My 10 Best Oil Painting TIPS To Instantly Improve Your Paintings

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Hi, I am the son of two artists and began painting in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia before I could walk. I was a rare combination of artist and athlete so I moved to Los Angeles in 2008 to play football for USC. I left the team my sophomore year to focus on painting and filmmaking, applying the same focus and discipline from my football career to my art. I primarily work in oils, and spend most free days painting "en plein air" in my new home of Sarasota Florida.
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[americanpsychonaut]

1. Drawing: Use center lines to help make an accurate drawing
2. Underpainting: block in and map the darkest darks and lightest lights
3. Blocking: Err on the darker side of the value because it's easier to build on
4. Step Back often from your Canvas about 6ft
5. Remove dark umber and black from palette if paintings aren't vibrant enough
6. Use natural daylight lighting or equivalent bulb
7. Phones are too small to use as reference
8. Keep your subject matter the same until you get a general understanding
9. Don't think of gray as a color but a "greyed down color"
10. Put more paint on your palette so that there's a good enough amount on the canvas

[Lacroix]

In college for my painting class, we had to go out and find a long stick. When we came back, we were told to tape one end to the end of our paintbrush and then paint. We painted about 99% of our painting this way and were told to stop and fill in the smaller details with a smaller brush close up and only had about a minute to do so before going back to the sticked brush. This helped us to learn to stand back as well as be more careful about where to put the right values.
We were also taught that if we have a hard time painting/drawing something, instead of avoiding it, then to paint only just that until we ‘master’ it. Hands were a good example of that. So instead of doing a painting of someone’s hands out of the way to avoid them, make sure they’re the center of the painting or paint a painting of only just hands. Painting/drawing what you see instead of painting/drawing what you THINK you see helps drastically here and it’s important to understand the difference between the two! Once you ‘master’ this new way of seeing, the better off you’ll be because then you can paint/draw anything!

[colombepetite]

I started watercolor painting a few years ago and just started oil painting. The concepts are reversed and it really challenges me (very therapeutic though), my biggest issue so far is “putting enough paint on my palette.” I am so frugal with my paints that it makes some things so much more difficult than it is. All of your tips will help me, but mostly that one. Thank you.

[heyitsritu]

I feel like I owe this guy so much. I can't put in words how much he has helped me. Tbh he single-handedly taught me oilpainting😭😭😭😭😭😭 thank you so much Chriss😭😭😭💜💜💜

[NozaOz]

This is really awesome man. You’re honest and you genuinely want people to be able to confidently paint. It’s just so great seeing this kind of attitude on YouTube, thank you man

[brittanyisabellaart]

I tip #8! I recently started doing that (was getting really frustrated with water that washes up on shore and trying to understand the translucence of it while still having form), and it actually really works to just keep going through the difficult moment. I realized I was seeing it with how my mind gives meaning to it rather than what I was actually seeing. I turned the painting upside down and just worked on what I saw, and it was a major break through! I finally got water washing up on shore to look like water washing up on shore!

[LizGridleyArtist]

It's a lot easier to lighten your values than it is to darken it when wet❤️ 100% yes!!!

[StacBurger-xs]

I have to tell you that was one of the best tip videos I’ve seen, and thank you you were direct to the point and didn’t over talk anything it was refreshing and enjoyable to watch

[amytaylor]

Wow, you’re such a gifted teacher! I feel lucky to have found your videos . Thank you for sharing I really appreciate it.

[trentriver]

Great tips. Another thing I have found very helpful is to take pictures as you go along because the camera picks up things that you miss even if you step back often - which i do.

[Music-tsio]

I'm listening and nodding and smiling. These are all things I've already figured out, or things I know I still do wrong and need to change - haha. More paint on my palette! I struggle trying to rehydrate little tiny blobs of old paint and I never get the colors right agan the next day when I remix. Maybe today will be different. Thank you!

[AaishaRehman]

New to oil painting. Your videos definitely help a lot 🤓

[jakecavendish]

Another thing that can help, towards the end of painting, is to hold the painting in the mirror. Any errors in composition and proportion will leap out at you. I don't do abstracts so not sure if it would work for those but it works well for landscapes and really well for human and animal subjects

[consciousthoughtwithkatie]

1st I'd say by painting a design draft, you are actually taking out your imagination and unique style.

Yes, stepping back really helps.

Thank you, it's nice to hear some different prospectives.

[amylunden]

Tip nine about gray was eye opening. That’s a completely new way of thinking that immediately made sense to me. I’ll be using complements to produce gray instead of just mixing black and white from now on!

[claires]

1- These 10 are good tips. Especially, for me, the drawing grid idea is helpful.
2-Also, my Rosemary &Co brushes arrived last night. I am trying them out now as I listen to this Paint Talk! They feel sturdy!

[lumenluv]

the tip about piecing the painting together as if you're using pieces of paper helped me a lot!

[nancymcevoy]

Love the comments about the colour grey. So helpful.

[dhkoenig]

Thanks for this video - I was struggling with my ballerina and you video was just what I needed to dig myself out of the hole I was stuck in!

[Sentient.Sentinel]

You truly are the paint coach, man this motivates me (im still at fundamentals of drawing and paint acrylics but this just inspires me so much more each day) thankyou for this.