Foundations of Oil Painting
In just 8 weeks you will learn:
- How to mix paint and understand color theory
- Multiple step-by-step techniques: Alla Prima, Underpainting, & Glazing
- Subjects including still lives, portraits, and landscapes
- Compositional concepts and how to choose color schemes
What You'll Learn:
Lesson 1 - Warm & Cool
Using only two colors plus white, begin to learn to control the paint and the value of mixtures.
Lesson 2 - High Chroma
Explore how color changes around a form on a simple red, orange, or yellow object.
Lesson 3 - Low Chroma
Choose to paint a portrait or a pear using a complementary color set to create neutrals.
Lesson 4 - Grisaille
Create a sepia or gray underpainting in preparation for glazing in Lesson 6.
Lesson 5 - Atmosphere
Learn how colors change with distance through the study of a landscape or still life.
Lesson 6 - Glazing
Use this traditional technique with transparent color and scumbling to add color to a grisaille.
Lesson 7 - Composition
Create an original design using shape and color compositional concepts to guide your decisions.
Lesson 8 - Nuance
Learn what can bring a little 'something else' to your paintings through light and edge control.
Super nerdy explanations about how paint cures, following the fat-over-lean rule, the differences between solvents and mediums, and more!
Explanations and recommendations about paints, colors, mediums brushes, and painting surfaces. PLUS how to clean brushes and palettes!
Additional demos are periodically added which complement the curriculum, often showing additional ways to apply lesson concepts.
What you get with the Self-Study Option:
Paint along, rewind, pause, and rewatch whenever you want!
PDF Lesson Notes
Download, save, and print: They're yours forever.
Study at Your Pace
Paint on your schedule, take more time where you need.
Is This Course Right for Me?
The answer is YES if:
- You have never painted before.
- You worry you've been painting wrong.
- You feel there's a lack of color and/or depth in your paintings.
- You want to make realistic oil paintings that impress your friends and family!
If you want to make abstract paintings or prefer to work in watercolor or gouache, this class is probably NOT for you.
Go From Zero to Creating Your Own Paintings in 8 Lessons
Foundations of Oil Painting is ideal for someone who wants to start oil painting, for those who want to learn some new techniques, or for those with oil painting experience who need more information on the proper way to use their materials. Students can work both from life and from photos with the opportunity to explore personalized subject matter after working through initial projects.
Techniques and methods covered in this class include:
Direct/alla prima painting
Understanding different types of underpainting
Glazing and scumbling
This course also covers materials information including:
Painting ground choices
Understanding the contents of your paint tube
The differences between solvents, mediums, dryers, resins, etc!
How to follow the 'fat-over-lean' rule
How, why, and when of varnishing