Since this month is the site’s two year anniversary, I am re-posting some items from the past that I particularly like. This one was first posted on 28 August 2006.
If you are just starting out with oil paint, I have some advice.
First, be realistic. Don’t think you’re going to make any masterpieces any time soon, and never think that there are any shortcuts. If you just want to play around and don’t care about developing real skill, then just do that and have a good time. But if you are serious about learning to paint well, realize this: while it’s not that difficult to learn how to make mediocre paintings that your mom will like (or tell you she likes), making good paintings is hard—really hard. It takes a lot of practice, regardless of talent, to learn how to paint well. You will make many bad paintings before you make your first good one. If you are someone who can’t stand to be bad at something, over and over, before you get good, then oil painting isn’t for you. Maybe you should try video games. You can find cheat codes for many of them that will make you invincible.
Second, keep it simple. It’s counter-productive to plan complicated projects until you have the skill to pull them off. Your subjects, to start off, should be simple. An egg, a mug, a tree. No people. No copying photos. Your goal, to start out, should be to do some bad paintings that no one will want to look at. If your goal is to make bad paintings, it won’t be too hard to get there. After ten of those, you can start to think about paintings that are…less bad. You’ll learn more, in the same amount of time, by making several simple bad paintings than by making one complicated bad painting.
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