/oil/

>>2731578
>>What books/videos would you recommend?

Everything by Richard Schmid

>>2731613
>Richard Schmid
Got anything with practical value instead?

>>2731578
There's a book by Harold Speed about oil painting that a lot of my colleagues talk about.

I don't own the book myself, so I can't really recommend it. There's a lot of archaic shakespeare talk in there too so ymmv.

>>2731578

drawmixpaint

It's both YouTube channel and website of Mark Carder, oil painter who made among others portrait of George W. Bush (also I was surprised that he prices his full portraits on +$75000, but well...)

Anyway, he has quite some videos on YouTube and continues giving sound advice, I really benefited from how to check colors, proportions and stage light for your still life and portraiture. Oh and how to prepare canvas.

He mainly paints Alla Prima, but mentions wet-on-dry and even made one video recently where he paints like that. IMHO definitely worth checking out.

>>2731790
John Collier is for the real niggers.

>>2731578
>What brands do you use?
whatever I can find. lots of gamblin, rembrandt, and van gogh, but I got free paints from a friends so I use all sorts of brands.
>What mixtures/substances do you use most commonly for your medium?
usually nothing, occasionally a little linseed oil

>>2731819
Ive read the drawing and painting book by speed, found both pretty nice to read, very novel like, but not great advice.

>>2731790
What didnt you like about his book? Read Painting the figure, painting the landscape and alla prima 2 and found all very enlightening. He does not take you by your hand but is pretty great imo

>>2731848
wasn't he late 1800s? Did he write a book? Can't find it on google.

>>2731819
Practice & science of drawing was pretty cool, so I'll check it out

>>2731832
Will also check it out

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>>2731578
Schmid and Harold Speed are pretty good, there's a recommended reading list at the end of Alla Prima, i've found a lot of useful books in there.
There's no handholding instructions on how to lay out each stroke in these, but there's more broad instructions and stuff about the proper process.

drawmixpaint was pretty useless, and his still is so bland and lifeless and his constant shilling made him basically useless. His color checker thing didn't really help, since it needs a particular light setup to work properly, and he doesn't have any classical tradition to pass on.

Carlson Guide to Landscape Painting and Problem Solving for Oil Painters are great instructional books too.

>>2731578
more oil

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>>2733215
Apologies for shitty pics, I was in a rush

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>>2733215

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>>2733215
I'm not resizing, hpefully you can get better idea of the brushwork that way

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>>2733215
>>2733302

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>>2733304
This one is real striking in person

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>>2733308
I'll post names/artists later when I'm at a computer. Bonus if you figure out the museum before then

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>>2733310

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>>2733313

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>>2733317

>>2733310
Metropolitan museum of art...

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>>2733319

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>>2733322
Here's ur bonus

What was the giveaway, the JSS?

>>2733326
Not him but I would have guessed it based on the Sargent and the John White Alexander, yeah.

Thanks for posting these btw, it's nice to see how they look in person and in frames as opposed to just knowing them off jpgs online. I'd also not seen that particular Henri painting before which was a pleasant surprise. The Rockwell Kent is super nice too, I always forget about him. Who painted >>2733302 ? I

>>2733334
Ernest blumenschein; Taos valley, new mexico

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>>2733334
Here's an awful pic for checking out the painting but it shows the frame. It's massive.

>hey mr. Leutze, this country needs some fuckoff impressive art to compete with europe. here's a blank check, we don't care what it is, just make it fucking enormous.

The bust of washington on the right is life size

>>2733387
>Ernest blumenschein
Thanks, I always forget his name and the name of the other guys who painted New Mexico in similar styles. There's a few of them and they're all pretty good. Actually there's some today too who paint similarly too, though usually less skillful and more stylized (Logan Maxell comes to mind).
>>2733388
Holy shit that is the most over the top frame on it. Very American too with a fucking eagle haha. Any idea why in the painting the flag looks so washed out? I'm used to seeing it with a brilliant scarlet, a crisp white, and a deep strong blue, not some dull pink and beige.

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>>2731578
digitalfag here, i've been reading schmid and it makes me want to start doing some irl painting.
the only traditional medium i have any experience with is ink, should i learn gouache or something before jumping into oils?

is moleskine an adequate surface for paint sketches? i remember james jean had a whole sketchbook full of paintings idk if it was some other material though

>>2733430
>should i learn gouache or something before jumping into oils?
Up to you. Watts Atelier teaches gouache first so you get good discipline in putting down confident designed shapes and avoid the problem some beginners have of overblending their oils into a mushy mess. Other schools just go straight to oils though.

>is moleskine an adequate surface for paint sketches?
Yes if you gesso the paper first. It might be a bit small and cramped if you are learning oils though, so it might be better to buy some other surface to paint on that's a bit larger, like canvas paper, or some panels. You can also go to Home Depot or something and cut up a giant sheet of masonite into small panels then gesso them yourself, this is the cheapest option if you like panels.

>>2733313
Henri wrote a good book, but his faces are awful
All Ayyyyyyyyyyyy LMAO, with pillar box red lips.

>>2733324
What a great painting

>>2733319
could you please ´tell me ´w´ho ´t´he ar´tis´t is?
sorry for ´t´he mess´, my ´key´board is ac´ti´ng s´tra´nge.

>>2733397
>ha. Any idea why in the painting the flag looks so washed out?
maybe pigments back then were less achievable, not the ones used in paintings, but the ones used in flags

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oil on wood

How do I paint with oils without having a whole fucking room dedicated to it? I draw and paint in my bedroom and I've tried oils, but it's so annoying to take everything out and put everything back (plus it takes time) that I just gave up on it. Solutions?

>>2734009
Linseed oil and turpentine

>>2733804
oh nice
Did you paint in layers? Any pics of the process?

>>2732584

holy fuck that neck

>>2733304

I'd kill to see this one in person ,or any of sargent's works, really.

>>2734060
Not OP, but I made a special trip to see some Sargent paintings in Boston a couple years back and it was totally worth it. They are infinitely more impressive in person, and really make the other works by similar masters on the walls look weak. There were some Zorn's I saw that left me a bit disappointed actually, like I could see that yes they were efficiently painted, but the Sargents seemed to glow and the brushwork was beyond comprehension. Make the effort to see some of his work if you are a fan!

>>2734011
not him, but elaborate pls

>>2733397
>>2733728
Yeah this is my theory as well. Pigments in a flag going through war back then probably got brutalized by the elements. The versions you've seen probably had retouching b/c muh "these colors don't run" or whatever.

>>2733640
Millet. Haystacks; autumn

>>2733804
Pretty nice. How do you achieve smooth gradation like that? Blend on the surface or mix a range on the palette?

>>2734060
It was really incredible, but I think I liked the others more. Madame X is well known b/c he said "I guess it's the best I've ever done."

>>2734067
>They are infinitely more impressive in person, and really make the other works by similar masters on the walls look weak.
Yeah, this.

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>>2734134
Forgot this pic. This one was strikingly 3d looking compared to most other paintings.

is gridding a ref image and then gridding the canvas considered cheating?

>>2734468

no, but don't rely on it as a crutch. same as any technique.

>>2731790
There's plenty of practical value in his books, what are you talking about?

>>2731578
>What brands do you use?
What pigments you use is more important. Classico by Maimeri is good student grade brand that is supposedly only oil and pigment. Sometimes, however, you may get a bad tube. If you're starting out just use cheaper ones until you get more efficient with not wasting paint. Never use zinc white.
>What mixtures/substances do you use most commonly for your medium?
Just oil is fine. It does not matter. Keep it basic unless you know what you're doing. Very lightly oil out the surface you plan on painting on if you want the oil to go on smoothly and crisply. Better to not rub vehemently or you might take some paint off from the layer you wish to paint on. Might be okay on panel as it won't show unsightly canvas bumps rubbed off which is very noticeable.
>I want to start immediately with (a modified) grisaille, but are pre-stretched canvases with acrylic grounds okay?
It's alright but it won't look the best and you will probably be struggling against your support. Use panels for small pieces.

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Hey

Can I have your opinion on this painting I have in progress?
I've been painting in oils for a few years now and have recently gotten back into painting after about a 2 year break.
I had done a sorta rough-ish pencil sketch of a female friend of mine.
Then tonight for "fun" I tried dabbing in some oil colours just as a kind of base layer, as I also wanted to experiment with the idea of getting a thick/impasto-ish paint layer like Lucian Freud.
Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon are my top two favourite painters.
When I realised the oil I had put on may be a bit too thick as a base layer I decided to "spread" the paint across and downwards with another brush.
I kinda like this faded/dragged look. Reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter's paintings but not as super real.

Of course I'm going to paint more over this but I was wondering what /ic/'s opinion was on this style?
Pic related

>>2734009
I paint in my room

I often paint on my computer desk with smaller canvases and on my bed with larger canvases.
I paint flat and don't often use an easel.
My way of keeping things simple is I paint using a bought packet of several different oil colours but also have a few other single oils with me as well. I keep them in the packet after putting each one I need on a few layers of paper, or I use the paper that comes with the canvas as a paint palette.
I keep a bit of turps in a glass jar

yes a few layers, i sold it and this is the only picture of it

>>2734034
thanks
yes a few layers, i sold it and this is the only picture of it

>>2734134
>>>2733804 (You)
>Pretty nice. How do you achieve smooth gradation like that? Blend on the surface or mix a range on the palette?

Thank you i blend with a brush or my fingers in the surface

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is nathan fowkes' gouache course on schoolism any good?
i know some anons had misgivings about his other one.

>>2735454
The main complaints I have heard about his color and light course have to do with his voice being boring and sometimes he talks on tangents. The material he covers in it is fairly solid. Presumably the gouache course is good since he's really good with painting in watercolor and gouache.

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>>2734617
>What pigments you use is more important.
Do you mean quality/grade of the paint? I know with watercolors there are grades within brands, like cotman artist colors, which are part of windsor newton but worse than the 'pro' tubes.

I learned my lesson with watercolors: student grade is not worth my money, even to learn on, especially since the good stuff I'm working up to typically behaves quite different anyway.

I've got a good chunk of change to spend, so any recs for professional quality tubes?

>>2735543
Mussini if you can afford it, the consistency is perfect for working straight out of the tube. Best you're going to find without dropping unnecessary amounts of money on overpriced paint like Vasari.

>>2735543
>Do you mean quality/grade of the paint?
No. The literal pigments (or dyes in some cases) that are used to make the paint when mixed with oil. There are characteristics that are particular to each pigments, either in drying time, brush-handling, gloss, opacity, durability, etc.

The vehicle (drying oil used in the mixture) is also of some importance, although it's no thoroughly researched yet.

>any recs for professional quality tubes?
It depends on how you want to work.

You don't have to get paints of one line for all. You might like the shade of a specific pigment from one or maybe the particular pigment you like isn't sold by your usual preferred brand. All paints above student grade are good.

Anyone have any tips on learning how to lay down more confident strokes in oil? i've been planning on practicing with gouache, but is there anything else i should try or keep in mind?

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>>2735774
Well, take this with a grain of salt because I haven't painted in oil:

Get better at short-pose drawing. forget everything else for 6 months and do lots and lots of 20-30 minute drawings. Use charcoal, ink and brush pen (separately). Focus on getting correct values, proportions and using mark making to get correct detail quickly the first time instead of erasing and adjusting. When using charcoal, use the side, not the tip, and make strokes as if you're painting (it'll act kinda like a cross between a filbert and a flat, depending on pressure and how round you've sharpened it).


Confidence in drawing value/proportions/mark-making will give you confidence everywhere else. IMO confidence comes from knowing the effect the shape of your mark will have before you make it, which comes from practice. I've noticed that the practices I listed above transferred to confidence in my strokes in watercolor, acrylic, and pastel even though I hardly use those mediums.

Hopefully a talented oil painter will confirm/deny.

>>2735601
what about Old Holland? Mussini has varying resin in it, I'd rather have something thick that I add medium to myself to reach a desired consistency, depending on the painting. Like, top-level density of pigment in the tube, with as little binder as possible. I know this is probably not usually recommended for beginners, but it's how I plan to manage things in the long run and i'd rather start with those practices now.

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>>2737678
or, 1-10, how difficult/uneconomical is just buying pigment and DIYing my own paint ala Michael Harding. I'm kind of under the impression this is what many of the greats did, the ones whose works have retained really great color, anyway.

pls direct or correct me if you know for sure one way or the other

>>2737678
>>2735774

Dont dip and dab with you brush. Use the side of the brush more than the tip.

>>2735774
I'll echo what anon said above me. It's going to sound fairly obvious, but if you want to lay down confident strokes you need to be confident; both in your mark-making abilities and your assessment of values.

>>2737678
>>2737682
If that's how you want to approach it OH is definitely a good choice. I don't have any first-hand experience with it, but they have the biggest range of colors and more single-pigment choices than Mussini. To me the resin and handling of the paint are a plus (especially in the more transparent colors), since the pigment load is more than good enough already.

As for making your own paint, that might be a good project after you've already got some experience. You can save money on the more expensive pigments but I don't know how practical it really is unless you use a lot of paint. It's also going to require a good amount of patience and care, and good work ethic and a clean space that's preferably outside your main living area. You don't want to be inhaling anything, least of all the more toxic pigments like cadmium and cobalt, or even worse, lead.

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>>2731578
I finally got the tubes out and started my first ever painting sketchbook. just posting for celebration.

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>>2737867
And this.

Does anyone consider glazing a crutch. I have a motherfucker of a time controlling chroma when I'm laying in directly. I invariably may glaze to knock back the chroma.

Any thoughts?

>>2738115
I think it's fine. Glazing is what allowed dutch artists to create such realistic paintings. Just be careful. If you overdo it and you overwork your paintings, try painting without it for a bit.

>>2737867
>>2737878
Please, use less black.

>>2738115
Glazing is the best. You're probably doing it wrong though. Glazing isn't normally meant to bring down chroma. The best use of glazing is actually to make something appear richer. Of course, it depends what one means by glazing. If one simply means application of paint that does not obscure what's under, it could include painting with a light paint over darker areas. In the more common sense of the word today, it's painting something, usually with more or thicker oil, over a lighter area. I've encountered instances where it's used for either, or some where they make a distinction to call painting light over darker areas scumbling, which isn't wholly accurate, as the process includes dry brushing.

>>2737682
I read that modern manufactured paints containing other things beside mere oil have a look that's more like suede. I don't know if MH adds anything to their paint beside oil, but I know Rublev by Natural Pigments is only oil, with bodied oil in colors that tend to sink in like those containing manganese. I don't have enough experience with Rublev to recommend it (only with one tube, and for either glazing or in small amount), but I'll be buying mostly Rublev or MH according to my painting's needs when I require more paint in the future. I also read, however, that if you can get the same pigment-oil from Maimeri's Classico, which is straight paint although not heavily pigmented, it's just about the same at a much cheaper price. Rublev warns about the oil getting separated from the particles as a result of not having additives, and the same I have experienced so far with some tubes from Classico.

Rublev is also one of the few to supply lead-tin yellow. You may not be into that though, seeing as you're into more 19th century. Lead-tin yellow is more Renaissance. All white that was used is lead white before titanium came around. They also sell vermillion, pigment naples yellow, minium. Their website is very informative.

>>2738188
Yeah, I had no idea what to do, so black seemed very safe. I think i'll keep using it and then "grow out of it" more and more.

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Beautiful toxic pigments:
Lead white & lead tin yellow
Smelt blue (ground cobalt glass)

I also hhave a tube of true vermillon watercolor.

None of which I am willing to use, I just gaze wistfully at them in the studio.

>>2738560
I was thinking of getting some MH genuine chinese vermilion b/c I have the dough and Sargent ussd it. If I don't get lead white or vermilion on my skin are they still poisonous? Are there fumes or something?

I'm under the impression it's only the powdered pigments that are a problem because the dust particles can get into the air.

>>2738573
Yeah, the powdered pigments are dangerous because of dust particles to breathe or settle in the environment.

I hope you know that general solvent/varnish fumes from painting are dangerous, but you should not have any issue with fumes from the oil paints.

You're right to avoid it on your skin. Especially under finger nails!! But if you do religiously wear gloves, don't touch your body, and practice good habits (clean studio, clean up, don't eat, drink, or smoke there, separately wash brushes, properly dispose of rags and paint scrapings, and so on and on) you should be ok using lead & vermillion.

If you're in bad health, have messy studio habits, or are actively trying a wholly different kind of creation, avoid.

Also then your painting's surface will be poison and should be avoided by pregn women and children.

Artist Beware is a good book to familiarize yourself with for all kinds of toxic materials and safe practices, btw.

>>2738573
Did anyone ever answer your question about grounds?
You can paint oil over acrylic gesso. It is very common, fairly quick and easy.

Why not? 1. Absorbancy, luminosity, feel 2. Skepticism about the longevity of acrylic

If you want to do an oil ground, you have to seal your canvas with a couple layers of rabbit glue first. Lead does make a nice ground, and start now so you'll have it in time, but you can also look into gamblin's oil ground product.

>with (a modified) grisaille
What do you mean by modified?

>>2738715
I've read that acrylic grounds have a tendency to absorb medium from the paint, drying it out and requiring you to oil out the painting a bunch. I'd much rather not have to deal with that as a beginner.

by modified I just mean that I'm going to use a dark of pthalo (or other dark) blue and burnt umber instead of black.

>>2738720
Heh, not nearly so absorbant as a chalk/true gesso ground :)
As a beginner, you are probably fine to start with acrylic ground, you can prepare many pieces of cardboard etc and work quickly and cheaply to get a sense of how to work it. It's not that absorbant. But if you are motivated to make oil grounds by all means do so! Sounds kind of like starting to drive with a stick shift.

>>2738720
Part of the idea on avoiding acrylic is the same as why I'm gonna start with the more expensive paint: It's how I'd ideally like to work once I'm good, and I figure since the handling is different, I might as well just jump into doing it the way I intend to instead of wasting time learning materials I'll eventually abandon anyway. I've got a really high level of patience and tolerance for frustration, so "easier" isn't really something I factor in at all.

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>>2738728
>Sounds kind of like starting to drive with a stick shift.

Yes, this is my exact mentality.

I appreciate your input about the acrylic/cardboard; at some point I can see that being convenient. The plan right now is to get good materials, do a couple value scales/ tinting/ glazing/ etc scales on a material that will last me (so I can keep them as reference) then move immediately into a cast painting. A few pieces of cardboard until I get the hang of modifying viscosity with medium probably isn't a bad idea though.

>>2738737
Great, good luck to you.
One other thing -
>by modified I just mean that I'm going to use a dark of pthalo (or other dark) blue and burnt umber instead of black.
If you want to be traditional maybe skip the pthalo (synthetic) blue?
for underpainting traditions as far as i know, simplified:
french- b/w
dutch- brown earth
italian- green earth
in oil you'll want your grisaille to be slightly lighter than the true values also

mediums to consider - turpentine (not oms), linseed oil, stand oil, damar varnish. bonus mode walnut oil

>>2738728
Anyone know what traditional grounds are flexible enough for canvas aside from lead? I know that marble dust is used for panels. I want to use lead, but it's a bit steep. I will be covering very large area of canvas. Is rabbit skin glue+suitable powder enough?

>>2738903
I think you're needlessly complicating things. Just buy some pH-neutral PVA and a can of regular oil primer.

>>2738903
Rabbit glue is brittle; oil is flexible.
For any oil-based ground, you will want to size the canvas. RSG is the traditional size.

Traditional gesso is RSG + whiting ( chalk, marble dust, or you can use other white pigments solely or in addition).

I have often primed canvas with traditional gesso. If you wish to do it very thickly, to the point you obscure the texture of canvas, can make a perfectly smooth surface if you like, it will be more subject to cracking when the fabric responds to moisture/temperature. For a very thick gesso, a panel may be better suited.

On canvas, on top of your size, or size plus thin layers of gesso, you may make an oil ground of whatever white pigment you wish. Lead has some special properties, one particularly useful that it is lean. It doesn't take much oil to make the paint. But you can use titanium or a product like the oil ground I mentioned above.

>>2738952
One further note about thick gesso on canvas cracking. Gesso both sides evenly and it will help with this. You should gesso both sides for either canvas or panel.

>>2738913
I already have RSG. I will definitely be sizing the canvas. I want the most archival and proven result. I might use PVA if it's truly more archival however.
>>2738952
Panel would be too heavy for the dimension I'm working at. It doesn't seem like traditional gesso would be suitable for canvas. Chalk would be less brittle than marble I'm assuming. It's looking like I will have to use lead oil. Rublev makes one, with titanium white and chalk added. I'd rather not use titanium white though.

Is there any literature on old master grounds/gesso on canvas?

>>2739084
Listen... chalk or marble isn't brittle... it's the glue binder that is brittle.

what's the reason illustrators do underpainting with acrylics first before oils rather than just thinned down oils? is it the drying time? if so why not just use some cobalt/lead dryers or something?

>>2738225
I'm talking about putting a layer of transparent paint mixed with medium over a dry layer.

For example, I put french ultramarine mixed with liquin over a sienna and it absolutely walked the chroma back, achieving a rich, darkness that I can't create by say, mixing burnt umber and a blue.

But is it more painterly to mix on the pallet and paint direct? I mean painterly in the sense that direct painting demonstrates deeper knowledge of color theory in regard to pallet work.

I know glazing can achieve color that is impossible to mix, but I've seen some highly unified pieces that were direct method that made me feel like I was chatting or something. Nor sure if I have a proper perspective on this.

TL;DR Is direct method more painterly than indirect?

>>2739269
No, nor vice versa.

>>2739269
>seen some highly unified pieces that were direct method

I believe you, but share some examples if you can so we can discuss it.

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>>2737878

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>>2739783
This Jeremy Mann pic related...

Lately I've been obsessed with nailing down his technique, if only to expand my own vocabulary. Color matching only gets me so close...

>>2739964
He definitely glazed parts of the background and the skin. You can see that there are parts that are almost in greyscale. He clearly had a grisaille underpainting.

>>2739981
Thanks anon.

>>2739981
pls redline a little, I dont see it

>>2733326
I live in nyc and visit the JSS gallery (among others) whenever possible.

The last time I was there they had a repro of the house from Hitchcock's Psycho on the roof.

>>2741561
aw man, when I was there it was raining and the roof was closed. apparently it was something spooky for halloween, I was kinda bummed.

But only for a second because there's so much there you can't possibly see everything good in one day, and that's all I had so I was able to move on. The girl who told me it was closed was cute and super cool too. When I told her i only had one day she seemed genuinely bummed for me and sympathetic.

10/10 go to the met, but go to the bathroom first because holy fuck you will stand in line for a fucking hour to get in unless you pay full price.

>>2740016
It's possible that it's completely with heavy-body paint.

>>2739269
The direct method as it's popularly practiced now certainly gives the impression of being more painterly because of the strokes and such; but even with the layered method, it requires one to know and feel the quality of strokes, pressure, strength of pigment, etc to do successfully. In the end what matters isn't whether or not getting the right color is simpler or easier with one or the other, (especially since facility can be acquired by a painter for both) but rather the aesthetic sense for a whole. Painting is not necessarily "demonstrating" what one knows. There are ways of painting that are all demonstration which will give the impress the viewer with knowledge, and there are ways of painting that may have more knowledge behind it yet do not try to demonstrate painting knowledge (although there is no mistaking mastery).

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All this talk about paint and support/grounds and I almost forgot: recommendations on brush brands? Okay to buy in the store or should I order online so they're pristine? Brands? most useful shapes? I was thinking of picking up mostly filberts.


>>2741890
Very well put. I love this board. All the time I spent hanging around a uni art college and heard nothing to le level of discourse that makes its home alongside shitposting and trolling here.

Don't think I posted this one yet.

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>>2741890
So I whipped this up with an eye toward color study. My plan now is to finish rendering THEN glaze most of the background and skin at least once and then go in with highlights.

Will this approximate a close result? As for the glaze, it will only get darker so I'm concerned. Maybe a light turquoise (which is opaque iirc)?

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>>2742703
The Raphael Kevrin brushes are pretty good. They're comparable to W&N's Monarch series, a synthetic blend meant to imitate mongoose hair. I would recommend buying brushes in store unless you can find detailed measurements online, since sizes between different brands are all over the place. These are almost half the size of some W&N brushes I own in the same #, for example.
As far as shapes go I really like filberts, but would keep a large flat for covering backgrounds and a small round for details.

>>2742804
those traps ain't natty

She's a bit muscular, dunno if you focus on the male form. Looks nice tho

>>2733301
that is a GOAT painting

>>2742703
>>2742832
Raphael's natural mongoose are not at all like Monarchs, which are somewhat stiffer and don't have the hairs as tapered as the Raphael's mongoose brushes. They're both great. Monarchs have a more resounding spring, while Kevrins have a somewhat fluffier spring. W&N Monarchs are great for laying in colors, while Raphael's Kevrins feel a bit more delicate and can glaze better than Monarchs. W&N Monarch's smaller brushes are great for more precise lines. Escoda's Modernista, another mongoose-imitate is very nice even if they are expensive. Smaller ones also great for precision. They keep their shape well if you take care of them. Isabey's natural mongoose are a lot finer (at least the smaller ones) and are from my experience ideal for applying paint thinly. I definitely would not abuse Isabey's mongoose. All of these apply the paint evenly.

As for bristle brushes most will do. W&N's Artist Oil Brush will suffice. Escoda's Clasico feel more natural somehow. RS's Signets feel a bit cheap. Their Titanium if I remember correctly is supposedly an imitation of bristle, but are much thinner in the hairs. I just use the large Titaniums for scrubbing color in large areas where it doesn't mater how it will look like or if the brush gets roughened.

>>2742845
Thanks. It's my fourth attempt at painting (the first 2 seascapes and they were spectacularly terrible). I just wanted to go after Mann, mostly as a color study, but yeah, I made her too muscular...

>>2742703
>brush brands?
>>2743439
>Isabey's natural mongoose

seconding isabey mongoose. my favorite brush.

>>2731578
I'm just getting started with oil, is it an issue if I want to paint alla prima but have mostly transparent colors in my palette? Or will the opacity even out when I mix with whites or earth tones?

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>>2744467
You should use the paint you have and practice with it. Experiment all the time and try new things. I have gone from being painterly to trying to follow some tutorials on YouTube (Leonard Afremov) who doesn't do like I have been taught abut the painterly way. This was an exercise in trying what I have learned.

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>>2731832
Mark Carder. I like his style of painting, but I can't get into mixing all my colors from the 3 basic primary ones. I need to get painting that is why I have tubes of orange, purple, green, etc..
I need to spend less time mixing my colors and more time practicing the technique of applying the paint and building up the compositions.
A piece that is in process.

>>2744609
>>2744614
Is there something I'm missing here? I can't see anything of merit in any of those paintings.

>>2733301
Where is this one hanging at? I love the painting

>>2744677
Everything that's a cellphone pic is at the met in nyc

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>>2739793
first self portrait cause why not. I am pretty surprised with how well it came out.

but I have some noob questions:
1. Am I really supposed to wait 20 minutes for the paint to dry every time I want to add a color? When the paint on the paper has dried, the paint on the palette is also drying up...

>>2745102
No. And oil shouldn't dry anyway in 20 minutes. You sure you're not using acrylic?

The reason why people wait for the paint layer to dry is in cases where they don't want the paints to mix.

>>2745102
yes, it's acrylic. I also wait for the paint to dry to avoid mixing, but If I'm supposed to wait in between every color layer, it's gonna take forever and be very attention demanding over a long period of time. I don't see how that is done alla prima for instance. Is there no other way?

>>2745154
this>>2745159
was to you

>>2745159
>acrylic
REEEEEEEEE

You could try squeezing out your paint on top of damp paper towels, or use a water mist spray.

>>2745159
You layer more paint on top of it, mixing to account for the difference you get.

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>>2745102
Sean?

>>2731578

>>2745102
>>2739793
>>2737878
>>2737867
well done you're very good, first of all, don't listen to anyone on here, the place is a disaster. So disregarding what I say after that comment...

Oil mixed with turpentine can dry-ish in 20 minutes, experiment, raw oil takes days, weeks, months even, maybe years... oil is very satisfying when it works but it isn't easy, cost a fortune, smelly, mildly dangerous and it can be a bit of a cross on a person's back really.


>To start but not limit the thread: After years of charcoal drawing anetc.

I use totally winsor and newton, it's expensive and when I can't sell things, then it's not going to work is it?

I use pure turps to mix down, linseed oil for gloss, I might even put a glazing agent in there see what happens.

As far as books go, I would read about artists, so work through Phaidon art and ideas (dada, romanticism, northern renaissance as a good book), and read a bit of Goya, Dela Croix's journal, I love Otto Dix imparticular.

right, once you know that it is traditional to start with a thin mix of paint to turps, then work up in layers from that... that's all you need. Artist after artist after artist say " teach yourself it's your unique thing" that view gets 0 sympathy here no matter if god came down and said it through a trumpet but really it's the best thing. Find your own nature. and look at the masters when you can.

don't want to wait 3 months for it to dry? stick to lego blocks??? (a wasp came in the window and I know I'm going to get stung)

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>>2745189
>you're very good

>>2745192
don't rile me. I only have to come her for 30 seconds and I want to burn the house down and run out naked. drives me crazy.
>:(

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>>2745193
>>:(
get the fuck off my board, right now

>>2745189
Thanks a bunch for this post, I really appreciate the pointers. great book recs, too.

>>2745180
This sounds very difficult, but with experience it might be possible.

>>2745204
It can be frustrating if you're painting thin, you want to cover the area with more paint than you have underneath. Instead of layering you can also try to paint in tiles, but of course this would require you to get your values correct in the first place, and with acrylics it's likely your paint would be dry faster than you could go back and blend it.

>>2745213
Sounds complicated, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the info. it's surprisingly hard to get a grip on painting techniques.

>>2745202
That guys retarded or trolling. Turpentine is only used for first layer, cleaning your brush or erasing your painting/working on a colored background. You don't use it in your paint after the first layer because it removes paint. If you want your paintings to dry quicker then use liquin. Your painting will be workable in a day or less, paint will dry faster which means it will be easier to not blend your paints.

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Alright, found this vid:
http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/times-unfolding-a-painting-demonstration

for those of us learning, it seems helpful. for those of you with experience, care to add any comments on his process? personally I'm more concerned with the methods of mixing and applying paint and observing color than proportion and drawing.

>>2734731
i think it looks cool, android with some cognition floating around it

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Is it possible/advisable to layer and glaze without solvents? It seems that the only space I'll have to paint is an unventilated basement that other, non painters, also use.

I'll be starting with cast studies which take 20 hours with charcoal, and I assume somewhat longer with oil. So far I figure I'll have to stick with one of the following approaches:

1. Go the Carder/drawmixpaint route and paint wet-into-wet only. Iirc he said something about keeping a paintig wet for days on end; clove oil maybe?

2. Use pigment dense, straight-from tube paint for underpainting/ first layers and fatten later layers with more oil. Some concern the medium will wash out my pigments when I begin with color.

2.Use WF Martin's oil of spike glazing medium in minimal required amounts, 1 part each of:
Linseed oil
Walnut oil
Venice turp
Oil of spike
everything I read says it smells nice, hopefully its fumes are negligible?

3. Or just use oil of spike. I hear it's overpowered, which means I won't neec much and hopefully will therefore have negligible amounts of fumes. I believe I heard they break down in air, unlike turps.

I can walk out to the garage to clean my brushes in actual turp when needed. However I plan on usin 3-7 brushes or so to minimize that need.

I'm aware of gamsol, but after some of the stuff I've read I've grown averse. Seems it doesn't leave a good film unlike turp or spike, and it's prone to mold growth.

Anyone care to chime in on which may be best or with better ideas?

>>2745102
You might have more luck getting acrylic advice in a draw thread. I've used acrylic and find it mostly awful for just the reasons you listed. Hence my decision to invest in oil. There's too little time for color observation/mixing and values/hues change unpredictably as it dries. It's wonderful for some projects but imo way too limiting for representational study. Tightly controlled gradation? Not needing to spend more time on brush care than painting? Fugghedaboutit.

>>2746002
Also concerned that #2 will aaste a lot of paint

>>2746002
There's no best approach here, whether you want to paint alla prima or with glazes is entirely subjective.

Carder mixes his paint with a slow-drying medium to even out the consistency and the drying time between different colors. He has a recipe in his supply list. Clove oil will help extend the drying time of your faster-drying colors like your umbers, but I wouldn't add it to slower paints like titanium white. If you're grabbing a tube of OH and only want to make it flow better and extend the drying time a little you can just add a bit of linseed or safflower oil.

As for indirect painting, a medium mixed with both solvent and oil is the safest approach for preserving your paint film. I don't think this is a case of OMS vs turpentine or spike oil. OMS is a milder solvent than turpentine so you need to use more to achieve the same results, but you don't want to use too much of either and weaken the paint film, just like you wouldn't want to drown your paint in oil and have it wrinkle later.
A bit of mineral spirits alone for your underpainting is perfectly fine, so is only adding a bit of oil for your glazing layers.

As for using spike oil on its own, you need to keep in mind that while it's not toxic like turpentine it still has a very strong smell, so proper ventilation is advised. It will also evaporate slower than any distilled solvent, so it's best used mixed with some mineral spirits and/or a drying oil if that's not something you want.

I think cleaning brushes with turpentine is entirely overkill unless you're using paint that has some natural resin in it. OMS is fine, or you can go entirely solvent-free. I just dip mine in safflower oil and wipe them with a paper towel until they're reasonably clean, or if I know I'm not going to be painting for a couple of days wash them with soap and water.

>>2745159
Mix your paint with a retarder. Its expensive so some artists use lube instead because its cheaper.

>>2746056
can I use spike oil to thin out for an underpainting instead of OMS?

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>>2745102
thanks for the tips. posted in draw thread, but I think you guys know a lot more about paint be it oil or acrylic.

okay, I managed to make it to my local Blick and I checked out the W&N natural bristle brushes. Some of them were 'loose' but held their shape, while others held a perfect shape, as if totally-brand-new, but the very tip was hard, as if all the bristles were connected. I'm assuming these are newer brushes that have been handled less and there's some glue or something holding the tip/shape? What's the best way to remove the glue without fucking up the brush? or is it better to go for the very-mildly-beat-up ones?

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>>2744649
What are you trying to see? They are just studies that I need to keep studying. I am a long way from being able to create at the skill level I see in terms of being able to supplement my income when I give up the 9 to 5 gig.

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https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/u/0/asset/self-portrait/-gHQe8vbiHn2xw

I've seen a lot of pictures of this self portrait of Rembrandt. But being able to zoom in so far and see the brush work left me awestruck. He bits of the canvas bare. There are touches of yellow ochre dotted throughout the piece. Sgraffito techniques are used in the hair as well. Take from it what you will, but don't just look at my shitty screenshot.

>>2747575
>>2747575
Your color use is garish. They don't further the mood of the scene by any means. Your shit is heavily inspired by leonid afremov, or other common pinterest posts. Work on your drawings a lot more, and subdue your color a lot.

>>2746220
Sure, if you're OK with the smell. Any solvent will work, you just want it to have less oil than the layers on top of it.

>>2747314
Just rinse them with water and it'll come off, it's not a problem. Just wait until the brushes are completely dry until you use them with oil.

>>2747582
Man, what a fantastic resource. Seeing the level of abstraction in paintings is eye-opening, especially for those of us without the opportunity to see a Sargent or Sorolla in person.

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>>2747575
that's an ealborate way to write for a 5 year old. Are you reading too much lad?

>>2747575
Are you a troll?

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>>2747575
>>2744614
wtf

>>2746002
this is why i love egg tempera. or, one reason among many.

cringe to think of painting oils in a shared unventilated space.

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>>2747867
>cringe to think of painting oils in a shared unventilated space.
but linseed oil smell is the best fucking thing.

>>2747885
Oils smell amazing. So does proper turps, some people are just doing it wrong.

>>2747575
ahahahhhhhaaaaa

Not falling for this obvious baitoid

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>>2746243
me again, this is the view from the window

>>2747582
Fuck I had no idea. Thanks for posting this image anon.

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okay, threw down on a beginner set for getting started with oil, R8:

MH Cremnitz white #1
MH Titanium white #1
MH Pthalo Blue lake
MH Red Umber
Da vinci Pure badger round 2
W/N Bristle filbert 4
Artfix oil primed linen 6x6
2x W/N acrylic prepped canvas 8x10
Lefranc & Bougy spike oil

Mostly planning on just doing value scales and gradation and testing the acrylic ground vs oil primed (holy fuck that's expensive). Next step is getting a bigger support and some more brushes to do a cast-painting. If the acrylic grounds proves less acceptable than the oil, I'll bite the (expensive) bullet and stretch/prep my own canvas. Probably rando stretcher bars, Williamsburg lead ground, Gamblin PVA size and blick 66j portrait linen. if there's a cheaper way to stretch/size/lead oil prime a canvas, pls lemme know.

Pic is pretty much my end goal. Does that look like a direct-paint, or something with an underpainting?

Also if anyone has any input on cast painting or how to properly achieve gradation in oils, I'd be much obliged.

>>2747582
This is fucking great. As someone who has access to a museum with Rembrandts, this is a very helpful addition. If you're in the museum looking at it from less than a foot away, they'll ask you to step back or leave. Good luck examining brushwork as close as you can in that image with a magnifying glass. There's still plenty to be said for seeing it in person though.

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>>2749364
That's likely a direct method. Grisaille, and underpaintings in general, usually have the intrinsic nature of being more detailed (usually part of the objective), but they can also be "painterly"-see Reynolds and Solomon ex.

Au premier coup (alla prima) is more in vogue right now, especially with plein air artists, but I would definitely take some time learning some indirect methods too. They're both great and have particular aethetics.

Also, there are great oils out there for way cheaper than the dumb-shit expensive stuff. Don't get swindled.

Lastly, get a dual-primary palette, and set of high quality hog filberts/rounds. Learn how it all works on a toothy canvas.

You can oil prime your acrylic gessoed canvases already.

>>2749364
I would suggest simply adding a coat of oil primer or underpainting white mixed with whatever earth tone you want to stain an already primed linen canvas. Or if you want to do everything else you could avoid canvases entirely and prime some hardwood boards.
I'll second a split primaries palette, and you really need some larger brushes.

>>2749364
>MH Cremnitz white #1
>MH Titanium white #1
>MH Pthalo Blue lake
>MH Red Umber
post the actual pigments, not these shit names.

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>>2749364
>Also if anyone has any input on cast painting or how to properly achieve gradation in oils, I'd be much obliged.
Get Harold Speeds book, it's free.

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>>2749484
>it's free

>>2749387
I'll keep this in mind before droppig a ton of dough on canvases. when you say already primed, you mean acrylic gesso, yes? And of course I'll need bigger brushes; i'm just starting small & relying on necessity to inform me.

>>2749481
uh,
Titanium oxide
lead
ptalocyanine
burnt umber with a more reddish balance of iron & manganese

>>2749484
i've already got P&SOD, love the first few chapters. his oil paint book is supposed to arrive tomorrow

>>2749376
>great oils out there for way cheaper than the dumb-shit expensive stuff
suggestions? W/N? I figure I'll start with dumb-shit expensive so I've got a good barometer for ultimate capabilities

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>>2749652
>supposed to arrive tomorrow

Scratch that, apparently usps delivers on sundays now. Pic related.

>>2749652
>uh,
Nigga, read the fine print on the tubes, it should be something like "P.W.#6"
http://www.artiscreation.com/Color_index_names.html#.V_T006J8NW0

>>2749652
None of the artist-grade paints are bad enough that you'll want to throw them away, so it's worth buying tubes from whatever you have that's readily available and not too expensive, so you get a feel for how they differ. There's only so much you can learn by only reading what's online. You should start with a basic palette of less expensive pigments instead of wasting a bunch of money on cadmiums and cobalts or whatever.

>>2731613
you do have a pdf link? can you upload some?

>>2731578
hey, can i fill up a canvas with pait to make the backbround grey/yellow like vahn goghn did or this method only works with acrillic?

>>2750141
lolwut

>>2750141
>Van Gogh
>acrylics
anon, pls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax9Z9--2KwA

Or just paint + solvent. You can rub it with a paper towel to clean up brush marks and lighten your stain, sketch on top of it, rub out your lighter tones, whatever you want. Then either paint on top of it or wait for it to try.

>>2750254
i did not say that Van Gohn used acrylics, he used some kind of canvas that had the brown color in its fabric, a colol that i want to emulate on the canvas
i only seen it done on acrylics, not in oil
my english is rubbish, sorry

>>2750294
he probably just sized the canvas and painted directly on that.

>>2749481
>>2749481
These names are actually quite standard. No one really talks about pigments calling them P[X][#]. Saying lead/cremnitz white is fine generally because it's understood to mean PW1 (in this time at least). Even conservators and company owners say "lead white" unless there's a need to be more specific.

I understand however that certain manufacturers use standard names for mixed pigments: for example, W&N's "Flake white" which they release as lead with some zinc white. There are also different shades of certain pigments that are numbered the same. Green earth, umbers, and ochres are examples, so calling them by their index number isn't always as accurate for describing the color. Now if the guy listed such items that "yellow-red" or "burgundy" I'd understand your jimmy rustles.

>>2750066
Check the artbook thread for ala prima. I got all of his books, but I am too lazy to scan sorry.

>>2745260
no shit
That's why people value those that have the technique and vision to use it.

>>2750356
no, he had the yellow fabric because its was cheaper
or because he was doo doo, i dont know

I'm having some trouble preparing masonite panels for painting. I followed the instructions, used 3 layers, sanded, but I ended up with a surface that just won't absorb paint at all.

I put my stain on and it all just beaded up. After a lot of waiting around and scrubbing I got it to kind of stick, but it was just so slick and unmanageable, it was like trying to paint on glass or something.

I saw a forum post somewhere suggesting to mix pumice in with the gesso, but that's something I'd probably have to make a trip for and I don't really have the cash for more shit. Any ideas?

>>2752442
What did you seal it with? Are you thinning down your primer? If so, try it unthinned in your last coat. Maybe try to get a less smooth finish, using something like a foam brush or roller, or just don't sand it as smoothly. You want at least some tooth to the surface.

>>2752442
3 layers of what?

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I don't know what I'm doing.

>>2752784
both eyes are totally misplaced

>>2752469
>>2752702

Acrylic gesso. It even says on the container just to apply 3 layers for oil. I didn't thin it because it wasn't very thick to start with. I'll see if I can get a roller. I was just using a cheap hardware store brush.

I was using a 220 grit sandpaper and just going lightly over each layer. Would a lower grit sandpaper be better to rough it up, or should I hold back on the sanding even more and hope the roller's texture does the trick?

>>2752442
You're supposed to create the texture with the last layer of your primer, there's no need to create any texture on the actual masonite, you're using glue to make sure your primer doesn't fall off.

>>2752867
I don't think you should be having problems getting the paint to stick unless you have an absurdly smooth surface. If the board itself is slick you should try sanding it, and seal it with some GAC 100 or PVA size before applying the gesso.

>>2752442
Dont thin down your gesso. Sand it down lightly. Its normal for gessoed Wooden panels to be very slick if you dont like that, Put a last layer of gesso on There with a palette knife to create some texture and dont Sand it. Also usw proffessional artists gesso Not the cheap stuff.

>>2749628
https://archive.org/details/practicescienceo00speerich

>>2753213
now that's not the official site is it

>>2752867
>>2752942
I've never had this problem with acrylic gesso even when I sand the last layer to a smooth finish.

Maybe man's got the wrong material.

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Fuck yeaaaah my stuff came in the mail yesterday. Had to fool with 'em just a little so I used an old bristle and a chipboard with a layer of acrylic on it. The thalo & umber make a decent black, but it looks like I'm gonna need a red if I want to do a grisaille. Once the black is thinned/tinted, nowhere along the mix path does it hit anything close to gray; at best it gets to a dull green.

Interesting note: the whites are both physically much heavier than the pthalo or b. Umber. Like, two or three times as much.

haven't used the spike, but damn the sent is strong. It's not noxious, just smells like lavender, but even with the cap on and not having opened it, I could smell lavender 5 feet away. Once I opened it a few times it filled the kitchen. Has a slight chemical undertone, but less so than OMS. Mostly it's just "MAXIMUM LAVENDER". According to roommates, they could smell it on me when I entered other rooms. Notably, with the bottle capped and negligible ventilation overnight, the smell dissapated, except near the bottle. It'll be interesting to see whether the scent is so strong when using a little in an underpainting in the basement.

I hope it's not bad for my cat's lungs, he sleeps down there a lot during the day.

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Looks like this thing is the real disappointment. Thought it'd be a nice, soft but springy round 2. looks more like a used watercolor wash 1/2. Hair seems kinda thin and hardly has any shape, smaller than I expected. Had hoped to use for small gradation/swatch tests on the 6x6 oil canvas, but i think i'll just have to pick up a filbert 1 or 2 for that.

When it arrived I was put off enough to look it up on the davinci site. They don't even have this line listed, only the outlets. Pretty fishy.

Oh yeah, and it was $11. Lesson learned.

>>2754283
how's the walnut oil?

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Here's the brush head.

Anyway, I had a thought: Do oil grounds, i.e. the primer, need to be thinner somehow than the underpainting in order to conform to the 'fat over lean' rule? Or is it different because it's a solid, even layer that covers the whole painting?

>>2754294
primer should already be long-dried, it doesn't follow the rule because the rule is for wet paint, so your painting is evenly drying.

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>>2754291
DESU I barely noticed a difference from the linseed, though I also hardly used it. Difficult to guage handling when painting white-on-white. The only place with just walnut in the materials image is the faint vertical white stripe that goes under the right edge of the spike cap. elsewhere, it's mixed with linseed. Will report more on Sunday/monday when I can experiment more.

Interesting to compare the cremnitz(lead) to titanium. Here's a close-up. The thinner vertical to the left that goes into blue is the titanium. They're painted on at similar thickness. The titanium is much 'sharper' and brighter. The lead is warmer; not quite more yellow or parchment; still 'white' compared to other tones.

I can see Immediately where it would be more useful in skintones. When using acrylics in the past to make skintones out of white, magenta, and cad red/yellows (plus green/purple, etc for shadows), the titanium made the warms a little lifeless because it 'cut' the warmth in them. I might be jumping the gun, but it seems like the cremnitz will 'play nice' with reds and yellows.

>>2754300
By wet, do you mean "dry to the touch, but still drying under the surface"? I've mostly heard painting layers called wet-into-dry. I spoke with someone at an atelier and they said straight-from tube should be dry enough for a thinner next layer in a day or two.

>>2752784

the nose is shaded to look as if he's looking straight to the viewer, the right side is facing far up and to the right, and the left side if his face is looking in between.

from a stylized perspective it has an interesting look but if you're going for a realistic approach you need to plan in advance and be able to maintain the angle you start with and need to balance the level of blending you apply to each side

>>2754306
There is practically no need for titanium white if you have lead white. It's more flexible, is less penetrable by moisture, has better handling properties, mixes with other colors better, and bonds better. The thing that titanium white is superior over lead white are its tinting and covering power. With lead white you may need to use a thicker application for the same type of covering ability, or to layer.

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>>2732584
the neck

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>>2755245
>long necks do not exist

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>>2731578
Been trying to do waves and water in my paintings. Did this practice sketch today. I used cerulean blue, mixing white, and Prussian blue.
It is crap, I know. But I am glad I tried this exercise cause I figure I will destroy many canvass until I finally figure out the technique.
The paint doesn't flow off the palette knife like some of the training videos show.

>>2755654
If I weren't supposed to be doing more important things I would shop that neck even longer.

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>>2756144

>>2733310
meta

>>2731578
Can anyone redline the legs? I don't see the form.

Hey Gang, what do you use to overpaint old paintings? Usually I would just use Lead White,but that is banned in my country and it would be a hassle.
Just use Gesso? How well does it stick to the oil?

>>2756259
gesso wont stick to oil. either coat it with more oil paint or just scratch that canvas and make a new one.

if you dont have a canvas roll you should get one. good to recycle old frames, perfect to practice and experiment without worrying about ruinning a perfectly fine stretched canvas

>>2756473
Thanks!

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Only got this.

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Direct or indirect?

>>2759172
Looks pretty direct and done overtop a base of textured gesso for all that texture.

>>2731578

Man I love oil paints so much.
I don't think there's another type of paint I could love more than oil paint.

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Okay, so I spent some time fooling with the spike oil, tinting, trying to mix an 'even' chromatic black and tentatively starting to gradate & try value scales.

Interestingly, brightening the colors via tinting w/ titanium white really cut the chroma down a lot compared to just thinning out the paint and letting light shine through. I guess that's the idea behind glazing, yeah? I didn't try with the cremnitz yet, maybe it will yield different results.

As for black, I can mix a bunch that are acceptably dark, but it's very hard to get a mix that ends up acceptably gray when tinted instead of blue/green/army green. Closest I got was a greenish-yellow french gray. I'm considering purchasing a tube of some sort of red or orange pigment to center the hue better for when I step up to cast painting.

Does anyone have some tips on controlling gradation and different techniques/methods utilized by different painters?

Brush cleaning was a hassle. Had to dip and re-dip in OMS to get paint outta the base near the ferrule. Then went in with soap and water and my nail to further squegee paint out. It's not like I was scrubbing with the brush, dang. Sometimes I can't paint for 2+ weeks, so I'll have to figure this out.

>>2754291
didn't use it more yet, but I should note the stripe in
>>2754306
is still really wet to the touch.

>>2759375
Also, the pthalo pigment is crazy overpowering. It's like 1:12 parts pthalo:umber to get the almost-even black.

>>2759375
Don't obsess over brush cleaning, you're only going to end up wearing down your brushes sooner. You can give them a thorough cleaning when you know you won't be using them for weeks, but otherwise you can just wipe the paint off of them and dip the point in safflower or poppy oil. You don't even need the mineral spirits unless you're afraid of dirty paint, the brush will stay wet for several days like this.

>>2759376
Yes. You should probably be using an Ultramarine unless you want to make bright greens or very saturated blues.

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how was the smooth green-blue gradient in the sky achieved? What about the soft edged strokes in on the ground?

Would you guess this is indirect, or glazed?

>>2759375
Mix with a palette knife. Don't get paint into the ferrule.

Get more paint brushes to use for different swatches.

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Anyone care to critique this for me? In any way at all. Don't be nice, be necessary.
It's a detail shot from a large self- portrait.
Done about a dozen paintings now, still learning how to handle the medium best. I just used linseed oil with my colors, I haven't tried any other oils or mediums.

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>>2760362
Pic related langnickel brush could be used for that effect, but you have to look for the sweet spot in the drying process. Too soon and the brush easily makes mud.

>>2748643
Should I just get right to oils instead of acrylic? Oil is the goal anyway, but acrylic is cheap and easy.

>>2761177
Eh, I tried starting with acrylic, bought good paint, then realized I hated the medium. Acrylic isn't really a stepping stone at all. It's only worthwhile if you like it's properties, otherwise I'd say go straight to oil once you're competent with black and white drawing.

>>2761198
Yeah, I don't really like acrylic that much myself. Oil it is, then. I'm also practicing drawing.

>>2761177
Open acrylics are a decent in-between provided you use a surface that isn't too absorbent. They still dry fast, but at least they stay workable for hours rather than minutes so you can actually blend, and they won't ruin your brushes if you don't clean them immediately. They're also bone dry in a day or two at most, rather than weeks like oil.
You can save a bit of money compared to artist-grade oils, but it's a less pigmented paint, and the consistency and texture aren't the same thing. They're a nicer alternative to regular acrylics and convenient if you don't want to deal with oils, but not really an ideal replacement.

>>2761273
I'll look into that. great tip, never heard of this before.

>>2760499
Either paint thick enough so that the ground doesn't show through or else have a more structured approach to painting transparently. The shadows are quite chalky. Don't add white to the darkest sections, especially if you're using titanium white.

>>2739964

>/fit/ pls

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I've been a sketch-er for a long time but been motivated to begin oil painting last month.
I'm in my infancy and overwhelmed by the chemistry that I didn't have to worry about with pencil/pen.
I've been going through a Kevin Macpherson book (Oil Paintings with Light & Color) and have my essential brushes & paints.
One thing that I struggle with is even though I'm only using 3 different primary colors at most, I really want to use the least amount of brushes possible.
I find it difficult to confidently clean my brush between switching between different paint mixtures I have on my palette.

What do you guy do or recommend I try?

Macpherson, incidentally, goes through the process of cleaning with tissue, then dipping into spirits, then new tissue or clean rag.

A silicoil jar if you really want to use solvents, but I haven't had a problem with just wiping the brush dry and picking up more paint. If it's still dirty just wipe again.
Ideally you want at least a brush for your light tones and a brush for your darks.

>>2761720
Oops, meant for >>2761538

>>2756239
Please, redline OP legs

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Okay I tried the exercise speed recommends in practice & science of drawing where you lay down a midtone and paint into it thickly or thinly to cover or blend in respectively. I don't think I'm doing something right because to cover it with full-black or white basically requires impasto. Its clear I'm not doing it right, because there's no way I could make a long enough stroke at full strength.

Speed's method:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14264/14264-h/14264-h.htm#plate23

plate XXIII and XXIV, their descriptions and following 4-5 paragraphs.

Maybe the mid-tone was too thick, as I'm painting on acrylic straight from the tube, but I dunno. Can anyone shed some light on what I'm doing differently than him? Tools, touch?

>>2762362
i mean it's vague, but sure. Gimme a couple days, I'll get around to it.

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>>2762388
This seems too thick/ it was very difficult to control. If I touched it again without a glob of paint would reveal what's underneath.

>>2761509
Thanks for the advice friend

>>2762388
It does look like your midtone is too thick for a scumble, and yeah, to cover up wet paint opaquely you'll probably need twice as much paint as what you have underneath.

Your swatches aren't a replacement for doing the actual painting. In this process you would start with your 3 value stage of midtone, dark and light, then gradually build up to your darkest darks and lightest lights. You'll rarely if ever be trying to cover up your ground with 100% opaque pure black or white. It's normal for your highlights to be caked on when you have wet paint underneath, but your shadows will most likely never be this thick, you want some depth to them.

>>2762584
>Your swatches aren't a replacement for doing the actual painting.

Of course, I'm just trying to get a handle on gradation so I don't muddle around and waste paint. I'm looking forward to getting on to the cast.

How do I get it on thin enough for a scumble? Should I be dry-brushing? He specifically says not to use any solvent in the scumble. Also, as for the darks/highlights, when he says paint thinly/thickly, I assume that's literal and not about the fat/leanness?

>>2748643
what kind of paper is that and how much did it cost?

>>2761538
More brushes. Have some for lights and darks, warm and cool, etc.

>>2763445
A scumble is made generally with a stiff brush, and made by scrubbing paint dryly. It can be scrubbed on firmly so that it creates a thin continuous layer (that is, the paint being applied in the grooves as well as the raised weaves) or somewhat lightly so that only tooth would receive the scumble (which would create a gritty look). The former, it seems, is what Speed meant, as having the white ground show through in the mid tone or else where would look incomplete.

I assume he advises to forgo the use of spirits because it would make the color appear sunken and dry.

>>2733804
proportions all over the place, abdominal area doesn't make sense, folds on the right don't make sense either, can't make out the object next to him, is that supposed to be a skull? cause it doesn't look like it; right hand is melting and left doesn't have knuckles, etc
anyone who gave you compliments for this is just being nice or not a good artist themselves.

>>2742804
why don't you learn to draw before you paint

>>2746002
you glaze by mixing with linseed oil. solvents dissolve paint, meaning that even if you thin your oils with it, the second you put it on your painting you're going to ruin it. at least that's my experience with it.

>>2753270
Official site of what?
The book is in the public domain, the copyright expired.
That's why it's on the archive site.

>>2747582

He was amazing. Last year a lot of his works were flown in from across the globe for display at one of the museums here. I got misty-eyed at one if his self-portraits. Couldn't get as close as I wanted because the place was packed both times I went, but his work really is something else...

Did some more gradation practice. R8 pls. Added some linseed oil and took other anon's scumbling advice. Still not perfect but seems to be working a lot better. Had trouble getting the black to gradate as smoothly as the white. Also noticed it was real hard to match back into the middle of a gradation. Also, working back into an area and "erasing"/fixing mistakes.

Also got some master's brush cleaner+safflower oil, seems pretty nice. Not sure about leaving the masters lather in as suggested though.

>>2763534
can't i do an underlayer with lots of solvent, then one with less, and so on till I hit pure tube paint layer then start adding oil to next layers?

Also, how much oil can I add without compromising strength of color? MH is super thick/hard tospread out of the tube.

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>>2764563
Forgot pic. Leaving it huge for better view of brushwork

Can anyone recommend a good warm yellow for portraits? Preferably something that's not cadmium-priced. I'm using a tube of Norma Indian Yellow that I'd like to replace it with something else, it's so transparent and weak that I need a big pile to affect any mix. I live in a third world shithole but have access to W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, Lukas and Maimeri.

>>2764563
Any amount of oil or solvent is going to compromise strength of color, but you need quite a bit until it actually becomes a problem. Too much solvent will create a weak paint film, and too much oil can potentially cause it to wrinkle. I never understood these "premium" brands that cram their tubes so full of pigment to the point where it's unusable without thinning it. It's not like you're getting good value for money either way.

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I just bought a birch wood pallet. What should I prime it with? Is linseed oil fine?

>>2766019
You might be limited to yellow ochres. It varies however, so you might do you research on which yellow ochre suits you best. There is also chrome ochre on the market.

If you want something brighter and more saturated, maybe Chrome yellow.

Most other yellows are expensive.

>>2766019
I only ever use yellow ochre in portraits/skin.

Would cremnitz white in linseed oil be a fast(ish) drier? I've got titanium in linseed and it takes a week to dry, and cremnitz in walnut, which takes like 2.5 weeks. I've heard that "flake white" is a fast drier, but "flake" is used interchangeably with "lead+zinc". Do I need to go get a stack lead white for the quick drying property I'm looking for?

Also; I'm avoiding driers, mediums and zinc (in this case). I've heard of this elusive quick-drying, opaque lead white in just linseed and I'm determined to get it.

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>>2767290
>>2767319
Thanks, I think a Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna might be more convenient since I end up having to dull down the Indian Yellow anyway. If Blick's charts are any accurate these look pretty good. Maimeri Artisti's Yellow Ochre on top, Norma Raw Sienna on the bottom.

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>>2767327
been look at this all morning, finding rough stuff. Apparently RGH lead white fits the bill, and I suspect a few other brands might. However I've found some "white tests" that both show that whites ground in linseed oil seem to yellow really badly. Very few examples of cremintz tested though, mostly titaniums.

and yet, the old masters reportedly used linseed. I wonder if their oil was somehow different than the stuff we're using now.

http://blog.jonathanlinton.com/2010/05/white-test-5-years-in-making.html

http://lindaschweitzer.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-white-test-after-8-years.html

http://quantumbaroque.com/the-white-test/

http://leomancinihresko.com/white-test-2013/

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I see pic related and yet know that lead whites were used in stuff like
>>2733310
>>2733313
>>2734461
>>2742703
>>2747885
>>2733304

Makes me wonder. Apparently for this test, it was stored in the dark, which causes yellowing, but over a long, long term I know that sunlight also causes bleaching of color. Were the paintings above just stored in perfect-fucking-light for 100 years? Can an artist only hope for their paintings to not yellow if they're top-tier while they're alive and someone wealthy decides it's worthwhile to preserve the work with specialty lighting? Or are the paints being made now just bullshit?

>>2767327
>>2767364
>>2767378
I don't think you're going to find a better Cremnitz than OH, but I also don't understand your fear of zinc if you don't want your paints to yellow.

>>2767415
I've heard a lot about zinc getting crumbly/crack-y after a number of years. Multiple reports of "don't use zinc if you want your paintings to last longer than you"

I'm not a "LOL MY WORK GONNA BE IN MUSEUMS" jerk, but I'd like my stuff to be around for my family. My great grandad did some decent paintings and we're really really glad to have them around.

Anyway, how long does the OH crem take to dry?

>>2767438
I have no personal experience with it, but OH lists it as fast / low oil content in their charts - http://www.oldholland.com/products/classic-oil-colours/drying-time/
I don't think they mention the binder but I have to assume it's linseed.

I seriously doubt small amounts of zinc are going to make your paint film brittle. It's only added to Flake White to improve the consistency of the lead, and most titanium whites also have some zinc in them. I use Schmincke's Zinc-Titanium and there's not a lot of difference from regular titanium, it's slightly less opaque and slightly cooler in tint, but you probably wouldn't notice unless you compared them side-by-side.

>>2763465
It's moleskin watercolor edition

>>2767478
The causes for the brittleness in zinc white isn't fully clear yet. It's best to avoid it. From what is apparent though zinc doesn't like oil at all, whereas lead and oil are a perfect match. Zinc is good with other media.

>>2767378
They revert to normal after some exposure to sunlight or something similar.

>>2767327
Just check what's in it. Most flake whites don't have zinc.

>>2767736
The specific amount of zinc that will cause brittleness isn't clear either. As far as I know the cases of it cracking are on paintings where pure zinc was used or in excessive amounts. Avoiding zinc entirely would mean looking very hard for a tube of titanium white that doesn't have any. You probably shouldn't buy a lower quality flake white that's mostly zinc, or use pure zinc white for thick layers, but I haven't seen anything on mixed whites cracking.

>>2734009
you should invest in a painting cart and put all your stuff on there so you can wheel it in or out when you're ready or when you're done.

a 50/50 mix of linseed and turpentine or turpenoid is pretty gud for inside. Linseed dries yellow though so keep that in mind if you're making a 'great work'
oil painting is kinda hardcore so it's something you can't really tap in and tap out of easilly bedroom wise. Painting cart helps. Otherwise you can try working with charcoals first untili you get some space together

>>2767858
It's not just causing brittleness though. It doesn't create a good film, which increases the risk of delaminating against the surface it's painted on. It's all about reducing risks.

The only "flake white" I know of that has zinc is W&N, for which I don't know how much zinc is in. In other cases where a tube is labeled "flake white" it's used either to refer to the method of producing lead carbonate or just a misnomer.

>>2768092
W&N's Flake #1 is more zinc than lead afaik, or at least has a significant amount of it. It should really be called silver or mixed white. I don't think they still make #2.
OH's Flake has a small amount as well. Other brands that used to make it like Grumbacher and Daler-Rowney don't anymore.

>>2768283
Oh right. I heard about them cancelling production on the cremnitz white. The large ones are harder to come by, but some stores still stock the 50ml.

I've heard some good things about Rublev lead whites. They claim to use a traditional method and are hand-mulled, but I'm confused about why they then produce lead white made with the stack process that is more expensive than the main lead white that they produce.

>>2731578
does anyone here paint without turps, or with water-soluble oils? I really want to approach the medium but I can't use toxic shit for various reasons. I know that you can try to use oil only, like walnut oil, to clean brushes and to thin paint, but it takes fucking forever to dry.

any thoughts?

>>2770768
Yeah man you'll be kinda limited as far as techniques like the flemish many-glazes, but if you stick to direct painting you can get away without solvents.

I've been cleaning my brushes after painting sessions for storage like this:
1.dip in little glob of safflower oil to get pigment out
2.wipe/squeeze with a paper towel
3. Repeat 1&2 till mostly clear
4. Using master's brush cleaner and water I finish out the job.

this works really well*. I was surprised how well safflower oil cleaned the brush, it's even better than dipping a watercolor bush into water. The safflower really sucks out the pigment, just a bit less so than solvent.

As for cleaning between colors, I'm less confident about it, but you can just use more brushes.

*My only concern is that the master's may be remaining partially in the brushes, even after I prep them, then a fractional amount ends up in the paint film, potentially weakening it for the long term. However, I figure it's probably okay while I'm just learning.

>>2770787
I read that some artists don't even clean the brushes, they just wipe 'em and then keep 'em in the fridge, wrapped in tinfoil. I never understood this, doesn't that get you dirty brushes and contaminate the colors?

They're mostly artists who did direct, plein-air painting.

>>2770768
I use lavender oil for background washes or a tiny bit of it in a paper towel to rub off studies I don't want to keep, but shit's expensive. Otherwise I paint completely solvent-free. You can work transparently reasonably well just by painting thinly with more transparent paints. You could also just add a tiny bit of oil to your upper layers, or mix your own mediums with spike lavender and an oil of your choice in various proportions. That would work better than just pure solvent or pure oil.

When you paint regularly you don't need to clean brushes. I just wipe as much paint as I can and dip the tip in poppy oil, then store the brushes flat. It'll stay wet for up to a week. If I know I won't be using them for a long time I keep two small jars with OMS (one dirty, one clean) that I'll take outside and use to clean the brushes reasonably, then finish the job with more oil and some dish soap and water (takes a long time).

I haven't tried it personally since I can't find it here, but Schmincke has a Medium W that makes regular paints watersoluble. You can use this to paint with or just use it to clean your brushes with water.

Also is it worth it to pick up oils for alla prima plein air painting when you're already used to direct painting in gouache and watercolor? Does it benefit your other techniques, is it a waste of time if you plan on sticking to the former medium?

Also can you use oils on heavy paper / cardboard instead of boards? Do you need to gesso the paper?

>>2770806
>>2770787
Thanks a lot guys!

>>2770803
Just wipe it off and pick up more paint until you have the "clean" color you're looking for. If you're really anal about it you can keep separate brushes for your light and darks and/or warm and cool colors.

>>2770810
But then pigment works its way up into the ferrule

Holy shit, I leave for six months and you guys start up and oil general?
I love you guys

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Bumping a little

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These are all sorolla

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>>2733804
its not good mate, the face is okay but i think the top of the skull is swollen. remember to include the blues in the skin i can see you are beginning to show the green.
>>2734731
looks abit like its exploding outwards, probably becauseof the technique. abit swollen? hard to say early stages but eyes might be abit large
>>2756110
you need alot more colour if you want to depict water.


this is my latest. 3 rd oil painting to date. I only have an assumed knowledge of anatomy and im sure it shows. this is a replica of someone elses painting so its not so bad. I would really apreciate some criticism and any weaknesses you see.
If nothing else thsi painting will put my criticisms of your work in perspective

>>2774153
and i should mention this is a scan so the grain is more pronounced than it should be.

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>>2749376

>>2774153
-How many/what type & shape brushes do you use?

-is that painted directly or indirectly? Any medium used?

- what kind of support?

- can you share a pic of how you set up the colors on your palette? Pre-mix everything, or mix on palette during painting?

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/moonriseatramehead

Does this look like a good video for learning oil techniques and good blending? I checked with gnomon, but I didn't find anything that really had instruction on traditional gradation and stuff. Drawmixpaint doesn't show much about how to do good blending.

>>2774659
Does he actually say anything or is it just 22 minutes of him painting it? I guess there are worse ways to spend $6, but I'd rather watch Jeff Watts or Steve Huston.

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>>2774554
I use a variety of medium quality filbert brushes. nothing larger than an inch.

I'm actually not really familiar with the classification direct/indirect but i researched it some and I painted this directly. I like to make section in the painting that will take me roughly 3 hours to finish. remembering to blend all the edges of the area so there are no harsh lines.
I paint with schmincke, norma straight from the tube. he consistency is good and it will usually dry in about 36 hours so plenty of time to work it but no so long that you're sitting on your hands.
I have the painting on a desk easel and my paints organised around the pallet which is glass.
I just mix the colours as i need them. its not a very academic approach.
no photo sorry.

>>2774153
looks great my man. Only issue might be that the eye looks a little of perspective.

>>2774728
>medium quality
Hog hair? synthetic? soft or not?

>>2774153
As a beginner I can't give you any useful critique, but I think it looks pretty good. If I had one complaint it'd be that the red elbow draws a lot of attention.

>>2774728
>and it will usually dry in about 36 hours
Damn, what colors do you use? I have mostly Norma paints but mine don't dry nearly as fast, some pieces are still tacky after 2 weeks+

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>>2774659
>22 minutes
>techinuqes i taught myself
Into the trash it goes.

>>2774793
any other suggestions? His gradation and glazing looks really good and not muddy. Gradation is the main thing I'm struggling with right now. Pic you posted is really good, and huston's stuff is really good, but they both already have gradation mastered, so they can just wing it and it looks really good.

>>2774858
for gradation you just have to learn to see and mix colors. No quick way.

>>2774987
no, I mean I can see & mix colors alright, I'm talking about achieving the smooth transition. With charcoal you just change pressure/add more material and fill in the tooth of the paper, unless you use smudging. I haven't figured how to do this with oil well yet though.

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>>2775036
This is the sort of thing you learn by doing it.
Painting is like learning an instrument, you have to do it, a lot.

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Would it upset the balance of things if I posted an something I did in acrylic for concrit? I'm not sure where else to ask, and I'd rather not make a new thread.

Regardless, here's some Russian oil.

>>2774759
if its taking that long you may be using too much paint.

>>2775036
It should be easy to make soft edges in oil. Just blend wet into wet and use some turp.

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I think this is grisaille?

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>tfw when you will never be commissioned to paint Daniel in the lion's den

>>2775598
Judging from the amount of teal, I'd say its a teal imprimatura-ish underpainting on a buff colored background.

It would be difficult to glaze the pastel colors of the mountains over a grey underpainting.

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Alright, I read through the thread and I saw that other dude posting his sketches, so please, gently tear my technique apart.

>>2775606 Very interesting. I'd like to read more about this.

Quick question from someone who has some oil painting supplies but hasn't really done much yet.

I want to start oil painting, but I'm a bit broke and live in the country so can't get proper supplies easily so I was thinking of painting onto MDF, which I can get hold of and cut easily myself. Completely disregarding things like longevity, could I simply prime the MDF with normal primer (i.e. house tin stuff)? I'll probably try it anyway but I'm interested to know how well it will work since I can't easily get my hands on things like canvas and gesso etc. here. Thanks

>>2776556
I'm in a similar boat, pretty new to all this, but based on my reading, it's worth a shot. I've had success painting gesso on chipboard, I imagine you'll be fine with the primer. What's the base? latex probably? You might need to sand it a little to give it tooth, so wear a mask for that. Otherwise, do it and report back with some pictures.

the more of us experimenting and sharing results, the better /oil/ generals are gonna be. So far I kinda feel like 50% of the posts in here are just me blogging, I'm hopping someone out there is learning from it or something.

>>2775610
Looks like really really good amateur work. You're falling for most of the drawing traps that come with copying photos. compare the diameters of the pupils+irises. Gradation seems solid, but it's too blurry to really say much about your brushwork/edge control.

>>2775601
Iktf. all the artists I look up to were economically enabled by the gilded age. I will never be as good as them because there's just no market for it.

>>2775594
Eh, I think there's a LOT of people on this board that use acrylic, and far fewer who use oil, so I'd just be concerned that the thread would get flooded. Then again, for now we can use the bumps, so if it's just a painting or two I guess it can slide. What says everyone else?

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Did the huston egg& bowl exercises, tried to focus on really controlled edges and gradation, also a sketch off my reflection with the extra paint on my palette. How'd i do?

>>2777951
Nice edges, especially on the egg.
Your ellipses are a bit wonky though. You tend to make them too sharp around the ends. The terminators on the cylinders and bowl are slightly over-exaggerated as well. It's up to you how you want to paint them, but it can be distracting.

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>>2777975
Yeah the terminators are way overdone, I was pretty much ignoring values as long as the general lighter-than-darker-than relationships held.

I did notice and wonder: when blending between 2 areas, i'd use a brush with very little paint to "tickle" one value mass into the other. It worked pretty well, but I notice that it also ran the pigment thin and allowed the ground to show through. This is visible on either side of the bowl's near terminator, as well as the bottom edge of its shadow. Hard to see in the pic, but instead of going black->grey it's black->yellowish grey->grey. Anyone familiar with this/know how to mitigate it?

>>2778132
>Anyone familiar with this/know how to mitigate it?
Do an underpainting and let it dry/pick a staining color so when you drag the paint around the undedrpainting would work together.

When you're working wet paint over jsut the ground you'll swipe a lot of it and the ground will show, well because there's nothing under your paint but the ground. you either need to go thicker, but you won't get blending as smooth, or you need to tone the ground first.

You can also wipe the paint with a rag or a paper towel for highlights and light ares in general for this kind of work.

Also, your grayscale has 3 first tone really close together, then 2 are too close together and the last 4 are step or two away into light.
Step back from them and you'll see.

>>2739981
I'm not sure if he did glaze here. He is using a blue palette to paint skin tones which are primarily red and yellow. This could easily create a brown or grey color. I would guess that the grey is intentional based on the artist wanting to convey a very cool mood in this painting.

>>2744467
Most pigment brands that are labeled transparent aren't overly transparent directly out of the tube. It mostly means that they glaze well. If the transparency is really an issue though, adding a small amount of an opaque pigment like titanium white, or burnt umber, will reduce the transparency

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>>2776739
Thanks bro, I'm really loving this thread. I'm thinking about ordering a little oil kit after the holidays. >>2775610 is the acrylic I was asking about. I don't have that painting any more, but I'll definitely upload next time if the thread is quiet.

I guess the only way to really mitigate the gross photo aesthetic is painting from life, huh?

>>2777951
I did these a while ago and my results weren't nearly as nice, good clean edges here. I'm currently going through his head construction and painting videos and they're really helpful.

>>2778132
>Anyone familiar with this/know how to mitigate it?
Besides painting over a dry midtone stain, you can use a really soft brush for this and it won't lift off as much paint as something like a stiff bristle brush, for example.

>>2778482
>I'm really loving this thread.
nice, I aim to please. As far as the gross photo aesthetic, if you draw enough from life I hear (from some super-duper artists I know) you can get around it, but I've been drawing from life for a few years and apparently that's not enough.

>>2778860
>>2778307
awesome, thanks for the underpainting/soft brush advice. And yeah that value scale sucks, glad I got some other eyes on it.

>>2778132
It looks like you achieved a nice, shiny surface here.
My stuff usually looks pretty chalky towards the end, even though I mix with linseed. How are you achieving that?

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My latest still liff.
Also, I just found our this guy, Roberto Ferri.

http://www.robertoferri.net/index.html

>>2779591
I mean it was real wet still, took the photo right after I finished. Once my stuff dries it gets a little chalky looking, but idk if varnishing might help. I haven't gotten that far.

What kind of paint/ground are you using? are you painting so thin that you're drybrushing?

>>2780168
Looks really good. Maybe render a little further in some areas for contrast?

>>2780238
>What kind of paint/ground are you using? are you painting so thin that you're drybrushing?
By ground do you mean the surface? I've been at this a few months but I've not really picked up many new terms. It's can gogh oils in bristol paper (sometimes canvas, sometimes primed wood). I'm also not sure what drybrushing is, but I don't think I'm getting too thin. I could be mistaken though, sometimes I use a lot of linseed. (if thread dies, let's continue this in the next thread)