Starting oil painting: materials, a first study and drying

Your first oil painting needs less than a box full of equipment. A limited palette, a suitably primed surface and two brushes are enough to explore how colour, brushwork and paint thickness interact. This guide helps you choose a small, useful setup and make a first practice study that you can repeat.

Start with paint straight from the tube. Add a medium only when you can name the change you want: easier flow, greater transparency or different drying behaviour. That way, you can see which material made a difference instead of letting an unexplained mixture determine your first experience.

Illustration of a possible practice setup, not a photograph of a material test carried out by us.

What do you actually need?

An easel, many brush sizes and several mediums are not prerequisites for a small exercise. First choose a workspace where your painting can rest undisturbed, out of reach of children and animals. Allow space for drying, too: wet paintings should not be stacked with their painted surfaces touching.

Individual tubes or an oil paint set?

A set is convenient when you want a manageable selection of colours. Check the volume of every tube: twelve small tubes are different from twelve large ones. Individual colours help when you already know which shades you use often. A larger tube does not save paint if that colour remains unused.

A simple practice palette might contain white, a yellow, a red, a blue and an earth colour. This is one possible choice, not a compulsory recipe for every painting style. Mix two colours first, then observe what a little white changes. A transparent colour still behaves differently from an opaque one when you change your brushstroke.

Compare pigment codes, opacity and lightfastness information for each colour in our oil paint collection. The labels student and artist quality do not, by themselves, describe the performance of every colour. For larger areas of practice, you could consider the colours and volume of Pébéo Studio XL oil paint in 200 ml tubes. Choose the size and colour for your exercise, rather than simply the lowest price per millilitre.

Why check the surface first?

Oil painting needs a suitable support and preparation. Among our canvases and panels, choose a product specifically described as suitable for oils. A canvas sold as untreated material is not automatically ready to paint. An absorbent support can draw oil from the paint and alter how it handles.

An acrylic gesso can be a suitable ground for oil painting when its manufacturer approves that use. This does not make every acrylic medium a primer, or mean that acrylic medium can be mixed into conventional oil paint. If you prepare the surface yourself, follow the instructions for the support, number of coats and drying. Do not invent a universal waiting time.

Check for dirt, loose fibres, damage and an unstable support. Make your first study on the same material as your intended painting. A trial on smooth plastic says little about how the same paint will feel on a heavily textured canvas.

Choose brushes for two clear jobs

A flat brush helps with areas of colour, broad strokes and edges. A round brush is useful for lines and smaller shapes. Match its size to your painting: filling a large area with a tiny detail brush is unnecessarily awkward. When comparing brushes for different painting techniques, check whether the fibre and spring suit oil paint.

Explore how little pressure you need for a clear mark. Pressing hard and scrubbing for a long time will not automatically fix an unsuitable paint consistency. Keep one brush for light mixtures and another for dark colours if you otherwise keep carrying unwanted colour into the next mix. Carefully remove excess paint before mixing again.

Medium, oil and solvent are different choices

A painting medium can change flow, sheen, transparency or drying behaviour. A drying oil and a solvent do different things: added oil remains part of the paint film, whereas a suitable volatile solvent evaporates. Too much additive can disturb paint handling and the structure of your layers. No single mixing percentage works for every product and technique.

Among painting mediums and auxiliaries, choose only a product explicitly compatible with your oil paint. If needed, start with one suitable medium, measure it according to the label and record the addition. Do not substitute cooking oil, household thinner or acrylic medium. Conventional oil paint also differs from water-mixable oils: water is a thinner only when that particular paint system allows it.

Your first practice study in five steps

1. Make a record. On a separate card, write the date, surface, paint name, colour and any additive. Keep the study small and leave space between the patches.
2. Compare the same colour. Paint one modest, thinly spread patch and a slightly fuller patch beside it using the same tube, without added medium. Change only the thickness at this stage.
3. Practise mixing. Mix a colour with a little white on the palette. Alongside it, paint a transition between two colours. Make another small mixture instead of continually adding more colours to a muddled pile.
4. Test an additive separately. Only if you have chosen a compatible medium, make a separate patch with the instructed amount. Record what you added; do not change the brush, surface and medium together.
5. Follow the changes. Look at the patches over the next few days without repeatedly touching the painting. Note differences in sheen, retained brush marks or visible wrinkling. Do not damage the film to test whether it is dry.

Hypothetical example: you paint two blue patches on one primed panel, one thin and one fuller, both without additives. You record that the thin patch seems surface-dry sooner. This is an observation about this study, not a general drying time for all blue paint. A comparison becomes useful when you change one factor at a time.

Layers and drying: touch-dry does not mean fully cured

Oil paint forms its film through a reaction with oxygen. Pigment, thickness, medium and conditions affect the rate. A dry-looking surface may cover a softer layer underneath. Do not treat surface dryness as permission to varnish, pack the painting or add a heavy new layer immediately.

When painting in separate layers, the principles of fat over lean, thick over thin and slower-drying over faster-drying help you plan the build-up. Fat over lean concerns the behaviour and flexibility of successive layers; it is not an instruction to pour in more oil at random each time. Follow the guidance for your chosen paint and medium system. Wet-in-wet practice within one session is a different situation from continuing over a dried layer.

For an average application of Studio XL, Pébéo gives around two to three days to become touch-dry and six to nine months before varnishing. These are product-specific guidelines, not a guarantee for your paint thickness. Thicker areas may need longer. Choose a suitable finishing varnish and follow both the paint and varnish instructions; painting medium is not an interchangeable substitute for final varnish.

Cleaning up and finishing safely

Remove as much excess paint as possible from brushes and palette first. Then use a cleaning method suitable for the materials. Keep solvent containers closed when not in use and provide appropriate ventilation. Odourless does not mean ventilation or label instructions are unnecessary. Do not eat or drink at the work surface, and wash your hands afterwards.

Never leave cloths or paper soaked with drying oil crumpled in a pile. Drying can generate heat that accumulates and causes a fire. Use a suitable collection container for oily cloths and follow the material instructions and local waste rules. Keep paint, oil and solvent waste away from children and animals; do not pour it down the sink.

What if the study disappoints you?

Keep this simple practice record

Record the date; support and ground; paint brand and colour; tube volume or product code; brush; additive and amount; thin or fuller application; observations after several days; and the next change. Also write down what you did not change. You will build a useful personal reference without treating a passing impression as proof.

Keep the samples and record together. Make a new small comparison when you later change the tube, ground or painting medium. An earlier observation does not prove how a new combination will behave. The exercise supports material choices and planning; it does not promise a particular result or replace product instructions.

• Is the surface suitable for oils and prepared as instructed?
• Have you deliberately chosen colours, brushes and any additive?
• Are you comparing one changing factor at a time?
• Is there a quiet, safe place for drying?
• Have you arranged cleaning and oily-waste handling before stopping?
• Are you distinguishing touch-dry, ready for another layer and ready to varnish?