Where to Start with Oil Painting
Oil painting is the medium that built the Western art canon, and for good reason. Nothing else gives you the same depth of color, the same forgiving drying time, or the same buttery feel under a brush. The slow dry time that scares beginners is actually your greatest advantage: you can push paint around, blend on the canvas, and correct mistakes for hours before anything sets. Once you learn to work with that pace instead of fighting it, oil becomes the most intuitive medium there is.
Start here
Oil Painting for the Serious Beginner
Steve Allrich · 144 pages · 1996 · Easy
Themes: oil technique, color mixing, composition, plein air, still life
The single best book for someone who has never touched oil paint. Steve Allrich strips away the mystique and hands you a clear, practical path from blank canvas to finished painting.
Why Start Here
This book has sold over 50,000 copies because it does one thing exceptionally well: it teaches a complete beginner how to actually paint in oils. Allrich walks you through materials, color mixing, and composition with step-by-step demonstrations that assume zero prior experience. Every chapter builds on the previous one, so you are never asked to attempt something you have not been prepared for.
What sets this book apart from other beginner guides is Allrich’s focus on doing rather than lecturing. He spends minimal time on art history or abstract theory. Instead, he puts a brush in your hand early and keeps it there. The demonstrations cover still life, landscape, and plein air painting, giving you a well-rounded foundation rather than locking you into one subject.
What to Expect
At 144 pages, this is a focused, efficient book. You can read it in a weekend and start painting immediately. Allrich includes a clear materials list so you know exactly what to buy before you begin. The tone is encouraging and direct, like learning from a patient instructor who respects your time. By the end, you will understand how to set up a palette, mix colors confidently, and complete a painting from start to finish.
Alternatives
Richard Schmid · 328 pages · 2013 · Challenging
The definitive reference for oil painters who want to paint from life. Richard Schmid distills decades of professional experience into a comprehensive guide that many working artists consider the single best book on oil painting ever written.
Why Consider This
Schmid was one of the most respected representational painters of his generation, and this book reads like a master class delivered in person. He covers color, edges, drawing, composition, and the alla prima technique of completing a painting in one session while the paint is still wet. His explanations are precise and deeply considered, reflecting a lifetime of solving problems at the easel.
This is not a beginner’s book. Schmid assumes you can already hold a brush and mix basic colors. What he offers instead is the kind of insight that separates competent painters from exceptional ones: how to judge the accuracy of a color mixture by its relationship to surrounding colors, how to handle edges so they create depth and atmosphere, and how to simplify complex scenes into paintable compositions. If you have worked through a beginner book and want to understand what the next level looks like, this is where you go.
What to Expect
At 328 pages, this is a substantial, serious reference. The writing is thoughtful and occasionally philosophical. Schmid does not rush through topics, and some chapters require multiple readings to fully absorb. The book is self-published and beautifully produced, with high-quality reproductions of Schmid’s paintings throughout. Plan to read it slowly, return to individual chapters as your skills develop, and treat it as a long-term companion rather than a weekend project.
James Gurney · 224 pages · 2010 · Moderate
If you want to understand why things look the way they do before you start painting, this is the book. James Gurney breaks down how light behaves, how colors interact, and how to train your eye to see like a painter.
Why Consider This
Gurney is the creator of the Dinotopia series, and his ability to paint convincing imaginary worlds rests on a deep understanding of how light actually works. This book distills that knowledge into clear, illustrated chapters covering everything from the color wheel to subsurface scattering. It was Amazon’s bestselling painting book for over 100 weeks, and that popularity is well earned.
Where Allrich teaches you the mechanics of handling oil paint, Gurney teaches you the science and observation skills that make any painting convincing. He covers topics most beginner books skip entirely: how light changes color at different times of day, why shadows are not simply darker versions of the lit surface, and how atmospheric perspective affects color over distance. The concepts apply to oils, acrylics, watercolor, and digital painting alike.
What to Expect
At 224 pages, this is a dense, richly illustrated reference. It reads more like a textbook than a step-by-step guide, so it pairs well with a more practical book like Allrich’s. Gurney writes clearly and avoids jargon, but the material is inherently more theoretical. This is the book you return to again and again as your skills develop and you start asking deeper questions about why certain color choices work.