Good Book for Oil Painting Beginner

preeyajay · #1 04-20-2005, 04:46 PM

Hi All,

I am very new to oil painting and would love to pursue it.

I just keep painting that comes to my mind and in the end the painting is not what I wanted to see. I mess up.

Never know how to start!

The thing is I need a good book that can guide me. Something like gives me some exercises from the Basics to the pro level and I can follow them.

I went thru the net and I found a hell a lot of books but never know which will work out and which is good.

Pls do suggest me some. Pls HELP!

Thanks.

Pria

Yokovich · #2 04-20-2005, 05:50 PM

Pria, welcome to the oil painting forum! We are glad you are here! My favorite beginning book is Charles Sovek's Develop your natural ability. Here is a thread where a batch of us did some exercises "together"--
Charles Sovek book thread
I still have a few exercises to go and I loved posting my progress! check out how much we all improved over time. One bit of advise is to make sure you don't get too many books---you will just get confused. Try to stay with just one book at least until you get through the most major basics! Good to see you here and hope to see more of you in the future!!

Rosic · #3 04-20-2005, 06:30 PM

Hey Pria...
Gonna include this thread here:
Book for beginner ?
Already some good stuff there.
Bernie

jdadson · #4 04-20-2005, 08:02 PM

I too am a beginner. I've bought and read perhaps twenty books in the last 9 months. Most were a complete waste of money. There's only one that I can recommend without reservation, and it only deals with brushwork. I would say it is a must-have. It's Brushwork Essentials: How to Render Expressive Form and Texture With Every Stroke, by Mark Christopher Weber. Get it.

The other book that's helped me the most is Oil Painting Secrets from a Master, by Linda Cateura. The epynomous master is David Leffel. It's rough going sometimes, figuring out exactly what it means. I even struggled with what "the light" meant in various contexts. My copy is now dog-eared and has paint on most of the pages.

Another book, by David Laffel himself, has some good stuff in it, but it is even more abstract than the "Masters" book. It's called An Artist Teaches: Reflections on the Art of Painting.

Both of those books stress beginning with a firm concept. Most of the "work" is done before you put a brushstroke on the canvas. Ideally, you would have the thing all figured out before starting, and getting the picture on canvas would be "a matter of technique."

One of Harley Brown's books had some stuff in it that I found useful. I don't recall the name of it. Mr. Brown has a refreshing attitude toward painting.

I could knock a lot of books that I paid good money for, but I would probably cover only a small fraction of the bad books that are out there. I would recommend that before you buy a book you should try to find examples of the author's work. I bought a number books off the internet, only to find that the illustrations in them were, to my eye, not very good at all. Why would I want to learn from someone who painted pictures I would not be satisfied with if I painted them?

What I would like to do is to watch a master artist do a painting from start to finish. I watched a two hour demonstration once. The artist kept saying, "Of course, I would do it differently if I had more time." I kept asking him what he would do differently. He became increasingly upset with me, and finally, to shut me up, he said, "I would do it exactly the same."

Moosehead · #5 04-20-2005, 09:36 PM

Quote:

It's Brushwork Essentials: How to Render Expressive Form and Texture With Every Stroke, by Mark Christopher Weber.

I second that! I've been painting about a year and have read, I would guess about 20 or so oil painting books. I've bought a couple, but most I take out from the library (so I can afford paints and canvas

).

Of the general books I've read-I like Jose Parramon's "Big Book Of Oil Painting". Many here have said that Richard Schmid's "Alla Prima" is about the best book on oil painting there is. It's expensive and not in my local library system so I haven't read it. I think he has a web site and you can buy it direct from there.

preeyajay · #6 04-21-2005, 04:26 PM

Hi all,

Lots of Thanks for giving me a bunch of help. This is my first post in this forum and I was really overwhelmed by the immediate help you all rendered. Thank you guys.

Thanks celestia! I really love this community! Folks are real helpful. I went thru the Charles Sovek's exercises. I think I will definately pursue it and post my progress.
(Hey Celestia - One thing I found out is that we both have the same birthdates!

)

I went thru the link given by rosic and it was well helpful. Thank You! We have our PBS channel in our locality and they air Helen Van Wyk series. Actually to say the truth, she was the one who really REALLY inspired me to take up oil painting. I was just mesmerised with her work on tv!

Thanks jdadson. I noted down all the books and will try to go to my local library and check them out. I really appreciate it.

Thanks Moosehead! I checked the schmid's book in amazon, it is real expensive. But I noticed that all the reviews abut the book are real good. This site has got the schmid's book a bit cheaper than amazon
http://www.richardschmid.com/book.html#AllaPrimaSoft

Hey, I painted a couple of paintings, mostly very very preliminary and would like you all to critique it and tell my corrections. Got them mostly inspired thru helen Van Wyk's pbs classes. Shall I post it here? pls guide me!

I really feel now more confident with all you guys beside me. And I'll keep posting. Real lucky to get into this community.

Be Happy,

Pria

dcorc · #7 04-21-2005, 04:58 PM

The softcover version of Richard Schmid's book is considerably less expensive than the hardback, but is still not cheap - having recently got a copy myself though, it is very good, and an entertaining read.

I'd also recommend Weber's "Brushwork Essentials",

Problem Solving for Oil Painters (Paperback)
by Gregg Kreutz
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

and

How to Paint Like the Old Masters (Paperback)
by Joseph Sheppard
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

(Though it's NOT necessary to get bogged down in his descriptions of painting media etc at the front of the book - it's a very good accompaniment if you want to join in our Master of the Month paintings in our "Painting from the Masters" subforum here)

Dave

DT3K · #8 04-21-2005, 05:10 PM

The Complete Oil Painter by Brian Gorst is a nice little book.....beginner too so I'm buying a few books.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...129552-0530057

Andy Dolphin · #9 04-22-2005, 12:44 PM

It really depends WHAT you want to paint! There are, of course, many, many good books on oil painting technique but, past learning the basics, you need to find one by someone who paints in a style you like.

In general, I find most basic "how to" books to be too broad for my liking. Since I am a "traditional", representational artist, I lean towards books that feature "traditional" landscapes, seascapes, people-scapes and still life.

I second the point made earlier that public libraries are a great testing ground. Some books which look good on the internet or in advertisements - or even when you flick through them in the bookstore, prove to be disappointing when you own them.

So, assuming you like "traditional", representational art ("realist/impressionist"), I will recommend E. John Robinson's "Paint the sea in oil, using special effects". While this book naturally focuses on the sea, rocks and shorelines, it also deals with the fundamentals of capturing atmosphere on your canvas - and he explains it in a simple, logical manner. His methods are easily adapted to any type of 'traditional' oil painting. He's also produced several videos, the two I have are very educational.

I have also enjoyed books by Robert Hagan (Romantic painting made easy) and currently have a library book "A light touch, painting landscapes in oils" by David Curtis - beautiful stuff. "Expressing the visual language of the landscape" features works by several artists, most traditional and others more modern. It is an attractive and informative book displaying a variety of styles and approaches.

You will find examples of each artist's works with a Google search.

Andy.

dcorc · #10 04-22-2005, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by preeyajay

Hey, I painted a couple of paintings, mostly very very preliminary and would like you all to critique it and tell my corrections. Got them mostly inspired thru helen Van Wyk's pbs classes. Shall I post it here? pls guide me!

Certainly, post them on the forum! We are always very happy to help, and you will get advice which is specific to the issues and problems you have. Even better than a book

Dave

MetinYilmaz · #11 04-10-2012, 08:16 AM

Any book recommendations about below topics?

1. Perspective (including composing perspective for multi-figure alegories)

2. Colour mixing (oil)

3. Portrait (Realistic style - oil)

I searched through online retailers but couldn't decide. Also I'm sure there are some better titles than their range which are written for art academy students.

Thank you.

lovin art · #12 04-10-2012, 08:26 AM

Color and Light by James Gurney....

anything you can get by Richard Schmid, ...and Leffel .. all Masters , ps this thread is like well over 5 years old ...

MetinYilmaz · #13 04-10-2012, 08:28 AM

Thank you very much. I didn't want to start a new thread, just to keep WC tidy

Or is it better that way? (I'm new here)

lovin art · #14 04-10-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetinYilmaz

Thank you very much. I didn't want to start a new thread, just to keep WC tidy

Or is it better that way? (I'm new here)

No worries glad if it can help out , you are the exception to the rule , most dont look at old threads that is ....cheers

53rdcard · #15 04-10-2012, 12:44 PM

It isn't a book of course, but i have found youtube to be a extremely valuable source of information on oil painting, i just search for something that i am having problems getting it to come out the way i want, and make a note of the person who does it most like what i want, you will quickly get a large selection of videos that you find useful. a book can tell you how to do it, but i personally have always found watching someone do it to be a better way to figure it out.

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