Help on an illustration in oils

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Help on an illustration in oils

by Thomas Michalski
(Ohio)

Reader Question:
Hi there,

I admire your work. I am attempting a photo realistic illustration. What I want to do is sketch out the image and then gesso the board, the render it fully in pencil, then "freeze" the pencil using Crystal Clear and finally use oil paint over the entire image. It is a technique I learned in college.

My issue is that the detail can be quite difficult with the oils. Also, in order to freeze the rendering, I need to use a lot of Crystal Clear...I am wondering if the oils will just get muddy on top of the rendering.

How would you go about it... would you use acrylics instead?

Thanks,
TJ

Hi TJ!

Well, I only have limited experience working with oils (lessons in Classical Realism when I was a teenager), so I'm not qualified to give advice on working with oils. Therefore I cannot be certain whether the oils would get muddy on top of the Crystal Clear. I revisited oil paints in college but I found acrylics much easier and less toxic, so I just stuck with acrylics from then on.

In any case, I've tried to research the answer to your concerns about (1) the oils getting muddy and (2) creating detail in oils, but I wasn't able to come up with anything conclusive.

Since painting with acrylics is my area of expertise, then I could certainly recommend that you give it a try – but to paint photorealistically in acrylics, you'd need a decent range of colors in good quality paints – something which may or may not be within your budget. If you switched from oils to acrylics you'd need to buy a whole new set of paints and mediums (and possibly brushes), so it's really up to you whether it's worth the cost, let alone the effort, to master a new medium. Here's a list of the supplies you'll need for painting with acrylics.

I have personally found that creating detail in acrylics is achievable, and for me it came much more easily and naturally than creating details in oils. Not everyone would agree though – in many ways it depends on the inclinations, preferences and skills of each artist.

You can read through my Guide to Painting Photorealism in Acrylics to see if the techniques interest you. If it's something you'd like to pursue, then I'd say, GO FOR IT! To reduce the number of colors you'd need to buy, you could try a small painting with a limited color range (perhaps a pink cupcake or a strawberry!).

I hope that helps and sorry I couldn't provide more info on working with oils. You could try posting your question on a forum for oil painters to get more experienced responses.

If anyone reading this has any tips for TJ, please feel free to share!

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