Oil Painting For Beginners: The Best Way To Start A Portrait

In this video I break down what I think is the easiest way for a beginner oil painter to start a portrait. Enjoy!

Books

Materials I suggest for beginners:
Titanium White, Cadmium Red Hue, Cadmium Lemon, French Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Cerulean blue

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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[mediocreshakespeare]

Omg yesss it’s Lydia! Never clicked on something so fast

[AdreyM]

Thanks for posting all this very helpful information for beginners! I paint with acrylic so far have done 2 paintings lol but your information has helped alot!

[thelmablake]

You are so funny at the end of your videos, I always have to watch til the end! I learn also as I watch and I like your approach to teaching. You have a great voice and attitude!

[shams]

Man there’s nothing I love more than the end of the video 😂❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[ARTYCOATY]

Wonderful painting‼︎ Thanks for sharing‼︎

[IMArtisanX]

Hey Mr. Fornatero, I think your videos are really fantastic! You are so much better than any of the "so called" art teachers I've ever had!
Thank you so very much! Anyway, here's a somewhat unknown tip for you: Use Alcohol as a solvent! Either regular Isopropyl Alcohol (90%) or Everclear works wonderfully! What am I talking about? I made this discovery when I was cleaning my brushes but I ran out of my turpinoid solvent (Actually, I forgot that the cannister was empty!) and as I paint at night, there were no stores open! Scrambling around for something to use I tried the alcohol. DAMN! It Worked Beautifully! So I decided to experiment with it. It took all the gunk off of my brushes, ALL OF THE GUNK! Every Last Bit!!! I used conditioner after this and my brushes are like new now! So I tried it on my palette. Cleaned off all of the dried on oil paint! I have a New palette again! I'm talking dried on for years oil paint! It will probably take the dried oil paint right off the canvas! Imagine wiping old paintings off of the canvas and then re-priming them! I think you should try looking at this!

[MichelleRichee]

Great! You are really an extraordinary teacher. God bless you!

[murph]

Loving the content. Really appreciate ya passing down some knowledge

[dimush]

your content is so helpful, really very good and instructional I don't see how you're not more popular love you videos. been watching you for a few months and you inspired me to start painting with oils and its really fun. thank you

[miauminpao]

Well, I was depressed in quarantine. But painting saves me.

[niravgoogle]

Hi Chris, do you have any tips about painting straight thin lines that we find on buildings or vehicles ? Also, do you have any tips on how to paint the letters (e.g. building name, shop name etc) that we can see on the buildings ?

[dolikeU]

I am definitely not a beginner of portraits but I am watching this video because you never know, I could be learning something new.

[judithspoor]

Thanks Chris got the video on color mixing, it was terrific. I wish I knew all that when I first started. It would have saved me a lot of money and confusion . Thanks again for another great video:)

[eleftheriageorgiadouart]

Thank you so much for the great video!!!!

[anitasteenkamp]

Love your video, I am still a novice and only started painting with acrylics. Will I be able to implement same techniques in my acrylics as you are doing.with oils?

[ianatkin]

And thats why the darks are my favourite.

[rakshitbhatt]

Thanks for putting out this video I aksed this question in the comments a week ago! Also could you share some tips for deatiling realistic portraits. Thanks !

[qurat__art]

It's uppppmazzzing
Can you please name of colours you used

[anuk]

Wow..I'm a beginner..and this is so helpful! Thank you so much..😍🤩

[misterxim_art]

Hi. Did you let a layer somewhat dry before putting on another layer? Or did you just work with wet on wet? I know oils take a while to dry.