Have you made any paintings on your own yet? I’m assuming you’re after realism/photorealism in your paintings.

With the amount of free information online, especially on youtube, I think anyone who really has a deep interest in painting can “self-train” to a high standard. Especially if you have access to a great art museum. Being a good painter, which is often (wrongly) used interchangeably with being a good artist, require you to train your eye and become familiar with the tools of your craft. Becoming acutely familiar with all your paints’ properties, getting a feeling for paint on your brush and the canvas itself etc. A lot of that is simply experience. Technical drawing, which I personally do not enjoy but have practiced, is a fundamental building block

I would not recommend any online course if in-person classes are an option (especially if through a museum). I like DrawMixPaint’s videos and I also doubt you can go wrong with any of those choices. I don’t think any is going to make you significantly better for the amount of time spent.

My first recommendation: Michael James Smith.

He does landscapes, and he has a method that works. Pretty much everything you need to know is in his series of YouTube videos, available for free.

I would recommend modifying his methodology in one or two respects. Smith does his first layer in acrylics, but this approach has not always worked out for me. If applied too thickly, acrylics can create a slick layer that a subsequent oil layer simply does not want to grab onto.

I recommend doing the first layer in oils, working on a very absorbent panel. This can be achieved by mixing a generous amount of marble dust or talc with the gesso.

I’d also recommend purchasing blender brushes to smooth out skies. On ebay, you’ll find cheap Chinese fan brushes which cost almost nothing, and they are surprisingly good. Badger blender brushes for artists are highly prized but expensive. Badger shaving brushes on Ebay are pretty cheap, and work pretty well. Cheap makeup brushes from the dollar store, believe it or not, are also good for blending.

If you have talent and if you spend time following Smith’s advice carefully (but creatively), you may soon be able to turn out work you can sell. I honestly believe that it can happen faster than you may think possible.

Personally, I’m not a Carder fan. Others here are. And as others have pointed out, he makes a lot of money, and has been generous in sharing his insights.

If you are going to paint the human figure, you should spend at least a year drawing before you start painting. The best “free” source of instruction is a series of video produced by “Proko,” a.k.a. Stan Prokopenko. If you have the money to pay for his advanced lessons, by all means do. But his online anatomy lessons give you what you really need.

There are other drawing masters who have generously shared their knowledge online. Jazza is one. I think David Finch’s videos are now online; he’s one of the most brilliant draftspersons I’ve ever encountered. If you have the money to pay for his courses, you’ll learn an incredible amount.

(Finch’s instructional videos exemplify my problem with Carder. Carder teaches you how to create something like a photograph, using paint. Finch teaches you the importance of understanding how forms work from the inside out.)

Aaron Blaise is a former Disney animator and director who has a series of art instruction videos online. He has a superb grasp of color, composition and animal anatomy. I’m sure you’ll learn a LOT from his work.

Finally, allow yourself to become immersed in old discussions here on Wetcanvas. Bill Martin is a great artist and teacher, and he’s far from the only one who has important things to say.

One final point: These days, I think artists are robbing themselves if they don’t do digital art as well as traditional oil painting. Make your mistakes on the computer. Make your wild intuitive leaps on the computer. Experiment on the computer.

Digital art is free, after you shell out for a decent graphics tablet. Paint costs money.

Also, if you make a huge mistake in a “real” painting, the offending canvas or panel will hang around your studio for ages to come, causing you to sink into depression every time you glance at it. A failed work of digital art can be hidden away in an old folder, to be fixed years later, if you think of a way to repair what went wrong.

Added note. I forgot to mention a book you should seek out if you are going to paint the figure: Massens “The Artist’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure.” Essential. There’s nothing else like it.

If you have any interest in great illustration, nothing is more rewarding than a study of the work of J. C. Leyendecker. As much as I love Parrish, Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Rockwell and all the other giants of that generation, Leyendecker stood above all others. HIS teacher was John H. Vanderpoel, whose book “The Human Figure” is the one anatomy book I value more than all others.

Cennino Cennini, the author of ‘Il Libro dell’Arte’ can’t help? If not, then DBPOWER T20 1800 Lumens LCD Mini Projector can do the Job! Color mixing has no matter, just try to avoid iPhone display colors on painting. Bob Ross also helped me “how not to paint what you want to paint”.
A book “How to make things easy” will be best seller, but nope. People can’t make much money with easy things. They always need tricks and fog in the work.
To learn from all artists is the same as to treat health problems with the help of all doctors.

You will learn the most by simply painting. In that respect, I would recommend Carol Marine’s book, Daily Painting, and website, http://www.dailypaintworks.com

The website also has on-line tutorials. Her method involves getting in the habit of creating art every day, even if the paintings or drawings are small. In other words, you learn most by doing.

Get in the habit of drawing and/or painting every day, whether you feel like it or not. Carry a sketch book with you all the time, and take photos of scenes that catch your eye. See if you can find any local classes or paint groups, where you could get hands-on instruction and feedback. My city has two art centers with inexpensive classes that meet weekly as well as several groups that meet regularly.