For this next lesson we will finally do painting. And congratulations every one for putting in all the hard work to get to this point. And do not worry I am going to do digital painting also but it will be coming up in future lessons.
To start with let me first give you an overview of painting and clear up some myths etc. First of all there is not one valid way of painting there is a huge numbers of valid ways to paint. And always be careful of teachers that tell you their way is the ONLY way. Also remember that all the different ways of painting have good and bad points. And part of your job as an artist is to explore these different ways of painting evaluate the pros and cons of each and decide on the best method for you.
Now let me explain how I am going to approach teaching you painting. First let me mention like in the chapter on anatomy that you will never be able to learn all there is to know about painting in a few exercises. That is one reason there are thousands of books on the subject and teachers and schools all over the world. But what I can do is give you the resources you need to learn, a logical step by step plan and exercises that will give you skills that will translate into many methods of painting. And let me also bring up again that it will be a lot of work and study:)
So now lets start with resources. And as normal I will give you both free resources and ones you will have to buy.
Free Resources.
For getting started with free resources start with the 20+ free painting books I have in the free book section of the forum. http://www.artphotofilm.com This is a huge amount of free knowledge on painting that will take you a long time to finish.
Not so free resources.
First the books I suggest to get started.
Oil Painting Techniques and Materials – Harold Speed
Alla Prima – Richard Schmid
The Materials of the Artist and Their Use in Painting – Max Doerner
The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques – Ralph Mayer
I would also start ordering painting DVD’s and watching them. They have a large number you can order at SmartFlix.
I would suggest getting the videos of Richard Schmid . And if it was me I would just start ordering all of the best rated painting videos 1 or 2 at a time until I have seen them all. smartflix.com
The next thing I would suggest you do is study art history. You need to learn about the history of art and how we have gotten to this point. And I dare say if you have a studied art history at most universities then you need to study art history even more to get a balanced view. Because it is very true that the winner of the war writes the history and the winner of the war of ideas in the art world for the last 150 years or so has been modern art. And many of the painters that were considered the best in the world in 1850 like Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier are not even in most art history books at schools. And in many many ways I think the great illustrators of the last 150 years like Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell are the true heirs of the art knowledge. Not the modern art world. If you would like to read more about art history then please check out our very large free book section on the forum.
I would also highly highly encourage you to look at the art of all the masters of art over the last several hundred years. You can see some in the small archive I am working on here. And you can see many many many more at the ARC Museum website.