I wish I could add 1000 thumbs ups! In all my studies I’ve never read or seen a demo of transparent or opaque colors like this! Full disclosure, I’m two whiskeys in.....but regardless, the demo of the opaque colors over transparent and transparent over opaque was mind blowing! Thank you for the specificity in this video- (painting) life changing!
May I suggest a new video teacher who has a lot of tricks. I’m new to painting,I assumed I couldn’t because I cannot draw ,my acrylics aren’t bad , however this lady uses the transparent ones in the Bob Ross gesso with oil and medium @ oil paints that can be used . ( Water mixable oil colour paints ) She shows you the hog hair kit and oil paints ,so it’s different ,but for some paintings ,it’s excellent. She also makes her own gesso,but there’s so many recipes out there . Do you use sandpaper if using canvas? Painting with Yovette . Golden Rays of Sunshine inspired by Bob Ross, , see part 1 . then go to part 2 @ watch the magic happen. I’m looking to buy gesso , both white@ black, but I wondered , if I could mix black and white to get the gray? She’s also trying this new type of water oil paints ,where she paints a picture saying the cleanup is brilliant,but I saw a video where vegetable oil can be used , baby oil, or linseed oil,then soap and water,rinse twice dry. There’s an excellent video with a non toxic cleaner , butif the vegetable oil is working the same ,it’s better for our lungs and the environment, if I’m wrong please help with any suggestions. She does have an excellent tip to apply gesso. Check it out ,you buy it at a hardware store ,so it’s way cheaper. I’m looking to buy and paint the golden rays of sunshine. It’s a beautiful example of translucent paint. ❤️🇨🇦
I’m a few years late to the party, but this is only one of the amazing videos from Alex. I subscribed to his Patreon page, and using his advice, I painted the best portrait I’ve ever done.
I've seen TONS of art videos since I started painting 2 years ago, and this is the first one that clarifies this for me. And brilliantly explained as well! Thank you.
This is a revelation to me! Up to now due to getting mixed results I would let the paint dry for each stage in portrait drawing . Now that I understand the use of transparent and opaque paint I can approach painting differently and hopefully speed up! Many thanks for this
In college I don't remember hearing anything about the transparent, or opaque qualities of the paint I was using. Thank you, this is a great video. Love your portraits.
Hi. In college I wasn't shown/told much about techniques like this. It seemed that most art 'tutors' were above anything pedestrian like that. I know they did their best in their own way, but little got passed on.
@@MrMjp58 Did you go to Art college in the UK? Don't get me started. They don't teach anything technical because they've forgotten it all. For the bast 50 years Art education has been a philosophical debate about "what is art", so all they seem teach you, is how to talk about your work. That's fine if you're into that sort of thing but rubbish for the rest of us who who want to draw and paint from life. When I did my foundation at central st martin's in the 90's it was like the human race had lost the ability to draw. But there were always teachers out there, who still knew their shit. It was just difficult to find them. Today, thanks to the internet we can and the knowledge is spreading.
Wow, this is probably one of the most important videos I’ve watched on oil painting this year (and I’ve watched a lot since I started!). Can’t believe everyone doesn’t talk about this just as often as they talk about fat over lean. Thank you SO much for making this!!! Can’t wait to get back my easel and experiment with this more knowledgeably in my work!!!
Great explanation of transparent and opaque pigments! I was aware of the difference but never realized how to use them practically. Your confident and accurate rendering of the portrait was amazing.
I've watched loads of painting videos and you do a great job of discussing things that are not usually discussed - your title Simplify is right on, thanks
Thanks Lynn, yes it painters can be a bit mysterious about this stuff. (or they just don't know). Painting is difficult enough, they don't need to act like they've got magic powers.
Have watched hundreds of painting videos and bought far too many DVDs and this succinct and genuinely useful lesson is up there at the top. I am just graduating from graphite/charcoal portraits to oil portraits and your explanation of the significance of opaque and transparent will save me a lot of frustration....excellent, and thank you.
Transparent and opaque and knowing how to use them , good point. Unlike our friend here I dont do so much alla prima work , but I use the transparent and opaque when glazing and scumbling. I let the layers dry then add another, this helps with optical blending. The Venetians were good at this as opposed to the florentines who built on the tight drawings in layers. It's all good. It depends on what you're going for as far as technique and its effects. Great video and explained well through the demonstration. If you look at the tube of oil paint there is usually a code that tells you if that color is transparent , semi transparent, or opaque. Certain colors lend to these qualities more then others , like explained in the video like cadmiums are more opaque and ultra marines are good for translucent layers of color over dry paint . The video will be very helpful in the alla prima technique, or wet into wet. ☆
No one did it like you did! I started out with digital oils and have never painted with real oil paint. This knowledge about opaque and transparent colours really helps me figure what I should be expecting from digital oils and how I can simulate what I want. Thank you.
Oh this is mind blowing! Thank you so much for addressing this, and the other tips of using a soft brush to not disturb the bottom layer and the initial drawing on the canvas. I am very green and really am not at a stage of mapping the face with paint. I love watching you demos.....going from basic paint strokes to a portrait. Not only a portrait but one that actually looks like the sitter. Beautiful to watch.
Thank you very much Monika, glad it was helpful. In my experience the difference between opaque and transparent paint was never explained very clearly. When I was a student I was just told that you always had to paint light over dark, but then I would see more experienced artists doing so.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. It’s always very powerful, precise, right, efficient your content and the way you explain everything. This explanation is super useful!!! Greetings from Mexico!!
Thankyou Alex for this most informative video of opaque and transparent pigments. I have watched a lot of video on the different techniques of painting dark over light and vice versa but never have I had the most important of opaque and transparent colours exlplained in any videos I have seen. Not even my art teachers have ever explained this.
Thankyou for sharing your knowledge about transparent and opaque colours and their behaviour when it comes to one on top of the other. Thankyou very much.
Great talk about how to use the oil colors for painting process. Its difficult to master wet in wet. Many beginners struggle with this. I just moved on to acrylic so you can just paint, dry in 15 minutes, so you don't have to paint wet in wet. On the flip side, then you can't do much wet in wet unless you paint really fast. There are other work arounds, but some effects are pure oil I believe. Thanks for sharing!
thank you alex. i painted your SP last week; its the best portrait i have done so far. i have learned todays lesson; very timely. doing this one today.
I know this doesn't apply to digital painting (when it comes to the physical mixing), but understanding the choices as to why these colours are used this way is very helpful.
Very useful video. I've had to paint red shirts a few times before, really frustrating as red from the tube is very transparent and it took a lot of layering
Hello Alex! You do fantastic work! After 45 years as a professional, I’m still learning. I thank you! You may never see my comment & question because this video was painted 4 years ago, as it shows in the timeline. Anyway, let me ask it- At the time of underpaintings and glazing in the Dutch Golden Age, Frans Hals painted alla prima portraits and was able to capture such fantastic lively expressions in his paintings. How did who do that? Beyond the academic methods we know of painting color, value, placement of brushwork… how did he bring life into his paintings with such great expression? Thank you in advance for a reply.
I recently saw the Frans Hals exhibition in the National Gallery in London. Yes indeed, the expressions are amazing. When you paint someone from life, you have to keep talking with the subject for them to have a more animated expression. They will have an expression that keeps reappearing and the key to capturing usually lies in the corners of the mouth. I made another video on the subject here: th-cam.com/video/sI86_n84k4Y/w-d-xo.html However, Hals expressions are sometimes so animated they would affect all the muscles of the face, so you would need to record them during the block in at the start then retain them throughout the portrait. IN an age before photography I can only think Hals had an outstanding visual memory? This is a question to ask those people who think the old masters must have all used lenses, because a camera obscura still won't freeze an expression in time, will it?
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting thank you, Alex. I watched it. I see what you mean. I’m going to remember that. The fact that the mouth has such a big impact on the expression. Nice job with the portrait. Beautifully done.
This really demystified things for me. The lingo of painting can be a more than a little esoteric, lots of counterintuitive or outright contradictory naming conventions. Thanks very much.
I couldn't agree more. It took me years before I understood what anyone was on about. Tho to be fair, it's not easy. As Harold Speed says at the start of his books talking about painting is like describing the taste of Vanilla to someone who's never tasted it. That's why the longest part of making these videos for me, is writing the commentary. My first draft, often doesn't make sense to even to me.
Funny how when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I have been a subscriber a long time but only now just started watching. I have gone through a drawing phase, watercolor phase and now an acylic phase. I have no intention of starting oils (yet) but I still learn so much. Question: Are transparent colors in oil pretty much transparent in acrylic? Brilliant work. I was upset you ruined that portait just to teach us.
hi Alex i'm very bless to find you...i was following you a long time , i really love your method,your simplify process awesome.. it's just look like master like John singer Sargent .. i know your teaching course but now i couldn't effort perches now.. if you make it like book ..may be we will buy and nice to keep it my self... so please make a book for color techniques and process of your method ... thank you kiran
Thank you so much! Very glad you've found my videos useful. I'm not planning a book yet, but I am thinking of doing some longer videos, full length demos in real time.
thank you so much bro :) ... i'm so exiting .. thanks lot for your knowledge ... again i'm saying your the best i found in youtube.. keep rocking.. kiran
Best explanation/DEMO I have seen. I have been taking up oil painting and have had questions about this subject. Your Video is PERFECT!! Is this a light, deep, etc?? Cadmium Yellow? Thanks for sharing this!!
Great video. Transparent comours are extremely useful but I sometimes think that manufacturerscould make a better attempt to produce the major transparent colours in an opaque version.- particularly in acrylics where even some colours traditionally opaque in oils turn out to be transparent. In acrylics.
I didn't know that about acrylics. Maybe because acrylics are water soluble it make them behave more like gouache or watercolour, which are all transparent?
I just can't get over how happy I am to have seen this. I HATE DRAWING EVERYTHING OUT that way does not make sense to me. It completely wastes my time. Sadly that's how I learned, so now its just a bad habit. When all I need is a few abstract marks, but no, I was told I need to learn to be a draftsman lol. I just do not learn that way. 6 months later and I hardly ever get started painting, because I obsess over the goddamn drawing which WILL BE COVERED UP ANYWAY!
Amazing video that answered so many questions. Thank you so much. when painting alla prima like here, do you use paint straight from the tube or do you use any solvents/oils? Do you gradually change the consistency while working. I found that using stand oil can sometimes help painting over wet paint but i dont like the results much. The strokes dissapear and it becomes flat yet super glossy.
Usually you thin your paints (with solvents) during your initial block in. You can add a few drops of stand oil and damar varnish to help prevent the sunken in look in darks and to help the paint get tacky. This allows subsequent wet strokes to adhere better. And its really up to you if you want to add stand oil. I add a little because I want a slight leveling effect, but not so much that it kills the brush strokes. The key to fresh alla prima is a heavy loaded brush placed on top of the previous layer. That gives you that fresh, vibrant look.
Great artwork, and that's a great point about opaque paints being able to paint over layers of paint without blending. What about Bob Ross's advice of "a thin paint sticks to a thick paint"? Where he would thin the paint down a tiny bit with thinner so that it would flow off the brush more easily and not mix with the paint on the canvas? Is that a good technique do you think?
I haven't heard that one before, is there a link to that particular Bob Ross video on youtube? When you say thin the paint down, do you mean add more medium to it to make it flow? Did he add oil or solvent? I haven't tried that but I guess it could work. Fluidity does make a difference, but I find it's a matter of making sure you have enough paint on your brush for the top layers, so that it's left on the surface once you put it down. Does that make sense? If I don't use enough paint, I find the colours more likely to mix. I see this a lot with my students.
He would sometimes dip the brush in a small amount of odorless mineral spirits to thin the paint down a little. He said it made it more like the consistency of ink, and then the paint would slip off the brush more easily and sit on top of wet paint already on the canvas and not blend into it. It's something he especially did for writing his signature at the end, where he would thin the paint down so it looked like ink and then write his signature on top of wet paint.
Hi Alex, I wonder how you can make perfect likeness without measuring proportion. It seems very easy to you. Please share video tips around this portrait likeness. Thank you.
Taufiq Suleyman, here’s some advice he gave on his comparative measuring technique: th-cam.com/video/l-tI9wNeloc/w-d-xo.html Hopefully it’s useful to you.
I all comes down to accurate drawing. It's difficult and it takes a lot of practice. Though I am I think I might do some videos on painting specific features. Also I did do this video of the alignment of the features, I hope you find it useful th-cam.com/video/7CtFkjpzVjQ/w-d-xo.html
A wonderful demonstration with really good comments and information. Bravo, Mr Tzavaras!!! Keep 'em coming! - M. John Angel, Studio Director at the Angel Academy of Art, Florence.
Thank you very much Michael! I'm well aware of the Angel Academy of Art, and have long admired the work of many of your alumni. Back when I started painting properly, 15 or so years ago, I myself was looking into the possibility of moving to Florence and training at your prestigious establishment. However, due to work and other commitments, relocating to another country would have been impractical. Fortunately, thanks to the resurgence of knowledge about traditional representational Art, which is down to teachers like you. I was eventually able to find an instructor here in the UK. So, I'm very glad you like my channel. It means a lot!
Super helpful. For untrained artists, there seems to be little to no information out there about the transparency of pigments! Although I find i can only follow it at 1.25x speed.. perhaps my impatience
From transparent to opaque as opposed to from just dark to light has become a revelation to me. I'm a contemporary art student, third year, but they don't teach us such things. They don't teach us anything, to be honest. I wish there was at least one art academy in the country... Contemporary art education is absurd. Thank you for this liberating piece of theory!
Yes, my brief encounter with the mainstream Art school system was a waste of time. I had a laugh, but not much good if you want to learn to draw and paint from life. When I was there in 94-95 I couldn't find anywhere that taught you how to draw. There was life drawing but without any useful instruction. Today it's better tho, there's a bit of a resurgence thanks to the internet and it's easier to find teachers who know their stuff. Tho unfortunately still not in the mainstream system, so they're private and can be quite expensive. Whereabouts are you? There are more and more places opening up in the UK and Europe and many in the US.
The more I see all the hassles of oils when it comes to do the art of portraits or landscapes, from the toxic chemicals in it to all the nonsense of transparent and none transparent, I am so glad I discovered pastels,.! After all the years of learning to draw, by practicing over and over, oils got me to the point of giving art all for good. But I love drawing, so I couldn't give it up, and thank God for Pastels..!!! Pastels gave me back the original love for drawing and art.!
Hi Alex. I m new to painting. I come from Street art with stencils and drawings. I live your job and your how to videos. Do you think it's possible to achieve such a little part of your talent with hard work?
![ALLY - OH MY! [ REACTION ] 'Amarin Nitibhon' #ALLY_OHMY #ALLY #allynitibhon #แอลลี่](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nX9qpHjVfbQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I wish I could add 1000 thumbs ups! In all my studies I’ve never read or seen a demo of transparent or opaque colors like this! Full disclosure, I’m two whiskeys in.....but regardless, the demo of the opaque colors over transparent and transparent over opaque was mind blowing! Thank you for the specificity in this video- (painting) life changing!
May I suggest a new video teacher who has a lot of tricks. I’m new to painting,I assumed I couldn’t because I cannot draw ,my acrylics aren’t bad , however this lady uses the transparent ones in the Bob Ross gesso with oil and medium @ oil paints that can be used . ( Water mixable oil colour paints ) She shows you the hog hair kit and oil paints ,so it’s different ,but for some paintings ,it’s excellent. She also makes her own gesso,but there’s so many recipes out there .
Do you use sandpaper if using canvas?
Painting with Yovette .
Golden Rays of Sunshine inspired by Bob Ross, , see
part 1 . then go to part 2 @ watch the magic happen.
I’m looking to buy gesso , both white@ black, but I wondered , if I could mix black and white to get the gray?
She’s also trying this new type of water oil paints ,where she paints a picture saying the cleanup is brilliant,but I saw a video where vegetable oil can be used , baby oil, or linseed oil,then soap and water,rinse twice dry. There’s an excellent video with a non toxic cleaner , butif the vegetable oil is working the same ,it’s better for our lungs and the environment, if I’m wrong please help with any suggestions. She does have an excellent tip to apply gesso. Check it out ,you buy it at a hardware store ,so it’s way cheaper. I’m looking to buy and paint the golden rays of sunshine. It’s a beautiful example of translucent paint. ❤️🇨🇦
2 years at art school and nobody ever taught me this 🧐
I’m a few years late to the party, but this is only one of the amazing videos from Alex. I subscribed to his Patreon page, and using his advice, I painted the best portrait I’ve ever done.
I've seen TONS of art videos since I started painting 2 years ago, and this is the first one that clarifies this for me. And brilliantly explained as well! Thank you.
Thank you! Glad you find my videos helpful.
This is a revelation to me!
Up to now due to getting mixed results I would let the paint dry for each stage in portrait drawing . Now that I understand the use of transparent and opaque paint I can approach painting differently and hopefully speed up!
Many thanks for this
Very glad it was helpful!
One of the most important concepts for beginners to understand. I wish I had had this video when I was a beginner!
Thank you David. Me too.
In college I don't remember hearing anything about the transparent, or opaque qualities of the paint I was using. Thank you, this is a great video. Love your portraits.
Thank you!
Hi. In college I wasn't shown/told much about techniques like this. It seemed that most art 'tutors' were above anything pedestrian like that. I know they did their best in their own way, but little got passed on.
@@MrMjp58 Did you go to Art college in the UK? Don't get me started. They don't teach anything technical because they've forgotten it all. For the bast 50 years Art education has been a philosophical debate about "what is art", so all they seem teach you, is how to talk about your work. That's fine if you're into that sort of thing but rubbish for the rest of us who who want to draw and paint from life. When I did my foundation at central st martin's in the 90's it was like the human race had lost the ability to draw. But there were always teachers out there, who still knew their shit. It was just difficult to find them. Today, thanks to the internet we can and the knowledge is spreading.
SIMPLIFY Drawing & Painting - Well said, Alex, I agree. (Uk art college drop out)
Your channel is a great find!
They assume you already know.
Wow, this is probably one of the most important videos I’ve watched on oil painting this year (and I’ve watched a lot since I started!). Can’t believe everyone doesn’t talk about this just as often as they talk about fat over lean. Thank you SO much for making this!!! Can’t wait to get back my easel and experiment with this more knowledgeably in my work!!!
Thanks Reed! Glad was helpful
This is literally the most useful art video I have ever stumble upon. It all makes sense now. Thanks for sharing this information!
Thank you very much!
Great explanation of transparent and opaque pigments! I was aware of the difference but never realized how to use them practically. Your confident and accurate rendering of the portrait was amazing.
Thanks Kayla
This is extemely useful, thank you! I have never heard anyone explain it this way and never understood why it went wrong!
I've watched loads of painting videos and you do a great job of discussing things that are not usually discussed - your title Simplify is right on, thanks
Thanks Lynn, yes it painters can be a bit mysterious about this stuff. (or they just don't know). Painting is difficult enough, they don't need to act like they've got magic powers.
Have watched hundreds of painting videos and bought far too many DVDs and this succinct and genuinely useful lesson is up there at the top. I am just graduating from graphite/charcoal portraits to oil portraits and your explanation of the significance of opaque and transparent will save me a lot of frustration....excellent, and thank you.
Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated!
So good to see a decent painter, doing these kind of videos in the UK. Well done and thank you.
Thanks David!
Great demo and information! I need to pay more attention to the difference in opaque and transparent. Never seen it presented in this practical way.
Transparent and opaque and knowing how to use them , good point. Unlike our friend here I dont do so much alla prima work , but I use the transparent and opaque when glazing and scumbling. I let the layers dry then add another, this helps with optical blending. The Venetians were good at this as opposed to the florentines who built on the tight drawings in layers. It's all good. It depends on what you're going for as far as technique and its effects.
Great video and explained well through the demonstration.
If you look at the tube of oil paint there is usually a code that tells you if that color is transparent , semi transparent, or opaque. Certain colors lend to these qualities more then others , like explained in the video like cadmiums are more opaque and ultra marines are good for translucent layers of color over dry paint . The video will be very helpful in the alla prima technique, or wet into wet. ☆
You are a great teacher! Talk about very relevant things, thank you very much! I really want this ability to draw with ink, this is awesome!
No one did it like you did! I started out with digital oils and have never painted with real oil paint. This knowledge about opaque and transparent colours really helps me figure what I should be expecting from digital oils and how I can simulate what I want. Thank you.
Does this still matter with digital oil colours, have they programmed them to mix the same way? Interesting.
Oh this is mind blowing! Thank you so much for addressing this, and the other tips of using a soft brush to not disturb the bottom layer and the initial drawing on the canvas. I am very green and really am not at a stage of mapping the face with paint. I love watching you demos.....going from basic paint strokes to a portrait. Not only a portrait but one that actually looks like the sitter. Beautiful to watch.
Thank you very much Monika, glad it was helpful. In my experience the difference between opaque and transparent paint was never explained very clearly. When I was a student I was just told that you always had to paint light over dark, but then I would see more experienced artists doing so.
Wow, this is THE technique that I would like to acquire!
Many thanks for such an excellent video demo.
Transpartent colours on top mixes in, opaque colours on top covers up. Thank you very much.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. It’s always very powerful, precise, right, efficient your content and the way you explain everything. This explanation is super useful!!! Greetings from Mexico!!
Thank you José!
Thankyou Alex for this most informative video of opaque and transparent pigments. I have watched a lot of video on the different techniques of painting dark over light and vice versa but never have I had the most important of opaque and transparent colours exlplained in any videos I have seen. Not even my art teachers have ever explained this.
Thankyou for sharing your knowledge about transparent and opaque colours and their behaviour when it comes to one on top of the other. Thankyou very much.
Wow. This explained so much and has made so many other things crystal clear
Great talk about how to use the oil colors for painting process. Its difficult to master wet in wet. Many beginners struggle with this. I just moved on to acrylic so you can just paint, dry in 15 minutes, so you don't have to paint wet in wet. On the flip side, then you can't do much wet in wet unless you paint really fast. There are other work arounds, but some effects are pure oil I believe. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent. Went to art college to learn this stuff and was told nothing. Alex, you rock.
Thank you!
thank you alex. i painted your SP last week; its the best portrait i have done so far. i have learned todays lesson; very timely. doing this one today.
Well done Gerry!
That is something I should know but nobody ever told md - thank you!
Fascinating ..I’ll watch this several times for sure!
I know this doesn't apply to digital painting (when it comes to the physical mixing), but understanding the choices as to why these colours are used this way is very helpful.
Never knew about the muddy issue can be due to type of oil colour. Very informative and wonderful demo..thank u
Thanks! Glad you found it helpful.
thanks, most helpful, have been struggling with this and now feel more confident thanks to your demo and explanation.
Thanks Paula, glad you find it useful
I really like your demo's. Your skill and confidence are amazing and helpful in studying technique. Thank you for sharing your work.
Wow! Is that some sort of magic wand that u use?!!! Such beautiful strokes...so soft and lively. Thank u so much for sharing ur art. Have a great day.
This video is some of the best information I’ve gotten in a long time! Thank you so much!!
Really informative! Thanks for sharing your techniques and thoughts.
This is IMMENSELY helpful
In one word, EXCELENT. Tanhk you so much Alex.
Thanks Eduardo!
Yes. VERY helpful, Alex. I appreciate you putting this out for us.
Very useful video. I've had to paint red shirts a few times before, really frustrating as red from the tube is very transparent and it took a lot of layering
Great and thanks for informations which I have still never heard!
THIS is the video I've been looking for! THANK YOU
What a useful tips Alex! Thanks for sharing knowledge. Great day!
This is gold... totally subscribing 👨🎨👍👍
Great instructional video of a portrait. I enjoyed watching it
Thank you Irene! very glad you enjoyed it.
You’re way more skilled than most of the other youtubers who are using projectors to make the underpainting
Thank you!
super video with great clarity
Hello Alex!
You do fantastic work! After 45 years as a professional, I’m still learning. I thank you!
You may never see my comment & question because this video was painted 4 years ago, as it shows in the timeline. Anyway, let me ask it-
At the time of underpaintings and glazing in the Dutch Golden Age, Frans Hals painted alla prima portraits and was able to capture such fantastic lively expressions in his paintings. How did who do that? Beyond the academic methods we know of painting color, value, placement of brushwork… how did he bring life into his paintings with such great expression?
Thank you in advance for a reply.
I recently saw the Frans Hals exhibition in the National Gallery in London. Yes indeed, the expressions are amazing. When you paint someone from life, you have to keep talking with the subject for them to have a more animated expression. They will have an expression that keeps reappearing and the key to capturing usually lies in the corners of the mouth. I made another video on the subject here:
th-cam.com/video/sI86_n84k4Y/w-d-xo.html
However, Hals expressions are sometimes so animated they would affect all the muscles of the face, so you would need to record them during the block in at the start then retain them throughout the portrait. IN an age before photography I can only think Hals had an outstanding visual memory? This is a question to ask those people who think the old masters must have all used lenses, because a camera obscura still won't freeze an expression in time, will it?
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting thank you, Alex. I watched it. I see what you mean. I’m going to remember that. The fact that the mouth has such a big impact on the expression. Nice job with the portrait. Beautifully done.
This really demystified things for me. The lingo of painting can be a more than a little esoteric, lots of counterintuitive or outright contradictory naming conventions. Thanks very much.
I couldn't agree more. It took me years before I understood what anyone was on about. Tho to be fair, it's not easy. As Harold Speed says at the start of his books talking about painting is like describing the taste of Vanilla to someone who's never tasted it. That's why the longest part of making these videos for me, is writing the commentary. My first draft, often doesn't make sense to even to me.
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting Well then thanks again for your endeavours, I'm finding all your videos invaluable. E
Funny how when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I have been a subscriber a long time but only now just started watching. I have gone through a drawing phase, watercolor phase and now an acylic phase. I have no intention of starting oils (yet) but I still learn so much. Question: Are transparent colors in oil pretty much transparent in acrylic? Brilliant work. I was upset you ruined that portait just to teach us.
incredibly presented information. thank you!
thank you so much. Leanred a lot here with the transperant colors
Thank you for watching Sylvain! Glad it was helpful.
What a fantastic tutorial. 👍
Thank you!
Wow, this is so interesting. Thank you for sharing
What a wonderful and complete explanation of colors! Thank you very much.
Thanks Susan
Wow....this is an A Ha moment for me..thank you 🙏 your videos are so great for explaining things clearly and simply.
Thanks Tammy! Glad it was helpful.
OH, no one ever told me this stuff before! This is critical information for alla prima!
hi Alex i'm very bless to find you...i was following you a long time , i really love your method,your simplify process awesome.. it's just look like master like John singer Sargent .. i know your teaching course but now i couldn't effort perches now.. if you make it like book ..may be we will buy and nice to keep it my self... so please make a book for color techniques and process of your method ...
thank you
kiran
Thank you so much! Very glad you've found my videos useful. I'm not planning a book yet, but I am thinking of doing some longer videos, full length demos in real time.
thank you so much bro :) ... i'm so exiting .. thanks lot for your knowledge ... again i'm saying your the best i found in youtube.. keep rocking..
kiran
This is so incredibly helpful! Thank you thank you 😊
Thank you Amy! Glad it was helpful.
Thank you very much for this video. Really good explanation.
Really good information and clear demonstrations. Thanks!
Perfectly answered all my questions about my alla prima problems! Thanks so much Alex.
Did u learn alla prima technique?
Best video I've ever seen about painting. Well done.
Amazing and informative video !
Great video with lots of interesting info, and inspiring skills demonstrated.
Great info about transparent and opaque oils.
thats really good mate
Alex, your videos are amazing and I certainly have learnt a lot from you. Many thanks for sharing. 🙏🙏👍
Thank you very much Deepinder! Glad you like them
Best explanation/DEMO I have seen. I have been taking up oil painting and have had questions about this subject. Your Video is PERFECT!! Is this a light, deep, etc?? Cadmium Yellow? Thanks for sharing this!!
Great talent... Good demo... Hats of to you sir
Thank you!
Great video. Transparent comours are extremely useful but I sometimes think that manufacturerscould make a better attempt to produce the major transparent colours in an opaque version.- particularly in acrylics where even some colours traditionally opaque in oils turn out to be transparent. In acrylics.
I didn't know that about acrylics. Maybe because acrylics are water soluble it make them behave more like gouache or watercolour, which are all transparent?
I just can't get over how happy I am to have seen this. I HATE DRAWING EVERYTHING OUT that way does not make sense to me. It completely wastes my time. Sadly that's how I learned, so now its just a bad habit. When all I need is a few abstract marks, but no, I was told I need to learn to be a draftsman lol. I just do not learn that way. 6 months later and I hardly ever get started painting, because I obsess over the goddamn drawing which WILL BE COVERED UP ANYWAY!
Thank you.
this picture video has taught me a great lesson.
I'm drawing in oil painting style with computer graphics.
Incredibly helpful, thank you
Extremely helpful. Thanks!
That's why my paintings always look like a mess! It was like I wasn't able to paint anything. Thank you so much!
My pleasure Alexis! Glad it was helpful
You are brilliant. Like any Master, you make it look so easy!
super useful vid. Thank you!!
Beautiful descriptive videos your channel rocks 👍🏻🙋🏻♀️💕
What an extremely helpful video thankyou
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
No doubt u r amazing artists. Sovwhy u show very fast!!
Thank you very much! There are all full length demos, filmed in real-time avalable to watch over on my Patreon channel.
Amazing video that answered so many questions. Thank you so much.
when painting alla prima like here, do you use paint straight from the tube or do you use any solvents/oils? Do you gradually change the consistency while working. I found that using stand oil can sometimes help painting over wet paint but i dont like the results much. The strokes dissapear and it becomes flat yet super glossy.
Usually you thin your paints (with solvents) during your initial block in. You can add a few drops of stand oil and damar varnish to help prevent the sunken in look in darks and to help the paint get tacky. This allows subsequent wet strokes to adhere better. And its really up to you if you want to add stand oil. I add a little because I want a slight leveling effect, but not so much that it kills the brush strokes. The key to fresh alla prima is a heavy loaded brush placed on top of the previous layer. That gives you that fresh, vibrant look.
Great artwork, and that's a great point about opaque paints being able to paint over layers of paint without blending.
What about Bob Ross's advice of "a thin paint sticks to a thick paint"? Where he would thin the paint down a tiny bit with thinner so that it would flow off the brush more easily and not mix with the paint on the canvas? Is that a good technique do you think?
I haven't heard that one before, is there a link to that particular Bob Ross video on youtube? When you say thin the paint down, do you mean add more medium to it to make it flow? Did he add oil or solvent? I haven't tried that but I guess it could work. Fluidity does make a difference, but I find it's a matter of making sure you have enough paint on your brush for the top layers, so that it's left on the surface once you put it down. Does that make sense? If I don't use enough paint, I find the colours more likely to mix. I see this a lot with my students.
He would sometimes dip the brush in a small amount of odorless mineral spirits to thin the paint down a little. He said it made it more like the consistency of ink, and then the paint would slip off the brush more easily and sit on top of wet paint already on the canvas and not blend into it.
It's something he especially did for writing his signature at the end, where he would thin the paint down so it looked like ink and then write his signature on top of wet paint.
Hi Alex, I wonder how you can make perfect likeness without measuring proportion. It seems very easy to you. Please share video tips around this portrait likeness. Thank you.
Taufiq Suleyman, here’s some advice he gave on his comparative measuring technique:
th-cam.com/video/l-tI9wNeloc/w-d-xo.html
Hopefully it’s useful to you.
I all comes down to accurate drawing. It's difficult and it takes a lot of practice. Though I am I think I might do some videos on painting specific features.
Also I did do this video of the alignment of the features, I hope you find it useful
th-cam.com/video/7CtFkjpzVjQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank u so satisfied with your expectations
Great video, thanks for your hard work
Thank you for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
A wonderful demonstration with really good comments and information. Bravo, Mr Tzavaras!!! Keep 'em coming! - M. John Angel, Studio Director at the Angel Academy of Art, Florence.
Thank you very much Michael! I'm well aware of the Angel Academy of Art, and have long admired the work of many of your alumni. Back when I started painting properly, 15 or so years ago, I myself was looking into the possibility of moving to Florence and training at your prestigious establishment. However, due to work and other commitments, relocating to another country would have been impractical.
Fortunately, thanks to the resurgence of knowledge about traditional representational Art, which is down to teachers like you. I was eventually able to find an instructor here in the UK. So, I'm very glad you like my channel. It means a lot!
So beautiful colour using.
Great tutor.Thank you.Very helpfull
love this video and your style
Superb. Many thanks for tips.
Super helpful. For untrained artists, there seems to be little to no information out there about the transparency of pigments!
Although I find i can only follow it at 1.25x speed.. perhaps my impatience
Thank you Andrew. Glad it was helpful.
su técnica es excelente, maestro
You are amazing, had great talent
Thanks. Congratulations. Excellent.
Awesome tutorial ❤️
Subscribed.
Thank you very much Saba!
From transparent to opaque as opposed to from just dark to light has become a revelation to me. I'm a contemporary art student, third year, but they don't teach us such things. They don't teach us anything, to be honest. I wish there was at least one art academy in the country... Contemporary art education is absurd. Thank you for this liberating piece of theory!
Yes, my brief encounter with the mainstream Art school system was a waste of time. I had a laugh, but not much good if you want to learn to draw and paint from life. When I was there in 94-95 I couldn't find anywhere that taught you how to draw. There was life drawing but without any useful instruction.
Today it's better tho, there's a bit of a resurgence thanks to the internet and it's easier to find teachers who know their stuff. Tho unfortunately still not in the mainstream system, so they're private and can be quite expensive. Whereabouts are you? There are more and more places opening up in the UK and Europe and many in the US.
The Don. Love your stuff Alex
great video, extremely helpful
The more I see all the hassles of oils when it comes to do the art of portraits or landscapes, from the toxic chemicals in it to all the nonsense of transparent and none transparent, I am so glad I discovered pastels,.! After all the years of learning to draw, by practicing over and over, oils got me to the point of giving art all for good.
But I love drawing, so I couldn't give it up, and thank God for Pastels..!!!
Pastels gave me back the original love for drawing and art.!
Hi Alex. I m new to painting. I come from Street art with stencils and drawings. I live your job and your how to videos. Do you think it's possible to achieve such a little part of your talent with hard work?