Oil Painting, Free Art Tutorials

Jim Thomas moved to Arizona in 1978, and has had a close and personal connection to the land and its history since childhood. This fantastic art demonstration is in two parts, and doesn't disappoint in its ability to capture the epic size and scale of the Grand Canyon.

William Whitaker is a well respected artist, well known for his tight figurative work. He in Provo, Utah, and taught art for twelves years before devoting himself fully to his own paintings.
This painting demonstration dates back to a piece first created in 1983.

Kim Loydall lives and works with fellow artist, Julie Hirons, in the heart of England, and both have been producing paintings since the 1970's. Kim works primarily in oil paints in the genre of landscape painting. In this demonstration Kim shows us an English rural road, and his method for building up towards a finely detailed finished painting.

Paul Rupert is a Canadian artist and an elected member of the Canadian Society of Artists. Paul studied formally at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, under the late Arthur Lismer, and today his paintings are much sought after.
This painting demonstration is inspired by Paul's travels in the Rocky Mountains.

Jason Morgan has shared a love for wildlife ever since he can remember. Alongside his passion for creating highly detailed, wildlife paintings, he also takes active involvement with wildlife conservation and is a member of the AFC (Artists for Conservation Group).

Doug Purdon is a Canadian artist and elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists and Ontario Society of Artists. For the past eleven years he has been the Educational Advisor for Winsor & Newton in Canada, running demonstrations and travelling across the globe. In this demonstration Doug starts with a fast drying alkyd paint, building up the seascape in several layers.

Brian is a self-taught artist whose artistic inspiration comes largely from the 'Group of Seven'. He lives with his family on Vancouver Island, and has been represeted by numerous galleries on the island. Brian has a complete course book in acrylic painting and conducts acrylic painting workshops in British Columbia, Alberta and the United States. In this oil painting demonstration, Brian uses a 'mapping' technique to simplify the process of painting.

Byron Pickering made his home on the Oregon Coast in 1971, but his love for water came growing up amongst the lakes of Wisconsin. This demonstration focuses on the structure and contours of a breaking ocean wave, along with foam patterns and foam bursts.

William spent 35 years in the lithographic profession as a color seperation specialist. Along with his degree in Science, William has applied a scientific approach to his love for color theory, and his passion for creative realism. Although this demonstration is now a number of years old, it explains in detail an approach to glazing with oils still used by William today.

Karin has enjoyed a career as an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator and sign painter. Karin works in layers, which often results in losing the likeness. In this oil painting portrait demo, Karin show how to use acetate to transfer the drawing and to regain the likeness as often as you need it throughout the various painting stages.

Karin has enjoyed a career as an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator and sign painter. "Gwyneth" won the Certificate of Excellence at the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition in Philadelphia, 2008. Karin explains her painting process from the pencil drawing, to acrylic underpainting through to the subsequent layers of oil paint.

Click to View CLASSICAL PORTRAIT PAINTING IN OILS demo

A lifelong resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, Bryce Cameron Liston is a member of the National Sculpture Society, the Oil Painters of America and the International Guild of Realism. In this oil painting demonstration of the female nude, Bryce shows his preliminary process of drawing, followed by a color study before preparing a canvas and recreating the drawing in charcoal before toning the canvas and painting an area at a time.

Contemporary Impressionist Caroline Jasper's paintings are "always about the light", says the artist. "It can dramatize the most ordinary places." Red is her trademark. Each of her colorful landscape and water scenes begins on red ground, which serves to invigorate visual interaction against loosely applied color marks.

Philip Howe is a talented professional artist living in Seattle. This female nude oil painting demonstration was executed in a mere six hours using a direct approach. Philip starts with a light, but accurate pencil drawing which is then fixed, and toned leaving him only to worry about color and value.

Mike Callahan is a nationally recognised award winning artist and native to the Nevadas. This oil painting demonstration is in three parts and includes a large number of photographs marking the stages of development throughout the creation of the painting.

This fantasy oil painting demonstration by Philip Howe sets out to achieve realism without resorting to the use of overly small paint brushes, and adopts glazing techniques to great effect.

Click to View FANTASY OIL PAINTING DEMO in oil paints

Dan Schultz draws his inpiration from such artists as John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. He became an art instructor at Cottonwood Artist's School in Colorado Springs before taking up residency in Okai, California. In this oil painting demonstration, Dan takes a plein air study to the studio to create a larger version on linen. The tutorial features many step-by-step photographs of the process.

Brian MacNeil is a realist painting having studied at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, adopting the techniques of the Renaissance artists. This old master reproduction copies the work of Cornelis Van Der Geest, starting with a pencil and chalk rendition before transferring the drawing to canvas and commencing work with a raw umber wash.

This type of painting often takes more time in planning than in the painting itself. Philip utilises a graphic, illustrative approach, and builds up his painting with layers of transparent color. Follow his work in progress and thought processes in this free oil painting lesson.

This wonderful portrait demonstration uses the old master chiaroscuro techniques or extreme light and shade to create added drama. The painting is built up in a series of layers to build up a rich overall tone.

Jon Friedman paints landscapes, figure paintings, and commissioned portraits in studios both in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This low tide sunrise demonstration is executed as a panoramic and carried out in both acrylic and oil paints, using a spray gun to start the painting with acrylics and later moving to oils to blend and add details.