Are you a beginner Artist?... Techniques You Should Know

Art is the touch that makes the world a better place. There are many different types of art you can experiment.

In this article, we’re talking about a specific type of art, if you’re working with oil paints for a while, this might be the time you upgrade your skills with these tips and techniques!

Who doesn’t need a push every once in a while to upgrade their skills and work? Well, staying up-to-date and learning all tips and tricks to boost your artwork is necessary.

Even though oil painting can look hard to master when you first start painting, however, there are some simple and practical oil painting techniques to make your transitions smoother and they will also take your artwork to another place.

The Top 10 Oil Painting Techniques

Paint With Confidence With These Oil Painting Techniques

· Master your brush orientation: it’s normal to forget that your brush has two sides or orientations when you paint, however, you don’t need to limit yourself to always making wide strokes using the flat side of your brush.

Remember that every brush can be turned on its side for sharper strokes or lines, and when you learn to control your lines with your brush orientation you will be able to paint faster and with more versatility.

· Keep your colors pure: Watch out when grabbing from the paint piles on your palette. If your brushes aren't clean, you'll contaminate the colors you want to use. It's critical to keep the intensity of the colors straight from the tube, which means you have to clean your brushes regularly - even among strokes if necessary.

· Over mix is not the best idea: When mixed colors first collide, tiny inconsistencies in the mixture helps to add vibrancy and curiosity to your paint. As a result, when combining colors to make a mixture, make sure you only mix them to the extent necessary before applying the stroke. Over-mixing two colors will transform an interesting mixture into a flat and boring pile of paint.

· Hold the paintbrush correctly: This might sound obvious but it is highly important. There are many ways an artist can grasp the paintbrush when painting, however, there’s one “go-to” method that every artist should know to get the most sensitivity and fluidity from each stroke. You need to hold the brush handle as far back as you can.

· Vary the amount of pressure: To do so you need to avoid using “heavy hands” on your paintbrush. The heavier your pressure, the more your paints will blend and create ridges along the sides of your brushstrokes. Understand how your light, medium, as well as heavy strokes, look on the canvas and vary your pressure appropriately to achieve the effect you want.

· Two-color mixture is the best choice: use two-color mixtures if possible. Practicing mixing what you need using just two colors and white. When you increase your color knowledge and get better at mixing, you can paint more quickly and effectively, and your work will benefit.

· It’s dry brush versus wet-on-wet: Well, try the wet-on-wet brush and remember that you can paint directly onto a wet surface, and there is another option you can just wait for the surface to dry and put wet paint over that too. In the case of working on wet-on-wet, paints will blend on the canvas and this is great for creating gradients or transitions. However, painting with a dry brush will give you a more textural effect and this is perfect if you’re painting dirt or brick.

· The palette knife is important, don’t forget it: The palette knife, at times, can be used to make very interesting strokes. Also, a palette knife is particularly useful for making textural and unpredictable strokes – effects that you’d be hard-pressed to duplicate with a brush.

· Don’t skimp on paint: Often you would like a thin wash, but then other times you'll need a thick stroke to get the effect you desire, so make sure you're using enough paint to get the stroke you desire. Don't skimp on the paint if it means ruining your painting. If you find yourself continuously swirling a brush around a thin pool of paint on your palette, it's time to start over.

· Harness the power of the painting medium: This technique explains that an essential part of controlling paint comes down to your use of a painting medium – typically a mixture of solvent and oil used to modify the paint and make it behave in different ways. Also, note that adding lots of medium will make your paint transparent and flat just like a wash. However, adding a little medium will give your paint a mayonnaise-like consistency.

Next time you paint, make sure to apply these oil painting techniques for a better result!