Oil Painting For Beginners | How to Use Mediums

In this video I demonstrate how to use oil painting medium. A lot of beginner oil painters struggle with how to use medium. How much do you use? When do you use it? Where do you use it? I answer all these questions in this video.

Materials
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" around Los Angeles.

DISCLAIMER: Links in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.

Where to find me:

[ZeusV]

I just started to oil paint, and was so confused as to how to mix in my mediums; most videos just talk about it, but doesn't show it whether to mix the medium directly into the colors or mix it into the colors. This was very helpful, thank you :)

[brendankiely]

I can’t believe that at least one of the 20 to 30 artists I have worked with over the last 15 years didn’t explain what I have just seen here.
All I got was the mantra “fat over lean, thick over thin” with no instruction about how to use solvents and mediums.
Thank You so much for this revelation.

[mici]

FINALLY THANK YOU! im just getting started in oil and i was so overwhelmed with all the products, not knowing what to with them, which one comes first, how to use them. Now i feel like i understand a lot better!

[juliearvaniti]

Thank you, so on point ! It literally took me ages to realize that I have to paint thinner in the beginning of a painting and to basically understand how important it is to use the opacity of colors & layers .. I seriously painted my first attempts like a viking :I

[paperlemons]

Thank you!!! I just started a college painting class…and I was wondering about all of the different components of oil painting. I’ve always used acrylics and watercolors. I’m excited to learn oils now!!

[Katebrofloski]

Thank you! I had no idea of what other people were talking about. This makes so much more sense with the visuals, I plan on making my first oil painting sometime this week or next week!

[samanthakoki]

I've legitimately been looking for a video like this that shows someone comfortably using their materials. This was a huge help!

[chantallenart]

Thank you so much for this video! I searched for so so long for a video like this because I got truly confused with everything. I really understand it now and I truly think this video should get more appreciation. WELL DONE !!

[lindseyallen]

Thank you so much for this video!! When I was oil painting in high school years ago I asked my teacher what the different oils were for in the cabinet and she told me to not worry about it 😳 I’ve learned so much from your channel!

[pizza]

Watching this video in March 2021 and it is a brilliant tutorial video, even for someone who has never painted in his life and is about to start at 51 yrs old

[arandomambipom]

This is really informative and well structured. I think the way you're explaining and presenting the information is really great- easy to understand and feel like i learned a lot. Thank you!

[dgamerman]

wow, a lot of watercolor techniques can be applied to oil paint. That's pretty cool.

[caseyallred]

It's amazing how rare it is to find such straightforward and clear lessons about these parts of the oil painting process. Thank you so much for this, it was exactly what I was finding so difficult to understand.

[Kmakmizzle]

Fine Artist doing my first oil paint portrait for a celebrity. This helped me immensely. I think it'll only take me an hour or two to begin mastering this with your video. Thanks, you put me light years ahead of trial and error.

[nunuallen]

I love the way he explains things, this is my second time watching this. He doesn't make it too complicated . Thank you.

[bayanalbusaidi]

I just realized that I have done something ridiculously wrong, I have mixed the linseed oil with the mineral spirit, cause I thought that's how they do it 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂, I am very glad I came across your video.

[PhantomGanhdi]

THANK YOU!! This helped me so much as to why I wasn’t getting the colors to come out how I wanted to lol. This is only my 4th week in my oil painting class but I had been struggling to get the colors to come out how I wanted them to. 😭😭🙏🙏thank you

[yolandavirtucio]

I attended a short course in acrylic painting in a community college here in Toronto but now I want to learn oil painting. This pandemic prevented me from attending oil painting in a classroom setting. You explained very well the use of the mediums not explained well when I go for online course at Udemy. Thank you so much, very well explained! Great teacher!

[cacollie]

As a beginning oil painter this is exactly what I needed to see! Thank you!

[jutta]

Finally, the best explanation I've come across. Thank you so much, Chris. You have the great ability to see things from a total beginner's point of view!