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  [Skip to content](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#content "Skip to content") [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/) Menu Menu - [Start Here](https://drawpaintacademy.com/start-here/) - [Articles](https://drawpaintacademy.com/blog/) - [Videos](https://drawpaintacademy.com/videos/) - [Supply List](https://drawpaintacademy.com/supplies/) - [Gallery](https://drawpaintacademy.com/gallery/dan-scott-paintings/) - [Products](https://drawpaintacademy.com/art-courses/) - [Free Tools](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/) - [Newsletter](https://drawpaintacademy.com/newsletter/) - [Members](https://drawpaintacademy.com/member-access/) - [About](https://drawpaintacademy.com/about/) # Oil Painting Tips for Beginners November 28, 2024 May 22, 2016 by [Dan Scott](https://drawpaintacademy.com/author/dscottbusiness1gmail-com/ "View all posts by Dan Scott") [25 Comments](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comments) May 22, 2016 [25](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comments) Share - [Copy link](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/) - [Email](mailto:?subject=Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners&body=Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners%0A%0AOil%20painting%20is%20a%20fantastic%20medium%20and%20was%20the%20generally%20preferred%20choice%20for%20old%20master%20painters.%20Oil%20paint%20is%20slow%20drying%20and%20versatile%2C%20allowing%20you%20to%20easily%20manipulate%20it%20on%20the%20canvas.%20I%20started%20out%20with%20acrylic%20paints%20but%20was%20quickly%20frustrated%20by%20the%20extremely%20fast%20drying%20times%20and%20the%20changing%20in%20colors%20as%20the%20...%20Read%20more%0A%0ARead%20more%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fdrawpaintacademy.com%2Foil-painting-tips-beginners%2F) - [Share to Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/&media=https://drawpaintacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Camille-Pissarro-The-Harvest-Pontoise-1881.jpg&description=Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners%20-%20Oil%20painting%20is%20a%20fantastic%20medium%20and%20was%20the%20generally%20preferred%20choice%20for%20old%20master%20painters.%20Oil%20paint%20is%20slow%20drying%20and%20versatile%2C%20allowing%20you%20to%20easily%20manipulate%20it%20on%20the%20canvas.%20I%20started%20out%20with%20acrylic%20paints%20but%20was%20quickly%20frustrated%20by%20the%20extremely%20fast%20drying%20times%20and%20the%20changing%20in%20colors%20as%20the%20...%20%3Ca%20title%3D%22Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners%22%20class%3D%22read-more%22%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fdrawpaintacademy.com%2Foil-painting-tips-beginners%2F%22%20aria-label%3D%22Read%20more%20about%20Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners%22%3ERead%20more%3C%2Fa%3E) - [Share to Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/) - [ Share to X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/&text=Oil%20Painting%20Tips%20for%20Beginners) Oil painting is a fantastic medium and was the generally preferred choice for old master painters. Oil paint is slow drying and versatile, allowing you to easily manipulate it on the [canvas](https://drawpaintacademy.com/canvas/). I started out with [acrylic paints](https://drawpaintacademy.com/acrylic-versus-oil-painting/) but was quickly frustrated by the extremely fast drying times and the changing in colors as the acrylic paint dries. So I decided to make a transition into oil paints. It was certainly a steep learning curve but I am extremely glad I made the transition. Unfortunately, oil painting can seem very daunting to a beginner. Compared to acrylic painting, there are many rules you must follow to ensure the paint dries properly and you can easily get overwhelmed by all the procedures. If you are interested in oil painting, then these oil painting tips should help you out. I note though these are just to get you started. You will need to conduct more research as oil painting is a very complex craft. If you are a seasoned oil painter yourself and have some tips to add, please feel free to contribute in the comment section at the bottom. - [Tip 1: Paint Fat Over Lean](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-1-paint-fat-over-lean) - [Tip 2: Paint Thick Over Thin](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-2-paint-thick-over-thin) - [Tip 3: Prepare Your Canvas](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-3-prepare-your-canvas) - [Tip 4: Try Painting With a Limited Palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-4-try-painting-with-a-limited-palette) - [Tip 5: Upsize Your Paint Brush](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-5-upsize-your-paint-brush) - [Tip 6: Your Palette Knife Is Not Just for Mixing Colors](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-6-your-palette-knife-is-not-just-for-mixing-colors) - [Tip 7: Learn Global Techniques You Can Use in All Your Paintings](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-7-learn-global-techniques-you-can-use-in-all-your-paintings) - [Tip 8: Incorporate Scraping](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-8-incorporate-scraping) - [Tip 9: Careful With Blending](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-9-careful-with-blending) - [Additional Readings](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#additional-readings) - [Thanks for Reading\!](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#thanks-for-reading)  Dan Scott, New Zealand, Foggy Mountains, 2020 [Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/ "Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)") I’ll walk you through the entire process using one of my recent paintings. You’ll see how I go from idea all the way through to reflecting on the finished painting. [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/ "Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)") [Join for Free](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/ "Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)") ## Tip 1: Paint Fat Over Lean This is probably the most important rule of oil painting, especially if you are painting [wet on wet](https://drawpaintacademy.com/alla-prima-painting-tips/) (a technique where you do not let the paint dry in between layers). Fat paint refers to how much oil is present. By adding an oil medium to your paint, you are making it fatter. By adding a solvent to your oil paint, you are breaking down the oil and making it leaner. The fatter the paint, the slower it dries. The reason for painting fat over thin is that the layers on top must dry slower than the layers on the bottom of your canvas. If not, the paint will crack as it dries. A simple way of tackling this is to have a process for painting. Start with very lean paint (paint plus solvent). Then add layers that are slightly fatter (paint plus a mix of solvent and oil medium). Every subsequent layer should be fatter than the prior (more oil medium / less solvent). ## Tip 2: Paint Thick Over Thin This is a similar principle to the [fat over lean rule](https://drawpaintacademy.com/fat-over-lean/), in that it is based on the drying time of oil paint. Thick oil paint dries slower than thin. So in theory, your first layers should be very thin, almost glazes of paint. Then as you build up your painting you will be increasing the amount of substance and oil. ## Tip 3: Prepare Your Canvas Preparing your canvas is a commonly overlooked but very important step. What does it actually mean? Firstly, you must make sure your canvas has sufficient [gesso](https://drawpaintacademy.com/gesso/) coating. This is generally the case for most pre-primed canvas you buy from art stores. Next, you should consider [laying down a muted background color](https://youtu.be/hKNhmTJ3rgc) for your canvas. I like to use raw umber. This achieves the following: - It gives you more of a middle ground to work with on your canvas rather than a glaringly white canvas. Painting straight onto a white canvas could warp your sense of value. - It avoids any bare white parts of your canvas being exposed. - It is an easy way to just start your painting and stops you from procrastinating, waiting for the perfect time to strike the canvas.  Dan Scott, New Zealand, Autumn Colors, 2024, Progress Shot Now that you have a colored background layer down on your canvas, you should consider placing a sketch for your composition. The sketch does not have to be all da Vinci. All it needs to do is set out the major shapes in your composition. The purpose of the sketch is to merely guide you around the canvas. A sketch is also particularly useful if you are dealing with any perspective lines in your painting (i.e. a cityscape). ## Tip 4: Try Painting With a Limited Palette More colors do not mean a more sophisticated painting. If anything, it is often the opposite. In your next painting, try limiting your palette to the bare essentials of blue, yellow, red (the primaries), and white. By mixing the three primary colors you get a natural black. Add some white to that and you have gray. The three primary colors can then be used to mix whatever color you need. Using a [limited palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/limited-palette/) will help focus your painting and create harmony. The more colors, the more difficult it becomes to balance your painting and control the chaos.  Anders Zorn, Kvinna som klär sig, 1893 [Anders Zorn](https://drawpaintacademy.com/anders-zorn/) was known to use a very limited palette of Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Medium, Ivory Black plus White. This is often referred to as the [Zorn palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/zorn-palette/). The Ivory Black was used by Anders Zorn as a very dark blue and the Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre made up all three of the primary colors. With the addition of white, he was able to create a broad range of colors but retain harmony across his paintings. ## Tip 5: Upsize Your Paint Brush A simple way of improving your painting technique is to take the largest brush you are comfortable using, and up-sizing it. Try using this brush for as long as you can before downsizing to smaller brushes. A large brush has such influence on your painting and forces you to be decisive and efficient with your strokes. You will also be able to cover the canvas much quicker. You can read more about artist paint brushes [here](https://drawpaintacademy.com/artist-paint-brushes/). ## Tip 6: Your Palette Knife Is Not Just for Mixing Colors [Palette knives](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-supply-list/) are not only useful for mixing colors on your palette. They can be a fantastic painting tool used for applying paint in an [impasto](https://drawpaintacademy.com/impasto/) style or for scraping paint off your canvas. You can also use palette knives to put paint on the canvas without any blending, which you would get from using a brush. There are some artists who have left paintbrushes behind entirely in favor of palette knives.  Richard Schmid Richard Schmid skillfully uses the palette knife to create crisp strokes of color as shown by these flowers. You can read more about using the palette knife for painting [here](https://drawpaintacademy.com/use-palette-knife-enhance-focal-point/). ## Tip 7: Learn Global Techniques You Can Use in All Your Paintings Instead of spending all your time learning how to paint a specific beach scene or type of tree or [cloud](https://drawpaintacademy.com/clouds/) formation, invest in learning [global techniques](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) which you can use in all your paintings. Great painters have mastered a handful of techniques that they use over and over again in all their paintings. Learning how to paint a highly specific scene will teach you exactly that, but nothing more. ## Tip 8: Incorporate Scraping Instead of adding more paint to create objects in your painting, try scraping paint off your canvas. This is a great technique for adding texture, detailing trees, or even just signing your painting. You can use the blunt end of your [paintbrush](https://drawpaintacademy.com/artist-paint-brushes/) or [palette knife](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-supply-list/).  Pro Hart, Australian Painter Pro Hart was a famous Australian painter who used scraping in many of his paintings, usually to depict the harsh and sketchy Australian environment. ## Tip 9: Careful With Blending Blending is a common [technique](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) used in oil painting to create a refined and smoothed appearance. It is particularly useful for pushing objects back in perspective by softening the edges into the background (i.e. [distant mountains](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-paint-mountains-with-depth/) which blend into the sky). With that being said, it is one of the most overused techniques in oil painting. This is likely due to those painters trying to create a realistic finish as they view the painting from close. But you should not be painting for people to view up close. You want them to see the painting from a reasonable distance. Your brush strokes should be visible up close, but as you step back from your painting, there will be optical blending and those strokes will no longer be clearly visible. ## Additional Readings [Oil Painting – The Ultimate Guide For Beginners](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting/) [9 Oil Painting Techniques For Beginners](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) [How To Clean Your Oil Paint Brushes](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-clean-oil-paint-brushes/) [How To Start An Oil Painting](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-start-an-oil-painting/) [Oil Paint Drying Time And How You Can Manipulate It](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-paint-drying-time/) ## Thanks for Reading\! I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to share it with friends. If you ever want to learn more, check out my [Painting Academy](https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-academy/) course. Happy painting\! Dan Scott  Draw Paint Academy **Dan Scott** is the founder of Draw Paint Academy. He's a self-taught artist from Australia with a particular interest in landscape painting. Draw Paint Academy is run by Dan and his wife, Chontele, with the aim of helping you get the most out of the art life. You can read more on the [About page](https://drawpaintacademy.com/about/). *** Enjoyed this post? Join **over 100,000 artists** who subscribe to the Draw Paint Academy newsletter. ## 25 comments on “Oil Painting Tips for Beginners” 1. Aydın Can Bekoğlu [September 3, 2025 at 9:14 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77425) First of all, thank you for your guide. You opened up your heart and told us what you knew for free. I appreciate this. I want to add something, I have never painted in oils, but my mom was a master painter who used oils plus I watch a lot of youtube videos. In my opinion painting should be realistic. So I am not interested in impressionist or other crap. I currently use acrylic plus oil pastels for smoothness. I find oil paints, the painting itself is very very easy compaared to acrylics. Look at youtube and instagram they paint VERY realistic sea waves in oils, because it is so easy to blend and waves can be smoothed with a mop brush or fingers. SMOOTHING is the KEY, girl. I tell you. SMOOTHING is the key. Something that is near impossible in acrylics without the use of some external medium chemicals which cost money, unfortunately. In some countries art and school supplies are given by the government to support cultural growth. I envy them. This being said, I completely aggree with your other tips. Oils are such a burden to layer, let dry weeks, cracking. And as the years go by it goes bad with even flash of cameras, which acrylics do not. Look at the funny thing: In places like Louvre and British Museum they protect the oil paintings like they are actual gold  I am an amateur learner, my professional art is music. Plus I can’t draw crap with pencils but STILL painting made me at peace, get over a very difficult time. I recommend art to people who gets a tough hand handed by life. It really helps. Even if you don’t have talent like myself. If you could I would like to follow you and chat about painting if you are interested. My instagram account is: aydinvesanatv2 [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77425) - Aydın Can Bekoğlu [September 3, 2025 at 9:16 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77426) Correction: I have a sight problem from birth and my near glasses are broken, so I read your name wrongly and wrote “girl” . It should be mister, or brother or mate  Sorry for that. [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77426) 2. [Paul L.](http://oil%20painting%20tips%20for%20beginners) [January 14, 2023 at 3:27 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-64813) it will help me so much! thank you. [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-64813) 3. Ron [June 18, 2022 at 1:18 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-61245) Toning your canvas should not be a hard and fast rule. Some of the greatest painters, including most of the Impressionists., painted on a white canvas; the reason being the “light” of the white canvas comes through the paint layers. [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-61245) 4. Barbara Cox [July 27, 2021 at 7:06 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-33504) When working with a realistic painting that has oil paint that is already dry, is there a technique to apply and blend the fresh paint. Does the dried paint need a thin coating of oil? Or medium? If so, what would you suggest using? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-33504) 5. Katrin [September 25, 2018 at 7:53 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-3170) I was always wondering if I need to paint in a separate room when using oil paints? I heard they have quite a strong smell and need a long time to dry and since ma apartment is very small I wouldn’t want to live in paint smell for days. What would you suggest? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-3170) 6. Mike Allen [June 11, 2018 at 2:39 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-2192) Dan, I want to transfer a sketch to a canvas using transfer paper, and then paint using wet on wet technique. I am wondering if I use a workable fixative first, can I then apply my medium and oil paint to do my painting? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-2192) - Dan Scott [June 11, 2018 at 3:12 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-2193) Hi Mike, I am sure there is some kind of fixative which you could paint over, however I have not used any. You would need to be careful that any fixative does not impact the binding of the oil paint. I would actually transfer the sketch then just paint over it without the fixative. Kind regards Dan [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-2193) 7. kistochka-kopisto4ka [April 4, 2018 at 10:34 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-1063) It\`s very beautifull tips!!! I also make a painting, maby you can see it here http://paintingsforlove.com/ and say what you think about it [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-1063) - Dan Scott [April 4, 2018 at 10:38 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-1064) Thanks Kistochka. Beautiful paintings\! [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-1064) 8. Paula [January 30, 2018 at 9:40 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-693) Thank you for inspiring me to get started! Your tips were very helpful to me. [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-693) 9. ArtUhr [December 29, 2017 at 2:04 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-545) Dan, these are very interesting tips. Thank you very much. Artur from Poland [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-545) - Dan Scott [December 29, 2017 at 8:19 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-546) No problem at all Artur\! Dan [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-546) 10. [biblestudyoffer.com](https://netho.me/biblestudyoffer.com) [June 17, 2017 at 12:00 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-176) What’s the difference between traditional oil paints and alkyd oils or water-miscible oils? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-176) - Dan Scott [June 20, 2017 at 8:30 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-186) Hi there. The main difference is the drying time. Alkyd and water-mixable oils can be completely dry within 24 hours. This is not the case for traditional oil paints. I note however my answer is limited in that I have only ever used traditional oil paints. Why change what works? Thanks Dan Scott [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-186) 11. shobhana [June 9, 2017 at 2:32 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-166) generally beginners start with copying their favourite painting, and later develop their own method. Is it okay to start with copying other paintings? can you please tip on this? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-166) - Dan Scott [June 9, 2017 at 3:04 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-167) Hi Shobhana Doing studies of historical paintings is perfectly fine and a great way to practice. However if you are just starting out then copying the master paintings may be a bit daunting. You could end up getting discouraged as the difficulty level of those paintings is very high. What I prefer to do is study the great historical paintings in great detail. I will try and learn how they went about a painting, what processes they used, what colors they used and any other techniques. I will then try and use what I have learned in my own paintings. I feel this way I am still creating something original but with the guidance of the old masters. I hope this helps. Regards Dan Scott [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-167) 12. Maureen [March 28, 2017 at 6:44 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-125) Nobody has explained fat over lean to me, you have now I know how to start. I didn’t want to take formal lessons in case they influenced me I don’t have a style but have done a bit of Chinese water colours in the past. Thanks Maureen [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-125) - Dan Scott [March 28, 2017 at 9:31 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-126) Glad to help Maureen. It is certainly a tricky concept to get your head around. Happy painting\! Dan [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-126) - Aryana Painters [July 13, 2025 at 6:11 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77275) Instead of hiring multiple contractors for your painting and renovation needs, let us handle everything. We ensure you receive the highest quality GTA painter service offering a range of expert solutions for every area of your home. <https://aryanapainters.ca/residential-painting/> [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-77275) 13. Sayanti Chaudhuri [June 30, 2016 at 1:50 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-93) Can you recommend a sturdy easel and some quality brushes for oil painting? [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-93) - dscottbusiness1@gmail.com [July 5, 2016 at 10:37 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-94) Hi Sayanti. I will email you separately regarding this. Dan [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-94) 14. Tanya [May 23, 2016 at 9:50 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-91) Fantastic advice thanks [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-91) - dscottbusiness1@gmail.com [May 23, 2016 at 9:56 am](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-92) No problem Tanya\! [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-92) 15. [r s shakya](http://www.artpetals.com/) [May 22, 2016 at 12:25 pm](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-90) very very good [Reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#comment-90) ### Leave a Comment [Cancel reply](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#respond) #### Related Posts [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/children-playing-on-the-beach-mary-cassatt/) ### [Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt](https://drawpaintacademy.com/children-playing-on-the-beach-mary-cassatt/) September 16, 2025 [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/summer-in-fjord/) ### [Adelsteen Normann’s Summer in Fjord](https://drawpaintacademy.com/summer-in-fjord/) March 17, 2025 [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/big-simple-shapes-and-colors/) ### [Painting Big, Simple Shapes and Colors](https://drawpaintacademy.com/big-simple-shapes-and-colors/) August 4, 2024 [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-paint-reflected-light/) ### [How to Paint Reflected Light](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-paint-reflected-light/) August 23, 2022 [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/choosing-a-subject/) ### [How I Choose Subjects to Paint](https://drawpaintacademy.com/choosing-a-subject/) October 30, 2023 [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/woman-at-her-toilette/) ### [A Closer Look at Woman at Her Toilette by Berthe Morisot](https://drawpaintacademy.com/woman-at-her-toilette/) August 5, 2022 [Articles](https://drawpaintacademy.com/blog/) \| [Categories](https://drawpaintacademy.com/categories/) \| [Supplies](https://drawpaintacademy.com/supplies/) \| [Free Resources](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/) \| [Products](https://drawpaintacademy.com/art-courses/) \| [Gallery](https://drawpaintacademy.com/gallery/) \| [About](https://drawpaintacademy.com/about/) \| [Contact](https://drawpaintacademy.com/contact/) © 2026 Draw Paint Academy Pty Ltd \| [Privacy Policy](https://drawpaintacademy.com/privacy-policy/) Notifications

Oil painting is a fantastic medium and was the generally preferred choice for old master painters. Oil paint is slow drying and versatile, allowing you to easily manipulate it on the [canvas](https://drawpaintacademy.com/canvas/). I started out with [acrylic paints](https://drawpaintacademy.com/acrylic-versus-oil-painting/) but was quickly frustrated by the extremely fast drying times and the changing in colors as the acrylic paint dries. So I decided to make a transition into oil paints. It was certainly a steep learning curve but I am extremely glad I made the transition. Unfortunately, oil painting can seem very daunting to a beginner. Compared to acrylic painting, there are many rules you must follow to ensure the paint dries properly and you can easily get overwhelmed by all the procedures. If you are interested in oil painting, then these oil painting tips should help you out. I note though these are just to get you started. You will need to conduct more research as oil painting is a very complex craft. If you are a seasoned oil painter yourself and have some tips to add, please feel free to contribute in the comment section at the bottom. - [Tip 1: Paint Fat Over Lean](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-1-paint-fat-over-lean) - [Tip 2: Paint Thick Over Thin](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-2-paint-thick-over-thin) - [Tip 3: Prepare Your Canvas](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-3-prepare-your-canvas) - [Tip 4: Try Painting With a Limited Palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-4-try-painting-with-a-limited-palette) - [Tip 5: Upsize Your Paint Brush](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-5-upsize-your-paint-brush) - [Tip 6: Your Palette Knife Is Not Just for Mixing Colors](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-6-your-palette-knife-is-not-just-for-mixing-colors) - [Tip 7: Learn Global Techniques You Can Use in All Your Paintings](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-7-learn-global-techniques-you-can-use-in-all-your-paintings) - [Tip 8: Incorporate Scraping](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-8-incorporate-scraping) - [Tip 9: Careful With Blending](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#tip-9-careful-with-blending) - [Additional Readings](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#additional-readings) - [Thanks for Reading\!](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-tips-beginners/#thanks-for-reading)  Dan Scott, New Zealand, Foggy Mountains, 2020 [Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/ "Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)") I’ll walk you through the entire process using one of my recent paintings. You’ll see how I go from idea all the way through to reflecting on the finished painting. [](https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/ "Painting the Landscape (Free Workshop)") ## Tip 1: Paint Fat Over Lean This is probably the most important rule of oil painting, especially if you are painting [wet on wet](https://drawpaintacademy.com/alla-prima-painting-tips/) (a technique where you do not let the paint dry in between layers). Fat paint refers to how much oil is present. By adding an oil medium to your paint, you are making it fatter. By adding a solvent to your oil paint, you are breaking down the oil and making it leaner. The fatter the paint, the slower it dries. The reason for painting fat over thin is that the layers on top must dry slower than the layers on the bottom of your canvas. If not, the paint will crack as it dries. A simple way of tackling this is to have a process for painting. Start with very lean paint (paint plus solvent). Then add layers that are slightly fatter (paint plus a mix of solvent and oil medium). Every subsequent layer should be fatter than the prior (more oil medium / less solvent). ## Tip 2: Paint Thick Over Thin This is a similar principle to the [fat over lean rule](https://drawpaintacademy.com/fat-over-lean/), in that it is based on the drying time of oil paint. Thick oil paint dries slower than thin. So in theory, your first layers should be very thin, almost glazes of paint. Then as you build up your painting you will be increasing the amount of substance and oil. ## Tip 3: Prepare Your Canvas Preparing your canvas is a commonly overlooked but very important step. What does it actually mean? Firstly, you must make sure your canvas has sufficient [gesso](https://drawpaintacademy.com/gesso/) coating. This is generally the case for most pre-primed canvas you buy from art stores. Next, you should consider [laying down a muted background color](https://youtu.be/hKNhmTJ3rgc) for your canvas. I like to use raw umber. This achieves the following: - It gives you more of a middle ground to work with on your canvas rather than a glaringly white canvas. Painting straight onto a white canvas could warp your sense of value. - It avoids any bare white parts of your canvas being exposed. - It is an easy way to just start your painting and stops you from procrastinating, waiting for the perfect time to strike the canvas.  Dan Scott, New Zealand, Autumn Colors, 2024, Progress Shot Now that you have a colored background layer down on your canvas, you should consider placing a sketch for your composition. The sketch does not have to be all da Vinci. All it needs to do is set out the major shapes in your composition. The purpose of the sketch is to merely guide you around the canvas. A sketch is also particularly useful if you are dealing with any perspective lines in your painting (i.e. a cityscape). ## Tip 4: Try Painting With a Limited Palette More colors do not mean a more sophisticated painting. If anything, it is often the opposite. In your next painting, try limiting your palette to the bare essentials of blue, yellow, red (the primaries), and white. By mixing the three primary colors you get a natural black. Add some white to that and you have gray. The three primary colors can then be used to mix whatever color you need. Using a [limited palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/limited-palette/) will help focus your painting and create harmony. The more colors, the more difficult it becomes to balance your painting and control the chaos.  Anders Zorn, Kvinna som klär sig, 1893 [Anders Zorn](https://drawpaintacademy.com/anders-zorn/) was known to use a very limited palette of Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Medium, Ivory Black plus White. This is often referred to as the [Zorn palette](https://drawpaintacademy.com/zorn-palette/). The Ivory Black was used by Anders Zorn as a very dark blue and the Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre made up all three of the primary colors. With the addition of white, he was able to create a broad range of colors but retain harmony across his paintings. ## Tip 5: Upsize Your Paint Brush A simple way of improving your painting technique is to take the largest brush you are comfortable using, and up-sizing it. Try using this brush for as long as you can before downsizing to smaller brushes. A large brush has such influence on your painting and forces you to be decisive and efficient with your strokes. You will also be able to cover the canvas much quicker. You can read more about artist paint brushes [here](https://drawpaintacademy.com/artist-paint-brushes/). ## Tip 6: Your Palette Knife Is Not Just for Mixing Colors [Palette knives](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-supply-list/) are not only useful for mixing colors on your palette. They can be a fantastic painting tool used for applying paint in an [impasto](https://drawpaintacademy.com/impasto/) style or for scraping paint off your canvas. You can also use palette knives to put paint on the canvas without any blending, which you would get from using a brush. There are some artists who have left paintbrushes behind entirely in favor of palette knives.  Richard Schmid Richard Schmid skillfully uses the palette knife to create crisp strokes of color as shown by these flowers. You can read more about using the palette knife for painting [here](https://drawpaintacademy.com/use-palette-knife-enhance-focal-point/). ## Tip 7: Learn Global Techniques You Can Use in All Your Paintings Instead of spending all your time learning how to paint a specific beach scene or type of tree or [cloud](https://drawpaintacademy.com/clouds/) formation, invest in learning [global techniques](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) which you can use in all your paintings. Great painters have mastered a handful of techniques that they use over and over again in all their paintings. Learning how to paint a highly specific scene will teach you exactly that, but nothing more. ## Tip 8: Incorporate Scraping Instead of adding more paint to create objects in your painting, try scraping paint off your canvas. This is a great technique for adding texture, detailing trees, or even just signing your painting. You can use the blunt end of your [paintbrush](https://drawpaintacademy.com/artist-paint-brushes/) or [palette knife](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting-supply-list/).  Pro Hart, Australian Painter Pro Hart was a famous Australian painter who used scraping in many of his paintings, usually to depict the harsh and sketchy Australian environment. ## Tip 9: Careful With Blending Blending is a common [technique](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) used in oil painting to create a refined and smoothed appearance. It is particularly useful for pushing objects back in perspective by softening the edges into the background (i.e. [distant mountains](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-paint-mountains-with-depth/) which blend into the sky). With that being said, it is one of the most overused techniques in oil painting. This is likely due to those painters trying to create a realistic finish as they view the painting from close. But you should not be painting for people to view up close. You want them to see the painting from a reasonable distance. Your brush strokes should be visible up close, but as you step back from your painting, there will be optical blending and those strokes will no longer be clearly visible. ## Additional Readings [Oil Painting – The Ultimate Guide For Beginners](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting/) [9 Oil Painting Techniques For Beginners](https://drawpaintacademy.com/9-oil-painting-techniques-for-beginners/) [How To Clean Your Oil Paint Brushes](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-clean-oil-paint-brushes/) [How To Start An Oil Painting](https://drawpaintacademy.com/how-to-start-an-oil-painting/) [Oil Paint Drying Time And How You Can Manipulate It](https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-paint-drying-time/) ## Thanks for Reading\! I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to share it with friends. If you ever want to learn more, check out my [Painting Academy](https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-academy/) course. Happy painting\! Dan Scott  Draw Paint Academy **Dan Scott** is the founder of Draw Paint Academy. He's a self-taught artist from Australia with a particular interest in landscape painting. Draw Paint Academy is run by Dan and his wife, Chontele, with the aim of helping you get the most out of the art life. You can read more on the [About page](https://drawpaintacademy.com/about/). Enjoyed this post? Join **over 100,000 artists** who subscribe to the Draw Paint Academy newsletter.