Dear All , As somewhat of a novice at the this wonderful hobby and deciding that oils are the best medium for me I thought it would be a good idea if we have an oils only Thread where all us oilies can come and discuss, post and and ask questions on all things oils.
I am constantly looking for ways to get better and of course learn from others experiences and I have found it quite difficult sometimes to get information on here at times , things like how to paint with oils , how to get the right look when painting leather , how do you get the worn and cracked look ?
I must say that Kagemusha has been a great help for me always willing to share his thoughts and ideas and I thought it would be a good idea if we had one particular place where we can come and get the information we need, So if there is anyone out there that feels they can contribute perhaps we can start with this thread and hopefully expand so allow me to kick things off with the first question..........


Why Oils?

No real answer to your question. Oils are possibly more expensive, some people react to the smell, they take longer to dry, the sheen can be seen as unnatural...etc, etc..it is a matter of personal choice and some painters use, enamels, oils and acrylics. I count myself in that group.
Personally l find oils much easier to blend which takes an awful lot of time and skill to achieve with acrylics. To be honest superb work can be achieved in any medium with practice.
Although a pretty average painter l have a lot of information available and if you want to pm me l would be happy to help.

I'm not sure that a separate section on oils would be a good idea because going down that route opens up a myriad of splinter groups and life could get very complicated. Maybe others feel differently?

Thank you for that and your offer of help will for sure pm you .....yes I understand where your coming from but it would be so much easier if there was a central place to go and seek out the information on what you specifically want , at the moment there are hundreds of posts on all sorts and I feel it wold save everyone some time .........

I'm very much with Keith on this and he's written pretty much what I was going to.
I use different types of paint for whatever effect or finish I want. Oils is my go to paint for flesh and clothing on top of an acrylic basecoat due to how much easier I personally find them to blend. Thinned oil is very useful for washes, for example on wooden items like rifle furniture.
Roger.

Ok I see how some people use all three mediums as do I , I think what I mean to say is if you are using oils for a specific part of your figure that could go into the All things Oils section so people can go to that section to get information on the specific piece their working on ........just a thought

Yesterday I attended a modeling club meeting where the "figures guys" were chatting together about this same topic. Some of us use craft store paints, some the modern acrylic paint sets, some enamels and oils. When I first was drawn to figures, the "how to" articles were using Humbrol enamels and oils. I tried them, I like them, I know a bit about how to achieve what I seek, and by now I have a lot of tools,etc.

OSS, you have come to the right place. I have already learned much from the other PF folks.
N

As an oil man who just can't get the hang of acrylics this would be of interest to me.
Bill

Thanks guys for your replies keep them coming please...............what I really want to do first and foremost is to understand how to achieve certain looks as a novice who uses oils for the most part how do we get the look we are looking for ? seeing others do it is fine but understanding why they do what they do is something else and of course everyone is different . What I was hoping that anyone who uses oils and its ok if you use other mediums as well but when using the oils could be use this thread so then everyone knows that anything to do with oils is in here what ever information we can share is going to help someone who is using primarily oils .

Whilst I have continued to refine my technique....and now work 98% of the time with 'transparent oil colours....the basics of it remain the same....

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/my-way-with-oils.52194/

Regards

Ron

I am an ardent oils man and have been so since I started with this hobby 50 years ago ( Crikey! Where the devil did that go ? )
It wasn't because oil paints were better, it was because I was more comfortable with them - I'd been using them in the day job,
so simply stuck with what I knew. Whatever can be achieved with oils can be matched with acrylics, and vice versa of course - it's
a question of preference and different applied techniques. The tough bit as we know is learning these techniques. The idea of debunking
the mystique and openly sharing them with anyone who wants to listen is such a good idea. Bravo !!

Mike

What a great attitude Mike love this and thanks again to Kagemusha for his thread which was brilliant , I think there was a thread with out all the questions can we get that on here Kagemusha ?
Ideally if we can get the Admins to give us an Oils section in the Forum we can then get everyone who wants information on oils to post their questions and queries in there Nap and Admins would this be possible ?

I know I haven’t been around here for a while but an oil section here would be great to see happen just my opinion

A few random thoughts....

I am the only "oil guy" left in my club... I kiddingly banter that acrylics are for walls and oils for figures!

That said, acrylics for base coating and occasional finished areas plus inks are musts as well to enhance my oil work... I'd love to hear what other mediums some use with their oils. Oils are easy to blend with many uses as Roger mentioned... A mix of mediums is almost a most for the best results but oils are absolutely my final go to as well. In painting with acrylics, one tricks the eye into seeing the blend (and done very well by some) where as oils are a true blending from one color to the next and just makes more sense to me.

I have a halogen lamp over a tin lined plastic box for my drying oven. I also have been experimenting with water based oils and am also currently experimenting with pointillism after a class with Fernando Reyes but using oils to do it.

A section on oils could get a bit tricky but I have to say I rather like the idea as well. There is a plethora of tricks, styles and sbs techniques in PF and I have a few tricks to share as well but I think maybe having them in one spot could be interesting. I'd love to learn more from the rest of y'all.

Kevin D.

Came across an old Mil Mod article by Steve Kirtley on painting horses in oils. Steve blocked in sections of colours and then carefully feathered the edges together to get a unified contrast, subtle transitions but dramatic where required.
Got me thinking about faces and it occurred to me that there is this trend in makeup where girls apply it as much for Instagram images as anything else.
Did a quick search and this popped up. Might be useful to some.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/560416747359708704/?lp=true

Nice thanks for the info Del

The makeup idea is similar to some advice I saw which said to look at a female news anchor (news reader in UK?) and check out the facial makeup. The face has highlights, shadows, cheek bones, etc as in your diagram.

Getting good ideas. Thanks
N