Artist Problems: 5 Rookie Oil Painting Mistakes

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[EyeLean]

He is so right about the palette! I've been teaching color theory for years and here are my specific pigment recommendations for the limited palette he's proposing:
Titanium White PW6
Ultramarine Blue (cool) PB29
Cerulean Blue (warm) PB36
Quinacridone Magenta or violet* (cool) PV19
Cadmium Red, preferably light, but medium is okay (warm) PR108
Hansa Yellow (cool) PY3
Cadmium Yellow, preferably light, but medium is okay (warm) PY35
Yellow Ochre (warm) PY43

Don't go with Umber. Even in the better brands, it's often made with inferior pigments or by mixing pigments, which you can do for yourself.

All of the colors I recommended are lightfast as long as you're using a respectable brand that uses the correct pigments -- don't get anything with the word "hue" in the name; it's a cheap substitute pigment!

Also, there are only a very few more paints you might want add later. At the very, very most you should have 12 colors in your paintbox. Artists who have more usually don't know how to mix for themselves, or don't know that many colors are made with lesser pigments that won't stand up to time very well. If you want to branch out from the above palette (and honestly, you may never need to), you can consider the following:
Raw Sienna - has a clarity that can't be obtained through mixing other colors together (warm) PBR7
Burnt Sienna - same qualities as raw, but darker (warm) PBR7
Phthalo Green - good base for landscape mixtures; keeps your colors clear! (cool) PG7 or PG36
Cadmium Orange - mixed oranges tend to be dull; sunsets, oranges, etc. should be painted bright & clear! (warm) PO20

* Quinacridone magenta/violet is a very cool red that replaces Alizarin Crimson which is dark. You should always start _bright_ ! With mixing, you can move a paint from bright to dark, but not the other way around. You can mimic Alizarin Crimson starting with Quinacridone Magenta but you CANNOT do it the other way around. You can't get that pure, lovely, rich, vibrant, rosy orchid color out of Alizarin Crimson via mixing. Cannot. (And no, white won't help; adding white to lighten a dark pigment like Alizarin tints it, which means the chroma -- saturation -- comes down and when we're talking about reds, white also changes the nature of the color in a way that we experience as a new color - pink.)

[parisdblack]

Tip #1 put your oil paints in the freezer to keep them from oxidizing. Tip #2 instead of throwing your excess paint away mix it all together for beautiful grays and store in a tube or airtight container.

[OLABHakim]

Since the war started in sudan, we were displaced from our home, exiled to the outskirts of the country, i left behind my studio filled of my beautiful paintings and expensive art materials that ive gathered over the years, where i am now, "good" paint and painting material does not exist, but that didn't stop me, i kept painting with cheap paint, bad paper, no canvas, kids brushes.

[dorothyellis]

One of my teachers had us line theses paint brush pots you have shown with a small plastic bag. Same results but sludge settles in bottom of bag. Pour off clear paint for use, no mess in bottom of pot.

[devandestudios]

Don't over mix your paint. Mix the two hues by about half way and let the individual hues be visible in the mix. It adds life to the color being mixed.

[bieglas]

My friend wanted to paint. I told him go ahead and use whatever you want of my paints. He took one look at what paints I had and quickly said he couldn't because I didn't have enough colors. I had titanium white mars black, red, yellow, ultermarrine blue, cobalt blue, yellow ocher, burnt umber and raw umber. I told him you mix to get other colors like yellow and blue for green and ect. I could not even get him to try it. He said he would wait until he could afford to buy all the colors. It never happened. If he had tried he might had been surprised how flexible that palette could be.

[LizGridleyArtist]

Yes starting with a limited palette make it so much easier to learn!!! Oil painting especially but I'm sure it applies to many mediums as you need to develop a working language of how the medium functions!

[madisonbyers]

If you want to limit your color pallet further you can use a CMY (cyan, magenta and yellow) or a Zorn pallet (titanium white, ivory black, yellow ochre, and cadmium red (vermillion substitute)).

[JadeScarlett]

LOL the Michael's products diss was strong in this video 😂😂😂

[BrazenSpirituality]

Honestly some of the best art advice I have heard!

Yes, more youtube deals... but also perpetual deals (possibly a smaller discount?) only for youtube... so someone who just finds you a year from now is also made to feel welcome and encouraged to get these supplies from you (not Amazon.)

[katy]

I agree with all of these tips! But alternatively, when you get an easel, you can get the kind that can be taken apart, put in a bag and traveled with so that you can easily take it places to do plein air as well.

[NineEyedOracle]

Listen. I think I would watch just about anything this dude advertises. There is something real about his personality that I just love. Good on Jerrys. I hope they never get rid of him.

[NineEyedOracle]

I swear I have never loved an ambassador for literally any company the way I love this man. 😂 Hilarious human. Real human. GOOD ON JERRYS FOR HAVING THIS GUY.

[yc]

Love your videos and love Jerry’s! Outstanding customer service and your shipping is crazy quick ♥️

[mjpete]

Heya Mike, sweet video. I do enjoy watching your quick and easy videos. I am able to point others that are constantly asking me questions that I honestly am rather tired of answering. I hope you do a basic supplies list for every medium, you can create videos for everything from watercolor painting to ink block printing! I believe that it is Ok to feature brands, I mean you do sell art supplies you can feature multiple brands when talking about brushes or even paints! Every supply has a pro and con, why not make a video featuring them? I like Charvin because this, but Gamblin is good because of that! You know how to do it! I look forward to seeing how you are going to run with this idea or not. Take care and be safe out there!

[melissapatz]

I knew all these already, but a great reminder. I'm going to pick up some of those brush cleaners though because those are nicer than what I've been using.

[PixiePrincess]

I have an unusual suggestion/request for another oil paint topic: Issues with the paint yellowing over time. It seems that leaving them in the dark for too long makes all the lighter colors become a gross yellow color, and from what I've learned, leaving them in the light for a while makes the yellow go away.
I'm just curious as to how this happens, and if there's either a way to prevent it, or a better/faster way to fix it?

[FeldiArts]

Perfect timing XD I just got myself some (watermixable) Oils last week.
I know watermixables aren't the same but it's kind of like you guys know exactly what I struggle with when you upload your videos

[torch]

Thank you for the great presentation. I learned that I'm at the "Advanced Rookie" stage.

[salmonart]

Just bought my oil paints from Jerry's, watching this in the meantime while I wait! Got Lukas, an m graham(perelyne maroon, I love it), and some Georgian paint.