Indirect oil painting techniques - part 2 : painting flesh tones over a grisaille

[@PainterDave]

You paint like I do. Makes me happy and confident!😊

[@veaudor]

You are truly a master teacher, besides being a master painter. I like the concept you suggested, of doing the same painting a few times. I never thought of that; I either liked my work, or didn't.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you very much ! I appreciate the support !

[@nikkiswenson54]

Very outstanding work and teaching, Florent. The portrait is just beautiful!

[@ChristopherJones-cjphoto]

Fantastic Demo- this approach seems really logical.

[@seraziel9617]

very glad I found your videos. I'm just getting into oil painting and had started a piece in grayscale and now I want to color it. I remembered my teacher mentioning this technique, so I tried to find out how to go about it. Thanks and I'll be watching your other videos!

[@bricmpt]

Mixing like a ninja!

[@wendyranade6497]

Your videos are so helpful. Attempting this technique for the first time with a moody portrait of my grand daughter so really grateful for your clear demonstrations. Thank you

[@lcarolc03]

Excellent explanations and demonstration. Thank you so much.

[@coopergurl90]

you are such a great teacher! a natural gift! thank you for this lesson!

[@pedromarques3539]

Very clear explanation and process of painting, thank you!

[@masongeick3476]

Great video! Your explanations and demonstrations are wonderfully thorough. I'd love to see a glazing video soon. Thanks for sharing. Please keep it coming!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+Mason Geick Hi ! Thank you for your support !

[@christierella]

Beginner artist want to improve their skills, find the video that shows them how to step to the next level...then ask why. Lol! I know we all ask questions, but I guess it would take seeing the final work; in person to truly understand. This technique is taught in art school, for a trained artist to share this skill is like looking behind the curtain at a magic show. Generous schooled KZbinrs are my professors, I am self taught otherwise. It's finding out about grisaille that has taken my artwork to the next level. Thank you for sharing! Love, Peace, and chicken grease to all of you! No chicken grease to the vegans.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks for the nice words christierella ! Happy painting !

[@daleshawn1910]

Thank you for this. Such a great way to see values. Wishing you lots of luck in your new endeavors. I appreciate all you shared.

[@alanwoodland2967]

Thanks for the demos Florent, love your work!!!!!!!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching !

[@sukilu1964]

awesome videos florent. really like your teaching style, thanks for sharing.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+sukilu1964 Thank you very much !

[@GM-rl3sm]

Thanks so helpful ! from a NYC painter.

[@catherinecervas3726]

I love this. Thank you Florent Farges - arts

[@Ramesh_009]

very nice colour.parfect portait.

[@fothismatrixrespect9805]

Very great demonstration, thabks and regards from India

[@annb1078]

Thank you so very much for this clear and helpful pair of videos about this technique. One question: One of my oil painting teachers told me to do the first layer just using one colour (I used a blend of burnt sienna and cobalt blue), and thinning the paint to different degrees to obtain the different values, from dark to light, with no white paint at all in this stage. Only in the 2nd layer he allowed me to use opaque tones with white for the lighter shades. I see that your grisaille was instead an opaque layer using varying amounts of white to obtain the mid tones and lighter tones. Can you tell me what are the pros and cons of these different methods? I did not understand my teacher's reasons for doing the grisaille without white.

[@melindawolfUS]

One reason might be because white is typically a very slow-drying color. I was also encouraged to keep the white of the canvas as my lightest value in under-painting while in classes and workshops for this reason. We wanted our grisaille to dry quickly so we painted almost like it was watercolor using thinner and raw umber. It dries very quickly, usually you can do the next layer in about an hour. But I believe the old masters, when not strapped for time, would more often include white. And like most choices in art, much of this comes down to personal preferences and style.

[@damien706]

The technique used by your art teacher is another classic technique using an underpainting which can be used indirect or direct. This video is demonstrating a grissaile method with can only be used in indirect painting method

[@advocatesp7559]

That color mixing speed though

[@Victoria-rb3bd]

I thought it was sped up 😳😳😳

[@danieltoledo9295]

You are awesome!!! i have dificult to do this in time of create the rigth value of colors. The black and white is easy for me but put color is my dificult (sorry if i write something with no correct way, i am brazilian)

[@andreamar6044]

Thank you for making this video. It was interesting and informative.

[@wolfumz]

I'm having a hard time understanding why there is a grissaille if you're just going to paint over it with opaques. It's about an undersketch/iterative process?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

The grisaille is here to help build the form, it is especially useful for beginners, but you're right, it's not a necessity to do a grisaille. Consider this as a pre painting, it's as a preparatory drawing. It's easier to control the values with a grisaille. Plus you get the benefits of layering and transparency. An opaque layer is never 100% opaque and you can play with the opacity to create cooler transitions...

[@wolfumz]

Florent Farges - arts Interesting, I have a habit of painting very thin, I know what you're talking about with opaques still having some opacity. I'm also in the middle of a doing a full/finished grisaille, then glazing it one color at a time, (sooo slow!) to a final image. I'm curious about different styles/techniques, thanks so much for answering my question.

[@anniefeng3795]

Thanks for the reply! I was going to ask the exact same question! I was wondering why so much effort was put into the grisalle and then not just opaque glazing over with color!

[@michaelgreene151]

I third the emotion! My exact same question as well! It is possible to use very thin layers of semi opaque paints and still have the form of the grisaille show through, but obviously layers of transparent color is the best way to go to avoid just using the graisaille is a "map" or guide which you lose in the painting process. that seems to be what this artist is doing.

[@hansendesigns]

Every artist must find their way, but i agree, i would have made the grisaille more detailed and run very thin glazes over it that would need 3 days to cure in between each layer. The work will be more luminous when light shines through the layers and optically blends the pigments. In the end you do add some thin opaque areas here and there, but you glaze over those as well. Its a long process but looks great.

[@keppikong]

thank you for ur videos, they are so helpful and informative like a class for oil painting beginner like me..

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you for watching. I am glad you enjoy my videos.

[@nicolastockar]

Hi! Great video, thank you very much for sharing.

[@beccam1007]

thank you for your video. Many videos are the artist painting but no explanation of what they are doing or why they are doing it.

[@MichelleRichee]

No kidding. Who is interested in them? Thumbs down to the no explanation videos.

[@nelidagarcia7412]

Thank you so much for this video. I appreciate that you provide explanations as your are painting and it makes complete sense. I plan to view some of your other videos as well. You have inspired me to attempt a painting of a portrait. I am self-taught therefore learning in this manner works for me. Please keep adding more videos. I also like to paint seascapes and am wondering if this method can also be applied to seascapes.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

I don't know about seascapes, I would go with direct colors for that, but with oil, working with several layers never hurts, so you can try...

[@dloriart4614]

Beautiful!! Thank you!!!

[@samatabitha]

Very good explanation, thank you Florent. But I wish the camera was a bit closer so we could see the brushstrokes more clearly

[@solagratia1600]

Hi Florent! Thanks for sharing this video, most informative. On the fat over lean rule, apart from having to make less corrections each time, there is also a limit to the number of layers we can apply, correct? This is according to the successive layers we put in which we have to abide by more oil with less solvent ratio as we go. If we just use pure oil on our latest layer as an example, say, refined linseed oil with paint, does that mean we shouldn't apply another layer anymore since this will risk introducing paint cracks later on? I am new to oil and I didn't know what I was doing. I had a paint layer with refined linseed oil with no solvent. The next layer I apply the same medium ratio with paint, and found that my new layer was repelled easily by the underneath surface, ie the new layer would not catch onto the surface easily. I have introduced myself to a new problem other than the potentially cracking one in the future.Lastly is there a way to make my layer stay wet for a minimum of a week or more so that I can come back to blend? Thank-you Florent!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+solagratia1600 Alright ! I think if you struggle with layers and oil ratio, you should have a plan before you start your first layer. I.e. decide approximately what sort of ratio you will be needing for each step of you painting. Write it down if it helps. If your plan is to make a lot of successive layers, you could start with a 1 standoil/3 OMS medium and then just add a few drops of oil at the start of every new layer. It will take time before you reach pure oil. And as you noticed, using pure oil is not a very good idea, because then you run the risk of saturating your paint layers with oil and get a very slick surface. Try to be get a good balance and avoid excess. And then the only way to make paint stay wet longer is to use a slow drying oil like poopy seed oil instead of linseed oil which is a fast dryer, but be careful and do some research about it because it's not the most reliable.

[@solagratia1600]

Hi Florent, thank-you so much for your thoughtful and substantial reply. I have actually written down the oil/OMS ratio breakdowns to see how that would work out to give more opportunities for layering, so what you said really helped. You confirmed about the slick surface which I have experienced now with a recent painting due to pure oil medium use without OMS. I will check into Poppy seed oil. I have heard that Oil of Clove can help to stay wet longer as well but Oil of Clove is not easy to obtain and can be quite expensive as well. Thanks so much Florent, really glad to have met you on your painting videos page - Robin Teo :)

[@TheKuldi]

Magnificent video! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with others :) One question: You say something like "Don't be afraid to paint an image several times, over and over as they get better and better. If you do anything wrong, just paint over it again" I say this to myself when I'm about to paint, as I'm so afraid of failure: Just begin and if you fail, just continue. It will look good in the end! The question is, how does the fat over lean principal work then?

[@jtarrats100]

thank you for the video. empresieve work

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+Juan Tarrats Thank you !

[@jtarrats100]

Sure been trying to teach my self oil painting for just over a year ur video healped me how to figure out glazing with oil painting. Thanks again

[@maudale]

Je peux vous demander quels pinceaux vous utilisez pour votre tableau? Merci bien

[@OnlyEntropy]

How do you know how much pigment to medium, (oil)? How do you preven "mud" in color mixing? These are the things I would like to know. Great work, by the way.

[@kyletownsend3102]

Isn’t the point in grisailles to glaze over the top with transparent colors?

[@kirkwickizerart1078]

very nice!

[@cynthiamarston2208]

.......and if not just paint over it one more time....ha ha ha....But not on a pad of paper canvas for oils! Love the end stages...so this is pretty much wet on wet...?

[@SuperXrunner]

What do you think of the Flemish technique

[@PsychofArt]

Whats the advantage of mixing a dark fleshtone instead of just glazing (alizarine permanent + gold ochre + ultramarine) over your dark grisaille? You could still mix your highlights into the glaze.

[@edithensinckopkemna6981]

Nice video's was wundering in the first layer background it might disapare the guidelines in the face or must i be wrong ? Would like to have some advice as i used grafiet for the outlining and wanted to add a first layer background in the face with thin layer thined with some liquin orginal ? Or should i use thinner to the paint to get the first background layer Thank for advice

[@FlorentFargesarts]

The guidelines disappear progressively of course. Graphite is not the best because it smudges a lot. If you have colored pencil or any other type of pencil it's better. I don't think your first underlayer should be pure solvent, it's not very reliable, try 1 part linseed oil or standoil and 3 parts OMS, and don't use too much of it. Or liquin, it's fine. Check out my video on medium if you want :)

[@maestrabloise9254]

Profesor are you recomended leave dry the layers?

[@MaridK]

Yes!

[@holyspork]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@hadeelabdullah220]

valuable video ! I really needed this thank you Florent Farges for sharing. I want to ask about your brushes, do you prefer the soft bristles? Also, do you prefer specific brand?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+hadeel abdullah Hi ! Thank you very much ! I like the hog bristles more than any other to move around a lot of paint : the graduate series by Daler Rowney really work well for me, and they're quite inexpensive. Generally speaking, I choose filbert brushes with long bristles, the longer they are, the more control you get. I also love to use a few kollinski sable rounds for finer work.

[@hadeelabdullah220]

+Florent Farges - arts so helpful ,thanks

[@decame25]

Thank you for this very good video. A question: can I just apply another layer of oil paint, with no oil medium, on top of a dried layer? Thank you a lot.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+decame25 It's not recommended, the safest solution is to add a little bit of medium for each successive layer.

[@decame25]

+Florent Farges - arts Merci Florent pour ta réponse si prompte. Je trouve tes vidéos très bien faites et compréhensibles spécialement pour ceux d'entre nous qui n'ont pas de la formation en arts. Je suis professeur mais j'ai commencé a m'amuser avec la peinture à l'huile depuis janvier. Tes vidéos sont très utiles. Merci encore.

[@johannamdunn]

I love your video THANK YOU for explaining!!! What medium are you using here to add to your paint I love the smoothness!!!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

My medium is made with 3 parts odorless mineral spirit and 1 part linseed standoil

[@johannamdunn]

+Florent Farges - arts thank you so much Florent i currently use stand oil from gamblin is there a diff between linseed stand oil and stand oil I'm guessing thats a stupid question hahaha

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Hey Johanna, stand oil is a type a transformed oil, it can be made out of any oil, but I think that all artist stand oil is made out of linseed.

[@deannacullen471]

Please what medium do you use at this phase

[@xOmumblesOx]

Can you utilize this same technique with acrylic?

[@XDMetaL]

How did you achieve the brown tint background on the canvas?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

The background imprimatura color is a wash of raw umber and odorless mineral spirit

[@zareekhan7313]

Thanks 🙏

[@108Isabel]

what number of brushes are you using???

[@FlorentFargesarts]

I have a large number of brushes. From 1 to 20. For this demo I think it's mostly size 2, 4 and 8.

[@108Isabel]

Ok Thank you Ive been doing painting for 5 years the color mixing still confuses me a bit. Thank you so much 🙏

[@evremkan2758]

On the video you explain what grisaille is you used semi or full transparent colors and olso a medium. Why didn't you do the same on this one ?🤔

[@raghadabdulaziz4530]

Thank you so much 🙏🏻💗.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+raghad Abdulaziz Thank you :)

[@flowingqi8735]

Thanks your videos are really informative, I'm going to start oil painting soon. I have a question if you use a undepainting does the underpainting have to be in full detail?

[@charlespeterson4438]

A fascinating technique which you explain and demonstrate extremely well. Just two points which I may have missed: is the grisaille completely dry before you overpaint? do you use any medium when you paint over the grisaille? Ive tried the grisaille method myself but having watched your video I now feel more confident about applying it. Many thanks,

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+Charles Peterson Thank you, I am happy if it was helpful to you. To answer your questions : the grisaille has to be touch dry before the second layer. And yes, I didn't talk about it in the second part but yes you have to use medium, and it needs to contain more oil to follow the fat over lean principle.

[@bu5415]

white, yellow, blue, red, and dark brown

[@cmelik10]

thank you so much Florent. This series comes at a perfect time for me, I have been trying to learn and understand as much as I can about the grisaille technique and have a painting drying right now that is my first attempt at a grisaille. You did such a great job at explain this process and I learned a lot from it. I do have a question for you if I may. The painting that I am waiting on to try has been sitting over 2 weeks now and it is still wet to the touch, or at least the paint still comes off on my finger when I touch it. I used titanium white and ivory black. Is the slow drying a issue with the color selection? In the future would using burnt umber rather than ivory black still give me the same results if i were to use thin glazes to build up the color or should I stick with ivory black and titanium white?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

+cmelik10 Hello ! Sorry for answering so late, hopefully your painting is dry now. About drying time, it usually takes both titanium white and ivory black about 5 days to be touch dry. It can be longer if it's very cold in your studio. But if you add a lot of oil in your medium it slows down the process even more. Be careful that the bottom layers should stay relatively lean and lean paint should not take two weeks to dry. Try to reduce the oil content of your medium if you used any. You have other solutions, of course burnt umber dries much faster but it's not the same undertone (still works though). You can also get a siccative (drier) to speed up the process, but don't rely too much on it as excess can be very bad. Or just be patient and do like Titian, wait and start another painting at the same time.

[@pw6titanium]

+Florent Farges - arts ...if you wanted the grisaille to dry quicker , you can use a Prussian blue plus burnt umber/raw umber. The Prussian blue has more oil content than the umbers which is fine because they soak up oil like crazy. However Prussian blue has faster drying properties than ivory black and when mixed with umbers , you have a quick drying black. Add a lead white and you have greys that also dry quickly . After drying, I would seal the whole grisaille with a thin layer of a no.1 underpainting medium from Art Spectrum or its equivalent ( ie lean ). It is well known that the umbers will continue to suck oil from overlayers creating a suede effect. This is even worse on an acrylic primed canvas which is rather thirsty for oil as well. cheers all.

[@lindakanter1012]

He is not saying this but I think it's to help with your values

[@watashisagashi8194]

The first few minutes looks like hes making cosmetic foundation cremes for different madames. lol

[@cheemakhaled2092]

wow

[@forgetthis2607]

"Paint me like one of your French girls"

[@maldoori238]

I liked your painting techniques but would have preferred a normal speed video.speed painting spoils the joy of watching the the artist and learning. Soft music would also be welcomed. Many thanks E

[@amandasmart5978]

Honestly this is such a dull way to paint skin tones! barely any dynamic, why would you even need a grisaille?

[@johnhinkleman9757]

Your name should be Amanda Dumb.