ONLINE PAINTING TUTORIALS

Since 2013, I have been partnered with DailyPaintworks.com, designing and marketing four painting tutorials that showcase my personal style and methods. I work with oil in the realist style which requires considerable patience and a fair amount of time. In designing the tutorials, I have carefully deconstructed each step of the process, and do so with humor in an effort to keep my students sane and smiling.

Below I have listed the tutorials and a brief summary of what each includes. If you are interested in learning more about them, please follow this link:

ArtByte Online Oil Painting Tutorials 

Or click on any of the highlighted titles below.

French Fry Demo: My Favorite Techniques

The following demo showcases one of my oil paintings (layered - not Alla Prima) from drawing to completion. Though every painting is unique, and there are some techniques I use which are not shown in this demo, what is presented here are my most commonly employed tips and tricks:

• Initial drawing and transfer
• Design edits
• Palette
• Brushes
• How to layer colors (patiently)
• Wet paint blending
• Dry brush details

This demo contains nineteen images with detailed explanations of the process each step of the way. The painting itself is sectioned into three parts:

• Image transfer and first layers of color
• Secondary layers with wet color blending
• Final layer with dry brush details

Please pardon my use of french fries as the subject matter if it makes you hungry. I chose the design because it was relatively simple - to be appealing to all skill levels - while still containing enough information to showcase techniques that make a realism painting look realistic.

(This demo does not contain video)

How I Speed Up My Process

Painting with oil takes time. I know many artists who love the look of oil paintings, but don't have the patience to deal with the act of oil painting. It's understandable. Were it not for my own obsession with the luster and depth that only oil paintings can produce, I'd have switched to a different medium long ago. Fortunately, I'm stubborn, and over the years I was either taught or discovered various techniques to help make oil painting a little less excruciating  than, say, eating glass. Okay, a LOT less excruciating. Enjoyable, actually!

In this ArtByte, I will discuss such things as:

• Why it's okay, and sometimes necessary, to work from photographs
• Photo editing (because I'm a lazy photographer)
• Designing custom color palettes
• Tracing is not always synonymous with cheating
• Quick-drying mediums (if only they didn't stink)
• Paint thin, stay sane
• Dry heat - or - what living in the desert taught me about oils

I hope what I share can be of good use to you.

(This demo does not contain video)

Demo: Glass

In this tutorial, I will show you my process for painting glass objects with my favorite coffee mug as the subject.

This demo contains forty images with detailed explanations of the process over the course of three main steps:

1. Underpainting solid blocks of color
2. Second color/shadow layer with both soft and sharp transitions
3. Final details and highlights

Demo: Glass is a great way to train yourself to compartmentalize a seemingly complicated painting process. I know that this method has helped to sharpen my eye and speed my own process considerably.

(This demo does not contain video)

Demo: Metallic Objects

In this tutorial, I will show you my process for painting metallic objects with a lovely french press coffee pot as the subject.

This demo contains eighteen images with detailed explanations of the process over the course of two main steps:

1. Paint-by-number base layer
2. Dry brush top layer

Yep. Just two layers. No joke.

(This demo does not contain video)