. Of course it is the most popular technology in the world. The greatest masters of painting have studied, improved and created with oil paints for centuries.

By the way, do you know when the first oil paints appeared? Most likely you thought about the 14-15th century and... you were wrong. Many people think so. But just recently, scientists did... Open this news too!

Detailing the painting with a thin liner

It is quite logical if you want to start your creativity with oil paints. And if you have never done this before, but really want to start, you should first find out what a beginning artist should have on hand and how to start painting with oil paints.

How to create your own artist kit?

• We buy the necessary paints

My main advice to aspiring artists: buy quality paints immediately, don't try to save money! Cheap paints won't do much good, but they'll cause a lot of headaches. When you constantly practice, you will be able to evaluate the quality of your work, which will directly depend on the quality of the paints.

Absolutely you don't have to buy a big set, since there are always colors left that are never used. To start painting with oil paints, just use a few separate tubes. To develop a skill, a novice artist is recommended to have the following palette:

In general, the paint palette consists of 3 main (primary), from which all other colors (secondary and tertiary) are obtained by mixing. And when you learn to mix them, you will understand how and from what it is obtained. Everything around us consists only of red, blue and yellow... Amazing, isn't it?

• Choosing brushes

Second important advice for new artists: Be careful when buying brushes! Inspect them to ensure that the connection (clamp) between the pile and the handle is as tight as possible. Believe me, it’s not very pleasant when the lint comes out of the brush and you have to constantly remove it from the damp canvas!

From experience I will say that good brushes will last you many years, if they are of high quality and you handled them correctly.

For beginners painting with oil paints, I recommend starting with flat and semicircular flat brushes. It is enough to purchase 3-5 sizes.

High-quality brushes often become favorites

Over time, you can add retouching, fan and line brushes to the collection. In another article-tip you can find out in more detail what brushes come in size, shape and

• Selecting thinners and solvents

To dilute (liquefy) oil paint to the desired consistency, you need special liquid substances: mainly turpentine or refined linseed oil. Also, many artists use "Tees"- auxiliary means for diluting paint. On the market of foreign manufacturers there are various mediums, which I also use.

Important things for every artist

Not recommended for dilution, use pure solvents (white spirit, turpentine), because they break the structure of oil paint and “steal” its shine. But you will still need solvent to clean brushes and other tools, as well as paint-stained hands.

• Buying a palette

It is impossible to imagine an artist working on a painting without a palette in his hands! This useful thing performs several functions: paints are placed on it, paints are mixed on it, oil cans (special containers) with oil paint thinners are attached to it.

Therefore, in order to paint with oil paints correctly and create many shades, I recommend acquiring a suitable palette. Wooden or plastic, large or small, square or round... The choice is yours.

• Preparing the canvas

Canvas is most often used as a basis for oil painting.Fortunately, contemporary artist can buy ready-made primed canvas on a stretcher.

Almost every art store has canvases of different sizes and materials on sale. different materials: natural (linen, cotton) and synthetics. I recommend natural materials, they are denser and do not sag much over time.

If you want to prepare the canvas yourself, then to do this you need to prepare a stretcher and stretch the fabric very tightly over it. Then you need to prime the fabric to create a canvas. Canvas sagging is common, so After priming, you need to retighten the canvas a little tighter. Read more about how to make a canvas with your own hands

We prepare the canvas ourselves

Note: the best base for canvas is linen. It can be fine-grained, medium-grained and coarse-grained. The stroke on the surface depends on the grain of the canvas. About choosing a canvas

• We purchase an easel

Of course, you can learn to paint with oil paints without an easel by attaching the canvas to any surface. But still, it is much more convenient with an easel: it is installed at the desired angle at eye level and gives a better overview of the painting.

With an easel it is convenient not only to write, but also to find flaws in the work, and correct them immediately. An easel is a reliable stand for your future painting! They come in different heights and convenience, as well as tabletop mini easels for small canvas sizes.

• We stock up on auxiliary accessories

Have you already thought about where your brushes will go? Where will you wash them? How will you wipe paint off your hands and other utensils? Be sure to stock up on jars in which you will wash your brushes, paper napkins, old newspapers and a few cotton rags.

These important little things should always be at your fingertips, so that you can work calmly and focus your attention on the picture and not on the materials. All this will be indispensable for you in your work to clean your brush or palette knife, or, for example, to remove excess paint from the canvas and wipe your dirty hands.

• Other Important Materials and Accessories

An indispensable tool for working with oil - palette knife! With its help, it is convenient to remove excess paint from the canvas and transfer it to the palette. It also leaves amazingly voluminous strokes! In principle, one palette knife is enough.

But if you decide to learn how to paint well with oil paints and devote a lot of time to this activity, it is better to purchase several of these tools different forms and sizes.

Sketchbook – a special box for transporting paints and painting supplies. You will really need it if you decide to go out and paint in oils in nature or plein air, as it is also called (from the French Plain air - on outdoors, on fresh air)

Oilers- small containers with a clip with which they are attached to the palette. There are two types: simple and double.

Another important element is protective varnish. The finished painting is usually varnished 6-8 months after completion of the work. The varnish protects the painting from ultraviolet radiation, moisture and darkening.... Well, there are a number of other reasons why you should varnish a painting. In addition, varnish makes the colors richer and brighter, adding intensity to the paint layer. How to varnish a painting

Howstart painting correctly with oil paints when the artist's kit is assembled?

So, you have collected everything you need and secured the primed canvas. What to do next? Start writing!

I know that Many novice artists have a fear of a white canvas, something can go wrong and everything will be ruined. Don't be afraid, because the main thing is to just start! Here's how to stop being afraid and start painting.

You can start with a simple plot that comes to mind... For example, a mosaic drawing with selected bright colors, which consists of different figures, shapes and symbols. Well, like the ancient Egyptians, remember? Or you can take a finished image and try to copy it onto canvas...

Start drawing - feel the power of color!

Exist . The most common of them are - multilayer painting and Alla Prima. They contain most of the most famous paintings, although there are many other techniques.

We will talk about them in general and the rules of writing in more detail in another article, but now you need to start to just get a feel for the paints, brush and canvas.

By the way, did you know that creative people have Read, maybe you are a creator by nature, you just didn’t know it!

Here are some more tips:

• Set up a drawing corner in your apartment. There must be enough light to work during the day without additional lighting. It is in the place of the best natural light that we place the easel. If there is not enough natural light, use additional lighting to provide good light on the easel.

• Try to apply oil paints evenly, achieve uniformity on the canvas. If you really want to apply a second coat, take your time; Sometimes you need to give time for the first layer to dry.

• Mix colors! Experiment with shades. Remember that white makes any color lighter, and black makes any color darker, with their help it is easy to achieve the desired shade of shadows and highlights. But don’t get too carried away with black and white, since titanium white, for example, makes some colors cloudy, and black is generally rarely used in classical painting. Although each manufacturer has several black shades on sale. An alternative to black can be dark indigo... it is softer and more delicate in appearance.

“Painting is the most accessible and convenient of the arts” - Johann Goethe, German poet, philosopher and thinker

Additional Video Tips:

Ask your questions below in the comments, I usually answer all questions quickly

Foreign artist and good teacher art school Johannes Vloothuis teaches thousands of students how to paint in oils (among other painting techniques). Johannes gave us the 10 best tips for oil painters. I think you will agree that every artist should know these basic painting techniques.
1. Use white underpainting or quick-drying white.
One common problem that plagues oil painters is that when you add a layer of paint on top of another, they tend to blend together. For example, it is difficult to add snow on mountain tops when the first coat of paint has not yet dried.
When an artist gets into a rage and faces such a problem, he gets upset and puts the painting aside, and returns to work after a few days. There are special new whites that can solve this problem, unlike standard titanium whites. They are called quick-drying white or white underpainting.
2. Fine lines with oil.

Most, if not all, oil painters get frustrated when they try to paint fine lines with oil paint, especially over paint that has not yet dried. Even signing a painting is not so easy if the signature is small. Here are some ways to achieve this without waiting for the oil to dry out:

• Use a plastic card instead of a spatula
• Use acrylic paint over dry oils
• Another innovative way is to use pastels. It usually doesn't dry, but you can seal it with a coat of varnish.

• It is more difficult to evaluate and select a color on a white background
• In plein air in sunny weather, a white canvas will be too bright. You can, of course, wear glasses, but there will be obvious problems with choosing the color
• It is almost impossible to paint an entire white canvas in a quick, spontaneous plein air and you will be left 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 painting. If you are painting a picture with warm colors, for example autumn, then it is better to make the underpainting in a cool color

Underpainting of Johannes Canyon Vista


Completed landscape of Canyon Vista, Johannes Vloothuis
4. Apply oil in a thick layer

One big advantage of acrylic and oil paints is the ability to apply thick, thick layers that can convey a three-dimensional appearance. Other paints such as watercolors and pastels do not have this quality. My advice is to start with a thick layer of oil paint and work your way down to a thin layer. Add drops of paint only for small parts- 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 create a foreground effect.


Carmel Mission Johannes Vloothuis
5. Dry brush to create texture

To paint heaps of leaves, a lawn, foam in the crash of waves and waterfalls, use the “Dry Brush” technique. Dry brushing is a term used to describe the technique of applying paint by "stroking" small amounts of paint. The dry brush technique can be used to make wood look scuffed, paint lots of small leaves, paint foam near water, and add weeds to grass.
For a more visual representation, in the video below you will see how to draw a tree using the dry brush technique.