(Part 2) Top products from r/painting

Working cools vs warms is a little complicated. I recommend buying some painting books and color theory books to really know what I'm talking about. Basically decide what is going to be the structure of your painting, value or warm/cool shifts. So lets say you decide value (basically you'll find a lot if values, strong darks and lights). Warm/ cool shifts in this context could mean: most of the shadows will feel cooler than the lights (or vise versa). The way you mix that would be: shadows made of violets, greens, blues + a slight neutralizer (the opposite color) or a shade like black, or grey and the lights with bright versions or the hue shifted to things like red, yellows, oranges. (Know that context determines whether a color feels warm or cool. blue can be warm if surrounded by certain neutrals etc etc) However, instead of painting the shadow of on an arm brown, paint it violet. Warm cool shifts work best when there is little value. So if the shadow is Waaaaay darker than the highlight, don't push the violet too much. But let's say you decided to have little value in a painting and wanted space to be formed through warm/cools then make the highlights from red tints and the shadow from violet with no change or little change in value. You see this type of painting Impressionism to contemporary work and prior to Impressionism most painting is value based (due to pigments and the color theories of the time). Extreme values make an easy read for a work, while warm/cools play tricks on the eye and are visually unstable, which makes a painting visually develop over time (stand in front of some Rothko works and you'll know what I mean). It really depends on what you're going for. Also paint from life. Photos flatten things out tremendously and you'll see a lot more color and dimension from actual observation.

Color theory book I recommend: The Elements of Color:

1. A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book the Art of Color
   http://amzn.com/0471289299
   
   
2. Interaction of Color: Revised Edition
   http://amzn.com/0300018460
   
   
3. Interaction of Color: Revised and Expanded Edition
   http://amzn.com/0300115954
   
   Painting technique book I also recommend:
   Portrait Painting Atelier: Old Master Techniques and Contemporary Applications
   http://amzn.com/082309927X
   
   Sorry I'm on mobile and 3:30am so I am a but too exhausted to make those clickable. I look forward to seeing more of your paintings :)
   
   A Cezanne portrait where his colors in the face do what I'm talking about (using color to make planar shifts or space) http://www.canvasreplicas.com/images/Paul%20Cezanne%20Self%20Portrait.jpg
   
   A Degas based on warm cool shifts: http://uploads3.wikipaintings.org/images/edgar-degas/the-pink-dancers-before-the-ballet-1884.jpg

Oil and acrylic are different. They do different things and one is in no way better than the other. Golden makes an open acrylic with a longer open time that I really enjoy working with, and there are many retarding mediums that you can mix into your paints. Keeping your palette wet is very important as well. When blending it works best to either use many layers of color or work in smaller more manageable areas.

The best thing you can do is experiment and find what products and techniques work best for you.

For a first painting this is good, to get a better likeness pay attention to proportion. Check and recheck the eyes, nose and lips, if you get the relationship(measurements) between them right the rest of the picture falls into place. If you really want to improve check out these books, they'll give you some great pointers:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-Classical-Drawing-Juliette-Aristides/dp/082300659X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346328001&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classical-Painting-Atelier-Contemporary-Traditional/dp/0823006581/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1346328001&sr=8-3

Good luck and keep at it :-)

This is the one I use

It’s super awesome! I received it as a gift from a family member and absolutely love it.

http://www.arc-store.com/bovica.html literally anything from here will teach you sort of the classical approach, but is pricey.

https://streamlineartvideo.com/ same thing for this, I have the Cesar Santos DVDs (about $200 each), and they're about 20 plus hours, start to finish, every step on how to create something.

Human Figure Book\ literally probably the best book you can get for drawing the figure

Alla Prima Book everything you need to know about oil painting

https://guidetooilpainting.com/ great website to learn the basics

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It's a lot of practice, now I do watercolor paintings myself, but for oil paintings this is a great list of resources. It all kinda goes the same, you lay down and image and put the correct colors in the correct spots. I would say take more time with your drawing phase and the painting phase will be easier, but some like to go in w/ just a brush and attack it. Try things, suck for awhile and learn from it. I"m going to make a post about this to try and get some proper resources out there.

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One book that was surprisingly helpful for me was Art School: How to Paint and Draw. I actually got it in the bargain bin at a book store.

A couple other helpful books are Problem Solving for Oil Painters and Color and Light.

Also, if you have an art studio around, sometimes they have cheap beginners classes. I've found those to be quite helpful starting out.

I have a brief amount of time so here's the short and skinny. You can use any colors you want, but traditionally you'd use primarily earth tones for the underpainting. Try this approach: stain the canvas with yellow ochre thinned with turpenoid/gamsol. Use a rag or cotton swabs to pull back out the light areas. Let that dry a bit, then continue with a value study using burnt/raw sienna and burnt umber. No need for white yet, just use the raw canvas. At this point you'll only want to be using thinner as your medium. When finished let it sit for a day or two to dry.

Now you may proceed with oil as your medium. You'll want to use more transparent pigments mixed with linseed/walnut oil to create glazes. Work in layers allowing time to dry in between. Don not varnish between layers. And more oil to your paints as you build up layers. Thick over thin process is to prevent cracking.

Good luck. Experiment. See what works for you. Look up artist handbooks on techniques. This one is generally considered the painter's bible.

PS If you use a thin blue wash adjacent to the orange of the Fox? DO consider that the yellowish patches in foreground and to left will turn greenish with blue wash (probably not good as “unintended consequence”) so consider leave the golden yellow patches-great warm contrast with cooler background colors. ( you could do practice study of similar colors in your painting with applied wash on separate paper before?)

You may be interested in color theory of “Simultaneous Contrast”https://www.liveabout.com/how-to-use-simultaneous-contrast-in-painting-4019832 and more “mind blowing” academic Josef Albers (100 years ago Bauhaus color interaction teacher/artist) changed my life as a painter! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300179359/ref=dbs_a_def_awm_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0 (or iPad app)

However, better to paint with joy without thinking, get in the out of body zone!

Books or video on composition? I can recommend two books:

I got this from the library and so far I’m enjoying it

Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting (Mastering (North Light Books)) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581809247/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_39W8Ab8K4X8ZF

This was my textbook for my color and composition class

The Elements of Color: A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book the Art of Color https://www.amazon.com/dp/0442240384/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_teX8AbVYTBXVT

This book is an excellent place to start if your interest is in space art. You might want to spend a little time on r/happytrees to get a basic understanding of landscapes in Bob Ross's style.

I bought this book for my painting teacher and he enjoyed it. All about the history of different pigments. Color: A Natural History of the Palette

Oh cool, you'll have fun with color theory then. I recommend you check out James Gurney's book Color & Light. You should also study up on perspective. This is the only book I can recommend that won't make your life hell.

If you both have no experience, then at least be sensible. First, do not buy supplies for her! I know that sounds romantic, but artists like to buy our own stuff. Second, if you must buy something, buy a beginner book that will start her out right. I personally started with How to Draw and Paint What You See by Ray Smith. He talks about supplies and materials in a simple manner.


Lastly, if she has no art experience, have her start simply with a pencil and paper. Drawing is the foundation to all art endeavors. Buy an inexpensive sketch pad and use a No. 2 pencil to get proficient in drawing before spending any money on paint. It will benefit her immensely to draw proficiently and understand it before learning to paint.

Acrylic Painting for Dummies


Watercolor Painting for Dummies

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0823032590/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1