I cannot emphasize enough how valuable your tutorials have become over the year or so I have been subbed to your channel. I have learned, and continued to learn, not how to paint, but, exponentially more significantly, how to think about and approach painting, from composition to color, to confidence. Dude, you are, imo, truly the best.
Blue is the Colour, Football is the game. We're all together, Winning is our aim So,cheer us up through the Sun and rain.Coz ; Chelsea Chelsea Is Our Name" ! 😇
Two days ago I bought the basics, and yesterday I built an easel. Today I will watch, listen, and learn. And tomorrow, the brush hits the canvas for the very first time. Don't you just love being outta your depth when you take the first step of exploration on a new journey? Thanks to everyone here and your priceless words of advice.
Your comment on drawing is so inspiring bc I didn’t know people were tracing and using all these tools to create these beautiful portraits whereas I’ve been drawing/ sketching freehand all along! I was being so hard on myself but this makes me feel like I’m on a good track, I’m a really good drawer :)
Your comment made me smile. Good on you EM. I went to art school in the eighties. In the UK we do a one year Foundation in Art & Design to try out different disciplines (textiles, graphics, photography etc) to discover what our next direction will be. It was acknowledged I was 'good at drawing', but 'there is no degree course for drawing so best you do graphics.' I was discounted for a career in Fine Art because THE ONE AFTERNOON of color mixing practice we got, my colors were considered too muddy and so I CLEARLY didn't have enough talent to paint. I asked my tutor to give me direction so I could improve. His comment? ''Huh, so you thought you'd come to art school and you'd be taught how to paint?' He said it without a hint of irony. 🙄 So I too feel vindicated now. All these years later. And like you, I'm a really good drawer. 😁
I usually recommend to my students a split primary palette (2 versions of each primary like a cool and warm red) plus white and brown. You can basically mix any color needed that way and you still gain a vast understanding of mixing and primary usage.
My college teacher had 10 colors. She loved yellow ochre so we had to have it too. Then we had white and black plus warm and cool of each primary. And our first lesson was mixing black. That tube was off limits
Chris, I was wondering if you would consider doing a video on getting past perfectionism or fear of making bad work. It doesn't seem like you struggled much with painting paralysis in the past, but do you relate to this issue at all? Did you ever feel uninterested in practicing because you didn't want to disappoint yourself? I struggle with this all the time in painting. Bad painting = bad artist.. that's the paralyzing thought process. I really envy the mindset you and other prolific artists have where all paintings are progress and learning. It's so easy to get caught up in the end result, and I'm curious to hear your take on that. Thank you as always for the awesome and inspiring content!
I know I’ve seen him address this in another video! 🥰 I believe he said to try & push the paint around but don’t get too wrapped up in the details right away. Focus on the big shapes first then add the values & different shades as you go. And that if you view it as a process rather than get overly stressed in the beginning that it’s not looking right it can help. And of course take breaks whenever you need it. It’s certainly easy getting in your own head & overwork a painting so sometimes it’s as simple as looking at it with fresh eyes can be beneficial
Please please please, young artist at 2:28, keep your brushes outta your mouth! I have a friend who kept getting cancer of the tongue and finally figured out it was because she kept putting the ends of her brushes in her mouth while she adjusted, filled, poured, etc. Cadmiums, cobalts, and other metals, right? My friend's tongue looks like sewn-up Swiss cheese from all the surgeries (needles, stitches, pain) she went through.
More colors doesn't have to be more complicated if you really understand them. I recommend Michael Wilcox's Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green 2nd Edition. Read it, understand it, and create for yourself the color charts you find in there. You still won't won't need a ton of colors, but you'll know by the time you've worked through the book what beyond the three traditional primaries will give you the options you're looking for. FOR EXMPLE: check out the mud created when he attempts to mix violet at 0:34. That's great if you're painting a picture of mud. But if you're painting a floral, it would really help to know that you should have both an orangey red (as shown here) AND a violet red (like quinacridone magenta) in your paint box. In fact, I see a violet red on his palette at 7:02 (looks to me like Alizarin Crimson or something similar). As someone who's been teaching art since 1996, trust me when I say you won't understand color any better by restricting yourself to the three primaries shown at the beginning than if you go buy every color under the sun.
Greetings and love from Saudi Arabia, I'm an artist myself but I have learned so much from you, I started applying your advice on squinting the eyes but in my case I just remove my eye glasses and there it is, the picture is blurry and I'm able to see blocks of shapes and tones to start with before I put my glasses back on. Thank you so much for all the wonderful advices you share with the world.
I've been a colored pencil artist for a few years and have recently wanted to branch out into oil painting as well. You are so good at taking complex concepts and making them easy to understand. I went out and bought the basic oil painting supplies, but then was like "Uhhhh...what do I do now?" I'm so glad I found your channel - I've been binge watching your content for days now. Once I finish my current project, I'm going to start your foundations of oil painting course, and I can't wait!
Maybe for beginners it's important to stick with primaries, but I feel that can also hold you back quite a bit. I'd definitely recommend sticking with single pigment colours, but each pigment has its own drying time and transparency. It's good to limit your pallette to only what you need, but I feel like you're bottlenecking yourself by only familiarizing yourself with 4 pigments especially "primaries" of ultra marine blue (transparent) and cadmium Red and yellow (opaque.) You can't get a good purple and the cadmium red and yellow won't glaze as well as the ultramarine.
16:35 oh crap! I’m terrible at portraits, I know that’s what I should be practicing, but it’s just so depressing painting one crappy portrait after another!!!
I feel like the biggest thing holding me back is that in my head I need a “style”. For many years I have been too focused on it and I feel like it have gotten me nowhere. I’m really trying hard to let that mindset go and just paint/sketch everything I enjoy, and focus on getting better on those thing. But it’s hard af😅
When you focus on the process you'll find shortcuts, gain experience, and find multiple solutions to problems while painting. Those become a style. Your own personal style. That's your first foundation base style. You've created a process that can repeat that quality of work. Then you'll probably slowly incorporate other artists style over time to your own style to refine it. Learning what you liked and disliked about them. Then you will create another new base style. Then the cycle just keeps going over time. It's not something one wakes up one day and says, " this is my style". All humans take from previous humans to build their own style. This is the process of learning. Every human does this. No human is truly unique. When building a style give yourself an initial goal on who you want your paintings to look like first. Mine is vaguely Sargent as I don't have to deal with details if I don't want to. I find it easier to just keep the large shapes in there and manipulate it just enough for the brain do the work of making sense of it. You know like optical illusions.
Style will come when you do the same thing with little changes to it 20 times. Like do a bunch of dishes on a table. Change the position of the light, move the dishes closer or farther, stack them, change the color of the table, add a table cloth...just some ideas to get you started
Very good advice. I bought Carlson. Great info but not an easy read and be ready for his utter disdain for beginners and students. It's on nearly every page!
Having a limited color pallet is helpful, but it seems a bit expensive to mix every brown and grey out of cadmium red, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine blue...
my biggest challenge in Arizona is the heat. I cannot leave paint in the garage where I have. My current "studio" set up (for lack of a better word. ) Other than heat it's ventilation. You have to have constant airflow. If you're using any type of solvents . I'm contemplating building a painting shed in the backyard somewhere but again I'm coming up against the heat issues. This is a problem for me because I hate caring Paint back-and-forth from the house every time I start a session . blah blah first world problems.
Hey Coach, I found a way to use a roku tv to upload photos to a tv to paint from without having to have a tablet. It's called Play on Roku. I tried it out on my 19" flat screen in my studio. I just use the Roku app on my phone, connect to a device, click on media, select photos, cast to tv and viola, I now have large image of a photo to paint from.
do you know Vermillion VR? its a VR application where you can draw oil paintings. its pretty accurate, maybe a good start into oil painting, since you dont have to worry that much about the materials
I am currently following two artist. One is a portrait painter and one is a figure drawing that is teaching me to get better at figure drawing. I am retired and spend part of my time figure drawing and part of my time at the easel painting.the painting artists does drawing also but I don’t think it conflicts with the figure drawing because it is more of a quick sketch for the painting. So iris like drawing figures 3 evenings a week and drawing and painting with the portrait artists during the day 5 days a week. So some days I am doing both. I love both classes and have been learning a lot. Do you think I am doing to much following two very different artist that don’t seem to conflict because they are very different.
Thanks for your hints and tips about drawing and painting, my husband keeps telling me to draw, first and practice more, I feel guilty now that I know he is right, but I always want to paint first, its probably like wanting to run before I could walk.
Hi Chris, I tend to paint small canvases, 6 x 8, 6 x 6, 8 x 10, as a beginning painter trying to get my "reps" in. Is the Meeden H frame easel on your list suitable for standing and painting small canvases? I need the part that holds the canvas to be at 50" from the floor. Thank you and thank you for your inspirational videos. Go Steelers!
How do you choose or know what base color/s to lay down ti start a painting? When can wet on wet oil paint be ok and how to know know when to let paint dry and then add more layers? Thank you
Talking about colors 4 is not enough. You can't mix black, ochre or sienna out of 4 primaries you've mentioned. In almost all cases we do require multiple primaries, e.g. cobalt for sky, ultramarine for water, medium and light yellow, etc.
Thank you so much for your videos!! You're the best! Question: Not adding more colors besides primaries for 5 years??? Are you being serious? Is that really what you'd recommend?
The limited palette is so true. I have a 6 color palette that i started with and still use. I have since added 3 short cut colors bc having Burnt Sienna is REALLLLLLLLY useful for toned greys. (I am also a watercolor artist so somethings are a little different) Edit: i have been painting for almost 7 years at this point and only just added the new colors
I just started oil painting after years of pencil, your videos have been so helpful and I learned so much, not just what to do but what NOT to do, thank you so much for your videos
In other videos and even in your course you suggest Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Lemon Yellow for the three primaries. In this video you suggested Cad Red and CAD Yellow along with ultramarine blue. I’m confused. I think I prefer the latter. Can you please clarify. Thanks. I’m currently taking the Foundations course.
Try both palettes! Don't limit yourself. Try using only secondaries, or only earth tones...I love limited palettes. I paint winter scenes in the desert with just burnt sienna, cerulean blue and titanium white with excellent results.
Great tips as always! One thing that I don’t know how to overcome is how to mix enough of a color for a painting session so that I don’t have to remix the same thing and forget how I did it-and I hate to waste my oils! Any tips about getting over my paint wasting phobia?! 🎨👩🎨
I went back to the course and now see the three primaries you work with are Cadmium Lemon, Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue. By mistake I bought Lemon Yellow and it seems very transparent. I have Cadmium Yellow Light Hue. Would that work for the yellow primary?
I prefer Cad Yellow Light to Cad Lemon, but I don't think it's a big issue as long as you have the three primaries. As you go along you may find yourself swapping out one pigment for another.
Using just the primaries and don’t get caught up in too many different painter styles. One thing I need to really change is to stand while painting and stepping back. Thanks so much for all these tips !
I just wanted to say that I love your videos. I don't use oil paints. I'm more of a watercolor kinda guy (though I want to try gouache soon) but a lot of the info in your videos applies to most mediums. It's definitely helped me even though I've never touched oil paint lol
I started off with a bunch of colours then moved to primaries because it was the only way I could not get a muddy ball of shit on the pallet. Then I found out smart people did it too
I'm not a painter. I can't draw. I wish I could but, I don't have any natural talent. But, I am learning how to do 3D design and I love your last point. Many times I see an object someone created and I think how in the hell did they make that? It challenges me. So, I think about it and start designing. Before I know it, I have created a similar object. I raised my bar. Thank you for your video. Even though I will probably never pick up a paint brush again I learned things from your video.
Details are in the vocal point of the painting, portrait painting for me would be the likeness as in EYES NOSE and LIPS, SHAPE OF THE FACE, THE HAIR NOT AS MUCH AS THE EYES NOSE AND LIPS ((THAT HAS TO BE ON THE MONEY))
Great information as always! I didnt realize you could use oil paints on 80lb kraft paper. Does it not warp the paper? I tried using a lower end paper one time and it was terrible to try and paint on because it absorbed all the oil and the paper got wet and warped and was falling apart. Thanks again for the video. Love them.
I'm using a nail to hand a windowscreen with a box tabed at the bottom to give it an angle. I have boxes stacked in eachother on their sides taped open for stability both inside a large box to be my palate holder and be a station for shipping and storage of all my stuff. The area of this paintstation, not including the table at highlight for personal stability that's unusable standing is like 2.5 ft by 4. Just eyeballing but I am very accurate been designing houses since I was 12 am currently 21 so my grasp on dimension is so unbelievably good lol. Don't let budget stop you. I'm using screen given to me by my landlord, same as the table, and boxes from Amazon shipments lol dollar tree has good canvas board selection and sometimes stretched canvases
I guess most beginners have trouble painting 'loosely' . But there are some artists who don't paint in the prevailing popular style. Landscape artist Hale Johnson, still lifes by William Bailey, portraits by Robert Bauer are some examples.
Hello, can you do a video comparison or review at Chinnese paint brands such Maries, Talens or Phoenix and how is it different from European brands? I have a hard time on choosing oil paint brands since there's no many options in my country. I watch several review of oil paint brands and no one really did this before. I want to know if they actually have the same quality or not, thankyou.
Wow, thank you so much for this, and all your videos. Re: tip #8, I’m sticking with you! I have been spinning my wheels for way too long. This has been super-inspiring and I am getting back to my oil paints pronto!
That’s prolly why I love painting so much. Bc everything comes so easy for me I can do any art mode and it’s all easy for me (including performing arts choreography and dance) painting is SO DIFFICULT for me so I’m obsessed w it and I won’t stop til I’m one of the best painters on the planet 😂
Thanks for telling me I should try to enjoy it more than fixating on how the end result should be too much and telling myself it's bad, even when just drawing... Probably good advice at my point.
No.10 IS the most important. The end result isn't actually the successful part - the painting, the study, or sketch is just the document to confirm the success. The success comes when rain is battering you up one side of the body, your paints have accumulated water and your Ultramarine Blue is bleeding out and tacking up, your easel is rattling in the wind, and your trousers are soaked through to the Calvin Klein's, but you're STILL out there, mixing and matching colour, slapping the paint down, (still trying stubbornly to make it adhere) while working tenaciously through the chaos to fulfil what's in your mind's eye. regardless of how badly you want to pack up, head for home and stick the kettle on. When you're feeling at your smallest, lowest, and most uncomfortable you're actually making the most progress. You won't feel it, but believe me, you are. Unfortunately, the better you become the harder it is to take praise. I only want to know what I'm doing wrong now, I actually love to hate all of my own work - it's this weird symbiotic relationship I have with myself.
I picked a single, popular instructor when I started painting in 2018. It's quite specialized "color by numbers" type of alla prima style best suited to realism in portraits and still lifes. It ends up with a really long "ugly" stage, you need a special studio setup, and paint additives to slow drying time. You premix a ton of colors first (thankfully, from the primaries). It turned out to be a terrible method for landscapes and plein air, which was what I wanted to do. I have been struggling to "unlearn" it ever since I found your videos and the Kevin Macpherson books. Your instruction and approach allows me to paint anything well. Thanks Chris!
Hi Chris! Could u talk about the oil techniques of Norbert Bisky? His paintings are so bright and the color transitions almost look airbrushed - I would love to know why and love to see u explaining what happens there. Love and greeting from Germany! 👍🏼💪🏼
Escaping comfort zone is so important. Two years ago i only draw on small paper, then last year I bought a hardboard 250cm x 125cm and I started painting a massive painting that was really hard to paint. It was so hard, I got distracted fast and I painted different parts at one sitting, I did a lot of mistakes and I lost my shit a lot of times, but after 5 months of painting it I had to stop myself from painting it becouse it was finished and I enjoyed in painting it at the end. From some mistakes I learned, from some I didn't, but that 5 months upgraded my art so much
Another great video. I love these 'paint chats'. And I've watched so many video of your videos now that my partner keeps telling me, "GO GET PAINTING" which is great too ;0) Happy new year to you.
As he says, "the bar keeps getting raised". This guidance is ok for beginners. But as one becomes improved and more experienced, I believe an artist should seek better and better teachers. Ultimately, this means learning from past artists to be found in the best museums or permanent locations, and probably not from current teachers. Despite my lifelong experience and many years of so-called formal art education and degrees, I cannot actually recall ever having met a painting teacher whose paintings I admire enough to want to learn from. Probably the most effective solution is continued study of all periods of art history, and building a personal library of a large number of the best books on the top artists and top museums.
I like to not only choose a pigment for its colour but also its properties. Some are transparent, some are opaque. Some have a strong tint, some have a weak tint. Some are very glossy, some are a little more matte. Some a lighter, some are darker. Some are more saturated, some are less saturated. Some are lightfast, some aren't (it's a bad idea to buy paints that will fade in the first place but if you didn't know then you didn't know). With experience and experimentation you learn how to mix paint in such a way that not only has the right colour, but the right effect overall. If you want to really master the paint, it's less about using more paints or fewer paints, but choosing the most appropriate paints for whatever it is you're trying to do. I'd say don't put a colour on your pallette until you need to use it. If you want a highly saturated cool blue colour that you can glaze, ultramarine will never work as well as pthalo blue. If you want to mix a saturated purple without buying dioxazine purple, cadmium red will never work as well as magenta or alizeran crimson. I wasted a lot of paint as a beginner, but I also taught myself pretty quickly what works and what doesn't because I allowed myself to experiment.
K no but I have never been very good at painting so eventually I just flat out stopped, and put all of my energy into improving my drawing skills. And not only has my drawing skills gotten so much better in the last year, but I started painting again and there is very visible improvement
It enjoying and learning from your tutorials! I have a problem.. I only do copies of photos that I take, or others take, portraits from photos and I feel that I am not able to create or to interpret a scene 🤔
I suck at drawing but can paint pretty well. I think practicing painting eyes is the most helpful thing. You learn to paint shapes, values and hues rather than thinking of an eye and trying to "draw" it with paint. Actually turning the painting and image upside down can be helpful
I cannot emphasize enough how valuable your tutorials have become over the year or so I have been subbed to your channel. I have learned, and continued to learn, not how to paint, but, exponentially more significantly, how to think about and approach painting, from composition to color, to confidence. Dude, you are, imo, truly the best.
Wow, thank you!
Blue is the Colour,
Football is the game.
We're all together,
Winning is our aim
So,cheer us up through the
Sun and rain.Coz ; Chelsea
Chelsea Is Our Name" !
😇
I second this. I’ve learned so much from this guy! My paintings are so much more interesting now than a month ago just from following his videos!
Two days ago I bought the basics, and yesterday I built an easel. Today I will watch, listen, and learn. And tomorrow, the brush hits the canvas for the very first time.
Don't you just love being outta your depth when you take the first step of exploration on a new journey?
Thanks to everyone here and your priceless words of advice.
How goes it?
Your comment on drawing is so inspiring bc I didn’t know people were tracing and using all these tools to create these beautiful portraits whereas I’ve been drawing/ sketching freehand all along! I was being so hard on myself but this makes me feel
like I’m on a good track, I’m a really good drawer :)
Your comment made me smile. Good on you EM. I went to art school in the eighties. In the UK we do a one year Foundation in Art & Design to try out different disciplines (textiles, graphics, photography etc) to discover what our next direction will be. It was acknowledged I was 'good at drawing', but 'there is no degree course for drawing so best you do graphics.' I was discounted for a career in Fine Art because THE ONE AFTERNOON of color mixing practice we got, my colors were considered too muddy and so I CLEARLY didn't have enough talent to paint. I asked my tutor to give me direction so I could improve. His comment? ''Huh, so you thought you'd come to art school and you'd be taught how to paint?' He said it without a hint of irony. 🙄
So I too feel vindicated now. All these years later. And like you, I'm a really good drawer. 😁
I usually recommend to my students a split primary palette (2 versions of each primary like a cool and warm red) plus white and brown. You can basically mix any color needed that way and you still gain a vast understanding of mixing and primary usage.
My college teacher had 10 colors. She loved yellow ochre so we had to have it too. Then we had white and black plus warm and cool of each primary. And our first lesson was mixing black. That tube was off limits
I put aside all of my colors because I started watching your videos. Primaries only. Thank you!
Chris, I was wondering if you would consider doing a video on getting past perfectionism or fear of making bad work. It doesn't seem like you struggled much with painting paralysis in the past, but do you relate to this issue at all? Did you ever feel uninterested in practicing because you didn't want to disappoint yourself? I struggle with this all the time in painting. Bad painting = bad artist.. that's the paralyzing thought process. I really envy the mindset you and other prolific artists have where all paintings are progress and learning. It's so easy to get caught up in the end result, and I'm curious to hear your take on that. Thank you as always for the awesome and inspiring content!
I know I’ve seen him address this in another video! 🥰 I believe he said to try & push the paint around but don’t get too wrapped up in the details right away. Focus on the big shapes first then add the values & different shades as you go. And that if you view it as a process rather than get overly stressed in the beginning that it’s not looking right it can help. And of course take breaks whenever you need it. It’s certainly easy getting in your own head & overwork a painting so sometimes it’s as simple as looking at it with fresh eyes can be beneficial
Absolutely. Been feeling this lately. Like when you go to the store and there are so many options you can't decide what to buy. Less is more.
Please please please, young artist at 2:28, keep your brushes outta your mouth! I have a friend who kept getting cancer of the tongue and finally figured out it was because she kept putting the ends of her brushes in her mouth while she adjusted, filled, poured, etc. Cadmiums, cobalts, and other metals, right? My friend's tongue looks like sewn-up Swiss cheese from all the surgeries (needles, stitches, pain) she went through.
I didn't expect all this advise to be so good and now I actually have to follow through and have no excuses 😅
More colors doesn't have to be more complicated if you really understand them. I recommend Michael Wilcox's Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green 2nd Edition. Read it, understand it, and create for yourself the color charts you find in there. You still won't won't need a ton of colors, but you'll know by the time you've worked through the book what beyond the three traditional primaries will give you the options you're looking for. FOR EXMPLE: check out the mud created when he attempts to mix violet at 0:34. That's great if you're painting a picture of mud. But if you're painting a floral, it would really help to know that you should have both an orangey red (as shown here) AND a violet red (like quinacridone magenta) in your paint box. In fact, I see a violet red on his palette at 7:02 (looks to me like Alizarin Crimson or something similar). As someone who's been teaching art since 1996, trust me when I say you won't understand color any better by restricting yourself to the three primaries shown at the beginning than if you go buy every color under the sun.
Excellent ! Thank you . 🎉
Your tutorials are amazingly helpful
Thank you.
Greetings and love from Saudi Arabia, I'm an artist myself but I have learned so much from you, I started applying your advice on squinting the eyes but in my case I just remove my eye glasses and there it is, the picture is blurry and I'm able to see blocks of shapes and tones to start with before I put my glasses back on.
Thank you so much for all the wonderful advices you share with the world.
wow - i'm blind as a bat without my glasses as well and i never thought to do this. this is such a great tip! 😃
I've been a colored pencil artist for a few years and have recently wanted to branch out into oil painting as well. You are so good at taking complex concepts and making them easy to understand. I went out and bought the basic oil painting supplies, but then was like "Uhhhh...what do I do now?" I'm so glad I found your channel - I've been binge watching your content for days now. Once I finish my current project, I'm going to start your foundations of oil painting course, and I can't wait!
Very insightful
Maybe for beginners it's important to stick with primaries, but I feel that can also hold you back quite a bit. I'd definitely recommend sticking with single pigment colours, but each pigment has its own drying time and transparency. It's good to limit your pallette to only what you need, but I feel like you're bottlenecking yourself by only familiarizing yourself with 4 pigments especially "primaries" of ultra marine blue (transparent) and cadmium Red and yellow (opaque.) You can't get a good purple and the cadmium red and yellow won't glaze as well as the ultramarine.
Yeah and it’s difficult to mix a good green with ultramarine blue.
That's just not true you can get the best purples out of those colors!
Such great advice Chris! Thank you.
16:35 oh crap! I’m terrible at portraits, I know that’s what I should be practicing, but it’s just so depressing painting one crappy portrait after another!!!
I feel like the biggest thing holding me back is that in my head I need a “style”. For many years I have been too focused on it and I feel like it have gotten me nowhere. I’m really trying hard to let that mindset go and just paint/sketch everything I enjoy, and focus on getting better on those thing. But it’s hard af😅
When you focus on the process you'll find shortcuts, gain experience, and find multiple solutions to problems while painting. Those become a style. Your own personal style. That's your first foundation base style. You've created a process that can repeat that quality of work. Then you'll probably slowly incorporate other artists style over time to your own style to refine it. Learning what you liked and disliked about them. Then you will create another new base style. Then the cycle just keeps going over time. It's not something one wakes up one day and says, " this is my style". All humans take from previous humans to build their own style. This is the process of learning. Every human does this. No human is truly unique.
When building a style give yourself an initial goal on who you want your paintings to look like first. Mine is vaguely Sargent as I don't have to deal with details if I don't want to. I find it easier to just keep the large shapes in there and manipulate it just enough for the brain do the work of making sense of it. You know like optical illusions.
i guess if you paint enough you will soon discover something thats ties them all together which will be your 'style'
Surround yourself when painting with your best paintings. The style will develop then. It sort of seeps into your subconscious.
Style will come when you do the same thing with little changes to it 20 times. Like do a bunch of dishes on a table. Change the position of the light, move the dishes closer or farther, stack them, change the color of the table, add a table cloth...just some ideas to get you started
Very good advice. I bought Carlson. Great info but not an easy read and be ready for his utter disdain for beginners and students. It's on nearly every page!
Ppl! Practice in gouache too! Its great, cheap, easy to pack, versitile and opaque
Solid advice.
Having a limited color pallet is helpful, but it seems a bit expensive to mix every brown and grey out of cadmium red, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine blue...
my biggest challenge in Arizona is the heat. I cannot leave paint in the garage where I have. My current "studio" set up (for lack of a better word. ) Other than heat it's ventilation. You have to have constant airflow. If you're using any type of solvents . I'm contemplating building a painting shed in the backyard somewhere but again I'm coming up against the heat issues. This is a problem for me because I hate caring Paint back-and-forth from the house every time I start a session .
blah blah first world problems.
I also live in Arizona! I could only paint in the garage in the fall. Painting in the garage in the summer made me overheat always.
You are a great artist, and videos are good, but it's too late for me, I can't unlearn my mistakes.
Always so helpful! Also, I could have swore you said re-f*ck-tions at 3:45. Lol.
Awesome tips👍
I think you are the best teacher. Thank you very much.
Ion even paint but this was helpful, thx
Hey Coach, I found a way to use a roku tv to upload photos to a tv to paint from without having to have a tablet.
It's called Play on Roku. I tried it out on my 19" flat screen in my studio.
I just use the Roku app on my phone, connect to a device, click on media, select photos, cast to tv and viola, I now have large image of a photo to paint from.
do you know Vermillion VR? its a VR application where you can draw oil paintings. its pretty accurate, maybe a good start into oil painting, since you dont have to worry that much about the materials
I love 💞, the amount of information, 💓you give 💝in this💖interesting💓💓💞video thanks for the beautiful video you shared.,
In order to paint better I've to improve my drawing skills. Any books you would recommend for that?
This was greatly insightful, so I subbed :-)
I am currently following two artist. One is a portrait painter and one is a figure drawing that is teaching me to get better at figure drawing. I am retired and spend part of my time figure drawing and part of my time at the easel painting.the painting artists does drawing also but I don’t think it conflicts with the figure drawing because it is more of a quick sketch for the painting. So iris like drawing figures 3 evenings a week and drawing and painting with the portrait artists during the day 5 days a week. So some days I am doing both. I love both classes and have been learning a lot. Do you think I am doing to much following two very different artist that don’t seem to conflict because they are very different.
That craft paper sketchbook, do you do anything to it to prep it for oil so that the paper isn't absorbing all the oil??
Thanks for your hints and tips about drawing and painting, my husband keeps telling me to draw, first and practice more, I feel guilty now that I know he is right, but I always want to paint first, its probably like wanting to run before I could walk.
Hi Chris, I tend to paint small canvases, 6 x 8, 6 x 6, 8 x 10, as a beginning painter trying to get my "reps" in. Is the Meeden H frame easel on your list suitable for standing and painting small canvases? I need the part that holds the canvas to be at 50" from the floor. Thank you and thank you for your inspirational videos. Go Steelers!
I'm addicted to this channel. Thanks Paint Coach!
Painting small and daily has greatly improved my art.
How do you choose or know what base color/s to lay down ti start a painting? When can wet on wet oil paint be ok and how to know know when to let paint dry and then add more layers? Thank you
This video made me want pancakes for some reason 😆
Talking about colors 4 is not enough. You can't mix black, ochre or sienna out of 4 primaries you've mentioned. In almost all cases we do require multiple primaries, e.g. cobalt for sky, ultramarine for water, medium and light yellow, etc.
Thank you so much for your videos!! You're the best!
Question: Not adding more colors besides primaries for 5 years??? Are you being serious? Is that really what you'd recommend?
I love her easel exclamation point are there instructions to build one of those?
The limited palette is so true. I have a 6 color palette that i started with and still use. I have since added 3 short cut colors bc having Burnt Sienna is REALLLLLLLLY useful for toned greys. (I am also a watercolor artist so somethings are a little different)
Edit: i have been painting for almost 7 years at this point and only just added the new colors
I just started oil painting after years of pencil, your videos have been so helpful and I learned so much, not just what to do but what NOT to do, thank you so much for your videos
🥰
In other videos and even in your course you suggest Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Lemon Yellow for the three primaries. In this video you suggested Cad Red and CAD Yellow along with ultramarine blue. I’m confused. I think I prefer the latter. Can you please clarify. Thanks. I’m currently taking the Foundations course.
Try both palettes! Don't limit yourself. Try using only secondaries, or only earth tones...I love limited palettes. I paint winter scenes in the desert with just burnt sienna, cerulean blue and titanium white with excellent results.
I was stuck in that copy-mentality for so long, recently I've broken out of it practicing and I love the results so much more.
I went to a comic store and bought a huge pack of the sheets that go into the package with comic book. I also got rings and made small pads.
Great tips as always! One thing that I don’t know how to overcome is how to mix enough of a color for a painting session so that I don’t have to remix the same thing and forget how I did it-and I hate to waste my oils! Any tips about getting over my paint wasting phobia?! 🎨👩🎨
Don't judge your own paintings. Evaluate them, ask others what they think. (not your mom)
I went back to the course and now see the three primaries you work with are Cadmium Lemon, Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue. By mistake I bought Lemon Yellow and it seems very transparent.
I have Cadmium Yellow Light Hue. Would that work for the yellow primary?
I prefer Cad Yellow Light to Cad Lemon, but I don't think it's a big issue as long as you have the three primaries. As you go along you may find yourself swapping out one pigment for another.
Which one of these was the most helpful?
It's all good stuff, Chris. More importantly, when are you going to update your Nick Cage montage with his Dracula?
Practice what is difficult. Yes I should!
Using just the primaries and don’t get caught up in too many different painter styles. One thing I need to really change is to stand while painting and stepping back. Thanks so much for all these tips !
I just wanted to say that I love your videos. I don't use oil paints. I'm more of a watercolor kinda guy (though I want to try gouache soon) but a lot of the info in your videos applies to most mediums. It's definitely helped me even though I've never touched oil paint lol
how can you get a very vivid purple though? from red and blue its a bit muted
It depends on which reds or blues you use.
I started off with a bunch of colours then moved to primaries because it was the only way I could not get a muddy ball of shit on the pallet.
Then I found out smart people did it too
I’d love to buy your painting journal, but it looks like you don’t ship to Canada :(
What a good video
I will practice drawing on my small book and I’ll start painting soon. As soon as I can afford some materials lol
I'm not a painter. I can't draw. I wish I could but, I don't have any natural talent. But, I am learning how to do 3D design and I love your last point. Many times I see an object someone created and I think how in the hell did they make that? It challenges me. So, I think about it and start designing. Before I know it, I have created a similar object. I raised my bar. Thank you for your video. Even though I will probably never pick up a paint brush again I learned things from your video.
Do you not prime your kraft sketchbook? Is it mixed media paper?
Details are in the vocal point of the painting, portrait painting for me would be the likeness as in EYES NOSE and LIPS, SHAPE OF THE FACE, THE HAIR NOT AS MUCH AS THE EYES NOSE AND LIPS
((THAT HAS TO BE ON THE MONEY))
Great information as always! I didnt realize you could use oil paints on 80lb kraft paper. Does it not warp the paper? I tried using a lower end paper one time and it was terrible to try and paint on because it absorbed all the oil and the paper got wet and warped and was falling apart. Thanks again for the video. Love them.
Layer or two of cheap gesso. Let it dry overnight before you put oil on it.
the thing holding me back is being an extreme deutan........
What was the brand of that craft paper ? It wasn’t listed in the description
Any way to get your brush set in canada with the large shipping cost?
I hate detail.
If you only use one red, yellow and blue, how do you get both warm and cool colors?
I'm using a nail to hand a windowscreen with a box tabed at the bottom to give it an angle. I have boxes stacked in eachother on their sides taped open for stability both inside a large box to be my palate holder and be a station for shipping and storage of all my stuff. The area of this paintstation, not including the table at highlight for personal stability that's unusable standing is like 2.5 ft by 4. Just eyeballing but I am very accurate been designing houses since I was 12 am currently 21 so my grasp on dimension is so unbelievably good lol. Don't let budget stop you. I'm using screen given to me by my landlord, same as the table, and boxes from Amazon shipments lol dollar tree has good canvas board selection and sometimes stretched canvases
Oh I also have wire woven into the screen to give a lip for the canvas to sit on
I have been muddying things up here less and less, yes!
Is that painting of Teddy Roosevelt over your shoulder available?
I guess most beginners have trouble painting 'loosely' .
But there are some artists who don't paint in the prevailing popular style.
Landscape artist Hale Johnson, still lifes by William Bailey, portraits by Robert Bauer are some examples.
Thanks for the inspiring video Chris!
I like to add some ochre, or burnt sienna in the past.
Hello, can you do a video comparison or review at Chinnese paint brands such Maries, Talens or Phoenix and how is it different from European brands? I have a hard time on choosing oil paint brands since there's no many options in my country. I watch several review of oil paint brands and no one really did this before. I want to know if they actually have the same quality or not, thankyou.
Wow, thank you so much for this, and all your videos. Re: tip #8, I’m sticking with you! I have been spinning my wheels for way too long. This has been super-inspiring and I am getting back to my oil paints pronto!
Thank you for your very good videos. It's a pleasure to view them and hear you. Florence, from France, Burgundy
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That’s prolly why I love painting so much. Bc everything comes so easy for me I can do any art mode and it’s all easy for me (including performing arts choreography and dance) painting is SO DIFFICULT for me so I’m obsessed w it and I won’t stop til I’m one of the best painters on the planet 😂
Are those a bunch of Nick Cages? 😂
3:25 I really like your 2010 painting here
Thanks for telling me I should try to enjoy it more than fixating on how the end result should be too much and telling myself it's bad, even when just drawing... Probably good advice at my point.
No.10 IS the most important. The end result isn't actually the successful part - the painting, the study, or sketch is just the document to confirm the success. The success comes when rain is battering you up one side of the body, your paints have accumulated water and your Ultramarine Blue is bleeding out and tacking up, your easel is rattling in the wind, and your trousers are soaked through to the Calvin Klein's, but you're STILL out there, mixing and matching colour, slapping the paint down, (still trying stubbornly to make it adhere) while working tenaciously through the chaos to fulfil what's in your mind's eye. regardless of how badly you want to pack up, head for home and stick the kettle on.
When you're feeling at your smallest, lowest, and most uncomfortable you're actually making the most progress. You won't feel it, but believe me, you are. Unfortunately, the better you become the harder it is to take praise. I only want to know what I'm doing wrong now, I actually love to hate all of my own work - it's this weird symbiotic relationship I have with myself.
I picked a single, popular instructor when I started painting in 2018. It's quite specialized "color by numbers" type of alla prima style best suited to realism in portraits and still lifes. It ends up with a really long "ugly" stage, you need a special studio setup, and paint additives to slow drying time. You premix a ton of colors first (thankfully, from the primaries). It turned out to be a terrible method for landscapes and plein air, which was what I wanted to do. I have been struggling to "unlearn" it ever since I found your videos and the Kevin Macpherson books. Your instruction and approach allows me to paint anything well. Thanks Chris!
Hi Chris! Could u talk about the oil techniques of Norbert Bisky? His paintings are so bright and the color transitions almost look airbrushed - I would love to know why and love to see u explaining what happens there.
Love and greeting from Germany! 👍🏼💪🏼
Escaping comfort zone is so important. Two years ago i only draw on small paper, then last year I bought a hardboard 250cm x 125cm and I started painting a massive painting that was really hard to paint. It was so hard, I got distracted fast and I painted different parts at one sitting, I did a lot of mistakes and I lost my shit a lot of times, but after 5 months of painting it I had to stop myself from painting it becouse it was finished and I enjoyed in painting it at the end. From some mistakes I learned, from some I didn't, but that 5 months upgraded my art so much
Another great video. I love these 'paint chats'. And I've watched so many video of your videos now that my partner keeps telling me, "GO GET PAINTING" which is great too ;0) Happy new year to you.
As he says, "the bar keeps getting raised". This guidance is ok for beginners. But as one becomes improved and more experienced, I believe an artist should seek better and better teachers. Ultimately, this means learning from past artists to be found in the best museums or permanent locations, and probably not from current teachers. Despite my lifelong experience and many years of so-called formal art education and degrees, I cannot actually recall ever having met a painting teacher whose paintings I admire enough to want to learn from. Probably the most effective solution is continued study of all periods of art history, and building a personal library of a large number of the best books on the top artists and top museums.
I like to not only choose a pigment for its colour but also its properties.
Some are transparent, some are opaque. Some have a strong tint, some have a weak tint. Some are very glossy, some are a little more matte. Some a lighter, some are darker. Some are more saturated, some are less saturated. Some are lightfast, some aren't (it's a bad idea to buy paints that will fade in the first place but if you didn't know then you didn't know).
With experience and experimentation you learn how to mix paint in such a way that not only has the right colour, but the right effect overall.
If you want to really master the paint, it's less about using more paints or fewer paints, but choosing the most appropriate paints for whatever it is you're trying to do.
I'd say don't put a colour on your pallette until you need to use it. If you want a highly saturated cool blue colour that you can glaze, ultramarine will never work as well as pthalo blue. If you want to mix a saturated purple without buying dioxazine purple, cadmium red will never work as well as magenta or alizeran crimson.
I wasted a lot of paint as a beginner, but I also taught myself pretty quickly what works and what doesn't because I allowed myself to experiment.
Thanks for doing this. I learned some new things on how to practice guitar by watching this video. As weird as that may sound
K no but I have never been very good at painting so eventually I just flat out stopped, and put all of my energy into improving my drawing skills. And not only has my drawing skills gotten so much better in the last year, but I started painting again and there is very visible improvement
Hi Chris, Where can I find the planar bust that's in your video (11:29)? Thanks for being our coach!
Wow invaluble in your face no BS info learning alot really enjoy your Segments very impressed thanks
It enjoying and learning from your tutorials! I have a problem.. I only do copies of photos that I take, or others take, portraits from photos and I feel that I am not able to create or to interpret a scene 🤔
I suck at drawing but can paint pretty well. I think practicing painting eyes is the most helpful thing. You learn to paint shapes, values and hues rather than thinking of an eye and trying to "draw" it with paint. Actually turning the painting and image upside down can be helpful
I love this channel. You are an awesome teacher. Wish you had a podcast…. It would make my commute educational!
I get so much from your videos. This one is particularly helpful. Wish I saw it 2 years ago! Thank you for these videos.
Happy New Year Chris. I always find your videos helpful. Thank you. and all the best for the year to come.
Your videos are the most intelligent, clear and useful information ever! Fantastic. 👌🎉
Do not forget to smack the devil out of it.