Oil Painting for Beginners: Materials, Techniques and First Exercises

1. Welcome to Oil Painting for Beginners: Hello, and welcome to this course on the fundamentals of oil painting. In this course, you will learn how to use your brushes, how to apply the paint properly, and how to create smooth and controlled transitions. We will also cover essential techniques such as blending, creating flat backgrounds, and preparing your painting surface. In addition, you will learn how to mix your medium and how to properly finish your work with varnish and signature. Everything is explained step by step with simple exercises to help you practice and gain confidence. The goal is to give you strong technical foundation so you can paint with more control and ease. 2. Essential Oil Painting Materials for Beginners: This video, I'm going to show you the materials that I will use for these tutorials. So I'm going to show you all the tools that I have and that I feel are necessary for the realization of these different paintings. And I will introduce you to I will try to introduce you to different types of material, some cheaper one than others because you don't have to spend a lot of money to get some decent materials. Of course, there are some high quality materials that better, but that won't make a huge difference with your painting. For starting, you can definitely start with some cheap materials, and I will show you that there are some really great one and that you don't have to spend a large amount. So let's see the materials that will be used and necessary for these courses. To paint, we'll need a surface to work on. Here are two of the most commonly used ones. There is a special oil painting paper which I used to paint the tree and the canvas, which I used to paint the cat. Both are part of the tutorial course, one from the animal section and the other from the landscape son. So what exactly is a canvas? A canvas is usually made of linen or cotton fabric, stretch over what we call a stretcher frame. You will see that on the back, it is a wooden frame that holds the fabric tightly in place. Canvas is staple all around to keep it nicely stretch. And on the side, you can see these little wooden pieces. They are called wedges, and they help keep the canvas tight over time. They are inserted into the stretcher frame afterwards. As I mentioned earlier, there are mainly two types of canvas cotton canvas and linen canvas. Personally, I strongly recommend using linen canvas. It's more expensive than cotton canvas, but when you are creating your final artworks, the ones that you want to keep or to sell or give as a gift, it's much better to use linon. The reason is simple. Linen is higher quality, and the paint flows much better on it. And for the kind of realistic work that we will be doing, I believe it is the best choice. However, for all the of sizes, we'll do together all the demonstrations, the practical exercises, the training sessions, I really recommend using old painting paper like the one I use for the tree. It is much cheaper and its surface is very close to that of line and canvas. So you will be working on a similar texture, but for a much lower cost. That makes it the ideal compromise for practicing and improving your technique. And for all your exercises, I suggest working on large sheets of paper. You can buy packs of large format paper like 50 by 65 centimeters that you can cut to match the format I use. Or even better, you can buy a roll of oil painting paper, which gives you a large quantity and ends up being more cost effective per square meter. So to sum up, line and canvas is ideal for your finished pieces, the ones you want to keep, sell, or give away, while oil painting paper is the best choice for all your practice sessions. It is the perfect balance between quality and affordability. Now let's take a look at the colors we'll need. About 95% of the time, I only use five tubes of paint. I use the titanium white, the permanent red, the lemon yellow, the burn timber, and ultramaron blue, and that's it or almost. Now, this might come as a surprise, but I don't use black. I only use it when I am painting in black and white. Over is, I prefer to mix my own black tone so I can create different types of black. One of the big advantages of using a limited palette like this is that it is more budget friendly. You only need five tubes of paint. No need to buy more. Another benefit is that it forces you to learn how to mix colors. You could have 30 or even 50 different spain tubes, but eventually you will run into a situation where you are missing the exact color you need, and then you will have to mix it yourself. If you never learn how to mix colors, you will get stuck. Also, using five colors saves time. Let me explain how when you need to adjust a mixture, let's say you want to darken the color, you only have five options. So you spend less time thinking and second guessing which of your 50 tubes to use. With only five choices, the decision is faster. It might save just a few seconds per mix, but over the course of a painting, you make dozens and dozens of mixes. And in the end, those seconds add up. And over a full year, that time saved could let you complete one or two more painting. These five colors color about 95% of my needs, but I also have a few additional colors that can be useful. First, there is black. I use it when working on black and white subjects. Then there is magenta, several blue, and fallo blue. Although I can't show you the Palo blue tube right now because I have misplaced it. I don't know where it is. And these additional colors, magenta, seal blue, and tallo blue are really helpful when I need to create very intense vibrant hues. For example, turquoise water or the magenta tones found in the plumage of certain animals like a hummingbird. These are colors I simply can't achieve with my basic five colour palette. That's why I occasionally turn to these extra paints. But honestly, I use them very rarely. In fact, I have these tubes, the magenta, the ftalu and the ealblue since I first started oil painting. That shows you how little you actually need them. I only ever use tiny amounts in very specific cases. And finally, when it comes to color, there is one last important point choosing between extra fine paint and fine painting. When you are just starting out, the extra fine paints aren't really necessary. They are more expensive. That's what I use now with the Rembrandt brand, which offers really high quality paints. But when I began, I started with Georgian paint, and they are honestly, very good. The difference is subtle. With Rembrandt painting, the colors are a bit more vibrant, slightly richer. But for beginners, Georgian paints are more than enough, and they will cost you much less than the Rembrandt range. Next, to lay out our colors, we'll need a palette. There are several types, the classic wooden palette, disposable paper palettes, and also some glass palette. Personally, I always use disposable paper palettes for several reasons. First of all, they are extremely convenient. Once a painting session is over, I just throw the sheet away, and there is no need to clean anything. And cleaning a palette is something I really don't enjoy. Not only does it usually require solvents, which aren't really great for your health, but I also hate having to stop mid session just to clean my palette when it gets too messy. It completely breaks the rhythm of the painting process. Plus, disposable palettes aren't very expensive. For example, the ones I use comes from the action, and they cost around two euros. So it's pretty affordable option, and you end up using fewer solvents overall, which you would need more if you use the wooden palette, and they are a little expensive. So that's why I personally prefer working with paper palettes, but it's really up to you to pick up the ones that you prefer. Next to apply your paint, you will need brushes, and I use several different types. First, they are flat brushes like the ones you see here. I have them in various sizes, but they are generally fairly wide because I use them to cover large areas. For example, with this one, I can paint a background or I can paint a background or for a portrait with the flat brush I can block in a large area of skin like the forehead or with the painting of an animal, I can use it to lay in the fur or coat, applying the first layer before working in more details. So these are brushes meant for covering broad areas. And for this kind of brush, there's really no need to spend a lot of money. The gray handle ones that you see here, for instance, are really basic brush, very affordable and very cheap, and they work just fine. What matters most, in my opinion, is to use synthetic brushes, synthetic bristles. I find that the plant flows better with them, and the result feels less harsh or rough. That's just my personal preference, though. You should test and see what works best for you, synthetic or natural brushes. So these are the flat brushes. Then there are round brushes like the ones you see here in different sizes, some thinner, some thicker. These brushes are useful for working with a bit more precision. I don't use them for the finest details like eyelashes or individual hairs. But, for example, with this one, I can paint the white of the eye in a portrait. In a landscape, I might use it to paint a small bush in the distance. So they are not for ultra fine details, but they allow me to apply color in areas where a flat brush would be too wide and imprecise. They are perfect for those in between areas where you need more control. And finally, there are the detail brushes which I really like. I mainly use two types. The one on the left is a very fine round brush, perfect for painting small and delicate elements. For example, I use it to sign my work or to a tiny details in an eye like highlights in the iris. When painting a tree, I sometimes use it to play small individual leaves as well. It's great for precise work where a regular brush would be too large. The other one is a brush called the sweet brush, which I discovered not long ago, and it is fantastic. It's ideal for painting hair or fur, whether on a human or an animal. If you're working on the coat of a lion, a tiger, or any furry subject, this brush allows you to paint quickly, precisely and with many fine strokes. It's really an amazing tool. In some earlier tutorials, I wasn't using it yet. Instead, I used the Bigger brush, which is also good but a bit slower to work with. That's why I don't use the rigor brush anymore. It served its purpose, but the sword brush, it's just more efficient. It's the same thing, but even better. So I highly recommend getting one, especially for detailed work. And even for landscapes, it's very useful, for example, when painting in branches, thin and long branches. So those are the two main brushes I use for fine details. Ideally, you should try to have several brushes of each type of brush that I have shown you. That way you won't have to constantly clean your brushes during a painting session. For instance, if you are having very light find details, and then you want to switch to a darker one with a completely different color. Having multiple brushes allows you to pick just another one and no need to clean right away, which is much more convenient. When painting with oil, you will also need a solvent and an oil. For the solvent, the most common choice is turpentine. And I also use another one that comes from United States. It's called gamsol. And the solvent and oil are used together to create what is called medium. We'll go into more detail in the foundations course about how to make your own medium and why it is important to use one. The solvent, whether turpentine or gamsol is also essential for cleaning your brushes after each painting session. Water and soap alone aren't enough to clean oil paint off your brushes. You really need a solvent for that. As for the oil, there are several types. You will find linseed oil and poppy seed oil, for example. And personally, I use poppy seed oil because it doesn't yellow over time like linseed oil, and also it slows down the drying process a bit, which can be also pretty helpful. To create a medium, I use some small bottles like this one. I have several of them, and you can easily find similar ones online, for example, on Amazon at very reasonable prices. This tool is designed to help clean your brushes more effectively. It costs around ten to 15 euros. It's a small investment, but it is very useful one. Thanks to the metal grid inside, you can clean your brushes more forouhly without actually touching the solvent, since the solvent stays at the bottom and you just need to rub your brush against the grid. It's a really practical tool, and it helps extend the lifespan of your brushes so you won't have to replace them as often and you save a little money, therefore. When you start creating your first painting on canvas, you will need to protect them over time. And for that, you will need a varnish. There are several types of varnish available, and we'll see that for in the varnish part of the foundation course. And there is the ****** varnish and also the final varnish, like this gam var that I have. That's the one I personally use because it allows you to varnish your painting quite quickly as soon as the surface is dry, usually after two to three weeks, other varnishes often recommend waiting several months before applying them, which is not the case with the gam var. If you are painting on a canvas, you will need an easel. There are different types, but when you are just starting out, there is no need to spend a lot. Entry level easels that cost around 30 euros are more than enough. That's what I started with with basic beginner easels. It's only later once I become professional that I treated myself to a more advanced model like the one that you can see here, it cost a few hundred euros, but it allows you to raise and lower the canvas more easily and even rotate the eel if needed. But to begin with, simple entry level el is perfectly fine. And if you're painting on paper, you won't need one at all. You can simply work on a flat on a table. Here we have another type of medium, the liquid or the fluid and dry bi sane. They are actually the same thing. This medium is designed to spit out the drying time of your paint, but personally, that's not why I use it. I use this medium because it helps to thin the paint and make it more fluid. That's especially useful when you want to sign your work or when you are adding the final fine details to a painting like individual strands of hair in a portrait, for example. And finally, a few little objects that are actually quite useful. I bought them on Temu or Alli Express. I can't remember. They didn't cost much, and they are not meant for storing brushes after painting, but for holding them while I am painting. When I work, my brushes are loaded with paint, and I often switch from one to another. And instead of placing them randomly, I can quickly rest them on this holder. It keeps things tidy and helps avoid getting paint all over on the table, on my hands, or even on the walls. So with this setup, my brushes stay organized while I am painting, which is very useful. One last little tool that is also very useful is this. It helps you squeeze out the last bit of paint from your tubes when they are almost empty, but still have some paint left inside. And by turning the endle like this, you can recover what remains. And in the end, it adds up to a decent amount. I won't open the tube now to avoid wasting paint, but this tool is definitely worth having. And finally, there is one last item that I consider truly essential, a daylight bulb. Let me share with you a quick story. When I first started out, I was painting late at night under a regular yellow bulb. And next morning, when I looked at my painting in natural light, it clearly didn't work. The colors were of totally distorted by the yellow light, and the final just wasn't good. That's why I strongly recommend getting a daylight B. It costs around ten to 15 euros, but it allows you to paint late in the evening or even at night or simply when the lighting in your painting space isn't ideal. It's a small investment that can really make a big difference. Now, I know that when you add everything up, all these material can seem like a significant cost. I would say that with a budget of 100 to 150150 euros. You can get some really good tools to start with. And yes, it is a bit of money upfront, but most of this equipment would last for years, large tubes of paint to don't run out overnight. You will be able to use them for a long time. So that's everything you will need in terms of materials for this course. Thank you for watching. 3. Brush Techniques for Oil Painting: Control & Texture: In this video, we will explore the essential brush techniques that we will use during all the tutorial. So even if you are a little bit familiar with acrylic painting or oil painting, I strongly encourage you to watch this video carefully because this is very important. And this is something that the gestures that I will show you during this video, that is something that I will apply during all my videos. And during all my tutorials, I will use these brush techniques. And so it's really important that you take the time to watch this video. So in this video, I'm going to show you several things. First of all, I will show you how to prepare the colors on your palette properly because the painting that is in your painting, too, we won't use it like this. We will make a few adjustments so that our painting is even better. Then I will show you how to properly handle your brush, depending on the effect that you want to apply with your brush. And finally, I will show you how to apply properly the color on your canvas or on your paper because we are going to blend the colors in the future, to add some details. But to be able to do that in a good way and to have something realistic, we at first, need to have a good base, a good foundation with a color application. And it's really important to have a great color application at the beginning. So we are going to see many things during this video, really watch it carefully and most importantly, and importantly, practice all these brush techniques that I'm going to show you. Do them as I do them, practice them, sorry, as I practice them, and repeat it again and again, so to make sure that you perfectly master these brush techniques and rewatch the video if necessary to do it again and again. So let's get started. Let's move on to the step and take a look at how to properly apply color to the surface, and first of all, how to get the right paint texture on the palette. Because if the paint is too runny or on the contrary, not fluid at all, it's going to be difficult to paint properly. The first important thing to know is that oil paint is not water soluble. So if you want to so if I want to make my paint more fluid, I can't use water. It just won't work. We need to use either a solvent or or a mix of both called medium, but we will talk about oil and mediums later on. For now, let's focus on just the solvent. So here in my little bottle, I have some games il, but you can also use turpentine. It works in exactly the same way. I'm going to add a few drops of solvent to my paint to get a nice creamy texture. We are also going to take a look at which textures to avoid. So I have prepared three paint samples each with a different texture. At the bottom, we will have a paint that is too runny. In the middle, the ideal texture, and at the top, paint with no added liquid at all. And we'll look at the difference in application between these. So for this first one, I will start by adding some drops, too many drops. Using a pipet is great because it allows me to control the amount easily. And here I am deliberately going to add way too much solvent. This way, I end up with very runny paint, and we'll see how to use this type of texture or not how to use this type of texture. Now for the paint in the middle, I'll add fewer drops, just a few to get a slightly creamy texture. I don't want it to be too runny, but I also don't want it to be too stiff, like paint straight out of the tube. By adding just a few drops, maybe even one or two more, I will get a nice and creamy texture that will be much better for painting. And for the one at the top, I won't add any drops at all. And now we'll look at how to use these different paint samples to see the difference in applications. Let's take a look at how these free type of paints apply. So I will start with the most liquid one on my paper. When I pick it up and apply it, you can see that the paint spreads easily. The problem is, it is so rainy that it ends up being a bit transparent and doesn't cover very well. Also, when I will try to blend my colors, it's going to be a bit tricky. Now, if I use the paint that isn't diluted at all, like the one right here, when I apply it, it covers very well, but the issue is that I will have a hard time spreading the colors smoothly and blending colors together will also be complicated. Plus, it creates thick paint builds up. On the other hand, when I use my creamy paint, it covers well and spreads nicely. And if we zoom in, we can even see on the undiluted one, the one in the middle, that I ended up with a little lump of paint, which isn't very nice, and I didn't even do it on purples. And yet, that's the result I got. It's not ideal. But with the one in the middle, the creamy texture, you get a much more harmonious result. It covers well, and you will be able to create beautiful blends between your colors afterwards. Now that we have seen how to properly prepare the paint on the palette, let's take a look at how to hold the brush correctly. First, to clarify, I only use synthetic brushes because they are softer and give a better finish when painting. Most of the time, I hold my brush like a pencil like this. But depending on the situation, if I want to be really precise, I will hold it right at the tip like this. On the other hand, if I want to be more relaxed with my strokes, for example, when painting a blurry background, I will hold the brush at the end of the handle and work with the tip of the brush to create something a bit more loose and abstract. Basically, the way you hold the brush depends on the situation and the effect you want to achieve. Similarly, sometimes I will hold the brush like this. Especially when I need to paint from top to bottom on the canvas. Once again, it's the situation that determines the best grip to use. Now that we know how to load the brush, let's talk about how to properly load it with paint. We'll use this example. Loading the brush properly is important. If you put too much paint on it, it's going to be tricky for certain techniques. But if you don't load it enough, you won't get a good coverage. For instance, if I pick up just a tiny bit of paint, I won't get very far. So if I barely load it like this, you can see that I won't have enough to cover much surface. So you need to load your brush properly and evenly. On the flip side, if I overload it like this, well, you can see there is way too much paint on the bristles. When I start painting, I lose precision because all this paint will go onto the surface at once and create unwanted thickness. And that's exactly what we want to avoid in oil painting when we want to paint realistic. It takes more time to work with and usually means that you are covering a larger area if you load it too much. For example, if I just want to paint inside this circle, having this much paint on my brush makes it very difficult to stay within the lines. And have something smooth. After applying the paint, I end up with thick buildups like this, which is not something that I want. To avoid this, every time I pick up paint, I can twist my brush right in the palette so the whole tip is evenly coated with paint. I can also spin it slightly to control the amount better. This way, I can apply the paint more neatly with better control. Here I am using a medium size brush that is not meant for larger areas, so I only load it with what I actually need. And if I have a bigger area to cover, I won't overload this brush, I will simply switch to a larger one. So with the right paint, and by applying the right amount of paint to my brush, it becomes much easier to paint a circle precisely and properly. Now, let's take a look at the different types of brushes we have at our disposal when we paint. So when I paint, I can use several types of brushes, and each brush at has its own specific use, making it suitable for a particular situation. Remember, I only the only brushes I use are synthetic because it allows for a better result. So I have the flat brushes like this one. Then I have run brush like this. And then I have some very fine brushes, of which I have three type. I have the round brushes like this one, the sod brushes, and also the rigger brushes like this one. And so these are the different categories of brushes I use. But within each categories, I have several brushes. For example, for flat brushes, I have larger ones, as they are useful for covering wider areas. It's the same for round brushes. I have them in different sizes as well. I would say it is also important to have several because it saves you from constantly washing your brush. You can just switch to another one when you need to paint a different color area. Now, how do you apply paint with your brush? This is also very important. So when I apply paint, I start by loading my brush with the right amount of paint. But above all, what is crucial is that I try to stretch the color as much as possible. That means making sure to use everything that is on my brush and by stretching it properly, achieve a surface where the paint is smooth without fig blobs of paint like we have seen before. And this will be essential later for creating good blends and will really make my work easier. So when I am working on large areas like here, I can afford to take a bit more paint and make sure there is a certain thickness on the brush because I know I'm going to use all of it if the area is large. This flat brush, as you see here, will be especially useful when we want to cover large areas. For example, for a sky, when I am painting a landscape, the background of a steel life or even some elements of the steel life are big, or even for a portrait, I can use it. I can also use it, for instance, to paint someone's check. Or to apply a first layer of paint for the air. So the flat brush is a brush that is a very, very useful tool that I use with every painting. With this round brush, I load it with paint, and every time I paint, I also make sure to really stretch the paint as much as possible. For example, here I have my color, and I spread it carefully to avoid thick and heavy spots. This applies whenever I am using a brush of this size or larger brush like a this other one, which is another round brush. So the goal is always to spread the paint well to avoid brush marks because brush marks is not something that we want too much when you paint realistically. These brushes are very useful when you want to apply color without getting into too much detail right away. For instance, if I want to paint a cloud, I want to use the flat brush because it would be too imprecise. But with this brush, I can still lay down my color with enough control. Likewise, if I want to paint lips, these brushes will allow me to work precisely. For detail brush, I have this one, which I use the same way but for smaller areas. It allows me to work in tight spaces. You might notice that my red is a little tinted because I used this brush for another painting earlier and didn't clean it properly. And again, it's the same approach with these small brushes. Now for this one, for the sword brush, I use it mainly for drawing lines. For example, I use it a lot for painting hair or fur. However, I don't use it for the first layer because as you can see, the line tends to be a bit shaky, shaky when I paint directly onto white paper. I prefer to use it for the second layer, painting over the color that's already there and that's still fresh. And it's the same with this rigger brush, which works in the same way. The only difference is that I discovered the sword brush after this one. If I had found the swadbush first, I probably wouldn't have used the rigger brush, this one. But both serve the same purpose. They are great for drawing fine lines. I just find that the sword brush is a bit better. In most of my tutorials, though, you will see me using this rigger brush because I had already recorded a lot of videos before I discovered the sword brush. Now let's see how to apply or paint on different shapes. So here we have a large rectangle, some small circle and an organic shape that I came up with. We are going to see how to apply the paint properly on each of these different elements. So right here, we have a fairly large rectangle, so I can use my flat brush. I load it well and with paint. And if I see that I have picked up a bit too much, I just wipe some off. Then I start applying the color, making sure to really stretch it as much as possible. Right here, I notice that some paint has built up on the upper part of my brush. So I wipe that off too, then spread the paint while still focusing on stretching it. What I want to avoid is leaving thick marks like this, so I make sure to spread the paint as much as I can. I get close to the edges, I can use the edge of my brush, the edge being the narrow part of the brush. Up to this point, I have mostly been painting with the flat side, but with the edge, I can pick up a bit of paint, type it into the area, and apply it more precisely. I work like this, and on the side, since the angle is right, I can continue applying my paint while keeping it well stretched. And even with a flat brush, I can still be precise, especially by using the edge like I did before. For example, I'm going to load my brush well with paint, place it along the line, and apply my color while keeping the line as straight as possible. And I can continue and work with the overside of the brush as well. And for the lower part, I can paint in the other direction just like this. There's nothing stopping me from painting in either direction, and at the end, I make sure that the paint is properly stretched everywhere. Here I have done everything with a flat brush. But if I were working on a subject where I needed extremely precise edges, I probably wouldn't have just used a flat brush. I would have combined several brushes to achieve the best possible precision. Now let's paint these smaller rectangles. To paint them, I need to be fairly precise, definitely more precise than I have been so far. So here I can use a round brush like this one because it allows me to be precise while still covering a fairly large area. So I can start by painting the outline with this brush. As soon as I notice I am running low on paint that it's no longer gliding smoothly and leaving white spots, I can reload my brush. Then I make sure to go over my area properly. For this rectangle, I think I could have used a slightly larger brush since the area is quite white. But what we can do, for example, is I can paint the edge with this brush because I need precision and then fill in the inside with the flat brush to paint it a little bit quickly, more quickly. And when I paint with this flat brush, I'm being careful not to overload it with paint. Otherwise, it will be hard to spread the color evenly, and that works pretty well. Next, we can do the same thing with this other rectangle that is not in the same direction, and this way, we can work differently. So here at the bottom, I start by working on the edge of my rectangle again with this run brush, and then I can I can fill in the inside with the flat brush again. This run brush lets me secure my area and paint it precisely. And then for the insides where I don't need as much precision, I can use the flat brush to spread the color smoothly. If I notice I have applied too much paint, like here, you will see, for example, where I have a bit of a buildup, if it's not too much, I can gently dab to try and spread the excess. Otherwise, I'll pick up some of the paint, wipe the excess of my brush, and then go back to spreading the painting. Then I wipe off the excess again if necessary with a tissue, and there we go. That's just what I needed. Now I am going to work on the small rectangle. Since they are a bit smaller, I will need to be even more precise. I am still using the same brush, but I make sure not to have too much paint on the tip, so I can keep good precision. Then I can spread the color like this, and I will do the same for the 02. Using synthetic brush really helps me avoid visible brush marks. That's often an issue with natural hair brushes, which are usually made from hog bristles. With those brushes, the bristles are stiffer and harder, which tends to leave more visible brush marks. Depending on the effect you want, this can be interesting. But generally, when aiming for a realistic result, you try to keep those mark as subtle as possible. So that's why I don't recommend very much the natural hair brushes. 4. Brush Techniques for Oil Painting: Control & Texture, Part II: Now I am going to continue with the work on the circles. To start, I will once again work on the outline first using this fairly fine brush. Working on the outline really helps me secure my work. Then when I move on the painting onto the painting, the larger area inside, I will be less likely to go over the edges into the neighbouring zone because I have this contour that is kind of protecting this area next to it. And when I paint the outline, I really try not to overload the brush because otherwise, it creates areas that where the paint is a bit too thick and the result doesn't look very nice. For the small circle as well, I use the same brush. But for the larger circle, I painted the inside with the flat brush. And now I can do the same thing for the organic shape here. And once again, I start by painting the outline to secure the area, and then I will move on to filling in the inside. When I paint the outline like this, it is completely normal if I don't get something that is perfectly straight. You can see for the circle or rectangles I've done, the edges aren't 100% straight, and there are even some tiny little white spots. And that's perfectly normal. It is due to the texture of the paper or the canvas. Even when painting on very fine grain surfaces, you still see this effect, but all of that will disappear, and I will be able to get a clean and straight edge without those little texture mark once I paint the outline with another color, I never leave the white of the paper or canvas visible because I want the edges to be well painted with no small imperfections like this one. And to achieve this, I cover the outline with another color, even white if I want to keep it light or as I am going to do now with blue. So now I'm going to paint right next to this organic shape with my blue color. I have added some blue to my palette, ultramarin blue, and now I'm going to start painting all around my element. So I fully load my brush with paint, and then I press it down a little on my palette. This way, the brush becomes thinner, which makes it easier for me to paint this outline precisely. Next, I apply the blue all around my element, taking my time and making sure to be delicate and precise. I try to make the two colors barely touch so we get a nice clean edge between them. There will be plenty of situation where we will want to do some blending. We'll see that later. But in this case, it is important that the colors don't mix. I just want them to barely graze each other to keep things clean and precise. So I keep going with my color, working my way around like this. I go back over it with whatever paint is left on my brush or I reload it if necessary. As you can see here, I'm working like this from one small point to another one. Sometimes I can see that it is a bit tricky. For instance, this area right here, the painting of the outline in here is a bit tricky for me to continue in that direction. So what I do is I start a little further along like I'm doing here and then work my way along the edge until I reach this area I already painted. Sometimes you have to adjust depending on your position. To get the most comfortable with. For example, here I am adapting and I had my hand placed like this. Now that I want to paint over here, I can switch my support. Often, I like to use my little finger as a resting point. As you could see, I rest my pinky, so I can paint precisely around the edge, and I do the same on this side. You might not see it very well on camera, but here, I had to do it like this to have a proper support. The work I just did with this brush, I can also do it with a flat brush. So here I load the brush with a bit of paint, and I also flatten it on my palette to get a thinner edge that will help me to be more precise. Then I can work around the outline of my rectangle. You can see that I am using the edge of the brush to be as precise as possible. And ideally, you should try to do it in one single stroke. The result will be cleaner that way. That's say, this isn't necessarily the brush I would recommend for painting outlines. I would generally go for something finer to get better precision. But sometimes depending on the situation, it can work. It is doable. Now my advice is to practice this and repeat the exercise on all the shapes we have worked on going over the outlines again, just like we have done here, but with all the shapes. I have added some white to my palette. Now, let's say I want to lighten some area of my circle. What I can do is mix some white with a bit of red. I take just a small amount of red, and then I can paint over the surface. For example, here I picked up my color, and I press firmly with my brush and apply it over the area. Then I'm going to use a technique called blending to make color mix together. Blending is a term you will hear often. I'll say that often, and I do it often. Here, I'm making sure to press well so that my color blending it nicely with the one underneath. Now if I want, I can also try to avoid blending the colors, but it is a bit trickier to do this over a large area. On small sections, though, it works well. For example, if I want to have just a small eyelight, I can pick up some white, and instead of pressing like before, I gently lay it down. I am really very light with the brush. And I will need to reload the brush more often because I am depositing quite a bit of paint each time. And naturally, this creates a bit of texture as well. I often use this technique. For example, when painting leaves and I want to have a highlight, a very bright spot, I need to apply a lighter color over a dark tone. And so I have to do this kind of technique. And you can see here by just laying down the paint with the tip of the brush, I am able to make this area lighter. And as expected, it is slightly thicker in this spot. What matters here is the pressure you apply with your brush. For instance, when I press firmly, the white really doesn't stand out much. But if I press very lightly, I get a different effect. The painting lays down but doesn't blend as much. This can be done with light colors, of course, like we did, but also with dark colors. And in fact, it's even easier to apply a dark color other lighter one. For example, applying white over this red here was a bit harder than using the ultramyn blue. So with the blue, I can apply it and blending it in. You can see. And you can see that since the blue is darker, it goes on really easily. If I want, I can also just lay it down like I did with the white, so the color stays a nice ultramarn blue. Like here, the colors remains almost pure ultramarine blue, just like the section next to it. And over there on the right, it tends to get more of a purple tone. Here is something else that can be very useful when you are working and painting over an element. This happens quite often, especially when you want to create some special effects. For example, right here, I'm going to use an old brush, well worn brush here. And if I pick up a bit of blue paint, I can apply it to create this kind of rough, scratchy texture. This works well for creating texture like when you are painting a tree with irregular branches and irregular foliage. So I can tap the brush to lay down this texture. You can really see here the impact of pressure that I mentioned earlier. If I press firmly on the brush, I get a darker result. But if I use a lighter touch, the paint comes out lighter. So you can really play with the pressure on your brush to achieve different effects, and not only with a well worn brush like this, but with every kind of brush, the pressure you apply on the brush really helps to create different things. Finally, to finish up with brush techniques, there's also the use of fine brush like this one. These are really great for adding small details. For example, I can have lots of little dots over my red area, remembering, of course, to reload the brush regularly, and I make sure to load the brush well. So there's a bit of paint build up on the tip, and then I place this little dot. I can also use it to create different patterns, little flecks, varied shapes for the painting of leaves or for the texture of the leaves. And this kind of brush is really useful for adding fine details like this. What I can also use is my rigor brush and my sword brush. I prefer the sword brush, like I said. And so here I'm going to load it with white paint, and I can use it to draw lines over the surface. And this is something I use a lot when drawing the hair or drawing the fur of animals because I like to paint these lines over a first layer that is still wet to create a nice texture a nice fur texture effect. And what this technique is very useful, like I said, and you can see that the brush holds a lot of paint, which is handy for working in ever direction and to add a lot of different lines and sew a lot of different hairs, for instance. And with this brush, we are not limited to straight lines ever. For example, we can draw little waves like this or even very long lines, as you will see right here. Another thing with this brush is that the way you hold it, it will allow you to create lines that are either thinner or thicker. If I really try to work with just the tip, I can get a nice fine line, but on the other hand, if I flatten it and work with the side, I will get much thicker lines like this. So this brush is really fantastic for working on long lines and, of course, short ones as well. So that's it for this part. I hope you took the time to practice all these techniques shown in this video. Now I have an extra challenge for you. On your paper, draw other shapes, other rectangles or squares, circles, or even more complex shapes and try to paint inside them without painting over. And make sure that you are stretching your painting very well so that you have a surface that is really smooth. And then apply some texture on top, some little dots, some little lines with some other colors, use different colors, and then try to paint all around these shapes that you have applied without overlapping, without painting over these first colors that you apply, just to make sure that you are creating a very tiny blend between these colors that they are just barely touching each other. So I thought it would be a pretty nice challenge for you to practice these brush techniques again. Now it's time to practice. 5. How to Clean Oil Painting Brushes Properly: In this video, we will focus on something that is mostly overlooked by artists and also that many artists hate, but that is absolutely essential the brush cleaning. Brush cleaning is very important because it helps you to make your brushes last longer to keep them flexible. And also, it prevents your brush to keep some older painting, for example, if you have some green on your brush, and the next time you're going to use this brush again, mixing some yellow, let's say, well, you don't want to have your brush dirty, and so it's important clean them. And I'm going to show you how because with oil painting, unlike with watercolor or acrylic, you can't just you can't just clean your brush with water and soap. So I'm going to teach you how to do that because it is important to make your brush last longer, and cleaning your brush properly is also making some progress with painting. So let's see how to do that right now. So these are all the tools that I will be using. I have some water, a bowl of water, some soap only made for fine art, some tissue, and some gamsil. Instead of gamsil, you can also use turpentine. I think it's best to use fine art turpentine because it's probably better for your brushes and also for health. And I have this container that has some gamsol in it. Inside, I have some gamsil like I said, and I'm going to clean my brush in it. I don't change my Gamso after every time I clean my brush, otherwise, I would use too much. No, I change it for every several months. For instance, there have been something like three months since the last time I change it. And inside this container, there is this thing. I don't know how to say it in English. I'm sorry. And I'm going to scrub my brush inside the container and inside this. And therefore, all the pigments of my painting, there will go at the bottom of my container. And so my brush will be clean, and this is a very great tool. It changed a lot for me the way I clean my brush. And so, first thing I do with this brush that is full of painting, I'm going to remove as much as painting as possible with this tissue. I won't be able to remove all of it, but I try to remove most of it. The next step, I'm going to put my brush inside this container and rub it against the thing I shown you. And this way, all the pigments that are on my brush, they will disappear and go at the bottom of this container. So I don't press too hard on my brush. I don't want to damage it. I do it very softly, and that will be enough to remove the painting of it. So I'll do it for several seconds, and then I can dry it a little bit. My brush is clean, as you can see it. It's a little bit bird. I'm sorry, but there's still a little bit this kind of colour juice from the gamsol and all the pigments that are in it. And I like that my brush will be a little bit more clean. So what I'm going to do now is that I'm going to use the soap. I could not use the soap, but it will be okay. My painting will be clean. There wouldn't be any painting that would dry on my brush. But I prefer that my brush will be even more clean. So that's why I'm going to use this soap now. I dip my brush in the water, had a little soap, and then I'm going to make it a shampoo, give, give it a massage, and then it will be perfectly clean and ready to use for next painting moment. So this shampoo, the soap step, I'm not going to do it every time I clean my brush, but I do it every now and then to make my brush in a better shape. And to be more efficient, I like to clean several brush at a time because it takes a little bit of time. And when I paint sometimes in an afternoon, depending on what I'm painting, I can use up to 20 brushes sometimes. So to be faster, I may use several brushes. And so my brush is not perfect, but thanks to this method, it lasts longer and it still has quite a good shape. And so let me show you this product Miracle. And it's from Windsor and Newton. It's not a sponsored video. It's just a very good product. I wanted to share with you. It's the brush cleaner and restorer. And so I use it when I forget to clean my brush, and you can see with this jar that I have forgotten quite a few times. And so I put my brush in this container for 24 hours, and then my brush will clean. It won't be perfectly clean, but at least it will be usable again. I will be able to use it again. And also, one thing that is very, very important. When you cleaned it with this product, clean it with soap and turpentine. You have to remove that product off your brush. Otherwise, you are going to ruin your painting because if you have some of this product on your brush, it will remove the painting off your canvas, and that's not something that you want. So don't forget to clean it after. 6. How to Clean Your Oil Painting Palette: This video, we will look at how to clean your palette if you are not using a palette throwable palette, a palette of paper. If you are using a frowable palette, you can skip this video. Maintaining a clean palette is essential to keep your workspace tidy and most of all, to avoid some mix between your colors that you don't want. So I will show you how to do that after your painting session. And it is really essential to maintain that discipline of cleaning your palette after each session of painting or anytime that your palette is completely loaded and that you want to create some new mixtures between your colors. To clean my palette, I'm going to need some turpentine, a sponge, some water, and some tissue. So the first thing I'm going to do now is with some tissue, I will try to remove as much as painting as possible. I will do it several times if necessary in this area to remove as much as painting as possible. And then I'm going to spill some turpentine directly over my palette. I spill some turpentine, and I'm going to rub it with my sponge until I can no longer see the color, and all I can see is some kind of painting juice on my palette. Of course, I prefer to say it. It seems very obvious, but you don't use the sponge anymore to clean the dishes. You never know nowadays. So that's why I'm saying. And now with this juice, I'm going to remove it from my palette. And the last step will be to spill some water over my palate and to remove this water with the tissue and my palette, then we'll be pretty clean. Of course, there will still be a little bit of painting that will be kind of inside the wood and that you won't be able to really clean to really remove. But the palette is still pretty clean. And so it took a few minutes, and that's one of the reasons I like to use a throwable palette so I don't have to clean it every time that I am painting. And when I'm painting a day, I'm changing my palette like three or four times in a day if I paint if I have a very long day of painting. And also, it's turpentine. It's not really good for health if you breathe that. And so that's why I don't really like to clean a palette, and I like frowable palette. And if you use this kind of palette, I think it's really best if you can clean it outside. And so this is it. My palette is clean. 7. What Is Painting Medium and how to Use It in Oil Painting: In this video, we are going to learn how to create our medium with oil painting and how to use it. If you are painting with acrylic, this video is useless for you. If you're painting with acrylic, I only recommend that you use something to slow down the drying time and so that you can paint in the same manner that we do with oil painting. So for oil painting, you don't need water. You need to create a medium. And to create this medium, we will need two things. We will need solvent like turpentine or ganzil and we will need some oil, like linseed oil, popped oil. And there are already some oil in your painting tube, but we are going to create some medium that will contain some oil and some solvent. This medium that we will be creating will be very helpful and necessary to respect the fat of lean rule. This is the only rule that is important in oil painting. This rule says that the more layers that you are adding, each new layer must contain more oil than the layer before, because if you don't use more oil in your new layer, there will be some crackles that will appear over time. In a few weeks or a few months. Crackles appear on your painting centuries after. That's the case for the painting of Da vinci, Rafael, et cetera. But these paintings are very hot and crackles appear naturally. But if you don't respect this fat or velan rule, there will be some crackles that will appear over time. We are going to see how to create our medium and how to use it to avoid these crackles over time and to respect the fat ovine rule. Let's get started. Now we are going to create mediums and to create my mediums, these are all the materials that I'm going to need. I will need this fenol these five little flask, this syringe, some gamsil and some poppy oil. If you want, you can also use some lime and oil if you prefer, and also any other solvent that you can use with oil painting. I have these five flask and I have some labels on it to write down uh, how many oils there is in this flask and how many gamsle I'm going to put in the different flask. I have also added some colors because thanks to this, it is easier for me to notice which flask is the right one when I need to use it. And the lighter is the color on the flask. It means the lighter it will be oil. In this one, since it is white, my lightest color, it's going to be the flask with the less oil in it. And so this one with the darkest color will be the flask with the more oil in it. Thanks to these different flask and these different mediums, we are going to be able to respect the flat overlin rule with oil painting. Most of the time, I will use only the free flask and these two, I will explain to you afterwards why I also need these two additional flask with my different medium. Let's create first medium in this one in the latest one with the white color. It will be my first medium and in this one, I will use only some gamsil because thanks to this, I will be able to have some paint on my palette that will be more creamy and with a better texture to use to paint afterwards on a paper or on a canvas. It's going to be really easy in this one. I will just put some canvas in it. Afterwards, when I will have to paint, I will have thee to put some droplets on my paintings and to make my painting a little bit more creamy. So it's really it will be very easy, and I will show you afterwards how to do it. So for the first one, I am only using some gamsol and I am using my funnel to put that gamsol inside. And thanks to this, my painting, when I will apply some droplets on it will be a little bit more creamy and I will prefer its texture. The second one, I will use some games oil and some oil, but in some proportions, I will use 90% of gamsil in this one and 10% of oil and thanks to this, I will respect the fat ovolin rules. That is to say, if I have to apply a second layer of paint, I will put some droplets on my painting this one with this medium, and my painting will have more oil because in this one there is 10% of oil and the first one there was not any oil. Thanks to this, the fat or violin rule will be respected because there will be more oil in my painting. To do it, I'm going to use the syringe. It will help me to be more accurate. But if you don't have any tools like this one, you can try to do it with your eye to be quite accurate, but you won't be as much as you can be with a syringe. It is better to have a tool like this one to do. And so now with the second one, I will use 90% of gemsil and 10% of oil. My jar has miser 100 millimeters. So it's really easy to have the right proportion. And so afterwards, I will put some oil with my syringe. But if you don't have one, you can also do it with your eye. Of course, you will be less accurate, but I think it is okay, so you can also do it in this way if you prefer. And so most of the time when I paint, I only use these two different mediums because I paint most of the time with one layer, and I apply a second one for the small details like the air. But since I am foresighted, I prefer to create five ones to make sure that I have enough medium just in case. In the third one, I'm going to use 75% of gamsil and 25% of oil. It's pretty rare that I have to apply a third layer, but sometimes I have to. That's why I would need to create another one. Thanks to this, once again, the fat overline rule would be respected because in this one, there will be 25% of oil and in this one, there was 10% of oil. Once again, I would just put some droplets on my painting to add this medium to it. Now I have these two last mediums. You may wonder why would you create two other medium since you probably most of the time don't use the first one. Well, sometimes I made some mistakes and I notice it months or weeks after my work is finished, or I want to modify, change my work. I think that I have to do some corrections because I think I can improve it or some things there are some things that I don't like and I want to change. So I have to apply another layers on it and I create and so that's the reason why I have these two medium. This one will have more oil because weeks or months after I have created a painting, I don't exactly remember how many oil I have put on my canvas or on my paper. I'm not very sure. Since I really want to respect that fat over lean rule, I have to create some mediums that are heavier that have more oil. And in this one, there will be 50% of oil and in this one, 75% of oil. And by doing it this way, I am very sure that if I had some droplets to my painting, it will be, more fat than the layers that I had applied before. Thanks to this, the fat Olin rule will be respected once again. I create a second one also because sometimes when I retouch a painting, when I modify it, I may have to apply two layers, and so thanks to this, I will have two mediums that will be very fat and I will be able to create the sorry, to respect this fat overline rule. So, these are the two last one that I'm going to create now. So let's start the application of this fat of lein rule. So right here, I have my palette. I have the burnt umber, color, my medium number one with gamsol, it can be also 100% turpentine. That's fine, as well. And my brush. So I put my painting on my palette, and to this painting, I'm going to add a little bit of my medium number one, just a few droplets. So the aim for me is to respect this fat of lein rule, but it's also to create a better texture to my painting. I want to have a cream texture. My painting, I want my painting, I want it to be like creamy because otherwise, without the medium, it is a little bit too hard and it doesn't really glide slide on the canvas when I apply it. And on the contrary, if I apply too much, my painting will be too liquid and it won't be very good. And so I mix it with my brush, by the way. Many people mix with a knife, personally. I don't see really the point. I like my good old fashioned brush, and so that's the way I'm doing. Now I paint this first layer with 100% gamsol. I'm going to paint this area down there. And while I apply my color like I always do, I stretch and spread my color as much as possible. And for this layer, since it doesn't have oil in it, it won't slow down the drying time and also it's burnt umber, pure burnt umber, which dries very quickly. So in less than 24 hours, my painting will be dry and we'll be ready to move to the next step. So let's move on to the next area. I'm going to paint this blank area. And well, my area with the burnt umber is dry, so it's fine. And I'm going to paint with the second medium because on this line that I have just shown you, there might be a little bit of my new color that will touch this area. Therefore, if I don't have something that has more oil, then I might have some crackles in there. So that's why I think it's best to paint this entire area with my second medium. I could also paint this entire area with the medium one and apply the medium two only for the area where the two colors touch. But since I don't use a lot of layers, I don't I don't mind, and I will use my medium number two for the entire area. So this is the second color that I have created. So I have added some droplets of my second medium in the same proportions that what I did with the first one. This medium has 10% oil and 90% games all it has more oil in it, and therefore, the fatovlin rule will be respected. Now I can paint this area with no problem at all. So I apply the pink color, and it will touch the area of the burnt umber, but it's not a problem since my color has more oil now thanks to this second medium that I have added. Well, you will see my lines aren't perfectly straight, but it's not a problem. In this video, it's not the point. It's really that you understand the fat ovalin rule. And then I will let my painting dry and we'll explain to you what I will do next. So I have my areas that are dry now, and I'm going to be able to work on the last step that I will do. I will draw some lines that will go from the pink area till the burnt umber. And so since I want my colors to have more oil than the layer before, so I will have my medium free so that the fat of line will be respected and I will be able to paint over this pink area. And as well as this burnt umber area, it will also have more oil. Now I'm going to apply a few droplets of my medium number three on this green color. And so it has 25% of oil in this medium. I will apply the same proportions. And therefore, my color will have more oil than this layer of pink and more oil as well than this layer of burnt amber. My pink area is now well dried, so I can apply this new layer of color. And so layer, my green color has more oil than the other one. So the fat ovelin rule is respected. And so it's not that hard. What you also what you have to do is to remember what medium you apply in which area of your painting. And this is something that you can write down if necessary, so you remember. 8. How To Create a Plain Background in Oil Painting: Let's see how to paint a background, a plain background. Painting a plain background might seem pretty simple, pretty secondary, and yet it isn't isn't simple. And if you don't have a plain background that is properly done, then it's going to break the harmony of your artwork. A background that is done properly, you almost don't notice it. What you see is your main subject. For instance, if you are painting a portrait with a blue background, like you will see in the video. Well, you don't notice the background. You notice the portrait. But if the background isn't done properly, then you will notice this background, and it will make your painting feel incomplete. You will feel like something is wrong with your painting, and that will be your background. And that's a shame because you will probably have many efforts into your portrait painting, for example. So I'm going to show you how to paint a plain background properly, and what are the things to avoid when you are painting a plain background. And you will see that crafting a good background is art in itself. So let's get started. So let's see how to paint a plain background. So I start with this color, this blue green color, and we are going to see how to do it just right here to apply properly the colorful background. And then I will show you with a portrait that I have painted, how I with that. So I have a flat brush. It's really the tool that you need if you are painting plain background because you won't see much the brush strokes and to make sure that the brush strokes aren't noticeable and that I don't have some area that are too thick, I try to spread and stretch the painting as much as I can in the best way and in the way that I show you on another video. As I've applied my painting right here, I have realized that there was a little bit of some dried painting, and that's really something that you don't want to have on your background. It's really not beautiful. So remove it if you see it. This happen if one of tube of painting was not closed perfectly, and so a little bit of painting dries on the edges of your painting tube. And so make sure that you remove it when you are painting. Let me show you what I don't want. I don't want to have something like this when I paint the background, an area that is too thick because it won't look good and also there will be more light reflection on your painting in this area when it will dry. And so that's really not something that I want. So make sure you don't overload your brush when you are taking some painting on your palette. And so when I have something like this, I take the painting and apply it in another area, or I can remove it on a tissue or on a cloth if I have painted the entire area. So really, you don't have to have something like that. And so I keep applying this back and forth movement with my brush. And when I do it, sometimes I can take some extra painting that I notice in the area and apply it in another area that is blank and keep applying this back and forth. So it's a back and forth movement. So it's not very that hard, and really, you have to stay focused on the entire background to do this. So right now we have a result that is pretty good for this area, but I can also improve it if I want, and I'm going to use a special tool that I'm going to show you right now. It is the fan brush. And so with this fan brush, I'm going to improve my background even more. So I'm going to do the same thing, some back and forth movement. And as I do it, I can take a little bit of extra painting again. And if all my areas are painted, I can remove it on a tissue, cloth, et cetera, or I can apply it in some areas that haven't been painted yet. And so I will do this back and forth movement with all this area until I'm satisfied with the results. So that's really something more to make it even better your background. And now we're going to see how I deal with the painting of a background for a portrait, for instance. So this is a short video from my complete course to paint this man portrait, and we're going to see how to paint this background. So for the background, I have two different blues because there are two different areas. One is lighter than the other. And the first thing that I'm going to do is not to paint the entire background. The first thing I'll do is to apply some painting all around his head because by doing this, I am sort of protecting the man I am painting. Because if I paint it with the flat brush all around without doing it first, like right now, then there might be some blue color that go on this man's face, and that's not something that I want because I have spent so much time painting it. And so, first thing I do, I paint all around with this small round brush, and then I will be able to paint this entire background with a big flat brush. Now that I have painted the outline, I can start the painting of the rest of the background. I have painted only half of the background of the outline because on the left side, it is lighter, and so I will do it with my lighter blue afterwards. And so with this flat brush, I can paint this big area stretching, spreading as much as color as possible in the way I have shown you. And this way, I will have a nice background of course it takes a little bit of time, but that's worth it because if I don't take that extra time to paint this background, well, the result might be not very good, and in the end, my painting will be not as good as I want it to be. And so that's why it is important to, well, take your time to paint this background. Evora. 9. How to Blend Colors Smoothly in Oil Painting: This video, we are going to see how to create some blending between the colors. A blending is something that we will be doing all the time. When you are creating an object and that you want to create a transition between the different colors, you will use some blending. So I'm going to show you how to do it because it is an essential step that you will have to master. And so you have to practice and to do it as well, using my tips to create some nice blending. If your blending isn't perfect, at the end of this exercise, don't panic. It's completely normal, and it's not a problem. In this course, you are going to do many, many exercises, sorry. And in all of these exercises, I will be using the blending technique. And I will remind you of how to use the blending technique and how to create a nice blend between the different colors. So grab your brush and let's blend together the color. Have these two colors on my palette that are quite different from one another. And the first thing, I'm going to apply this light one. And just like when I apply my color, I try to stretch and spread it as much as possible. Then I'm going to clean my brush on my clothes. No need for Gemzol or Turpentine right now. And I'm going to apply this dark one right next to it. And I apply it in the same manner that what I did with the first one. So I remove the painting again and spread as much as possible of this painting. And as I apply my brush strokes, I get closer to this light color right next to it, and then these two colors blend together. The result is okay, but I think we can do something better. That's what I'm going to show you. But in some very rare cases, we don't have much of a choice, and we have to do it like this. But right now, I'll show you another way. So what we are going to do now is to create some intermediate colors. And this way, my transition will be better. So first thing, I'm taking some of these very light color and just a little bit of this dark one. And I'm going to create another one, but this time, there will have my color will have a little bit more of this burnt umber color in proportion. And as these two colors are very different from one another, I'm going to create a third intermediate color. And this way, I will have a very great and nice transition between these two colors. So I have all these colors now, and we are going to blend them again and see how to do it with this approach. So I start with this light one. I up clean my brush, of course, and try to stretch and spread it as much as possible. Once again, I really insist. What I don't want is one area with a lot of painting like this, but it's too thick. It's going too hard to blending it. So if I have too much painting, then I remove it on a tissue or personally, I do it on my clothes, it's faster. Now I can take a little bit of my first intermediate color, and I'm going to apply it in the same manner that what I did with the first one. And I will apply some small soft brush strokes that go on both area. And this way, these two areas of colors, they will blend together and will become just one big color, and it will be done very naturally, and there will be a very nice transition between these two colors. I have removed the brush on my palette, and I do it with the second intermediate color in the same manner. H. And so I can do it now with the third intermediate color. Well, I have applied a little bit too much of painting, so I'm going to remove some of it with my tissue to apply my blending in a better manner. And most of the time, when I blend, I have to remove some painting because when you blend, you are actually stretching even more the color. And so there will be some painting that accumulate on your brush, and you have to remove it to pursue your blending and make all this area very natural together and to have something very smooth. So we're almost done, and we can see that this area that we have just worked on is bigger than the first one, but it's okay. If I had wanted to do something with the same size or even something very, very small, I could have done it as well. I would have done my blending with a smaller brush. And this blending thing, I'm going to do it with everything. I do it when I paint a portrait, when I paint animal, still life. For everything, it is useful and for any area, almost every area, I'm going to do this. To improve it and make it even better, I'm going to use a flat brush now that is perfectly clean. I'm going to apply some brush strokes that will be very, very gentle, very light. I barely touch the painting just a little bit, so these colors blend together. And once again, there will be some painting that will go on my brush by doing this. And so I remove it with a tissue and then go back and do it again. And right here, we have a transition, blending between these colors. That is pretty good. Now, let's see with something real, just not some exercise on the paper. And I'm going to show you for the painting of this portrait, so how I have made my blending. So first of all, I applied all these colors in this area. So there is a wide variety of different skin tones. And so I applied them all and also some intermediate color between some dark area, for instance, and some lighter ones. And now with my flat brush, I am blending all these colors together. So I apply brush strokes in the direction that I want my area to look like. And every time that I apply some brush strokes, there will be some painting that will accumulate stack up on my brush, and so I will have to remove that painting, and I'll do that with a tissue just like right here, for instance. And then I go back to painting this area to make sure that I have a very smooth surface with the right colors at the right place. And then I will be able to start working on the details of this area. So my blending is almost done for this area. Of course, the video was fastened. I don't apply some very fast brush strokes. It wouldn't make sense. And when I will have a very smooth area, I will be able to apply some details on this forehead. And so this is how this forehead area looks like right now. All these colors are blending together. I have a very nice basis, and I'm going to apply some details to this area right now. 10. Oil Painting Blending Exercise for Beginners: Now we are going to do an exercise on the blending technique and creating gradients in the different areas that you can see. The goal will be to start from something very dark from burn timber all the way to red. So to create a nice gradient. On my palette, I'm going to create several intermediate colors. The first will be red with a very small touch of burn timber. And then the closer we get to burn timber, the larger the amount of that color will be in order to create a gradient with smooth transitions and not something too abrupt. The other tool that is going to be very useful for me to do this work on the background is my tissue. So let's go. I'm starting with this color at the very top and I start with the burn tumber that I apply in the area. If you go outside the lines, it doesn't matter. The goal here is not for precision exercise. You will see that I also go a bit over the edges, and we don't care because the goal is really to work on the blending. Then I move on to the next color, a fairly dark red, and we are going to try to create a good transition between our two elements, a good blend. So I apply this red in the area, and now I'm going to make sure to remove the paint that is on my brush with the tissue. And using back and forth movements like I am doing here, I'm going to create a blend a transition between these two colors. I apologize, by the way. It's a bit difficult for me to show you the exact movement without my hand blocking the view on the screen. But you already saw the technique earlier with the other video. So we use back and forth strokes to make sure we get a good transition between our colors. So there we go. So there between these first two colors, I found that the work was satisfactory, so I move on to the next. And again, I remove the paint that is on my brush, and with multiple back and forth strokes, I managed to create a good transition between the elements. Now, here I made a small mistake on my palette, which is that my color is too diluted. It's too liquid. I put too much medium at the beginning, and so it makes the task a bit more complicated to achieve the blend. That's why it is important to have a good consistency in your paint, something creamy and not too liquid. On the upper part, I found that it was no longer dark enough, so I reworked it and reapplied a little bit of burnt timber at the top part. So what I am showing you right now, having a lot of intermediate colors is really the ideal way. This is how we manage to get the best transitions. If, for example, we only use burned tumber and red without intermediate colors, and we did many, many back and forth movements while wiping the brush properly, we could get a fairly decent results. Sometimes in paintings where I have to achieve a blend between two very different colors in a very small area, a very small space, I have no choice, and I am forced to do it without real intermediate colors. We can achieve it. It's true, but it sometimes take more time doing it like this. It's more complicated and also requires more experience to get a great result. So here, really the best is to create, as we are doing, a wide range of intermediate colors to achieve a transition between our colors that looks natural. So we did it on this larger area, and now we are also going to do it on these two small rectangles. Horizontally first and then again, vertically like we just did, but on a smaller format. And these exercise that we are doing here, I really recommend that you practice doing it, practicing with these two colors, burn tamber and red, but also practicing it with other colors. For example, ultramarine blue and white or burn tamber and yellow with colors that are very different because it makes the task a bit more complex. And by training with colors that are very different and with a more difficult exercise like we are doing it right now. It will make your work easier afterward when you will have to do it in other paintings where the colors will be much closer, much more similar. It will be easier for you to do it because you will have trained with colors that are quite extreme and completely opposite. And this blending technique that we are seeing here is fundamental, and we use it all the time, all the time, all the time in painting. So that's why you should really take the time to work on this fundamental exercise and do it again and again and again. I know that it is not the most fun thing to do. Let's say we all want to create beautiful paintings with great subjects like landscapes, animals, portraits, whatever. But before moving on to these kinds of painting spend time on these fundamental exercises because they will really help you. It is something that we do. Truly, I am not exaggerating. We do it dozens and dozens of times in each painting. So that's why it is really important to master it completely. So here I'm just working a little bit again on the area above because my dark color area wasn't standing out enough anymore. And that's something that happens very often when we do a blending. Blending softens our colors and makes the contrast less strong, meaning that the dark colors become a little less dark and the light colors a little less light as well. So sometimes blending improves our result, but we also need to rework a little bit what we did to make sure that all our values are well maintained. So here I rework it, and it's often the case after blending. Okay? And, well, that's pretty good for this exercise of blending. I hope it was helpful for you, and I really hope that you practice because this is how you will get better at blending. So practice your blending and see you with the next video. 11. How to Use Liquin in Oil Painting (Faster Drying & Flow): In this video, I'm going to show you how to use the medium called Liquin. That is a medium that many artists use, and I also use it. The medium, this medium has several interests. The first interest that we can know of the liquid is that it speed ups the drying time. But that's not the reason why I use it because I like my painting to be wet quite a long time. But the other interest of the medium called Liquin is that it makes your painting more liquid, and that is very useful for the final touches of your artwork when you are painting, for example, a portrait or an animal. I personally use it a lot always when painting a portrait for adding the final touches the last hairs, for example, when you have some very thin individual hairs that go over the background well, I need some liquid. And when I am painting a tiger, a lion, a cat, and I have to paint the whiskers, well, I need the liquid, as well. And it's also very useful when you want to sign your artwork to make sure that your painting flows and is more liquid. So I'm going to show you several examples of how I use it, and that is a medium that you will need if you want to paint some portraits or if you want to paint some animals. So let's see how to use it properly. Oh, this is the horse that I am painting. It's almost finished. You can see that on its main that there are these areas, especially the ones with the background where it's not finished. You can see that some details are missing, and these are the ones that I'm going to paint right now to make my hair texture more realistic and with more details. So on my palette, I have remixed the colors of this main that I will be using. I have applied a medium that has more oil because I want to respect the fat overlain rule, and now I'm going to apply some liquid or another medium that I have. So I have the liquid at the top right here, especially used for very thin details, this one. And right next to it, there is this fluid and dry. It's the same thing. It's just the brand is different. Fluid and dry is from sneer. And right here, I have a brush that I only use for applying this liquid medium. And so with this brush, I can add some fluid and dry to my painting, and I'm going to add a lot because I want to have something very liquid that really slide on the canvas to make me able to paint some very thin and long hair. And now I mix my color until I have something very liquid, and I'm going to apply all the details that I notice that have this color. And once it will be done, then I will add some fluid and dry or some liquid to another color, add all the details with this other color, and do and will progress with another color, and so on until I'm finished. And I repeat. And right now it is a new layer that I am applying. Therefore, I have to respect the fat ovalin rule and have more oil in my painting. That's why before adding some liquid to my color, I have added my medium that has more oil than the layer that I applied before. These are the free brushes that I could use to paint these very thin details. So right here, we have a sword brush. It is very good to paint some long and thin details, as well as the rigor that is the swan I'm showing you. And the last one, it is a very thin brush, although a little short and not the best to paint some details that are pretty long, but still it can be doable. And so I can now add those details on the background now that my painting is dry underneath and that I have applied this liquid, it's very easy for me to apply this. My painting is really slides on this background, and therefore, I am able to add these very thin and long lines. I have decided to start with this color at first, but the reason for that is basically because this color was the most on the right on my palette, I could have started with any other color, some lighter, some darker. With this painting, it didn't really matter. With some painting, this fact, this thing would have had matter, but right now, not really. Because these colors they can mix and blend together right here, we still have a great result in the end. And I think that these most details that I have added, even though there are just a few of them at the moment, they already make a difference and my area is really getting better. And of course, all these elements that I am adding, I don't add them randomly. I look at my reference photograph to see how they should be added. So I am pretty satisfied with the work I've done with this color, and I'm going to switch to a lighter one. The reason why I apply some liquid to one color at a time is because if I apply some liquid with all the colors at the same time, first of all, all these colors could mix together very easily on my palette because they would be all liquid. And by the time I have finished to paint with one color, the other ones might start to dry and therefore they wouldn't have the same liquid texture, and it would be harder for me to apply those details. When I apply my liquid, I make sure that I don't load my brush with too much painting. Otherwise, my lines might be too thick. And so I'm going to show you I take just a little bit of painting, then clean a little bit my brush on the palette, remove all that is too much on the brush, and then I can apply these lines. And so I'm going to work in all the areas until my main is over and I have something in the end that looks different and much better, I think. And so what I have done with the horse, I can do something similar with this tiger. So for the tiger, I'm going to have these very long whiskers that we have in this area. I'm also going to be able to work on the goatee because some hair will be necessary as well. And for the painting of these whiskers, really the best tool is the sword brush because it can hold a lot of painting and you can be able to paint some very long line with the brush, so that's really a great tool, and you need some great tool to be able to paint in a realistic manner. In this liquin, I can also use it right here in this area of the goatee. The reason why I'm using it right now is because this area is made with black, and I am adding some white single hair. And if I had painted them while my black was still wet, even though I would have used the sword brush and tried to apply them with the tip of my brush without barely touching the color and the I would have touched this color underneath, and therefore, my white would have a little bit darkened with this black color. And so I wouldn't have something as light as right now. So that's why right now, the use of the linqui is the best to have these details. Now, let's see a last example with the portrait of a human being. And finally, with the portrait of this man, I'm going to use the liquid and with the hair colors to a those final details like this very long hair on the background. I'm going to use this liquid color to paint some single hair that very light that I couldn't paint before. Or some or to had more texture, more single hair within this big mass of hair, this big group of hair. And finally, I can also work a little bit more on the movement of the air. For instance, this guy has some wavy area of hair in some area, and I work on that with the first layer, and now I can even work more on this. So I can do many thing with liquids. It's very great. I don't use it much only for those lice details that see me adding to those paintings. 12. How to Create an Accurate Drawing before Painting (even if you don't know how to draw): In this video, we are going to see a technique that will allow you to have the drawing with the right proportions before you begin painting. Having the right proportions is essential if you want your painting to feel realistic. And so even if you don't like drawing or you don't want to be specialist with drawing, you can have a drawing that is very accurate. And this is thanks to the grid technique. This technique will allow you to have a perfect drawing very easily, even if you are not good at drawing. And, um, if you want to, you can also use a projector to make sure that your drawing is in the right proportion. Sometimes I hear artists saying, Oh, you are using a grid, you are cheating. But no, this is not cheating at all. Using the grid technique is a tool that allows you to have the right proportion. And even the masters from centuries ago, actually used the grid to have the right proportion. So if you want to use the grid, feel free to use it. Also with the projector. The aim is to have a nice drawing with the right proportions because if your drawing is not in the right proportions, you may be good at painting. Your painting won't look realistic because your drawing will be wrong. So in this section, I will share with you the grid technique and show you with several examples how to work on the grid and how to use it easily. And also I will share with you a few exercises to improve your technique with the grid technique. These videos are part of my drawing course, but I felt there will be very useful for you to master this technique before painting because with every tutorial that you will see, I use the grid technique. And so that's why I don't share the drawing part because it is useless to show you every time how I grid my canvas and how I draw thanks the grid. It's always the same thing. So that's why I think it would be pointless to share with you that with every video. So these videos will be very helpful for you. Practice the grid technique. This will help you to have a nice drawing and very accurate. 13. How to Transfer a Drawing to Canvas Using the Grid Method: Let's explore a new technique that helps achieve the correct proportions. This is a method that is particularly close to my heart because it truly helped me improve. If I hadn't used this technique, I probably wouldn't have been able to create the paintings I have accomplished so far. So the grid technique for a bit of backstory, this is a technique that really made a difference for me. When I was ten or 11-years-old, I discovered the grid method and started using it. Later, around 13 or 14, I took a drawing class and the teacher told me a real artist doesn't use the grid technique. That was the only drawing class I ever took in my life, but that one sentence stuck with me for a long time. I thought, since the teacher said it, I shouldn't use the grid method. So for years, I stopped using it. I kept improving in some area, but also felt block in certain aspects. It was only when I started using the grid technique again around 20 or something like that, that I was finally able to draw with better proportions and create composition that felt truly well balanced. Using a grid eliminates any doubt or struggles with proportions because it allows us to focus entirely on the drawing and shading, ensuring that everything stays in the right place. This method is a mathematical tool, just like a ruler or a pencil used for measuring with the sting techniques we used before. Instead of measuring with a physical tool, we use grid lines to guide us, allowing us to achieve accurate proportions effortlessly. This is a technique that we mainly use when drawing from a photo, but it can also be applied in real life using a small tool that I will show you in just a few minutes. So here is my reference photograph, this beautiful sunflower that I have already grided in advance. So on this sunflower, the width is 16 centimeters and the height is 24. I cropped the image beforehand to match this height to width ratio, making it easier to apply a grid. I divided the width, which is 16 centimeters into two centimeter squares, which gives me eight squares across. Right there, you can see it. And I divided the height 24 centimeters into two centimeter squares, which gives me 12 squares down. By using the specific dimension, creating a consistent grid becomes much simpler. If my reference photograph had dimensions like 25.3 centimeters by 17.5 centimeters, it will be much harder to find a common multiple for both measurements. By working with two centimo squares, I ensure that I have a grid with 12 squares in height and eight squares in width, making the transfer process much easier when I start drawing. What I could have done if I didn't have such dimensions would be to have some squares that will be a bit smaller for the last one, the ones at the bottom or the ones at the top. That would have been also possible, creating two centimeal squares, but with some smaller at the top of at the bottom or at the left or at the right. That's also a possibility. I chose to use two centimeo squares because it seems like the best compromise for achieving precision. If I had used five centimeter squares, it would have been too imprecise and wouldn't have been very helpful. On the other hand, if I had made 1 centimeter or five millimeter squares, the grid would have been so detailed that it would be difficult to navigate with too many tiny squares, and there's a risk of getting lost, which will defeat the purpose of the grid technique. By using two centimeter squares, I maintain a good balance. The grid is detailed enough for accuracy, but not overwhelming. Next, I want to reproduce this grid on my drawing paper. However, my paper is larger than my reference photograph, and I want to use the entire paper. This is not a problem at all because the grid allows us to scale the drawing up or down. The key is to maintain the same number of squares on my drawing paper as on my reference photograph. Here you can see I have eight square in width and 12 in height. And so on my drawing paper, I will also divide it into eight squares across and 12 squares down, even if the actual size of the squares changes. By keeping the same number of division, I ensure that my drawing will remain proportional. My drawing paper measures 24 centimeters in width. If I quickly calculate, I need eight squares across these 24 centimeters width. To do this, I will create three centimeter squares because eight multiplied by three equals 24. This way, I will have the same number of squares as on my reference photograph. Now my papers height is 36 centimeters. Since I need 12 squares in height, 12 multiplied by three equals 36 centimeters. So I will have the same number of squares as in my reference image, but each square will be 3 centimeters instead of two. This allows me to scale up my drawing proportionately while keeping everything accurate. That's why before starting the drawing, it's crucial to carefully plan the grid size to ensure it matches the reference proportions. On my reference photo, you can see that I have added coordinates. I labeled the width with letters both at the top and bottom, and I labeled the height with numbers. This makes it much easier to navigate the grid when transferring the drawing onto paper. On my reference photo, I pressed hard on the grid lines, so they are clearly visible. This isn't a problem because the photo will be discarded afterward. In fact, these days, I mostly create my grid digitally using an app on my phone. However, on my actual drawing, I don't want the grid lines to be visible. That's why I need to draw them very lightly so I can erase them easily once my drawing is complete. To achieve this, I will probably use a two H pencil which allows me to make extremely light, faint lines that won't interfere with the final artwork. To make the lines clearly visible during the lesson, I will use a four B pencil, but I strongly encourage you to use a much lighter pencil for your own drawing. Before drawing the lines, I take my ruler and mark small dots every 3 centimeters. This makes it easier to trace straight lines later than and assures my grid is precise. If I know my multiples are free, I can count three, six, nine, 12, et cetera. Otherwise, I simply move my ruler every 3 centimeters and mark the points. I do this both at the bottom and at the top of the paper, entering, I can connect the marks accurately for perfectly straight lines. Once I have finished marking along the height, I repeat the process along the width. However, since my ruler is only 3 centimeters long, I will need to use a longer ruler to connect the vertical lines properly. So just as we marked points at the top and bottom, we also do the same on the left and right side to ensure everything's aligned perfectly. B also very light when marking these small points as they will also need to be erased later. Now using these points, I will draw my grid lines. Normally, I will make them very faint, but for demonstration purposes, I will make them more visible. Once all the lines are drawn and connected, we'll move on to the next step. A little tip when you only have a small ruler but need to draw longer line. On my grid for this top line, I mark dots every 3 centimeters along the way. This allowed me to extend the line step by step, connecting each segment accurately until I reach the overside. Since using a larger ruler wasn't possible on this setup, this technique helped me complete the grid precisely despite the limitation. I have marked the coordinates with a highlighter for visibility, but of course, you should never do this. Instead, use a light pencil so that it remains erasable. So where to start. Now that everything is ready, we can start drawing and ask yourself this question. Where should we begin? Instead of telling you where to start, let me first say where not to start. Starting with the petal seems tricky because they contain many details and are positioned in the middle of several grid squares, making them harder to place. The same goes with the leaf. It is in the middle and it isn't ideal either as it's isolated and doesn't provide a strong reference point. It's best to start with simple elements that are easy to place and will boost your confidence. Among these, the bottle is a great choice because it has a clear structure, making it easier to follow. And we can start from the bottom and build upwards, maintaining a logical progression. To start with this bottle, I know its base begins in square C 12 on my reference grid, so I will locate the same square on my drawing grid. And I observe that the bottle is positioned on the right side of the square approximately at this spot. So based on that, I can trace it lightly. Next, the curve extends upward to C ten in a fairly straight line. Then in C nine, the curve does not reach the top of the square. It stops slightly before the upper edge. From there, the curve continues into D nine, smoothly transitioning into the next section. I work on my grid using the tip of my pencil to ensure maximum precision. This grid method not only help us be highly accurate, but also saves a lot of time. Since we skip the step of constructing shapes and contorts manually, the process becomes much faster and more efficient. I can either close the bottle at the top or continue on the overside. It doesn't really matter. So let's continue on the overside. To work more efficiently, I observe that this straight line runs from F 12 to F ten, so I can draw it directly. Once again, I emphasize the importance of drawing very lightly. Even though I'm using the grid method, these control lines are temporary. They will probably be erased later depending on the final details of the drawing. Looking at my reference photo, I noticed that around the middle of D eight, there is a curve section that extends upward in a straight line. I position myself in the middle of D eight on my drawing grid and carefully trace this curve. Next, I extend the line upward to D seven. In D seven, I can see the edge of the vase, which becomes visible. I lightly draw this lower part and connect it to the overside of the vase once I have finished it. Now that my bottle is closed, I can either continue with the upper part or finish it by adding interior details. One details I can add inside is the stem. I see that the stem spans from Spence column D and E and reaches approximately the middle of row 12. So I replicate this placement on my drawing and lightly trace the stem. Then I can completing it by drawing the connecting line. Additionally, I can sketch the oval on row ten, which represents the water level inside the vase. This oval will help define the volume and depth of the water. Next, inside the bottle, I can add more details. For example, I can mark the dark shadow areas at the top part of the bottle. I can also indicate the highlight that appears across the base of the bottle. The number of elements you choose to sketch in advance depends entirely on your personal preference. If you like precision, you can mark many details beforehand to serve as guides. If you prefer flexibility, you might decide to add shadows and highlights gradually as you begin shading. Personally, I like to outline a good number of details before shading as it makes the process easier and more structured later on. Alright, let's continue with the foliage area with the leaves and the stem. So right here, I can see the stem just above the vase. And then it's little bit confusing because there are many leaves. So I'm going to focus on one leaf at a time. Right here, in E seven, I can see that there is the beginning of a leaf. So I can place my pencil right here and draw this line of the leaf. And I can see that it hangs right there at the end of the vase on the left in D seven. So I stop here and then draw this line upward almost till the end of the seven. In this way, by comparing elements with one another and by using the grid, I can draw areas that at first seemed complex, but now they are easy. You can realize they are quite easy to draw. All right, now that we have finished this leaf, we can move on to the end of the stem. And right here we are in D and E seven, and we can see that the stem goes up to the row number five. So that's what I do. I do. I trace this line till this five row. Let's go back to tracing the leaves. We can see that since the ones we initially trace, there is another larger and darker one that continues. I can go ahead and trace it. I can see that it extends up to approximately C six, and then there is another one overlapping it that I can also trace. I'm going to outline these leaves. But first, there's something very interesting I want to show you and I'll demonstrate it using the orange marker on the sheet. It's what I call a an intersection of lines and colon. It's a point where this colon and the row intersect and my drawing element will pass through this element. This makes it easier to position elements in the drawing because I know it passes exactly through this spot. It goes through this intersection and not approximately halfway through the square or about a third or a quarter of the way. So here we are sure of this intersection and know that it will pass through it. These are key elements that I try to identify every time. As soon as I see one and notice, elements passing through it, I make the most of it because it serves as an excellent reference point to ensure precise tracing. Now, let's move on to working the petals. There's no secret to it. You have to trace them one by one. It's going to take a bit of time, but it's important to be patient and carefully observe where each petal is located. It's true that sometimes we might be tempted to think, Oh, it's fine. I'll just place them roughly where I want, and I will still look like a good drawing. It will still look like a good drawing. And yes, one might think that and even do it. However, if you're a beginner, you strongly advised against this. The issue is that as a beginner, you don't yet have the experience needed to ensure a good level of coherence, consistency in the placement of the petals and especially in the shading of each one. As a result, the elements might end up looking inconsistent and out of place. That's why I don't recommend this approach when starting out. Later on, with more experience, you can allow yourself a bit more of freedom, but at the beginning, I strongly discourage it. Also, you don't have to follow everything in order either. For example, here, I noticed that on the circle where the petals are placed, there is this line that extends to an intersection. So I have drawn it. So I can trace it first and then continue with the rest of the circle of this flower until I complete it. And finally, I can place the petals. Maybe by tracing the circles first it will be easier for me to position the other petals afterward. It will have more reference points to help me place the rest of the petals. Similarly, you will see me continuing to place them in the same order one next to the other. But sometimes our attention may be drawn to certain elements that seem easier, and we can mark those first. For example, if I wanted to, I could have chosen not to continue with the petals here, but instead, start with the ones at the top because they might have seemed simpler to me. The goal is always to ask yourself, what can I do that will be the easiest for me? By starting with the simpler things, the rest become more obvious. And you'll hear me say this often because especially when working on final outwards, when we need to shade each element in more complex drawings, for example, every time when we begin with the things that seem easier, the rest of the elements become easier as well. For example, when I draw an element using my once I have drawn that element, it can serve as a reference to compare with other future elements I had. The same goes for shading. If I start shading a particular area because it seems easier, I can use it to compare the value of this shaded area with the others or to compare the placement of other elements that need shading in relation to it. Each time, start with the simplest and usually the easiest thing. I'm going to finish adding these petals, and then this tutorial on drawing with a photo based grid will be complete. I can also add the shading elements inside this circle, and that will be it. I also encourage you to practice with this technique as it can be really useful for working from a photo and ensuring that you get the right proportions in your drawing. A 14. How to Sign Your Painting Professionally: In this video, we are going to see how to sign your artwork. It's really the conclusion of what you've done with after many hours and hours of painting. So it always feel good to be signing your artwork. I know that some artists don't want to sign on the front of their artwork. They prefer to sign only on the canvas at the back. But personally, I prefer to sign at the front. It is kind of the recognition of these hours that I have put into practice to finish this artwork. So I like to sign my artwork at the front at the bottom or at the left on the right at the bottom. And though the colors I use, I try to make sure that there is a certain harmony between my signature and the colors I've used for my untwork. For example, one of the untwor I had made was an elephant with a black background, and so I decided to sign with the color of the elephant, the gray on the black background. This way, there was some kind of harmony between the artwork and the signature, and also the signature was noticeable but still a little bit discreet. If I had painted the red rose on white background or gray background, for instance, I would have probably signed my artwork with the red color of the rose so that there would be some kind of harmony. So follow your signature, it's really up to you to sign with your name or with so or whatever you want. And in this video, I'm going to show you how to do that easily with your painting, with your brush. So let's see how to do this. Let's take a look at how to sign your artwork. I'm going to sign this one using blue to create a sense of harmony with the landscape you will see in just a moment. I apply my medium number two to follow the fat overlaying rule since I painted the entire subject using the medium number one. I also added some liquid to make the paint more fluid, which will make signing easier. So now I'm going to add a bit more of liquid to make the paint even thinner. This way, the brush will glide more smoothly across the paper when signing. But be careful not to add too much because if the paint becomes too transparent due to a bigger amount of liquid, your signature may not show up clearly. So it's important to find the right balance. And now I would say that this consistency is just right. So here is the landscape I'm going to sign. I will sign at the bottom. And one last minute change, I've slightly lightened the color by adding a bit of white so the signature stands out better, and you can see better what I'm going to do. So now I'm going to load my brush with paint, and now we use this very thin brush to sign the piece. Before signing, I try to visualize roughly how much space I will need so that my signature fits well, and then I go for it. Before you dive in, I highly recommend practicing beforehand on oil painting paper. Think carefully about the signature you want to use, and once that you have decided on a style that suits you, practice it around ten times to make sure you are comfortable with it. Once the paint is ready, it all comes down to gesture and control. There's no secret. So take your time, and as you can see here, I'm going slowly with each letter. I don't hesitate to reload my brush between letters if needed. And for small letters, I might be able to do two in a row without reloading, but as soon as I feel the need, I dip the brush again. And there's no real secret. It's all about patience and precision. So take your time with each stroke, and having a fine brush really makes a big difference because without it, this would be much more difficult, almost impossible. And so now I will finish the signature by carefully adding the remaining letters. You could also use the swab brush to sign your artwork, but you really have to work only with the very tip. And honestly, it's not as precise as this one. So that's why in this case, I really recommend a round brush, a simple classic one, but extremely fine. And that's pretty it. I'm just finishing up the last touches, and in a few seconds, the signature will be complete. 15. How to Varnish an Oil Painting Step by Step: In this video, we are going to see how to varnish our artwork. This is the final step of the creation of our artwork, and it's a really satisfying one because it concludes hours and hours of practice, and also it makes your painting even more beautiful. So we will see how to do that and also why to use the varnish. And well, all I can tell is varnish is fundamental because it protects your painting. And this way, your painting will be able to last for centuries, and you will be able to give it to your children and grandchildren, et cetera. So it will be the masterpiece of your family. So I'm going to show you how to use the varnish and how to varnish properly your painting right now. Let's get started. Let me show you the materials that I have to varnish a canvas. So I have this bowl that I can use to put some varnish in it. This one is for the retouch varnish, and I also have a rag piece of cloth that I use to remove the varnish off my canvas because I don't want to have some dust on my canvas when I varnish. Otherwise, it will get glued, stick with the varnish, and it won't look good at all. So first thing, this is very important. And this is a retouch varnish that you can use for several reasons. You can use it because some area might have more reflection than others. And with this varnish, the different areas won't have different reflection and it will be the same brilliance in the entire canvas, so that's pretty good. You can also use it as a temporary varnish because varnish need you to wait that your painting dries for six months to one year. And so before applying this varnish, this varnish for the end, well, you can use the research varnish that will help you to protect your canvas before applying the varnish of the end, but I don't use it anymore because I have another varnish that I'm going to show you. And the varnish I use is the varnish gambler from gambling, and it's really good because many varnish products, they ask you to wait six months to one year before varnishing your painting. Whereas with this varnish, you only have to wait until your painting is really touch dry in all the areas. And so in several weeks, you can varnish your canvas. So that's a really great advantage, I think. And finally, I have these two brushes. This one is the first one that I used to varnish. It was pretty good, but not really the hair were not really supple, flexible. So that was not great this aspect. And also sometimes it lost some hair on the canvas, and that's really not something you want since it will stick with the varnish. And so after I bought this one from Gamblin, it's really good one. The hair are very flexible. And so it's really easy to apply the varnish. And these are all the materials that I have to apply the varnish. So the first step, like I told you before, is to remove the dust off your canvas because it's really something that you don't want some dust that get sticks with the varnish. Clearly, it looks disgusting once you have applied it. So make sure to remove everything with a rag or a piece of cloth. And well, it's going pretty fast since it is a small canvas. So I'm going to load my brush to add some varnish to it and not going to spill some varnish directly from the bottle on my canvas because one day I read an article about a guy that is specialized in repairing artworks. That said that even though it's a trend, many people are doing this, put they spill the varnish directly from the bottle over the canvas. It's not good for the canvas, and it makes a lot of damages. So that's why I just put some varnish on my brush and then apply it like this. And I'm going to do some back and forth movement only in one direction first, only in a vertical manner, and I make sure that I apply it in all the area. And when I don't have anymore varnish, well, of course, I reload, but don't too much varnish on your brush and on the area that you are varnishing. Otherwise, the result might not be as good as expected, and most of it, your canvas will be a little bit too sticky and that's not really good. And I can see that the areas that I have varnish, my color are getting better and more intense thanks to this varnish. I have finished to varnish in this vertical manner, and so I'm going to do it in a horizontal manner now. This way, every area each area will be varnished well. Also, one thing that is important, don't forget to open your windows, open your doors when you are varnishing, so you can ventilate. And because varnish, most of the time, it's not really good for health and breathing them is not something good. Also, don't forget to paint the sides of your canvas if you have painted them. Personally, I like to some black tape, and I put it all around my canvas, and it looks very good. And so now my varnishing thing is over, and it will be dry in less than 24 hours.