Basics of Painting Figures with Oil Paints

Introduction

In the past, I’ve received quite a few emails and PM’s from members of Armorama asking me for help on getting started using oil paints. So, I thought I’d try writing an article that could try to answer some of the questions people have had.

Please keep in mind that this is just what I do when I paint. There are a lot of people out there that do things differently and are much more accomplished painters than I can ever hope to be. This is just what works for me. As you progress, you’ll develop techniques that you find more comfortable and that work better for you.

For this article I’m not going to list any of the color mixes I’ve used to paint with. I did write 2 articles in the past that deal with this. And both are still available for viewing here on Armorama.

The first lists many of the mixes I’ve used for various colors

The second deals specifically with mixes for painting flesh tones

The only reason I was able to write those articles is that I write down every successful mix that I’ve used. I use 3”x5” index cards and list the main color, the figure I used it on and the colors I used to achieve the end result. It’s been very helpful to me for reproducing a color on another figure years later. I highly recommend doing this, especially when just getting started. Some mixes become second nature after a while but some will just disappear with time.

I haven’t added any pictures of completed figures for this article since they would be pretty much the same ones you would see in my other two articles. But if you want to see other pictures of my work, you can view them on my website.

I hope that this article is of some use to those of you that have had a desire to try painting with oil paints.