Foreign artist and good art school teacher Johannes Vloothuis teaches thousands of students how to paint with 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.
If you visit an art gallery and look at oil paintings up close, you will see that there are voids in the brush strokes in the painting with the color of burnt sienna - this is underpainting. It provides the following benefits:
- 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 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 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.
6. Drawing on already dry canvas
Alla Prima or wet on wet is a popular painting 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 reflections on water that require blending.
To work on dry painting, I recommend first adding a thin layer of Liquin oil paint 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 expensive and mostly an afterthought, however, many professional artists choose to use this high quality canvas in their paintings.
I will admit that there is some benefit when it comes to dry brushing on canvas in that it frames the painting beautifully, but I don't think the benefit is worth the high cost.
available in our online store.
You can prep your paintings by simply applying super-heavy Liquitex gesso with a paint roller to the wood panel. This will leave random raised little bumps, simulating linen fabric. Use masonite or birch for the panel. And, instead of spending money on canvas, invest in professional paints from which you will reap the benefits.
8. Use different colors to create more interest in the painting.
Solid monochrome colors are boring, so top artists exaggerate and add multiple variations of similar shades in one area. Try this: Partially mix the colors on your palette until you've evened out the saturation (about 50 percent blended). Use more force when squeezing out the paint. You should be able to see subtle color variations in each stroke. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, your paintings will look more alive.
You can also use a colorful mixture to paint foliage, grass and rocks. You'll learn more in the short art video below, which shows how to paint different types of greenery with realistic foliage.
Also watch the video to learn how to mix colors and what strokes you can use to paint thick spruce trees.
9. Draw fog for atmospheric depth
I think fog is completely undermined in landscape painting. Scenes where fog is beautifully painted can add 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 was 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 it comes into contact with skin. Please note that leading manufacturers list toxicity levels on their paint tubes.
I love mixing oil paints and want smooth strokes. With your fingers you can feel 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 long dreamed of trying to paint with oil paints, but don’t know what you need for this? We have collected 28 tips to help beginners understand this matter. We wish you inspiration!
1. The main set of oil paints consists of the following colors: alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, yellow ocher, titanium white, cadmium red, ultramarine blue, Martian black. From these shades it is possible to create any other color.
2. Buy white with a reserve. When mixing paints it will be used up very quickly.
3. For an enjoyable painting experience, invest in quality oil paints and tools.
4. For your first painting experience, it’s enough to buy a couple of brushes of different types. For example, you can purchase round, flat and bristle brushes in different sizes.
5. You can use old rags and cans to clean your brushes.
6. It is not necessary to buy a palette for paint; it is enough to use a board or cardboard.
7. When painting with oil paints there is a rule: thick to thin. For the first layer, buy a solvent. Apply a thick layer over it.
8. Draw in a place well lit with natural light. Otherwise, the colors may then differ from what they appeared to be in a specific light.
9. The easel is adjusted according to your height and position so that you can sit without discomfort or difficulty.
10. Oil paints are difficult to remove from fabric. Therefore, wear things that you don’t mind.
11. To begin, place a sketch in pencil or charcoal on the canvas. Build a composition.
12. To make the drawing more realistic, determine where the light source will be. This way you can easily depict darkened and illuminated areas, shadows, penumbra, and highlights.
13. Light color is obtained by adding white, shadow - by adding black.
14. To prevent the paint from being so thick, mix it with turpentine or linseed oil. Add them to the paint little by little to get exactly the consistency you need.
15. Take your time to apply the second coat. Let the paint dry. Usually this is 3 days.
16. Learn to mix paints. Add layers of paint so that adjacent paints can be mixed with a flat brush. The stroke should go in the direction of mixing.
17. To make the glaze, you will need 1/3 linseed oil, turpentine and oil varnish. Mix them together and you'll get a clear color that can be mixed with other paints to create a glaze.
18. To create the effect of a more transparent figure, you can use a brush with natural bristles. Apply dots onto the canvas with a brush at a 90 degree angle.
19. Use a palette knife to create a thick layer of paint. Smear the paint onto the canvas with a knife. This is the best medium for conveying movement and drawing landscapes.
20. Paints dry for about 3 days. Take this time to critically evaluate the drawing. You can correct the picture or completely erase the details.
22. Clean your brushes with turpentine and an old rag. Scrub the paint until the water running off the brush becomes clear. If the paint dries on the brush, the tool is unlikely to save anything.
23. Paintings take 3 or more months to dry. Until then, leave your creation in a well-ventilated place where the painting will not be disturbed.
24. After your painting has dried, it should be varnished. You will protect your picture and colors from fading.
25. Try not to use the color “Black Ivory” for background coatings, because it takes a very long time to dry.
26. Linseed oil is not used for light paints. Otherwise they will turn yellow.
27. To remove oil paint from your hands, use another oil (baby oil or olive oil). Wipe off the paint with a rag and don’t wash your hands until you’ve completely scrubbed it off.
28. Apply paints to the intended areas, and then use a brush to mix them until you get a gradation that satisfies you.
Obviously, drawing hair is not the same as drawing, for example, a face. The hair does not have any clear outlines. It's impossible to tell exactly where to draw a strand of hair. Hair has no anatomy, you can only accurately determine its volume and how the strands should lie, and even here you can easily make a mistake, taking into account, for example, hairspray, etc. And yet it is possible. With the help of some tricks and techniques you can achieve a fairly realistic picture, which is what this lesson is dedicated to.
As the lesson progresses, you will learn some techniques; they are described in the pictures that you will see in the text. Some pictures show the brushes used in the lesson, others show small notes and tips directly related to this lesson.
Instructions: First of all, you need to decide what color the hair you will draw will be. I chose a dark brown color with a golden tint. The darkest color I chose for them is almost black. This will work for almost all shades - even very light ones where you have to paint over a dark tone, but it is better to do this than to make it too light. Once you've chosen your colors (choose one light shade, two midtones and one dark), sketch out the outline of the hair.
Important: If you want to get a truly beautiful drawing, work on LARGE SIZE LAYERS! Even if you are going to attach this image to a full-length photo, still draw it at a large size and then adjust it to fit your image.
Common mistakes: Start with a light color and spend a lot of time making it darker. It's better to do the opposite. For skin, it's best to start with midtones, but for hair, you should always start with a dark tone. Biggest mistake: not fully realizing that hair requires a lot of detail that a 500x500 pixel image will never give you. If you want your image to look sharp enough, work on large layers.
Instructions: The next step is drawing large strands of hair. Gently outline areas where you think curls might lie. The trick is to not think of the hair as many individual strands, but to imagine a larger area that you will then work on in more detail by drawing out the strands. Select colors - start with the two undertones you have selected. There is no need to use light colors yet.
Common mistakes: Many people start drawing hair from strands. Some people don’t even make sketches, but draw immediately, strand by strand, one on top of the other. After all, it looks like a stack of straw. The hair is naturally divided into strands. It's very difficult to get this result unless you draw them in sections - you have to somehow incomprehensibly draw each strand separately and somehow give them that natural look.
Instructions: Select and try to roughly outline the strands, especially paying attention to the future ends, make them slightly curled. It’s very good if at this stage you can clearly see for yourself how the strands of hair should lie in the final drawing. Next we will make the drawing more and more detailed, and if you later realize that you made a mistake at this stage, it will be, to say the least, annoying.
Therefore, take your time, make sure that the strands lie correctly, taking into account, for example, the wind, the overall look and, in general, whether you like the hairstyle itself.
Common mistakes: Ignore the wind - for example, the skirt in the image is blowing in one direction and the hair in the other. Do not take into account the weight of the hair (short hair is usually softer and lighter, long hair is heavier) or the effect of any objects (the headband presses the hair, the bow, on the contrary, lifts it up).
Instructions: This is where the most important thing begins. Now you can think about how the light should fall, how the colors around it affect (the background color, for example), but the most important thing is to soften the rough areas, giving them smoothness and dynamics. I have the perfect brush for this. When I need to quickly soften my hair lines, I use regular round soft brush, but when I need to give certain areas just a slightly soft look, I use a brush that is sharp on one side and blurry on the other (like the picture). I advise you to make one for yourself.
Try breaking up the large sections of hair you've already drawn into smaller sections, but leaving the larger sections as well. Doing this is actually harder than saying it.
Common mistakes: Paint over large areas. No, no and NO! We still need them, we kind of just add new ones.
Instructions: We continue to both separate large sections of hair and soften their edges. Once we have more independent strands, at this stage they should begin to look like real hair. We continue using only soft brushes. Don't worry about the result looking too soft and smudged. We'll fix this later. Don't forget that different strands influence each other. So, where they are located next to each other or overlap each other, there should be either a shadow or they should merge.
Common mistakes: Start drawing individual strands at this stage. Of course, I don’t want to wait that long, because... The detail is the fun part, but when you're drawing hair, it's best to take your time with it.
Instructions: A little trick. Even though we will be detailing all the hair, there is no need to do it too carefully. Choose one strand that attracts the most attention. Everything that we will do with all the hair, we will do double with this strand. The texture and level of detail of that strand will have a significant impact on the rest of the picture, even though everything else won't be as detailed.
I'll choose a strand that falls to the side. Once you have selected a strand, select textured putty brush and with very light pressure, simply follow the line of the curl to its very tip. Repeat the movement again and again with short strokes, selecting the desired color from time to time (press the alt when using a brush). This way, you will add the outline of the curl, leaving thinner, individual strands. Texture brush (spackled brush) Even at this stage it will help to add a slight texture to the image.
Common mistakes: Unnaturally lying strands. Spend time learning how the hair strands should lay so that it looks natural. How strands and curls curl and how they influence each other. There are some nuances to the natural look of hair, unless it is styled with a lot of hairspray, for example.
Instructions: Stop for a second and look at your work. Now is the time to determine for yourself the final type of strands, because then we will draw everything in more detail, and it will be very difficult to correct anything in the future. Beautiful hair should have clear, natural lines and contours. Even messy curly hair looks better when the strands flow and look beautiful all together than when they just seem to be piled on top of each other. Create a separate layer and draw bright arrows along the lines of your strands. Are they all pointing in different directions? If so, you're probably better off fixing it, unless you're drawing hair in motion or want a cute, messy hairstyle, for example. If everything is ok, repeat step 6 for the entire hairstyle.
Common mistakes: Get carried away with drawing flowing hair. Of course, a big voluminous hairstyle is good, but the 80s are long over. It's better to underdo a little than to overdo it.
Instructions: Now we get to the details. There are no tricks or tricks here. We simply create a new layer. We choose the usual one, round brush and draw the strands directly according to the strokes that you have. Use a dark color first. We stop and shade a little using the direction of the strand. Then we draw new strands on top of these, but choose a lighter color. We stop and shade. We repeat again. Choose the colors of the curls you already have underneath the strands you're painting, and be careful not to lose the shape you've already created - since you're painting this on a new, separate layer, don't be afraid to erase some areas to bring out the texture , which you already have on the bottom layer.
Basically, your hair is already pretty well defined and the texture is visible, so there's no real need to try too hard at this stage. They already looked pretty good even before you started drawing them.
Common mistakes: Completely ignore the form you have already created before. At this stage, you can very easily make a mistake and return to the principle of “each hair on its own.” Of course, you can draw individual strands, but they should all be together. They must be one. One intertwine with the other, connect, flow in unison.
Instructions: Now - textures. Once you're done with the rendering, it's time to move on to textures. The best way to complete this swirl of strands is to paint strand by strand on top of each other, then again on top of each other, but on a new layer. Make at least five layers, set them to different degrees opacity, blend each strand individually or using texture brush (spackled brush), or using a filter Blur (Filtres – Blur).
Using brushes of different sizes, from large to very small, you will create a kind of optical illusion when it will seem that there are thin strands even where they actually are not. Remember our strand, which will be twice as detailed? Pay attention to her.
Common mistakes: Thinking that each individual strand should be drawn throughout the entire head. When I said that detail is good, I didn't mean that everything should be so detailed.
Instructions: Now we connect all the resulting layers (Flatten image). If by this time you already have a lot of layers, add another layer on top of your single resulting layer and set on it "Soft Light".
Now let's do something that looks quite strange, but it will give the desired effect to our hair if we look at it from a short distance.
Take a brush, any brush, and make it a fairly small size. Then take any of the colors you use, set it as background (background color) and one more color like Foreground color. Go to brush settings (top: Window, Further Brushes), select the tab Dynamics of Form, then Pen Pressure (Shape Dynamics - pen pressure) and make casual strokes over the hair, changing colors as the strands change color, set the layer opacity level lower, all this will add texture and depth to the overall appearance of the hair. If you use dark colors, this will also add contrast which makes it look realistic.
Common mistakes: Don't pay attention to textures. It is very important to give life to your hair, even if it seems like complete madness, do not ignore it.
Instructions: Zoom in and you will see that the hair already looks pretty good. If you don't want to do anything else, you can stop at this stage.
Now that we can better see the overall picture of the hair, we can fix the hairstyle. In some places they need to be pressed, in others, on the contrary, they need to be made looser, so that the shape matches the curls and strands that you drew. Using a trick where you draw individual strands on different layers and shade them slightly, follow the outline of the hair and twist it slightly. They still look soft and smooth, but now they have more life in them.
Instructions: To connect the ends of the strands, use a soft brush. It is impossible to overdo it here, unless of course you get too carried away with it, and if you use a dark color, in some places it will look as if the strands are shaded. If your hair is shoulder-length, as in these pictures, its color will break up the monotony of your skin color very well. If your hairstyle has bangs, do the same with the bangs, but make them look softer rather than feathery, otherwise it won't look very nice.
Common mistakes: Leave hair in an unfinished, massive form. Of course, you've already outlined the ends of the strands and softened them, but still spend a little more time on this, just to be on the safe side.
Instructions: I already mentioned detail above. This effect is very difficult to achieve if you do not follow all the previous steps, and also if you do not have a clear understanding of how hair behaves in general. If you need a drawing urgently, find some photograph and look carefully - this should help. Or place a mirror next to your computer. Of course, if you have short hair, this complicates things, but even short hair can help.
Use a very thin brush and first follow the path of the strands with light pressure, then deviate from the direction and paint across other strands. This takes a lot of time and requires great care. You don't really have to do this, but the results are worth it. All these individual strands must be done on separate layers. The big advantage of painting strands on separate layers is that you can soften, shade and shade each individual strand so that it fits better into the overall picture. Always pay attention to how the light should fall and how naturally your strands should lie.
Another big benefit of painting each strand on a separate layer is that you can erase, shade, blur your strands and do whatever you want with them until they get the look you want them to have. This all sounds a little complicated, but it's not. It's only difficult as long as you try to figure out how to draw them. Then everything is simple.
Common mistakes: Do too many individual strands and end up with a still, lifeless image. Making them too obvious or too contrasting, or not adding each individual strand to the overall hairstyle so that it fits in, will result in something like a new hairstyle for Barbie.
Instructions: There are only a couple of steps left until the final result. Add a couple more noticeable strands flowing along the entire hairstyle. If you skipped the previous step, don't skip this one. It helps to complete the look of your hairstyle with a few playful curls.
The trick here is to make these strands look as if they actually got out of the main hairstyle, for example due to the wind. To achieve a more realistic effect, you can add a slight shadow from these strands to the rest of the hair to make them more visible and create the feeling that they are blowing with the wind.
Common mistakes: These strands should not be too obvious, too noticeable and contrasting, unless you mean that they are really blown by the wind or, for example, you are planning to draw a slightly disheveled hairstyle. This is one of those touches that make the picture complete. But at the same time, they can ruin it. So be careful with this.
That's all. Our hair is ready. I hope this tutorial helped you.
The main mistake of beginners is to draw out every hair in an attempt to “cover” the entire head of the unfortunate person being portrayed. The view turns out to be very far from reality. You should also not “paint over” your entire hair with long strokes that follow the curves of your hairstyle. Below are examples of the wrong approach to drawing hair.
To begin with, the hairstyle should be built - yes, like the skull. A beginner may be indignant: how is it possible, is there really a rigid frame in the hair? How to build them? Of course, there is usually no frame in a hairstyle (although anything can happen), but it definitely has volume and shape, and any object that has volume and shape can be constructed.
Choose a model with the simplest possible hairstyle, forgetting about complex styling. Build it like a small building: squint and determine what simple shapes the mass of the model’s hair consists of - cubes, balls, parallelepipeds - and “put” these shapes on the pre-built head. The easiest way to work at the initial stage is with student copies of the heads of ancient statues: their hairstyles have already been simplified so that all shapes and planes are visible to the naked eye. Always remember that the hairstyle has volume, even if the hair is almost “slicked” to the head. If you don’t observe this in your drawing, you, as university professors say, will deprive your model of “brains.”
Don’t be lazy, at least in the initial stages, don’t move on to the seductive drawing of hairs too hastily: remember that even if you don’t work out the details of the hairstyle at all, but competently “plant” a mop of hair on the model’s head, your drawing will still look more advantageous, than if you just copy the outline and carefully fill it with many intricate curls. This is the only way you will learn to see volumes and isolate the main thing. This will count towards you in the future, and having developed your skill, you will be able to do a lot “by eye” without knocking half the model’s head off with a dashing swing of a pencil.
Having finished building, break your hairstyle into general light and shadow - yes, exactly the same. like the head. Again, don't get distracted by bright highlights, just highlight the main shadows, highlights and neutral tones. Use the saving squint! And don’t put too much pressure on the pencil, stroke lightly - this is still not the final stage.
When starting to work on the drawing, again do not rush to drawing “hairs”. Draw the strands and give each of them a completed shape with a clearly readable outline. You need to break the large shape into smaller ones, while being careful to avoid fragmentation. To achieve this, do not shade too actively, outline the general outline and lightly sketch out the chiaroscuro - now on each individual strand. Do you see how the volume deepens and the hairstyle becomes more detailed and realistic?
And finally...
Only at the final stage can you move on to very small details - such as individual hairs. Although you probably already feel sorry for spoiling the resulting beauty. In general, you won’t need to draw out every detail of the hairstyle, but you can give it a “glitter.” Build tone throughout the hairstyle, enhance the contrast. Now you can shade according to hair growth, but not over the entire hairstyle at once, but over each drawn strand. Draw the stray hairs, work on the curls in the foreground in more detail, and “move away” the hair in the background a little with an eraser. Strengthen the shadows by cross-hatching and the highlights by wiping them off with an eraser.
The hair that takes up most of the work and has a strong influence on the result of the work is hair. There are many styles, and the possibilities for combining them depending on your hair type are endless. In addition, the very variety of hair colors varies greatly: blondes are light yellow, fair-haired are beige, brown-haired are brown, etc.
What tools are needed? You will need:
- pencils with hardness -H3 or H2, HB, 2B, 3B;
- blender for blurring the main tones of hair;
- sharply cut eraser for drawing individual hairs.
We start with a sketch and drawing the main strands of hair. It is important that there are not too few and not too many.
After we have just prepared the sketch, we should apply the main “base” tones in the same way as we toned the face. Then softly draw the hair with an HB or H2 pencil. This should be done so that there are no white spots left in the areas of the main mass of hair.
At this point we are applying the first shade of hair color, my hair coloring journey comes down to adding one more shade or more. So I start with the most difficult places, but take a fairly hard pencil from my set - H3. With its help, we outline all the hair lines corresponding to the direction and shape of the next strand.
It is important not to put pressure on the pencil so that it does not sink too deeply into the paper! Because in this way you can leave grooves on the sheet, which cannot be removed later. In addition, you need to remember the sharpness of the pencil and sharpen it quite often so that the lines are thin.
When we have completed the first layer, we proceed to the next one. Using a pencil with a softness of 2B, we outline the hair in the darkest places. To find out how the shadows pass, we use a printed black and white photograph. Shading often borders on strong contrast with the face. We need these places to pay special attention to the extreme line. So that when shading hair in those places where it borders the face and neck, due to carelessness, it does not get dirty, it is worth placing a piece of paper on the edge between them.
As a result, the pencil layer should spread most evenly (in the shade) and in the light of the hair, expressing its darkest parts.
If at the moment the shape and color of the hair is not too impressive, don’t worry, a few more steps and the portrait will look much better!
Next, we simply refine the rest of the hair, gradually adding tones and darkening the shadow areas. For this we use a 2B pencil. Then we move on to the final step of choosing the dark part of the hair, we do it as before, but this time we use a B3 pencil.
Now all that remains is to draw some nuances and highlight the light reflected from the hair. Here we could use an eraser, preferably freshly cut with a scalpel (so that the edge we use is at least perpendicular to the wall of the eraser).
You should constantly look at the black and white printout of the photo to check where the brightest spots on the hair are. We do this very gently with the edge or corner of the eraser. Remember, you need to wipe light areas with frequent movements, sometimes very thinly. Sometimes, to make a line of one hair, I wipe the same place with an eraser 2-3 times. It's better to start slowly, with light elements.
If you make a mistake and erase too much, nothing bad will happen, you can always draw the hair again .
Finally, we can see some good results and the hair should now look pretty good. Of course, it may seem that they look unnatural, as if too perfect, but this can also be corrected.
To give life and reality to your hair, you need to add some details. In this case, these are individual hairs. For this we use a pencil with a hardness of B3 or B2, which must be sharpened very finely in order to leave a line as thick as a hair. Individual hairs do not have to hang straight; sometimes they bend or bend under the influence of the wind. It is the drawing of such little things that makes the portrait more real.
This is my way of drawing hair. I hope it will help you in mastering portrait drawing.
