*We may earn a commission if you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you. Read our disclosure here for more information.
Best Oil Painting Tutorials

Best Oil Painting Tutorials Every Beginner Needs

When you’re a beginner at learning any new skill, there are going to be various ups and downs that may shake your inspiration and determination just a bit.

One moment you’ll be feeling energized and confident, feeling like you’ve got the hang of things but then the next painting comes along that will have you wondering if a kid could paint better than you.

And to be honest, you’re going to have this experience many, many times!

Learning to oil paint can be one of the most challenging skills you can learn but the payoff is incredible. If you’ve recently decided to learn how to oil paint, you’ve probably done your usual Google or Youtube search of trying to find the best oil painting tutorials for a beginner.

However, from my personal experience, this can get somewhat confusing and frustrating.

Depending on your skill level and how much you know about oil painting, this can also make it quite tricky.

best oil painting beginner tutorials

This is why I had to create this compilation of the best oil painting tutorials for beginners that I personally found encouraging and made it way easier to get the hang of oil painting.

You’ll find tutorials that will help you grow, expand your skills, and gain more experience. There’s also a few additional tutorials that challenge what you know.

With that said, go through this list and watch out for the ones that call out to you the most. They’re ranged from low to high in terms of difficulty and skills but don’t feel shy to attempt any of these tutorials as many times as you need.

Let’s get straight to it.

Beginner-Friendly Oil Painting Tutorials

The Essentials

Beforer we get into the awesome tutoirals, there’s a few things every beginner should become familiar with. They are as follows:

Mixing Colors

best oil painting guides

Learning to mix accurate colors is basically the crucks of painting. This can help you achieve a sastifying end product espeically if you know how and which colors to mix to match that of your reference.

The thing is with mixing colors, you don’t have to get it idenitcal to that of the reference.

But having it in the same value or close enough should still look good in the end. I think for most artists, mixing accurate colors is definitely a big goal and with enough practice, you’ll eventually get the hang of it.

Here’s a few awesome tutorials on how to mix colors you’ll absolutely love.

Honestly, these two videos have been the most helpful to me in understanding and getting better at color mixing!

How to mix colors by Paint Coach:

How to match any color by Draw Mix Paint:

Cleaning Up

Cleaning up your supplies and workspace is just as essential. Taking care of your tools, supplies, and workspace will make sure you have everything you need for the next time you get started.

I recently did a full guide on How To Clean Up After Oil Painting.

It’s a fairly simple process and eventually, this too will become a simple habit you’ll find yourself following after each painting session.

Your First Still Life

By Paint Coach

Starting off with this still life tutorial will grasp the fundamentals and essentials of oil painting.

This tutorial breaks down the process of painting a pear which ultimately can be understood and used for painting just about anything.

Chris from Paint Coach is a wonderful teacher and I’ve learned so much from watching his videos. I honestly think watching any of his tutorials will extremely useful to you as well.

Watch the video from start to finish and then go ahead and paint this pear yourself.

Painting of An Apple

By Yupari Artist

Here’s another classic beginner-friendly oil painting tutorial that involves painting of an apple.

Yupari goes really slow in explaining the entire process and you can pick up on the great ways how he goes about mixing the colors and laying down paint to achieve this realistic apple painting.

The background is the easiest thing in this painting but you can learn so much from following this tutorial.

If there’s one outstanding feature or skill to learn from this tutorial, it’s the ability to capture the form of an object and this is why it’s one of the best oil painting tutorials to try.

An Ocean Sunset

By Emily Mackey Art

You may not be totally game for only banging out still life paintings, so it’s probably a good idea to change things up.

Here’s a beautiful and simple seascape painting you can do in just a few minutes or so.

This one might be way easier than any of the other tutorials on the list and if you’d like, you can start with this tutorial instead.

Over here, you’ll learn how to create a stunning and seamless blended sky and then create the illusion of waves.

I found that adding the final details, like the sunshine on the waves, was definitely the icing on top and it really brought the entire painting together!

Artistic Coneflowers

By Paintinghyun

Ever wanted to paint flowers?

Well, with this one, you can! Even if you’re just a beginner at oil painting.

Flowers do seem complicated but this tutorial makes it really easy to understand and the final result is absolutely gorgeous.

You can also explore your creative side with this tutorial and learn so much about creating in an impressionistic style.

Easy Landscape Tutorial

By Painting with Samir

For a more impressionistic landscape, this 30-minute tutorial is a great place to start.

It’s easy to follow and you get to explore what’s it like to paint clouds, water, and trees.

As an introduction to landscape painting, this tutorial is worth trying out.

Bag of Lemons Sill Life

By Painting with Samir

Are you ready for a full still-life painting? Then it’s time to test your skills and paint this bag of lemons.

This tutorial will show you the entire process, including color mixing to achieve this beautiful final painting which you can then hang up on your wall and admire your work.

Since you’ll be painting more than one object, you can gain tons of experience with just this one painting.

Realistic Cherries

By Lena Danya

Okay, so this one might seem a bit challenging but you’ll be able to create a realistic painting of cherries if you follow this painting tutorial.

You’ll learn how to create form, mix accurate colors, blend strokes, and establish a close enough representation to the real thing.

If you’re particularly drawn to realistic art style, this one is for you.

Cute Plushie Tutorial

By AlaiGanuza

Here’s another fun, cute, and gorgeous painting to try as a beginner that involves tons of detail and pretty colors.

It looks complicated but trust me, this one is quite easy.

However, if you’re someone who is overwhelmed by too much detail, then stick with simple subjects until you’re ready.

But I highly recommended painting this since you’ll be incredibly pleased after holding your final painting in your hands!

An Ocean Wave

By Lena Danya

Who doesn’t love an awesome ocean painting?

Here’s a specific one that will test your skills and help you learn how to break down a complicated subject and make it easier to paint.

The colors, brushwork, and overall style are worth taking note of and the final painting is one that is worth hanging or showing to others.

It’s definitely an oil painting that will impress and level up your painting skills.

Final Thoughts

So, there we have it. These are my absolute favorite oil painting tutorials for beginners that will help you grasp the concept and techniques of oil painting with oils.

You can definitely learn so much from each and every single one of these tutorials and the artists are absolutely amazing for sharing their techniques and tips with us.

I’ve placed these tutorials in the order that I think would be best to start with but you can always go with what calls out to you.

However, the first few tutorials will help you learn to paint just about anything and the last few are somewhat more challenging and time-consuming but you can upgrade your skills in no time with all of these tutorials on the list.

Go ahead and give them a try!

Related Posts

Can Anyone Learn To Paint? Here’s How I Did.

How To Get Better At Painting: A Complete Guide

How To Clean Paint Brushes (Acrylic, Oils, Watercolor) Like A Pro

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *