The Oil Painting Course You've Always Wanted: Guided Lessons for Beginners and Experienced Artists

I got this book from the library. I always knew I could draw, and I always wanted to oil paint. I have a lot of books on oil painting, but I still struggle. Oil paints are tricky, sort of like playing the violin: you have to learn to control them before you start creating with them. Now, it IS for beginners, but it also says for "experienced" because she shows you tricks that maybe you didn't cover in other classes. She incorporates drawing lessons with the painting lessons. If you can't draw and shade a sphere, how are you going to understand a bush? She doesn't just have list of brushes, but she has exercises on how to blend paint with them. Each exercise in the book builds on the next. It is true that you are not going to paint a masterpiece with this book, but I do think you will say, "Oh, that's the problem", and then you can move forward with your own talent. She has one whole page on Taming Thalo Green, which no one else has in their books. She has a shading lesson in primary colors, and in secondary colors. She tells you how to dull a color without changing the value (mix it's exact complimentary in the same value, then add it). She explains glazing and scumbling. All the exercises are simple, so that if you are talented or not, you can do them. For example, she doesn't have you glaze a portrait like Rembrandt, but an apple. As she gets to harder things, she introduces more drawing. For example, when she gets to landscape, she talks about drawing perspective, as well as atmospheric perspective. In landscapes, she explains the tricks for trees and rocks (do the darks first). When she gets to portraits, then she talks about drawing the face. I don't think her portraits are all that hot, but she shows the steps then you can do them too, and infuse your talent. You will not create a masterpiece with this book, but you will have tools to create your own masterpiece because you won't be stumped with atmospheric perspective, how to do trees, how to make a shadow, etc. Just like you can't play the violin if you don't know where the notes are and how to get a good sound out of the bow, you can't oil paint if you don't know things like how Alizarin Crimson is going to behave differently from Cadmium Red Light. She will help you with this. She has taught beginning oil painting for 30 years, so she anticipates your problems and questions. Oil will not longer be something to fight with, but something that will do your bidding.

Best Book for someone wanting to learn how to paint with oil

Excellent book to learn for first timer or to remind an experienced painter how to paint. Understandable and easy reading.

Staiger has compiled a wealth of information of use to the beginner in oil painting. Pretty much all the basic considerations of what constitutes a successful painting are covered. She opens with a good overview of the materials required: paints, brushes, supports, easels and a useful piece on mediums and cleaners. Staiger appears to acknowledge that of her audience some are merely curious as to what oil painting entails through to the serious beginner looking for a good foundation of knowledge. Hence economy is apparent with a minimal range of brushes being recommended along with using good student grade paints (Winsor & Newton - Grumbacher), along with old tuna-fish cans for holding the medium. This is followed by: i) A fairly comprehensive and easy to understand section on rendering 3D form on a 2D canvas. ii) 20 pages on colour and colour mixing (a further 4 pages on mixing greens appears later in the landscape section). iii) The previous chapters are brought to a conclusion with an exercise in painting a cylinder and a sphere. iv) Painting the Still Life is next (30 pages of info), covering issues such as composition, sketching, painting. v) Landscapes (40 pages): linear and aerial perspective, a landscape palette, components of a landscape - sky, water, trees, grass, sand, dirt, and concludes with a landscape painting exercise. vi) Painting Portraits - drawing the head and correct placement of features, mixing skin tones, finishing with a portrait painting exercise. Overall there is a lot of information here that should benefit the beginner. The book is also aimed at Experienced painters although I'm not sure that there is anything major that an Experienced oil painter shouldn't already know. The exercises are somewhat rudimentary in terms of the painting style (hence the 4 stars). I'd much prefer the exercises push the painter somewhat, possibly even have two exercises per subject matter - one to get across the rudiments followed by a second adding to it showing you various tricks, flourishes etc., that can give your painting that little "extra", elevating your work from the standard twee style that poliferates. Watson-Guptill have produced another book worthy of place in the beginner artist's library. You might want to consider buying Brian Gorst's "The Complete Oil Painter" (also by WG) that compliments Staiger's book well.

At least a well made book not self oriented which explains you all in details without tralala or chichi. The tittle for once does not mislead the readers, you will definitively find an answer to your questions as students or painting amateurs. Full of tips, tricks, and exceptions it is also a book that art critic students should get to understand how the artist created distance, where the focus point(s) is/are in the painting, etc. If u had to buy a book it would be this one, point. K. Lochen Staiger takes us by the hand and accompanies us along a beautiful percourse where the shop list equipment is supplied, light, shadows or color mixes are developed and illustrated, the why and the how are clearly defined, explained and demonstrated through various exercizes to improve any kind of readers' painting skills. Bravo maestra for having taken the time to do such a bible in order to share it with us. I am so grateful, thank you.

I wish I would have had this book years ago. I wanted to learn how to paint in college, and I took a class with an instructor who didn’t teach us anything about paint! I didnt have experience with oils, didn’t know how they worked, didn’t understand anything about mixing colors, didn’t know what brush to use, and basically I fumbled my way through the class frustrated and disappointed. After that class I gave it up, and until recently didn’t touch paints again. But I’ve always had this nagging feeling to try again, so I got online, saw the title of this book and ordered it. It is a total game-changer for me! I started reading it and it has so much information about so many things that were a mystery to me. It really is the Oil Painting Class I’ve always wanted. I’m working my way through the lessons and I’m actually excited about painting everyday. I am really glad I found this book and recommend it to anyone who is interested in trying oil painting.

The book has good content but it was definitely NOT new. There is tape on pages where it was torn (see photo). I am unhappy that I paid for a new book and it wasn't new. Over all, the book is very good and if you're looking to get a book on oil painting, this is definitely the book for you. I just don't know why someone would sell a book as new if it isn't new. Thus the 3 star review.

Great for all levels of painting, this book is one of my favorites and has been for years!

It can be hard to know what sort of art books to buy if you're a beginner. If you want to get a solid foundation for oil painting techniques and concepts this book does a great job. I went through it sequentially and felt the benefits.

Very informative covers all the bases. Highly recommend!

Tocca tutti gli argomenti in maniera precisa e nel dettaglio, ma soprattutto con moltissimi esercizi pratici. Il primo libro di pittura ad olio che un principiante dovrebbe acquistare.

First of all a little about me. I am planning on following illustration and till now I've only used watercolor (apart from pencil, charcoal and black ink). So I really needed some help with the Oils since I couldn't really do it myself as I found it hard getting used to. Now what does this book offer. First of all it teaches you the basics of drawing. Of course a lot of stuff are known to me, but I wouldn't qualify it as useless information it still good to see how pencil is converted to oil. Anyways this book gives a lot of explanation it can be done by anyone and I mean anyone. From perspective to shading you name it. I've seen many other books containing the same information. I haven't tried the book yet but I will say a few words about what I read (apart from the basics). The information shown is very simple which is great. I would say though there is a lack of images. More text is said about measurement and other things. Though oil painting is really hard thing so I guess it's the right way to go at it. No more simple Watercolor Step by step I guess. The quality of the pictures are great though. Yet as I read more and more I understood everything in there. So I think that the most important thing is understanding. Because people need only to get to a point where they could do it on their own. So even if this book is simple, even if it may have information that you already I think that it will help you understand what oil color is about. P.S. I will update this review as I continue to use this book.

Easy to read and follow. Lots of useful information