How to start painting in oil?

Although oil painting is traditionally considered to be the hardest type of visual arts, you don’t necessarily have to be an experienced artist or make sizable investments to try your hand at it. Basically, all you need is a set of colors, mediums, brushes, a palette and a canvas! Here is a detailed step-by-step guide on creating any type of paintings from random abstractions to realistic oil portraits.

• Come up with a subject. It can be a landscape, a composition of objects (or a still life), a person or even an abstraction.
• Choose the format of the canvas – horizontal, vertical or square. The former is traditionally known as the landscape orientation, while vertical orientation is mostly used for portraits.
• Stretch the canvas by putting it on a stretcher. It should be tight and flat, without any sags or ripples. 
• Prime the canvas before painting on it or buy a primed out. That will guarantee better paint adhesion and prevent surface fluctuations in the future.
• Mount the canvas on the easel. You can also paint on the table, but painting on the easel allows you to move your hand freely and provides you with good observation.
• Select your palette. It should contain basic warm and cool shades plus black and white. While most artists prefer to mix colors on their own, you can buy premixed paints for a start.
• Get mediums such as turpentine and linseed oil ready to mix into your paints. This will help them blend more easily and add gloss as the dry.
• Have a couple of clean dry rugs ready to wipe the brush as you move from one color to another.
• Sketch your composition with a soft pencil, crayon or thin diluted paint.
• Use a brush or palette knife that corresponds with the size of your painting and the scale of the composition part you are working on.
• Begin by applying a thin layer of colors called underpainting. This will define the general coloring of your picture and serve as a background for other elements.
• Start with light shades and gradually move to dark ones. If you make a mistake, you can easily cover a light area with a darker color.
• Paint fat over lean, i.e. use thick strokes to paint over the underpainting.
• Consider linear perspective and pay attention to the arrangement of elements in your composition.
• Make sure there is enough tonal difference in your picture. Stick to the right balance of warm and cool shades.

If you stick with these rules, you’ll be able to create much more plausible and beautiful paintings. Art is a tricky thing, but in the long run it all depends on how much you practice and how persistent you are. Don’t let temporary setbacks frustrate you, keep painting and your efforts will be rewarded!