The Art of Sfumato: An In-Depth Oil Painting Masterclass

[@marioangelsamaniego]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

My pleasure 😊🎨✨

[@brain1fluff]

I'm taking my first oil painting class and this is the technique I'm learning. Whilst at first it seems like it is a slow process, it is great for beginners as I'm also learning about prepping a canvas, colour values, different types of edges, different types of brushes, blending techniques... all while relating the approach to some great masters. It also teaches patience and being present in your work. It really is great for beginners.

[@careywanabe]

Watched the documentary a while ago and was surprised and pleased to see you in it. I just started a davinci master study so this video has perfect timing for me! Thanks for all your advice ❤

[@glennkristoffer6730]

Fantastic lesson!! Sfumato is a wonderful technique. You paint city-scapes that appear both affluent and decadent at the same time. Love yer work!!

[@allenvoss7977]

And of course A small amount of the amazing Liquin original ! A must .

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Yes, Liquin is great for translucency, good choice 👍

[@krismaki757]

Thank you. There is so much information that I need to learn here. (Yes, I will be taking your beginners course in the future too.) I played with oils many years ago, and loved it. But I took a couple of free online workshops that suggested using acrylics for the fast drying time during the course, and I just kept using them as I painted on my own. I frequently didn't care for a lot of what I did, and I now realize a lot of it was simply I wanted to be able to blend better. I look forward to learning more, and getting back into oil painting.

[@Maher287]

I'm very lucky as I get more knowledgeable through your informative video thanks a lot 😊

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're so welcome 😊

[@richardpena7153]

Beautifully done.

[@_mannyponce]

This video is so amazing. Thank you for sharing with us. note: The book by Da Vinci, is just incredible. His scientific mind was light years ahead.

[@doddagopi4933]

Many thanks for your informative & exhaustive demo. Once again - you stand unique in presenting the demo.

[@drinkmilktea]

Florent, excellent review of sfumato and other techniques. I hope you will allow me to point out something in your closeup young woman you use as an example of blending (around 11min). It is clear from the prominence of her right cheek that we are seeing slightly more of the right side of her face so that her head is slightly tilted. However if you take a look at her nose it is pointed directly at us. I don't pretend to be anywhere near your level of expertise, and yet this bugs me, haha. Take it for what it's worth, free advice. Thanks again for all your helpful videos.

[@jivka6518]

Thanks you for such informative video really appreciate your knowledge of the art techniques if I’m allowed to I’d say your one the best knowledgable artist on the KZbin that I know of and I have learned so much from your videos.

[@evahovbrand9439]

Thank you, very interesting! As always.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you very much, Eva 😊

[@louielouie4187]

You are very much appreciated Wonderful channel you have created. Thank you

[@EliT3xEleM3nT]

What a beautiful artwork. You must be proud of your work, its absolutely incredible😮

[@AshSchultzArt]

Going to have to refer back to this. I'm dying to get this technique down when working on portraits. Great video, my good man!

[@stephent2700]

Thanks, Florent, this video is much appreciated. It expands on your earlier videos that touched on the subject. One thing I also appreciated is that you didn't mention here but you have in the past is the very subtle use of cyan and rose in the skin tones which really add depth and contour to portrait when compared to a range of values from the same hue. S

[@stephenfularz7573]

All the time I have been painting I never heard the name sfumato but that was what I was trying to achive in my paintings.and it took me a long time to be happy with my paintings.

[@abdullahsaid8182]

Amazing video and amazing artist

[@lonnymcsherley773]

Amazing…. I am basically landscape, but I can definitely see some sfamato technique being incorporated. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your talent and technique.

[@NoName-uh3lp]

I've been using this "technique" for some time & never know it's origins, it just seemed natural to me, so thanks for posting this.

[@meredith7236]

Beautiful painting

[@liamsparling]

3:45 can I learn more of these canons. And the various ones other than sfumato? What are the other ones called.

[@stephenfularz7573]

Good painting imformation.

[@vissualss]

Fantastic video!!!

[@rutbrea8796]

Sfumato is a great idea! I would love to know more about it.

[@allenvoss7977]

Also, a very smooth surface like ampersands panels

[@AldoOlivera-vw8ir]

Larga vida al gran.. Leonardo Da Vinci ❤

[@storybyosmosis]

Merci beaucoup, Florent. Is it functional to then use fixative and paint over with oil?

[@changemymind06]

Wow when you said tight pointers can benefit from this, I got really excited. This is the look I want but with my tight painting habits I wasn't able to achieve it. But the way you so eloquently explained it really made a light bulb turn on in my brain. I will definitely start small....like an eyeball lol. You always share informative and inspiring videos! How long did it take you to paint just the face? What a labor of love and patience for the craft.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks, happy my work can be helpful. For the face it took like three whole days.

[@domenicosorrentino1972]

Very informative and your pronunce is very good, today many seem not using thise techniques anymore, but i appreciated instead to learn futher about them. Maybe because i like realism in paintings, but the gusto of mainstream instead seem to point toward impressionism. Anyway nice history lesson too

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

Thank you, this is very cool & informative! Now I'm inspired to try it with oil paints. I wonder if I can get it to work with my primary medium, color pencils? 🤔 They don't blend the same way, of course, but they can work by building up layers.

[@lifewithjanie3368]

Fantastic video on this method which I am now trying to practice. You’ve explained it so well. Thank you. Btw I’ve noticed you use magnifying glasses that might be helpful with my compromised vision problems and challenges with detail and values. Which ones do you use?

[@amandacarroll31]

Loving your videos! I can paint and create things but I don't know how to talk about art and famous painters... Gonna talk about sfumato at any opportunity now 🎨😃

[@cluek9780]

Faster drying of alkyd oils make Leonardo’s technique much more approachable today: I can apply three glazes per day!

[@thisresinates5655]

Do you recommend the 7 hour course 1st?

[@jilliancrawford7577]

Is the sfumato the reason why the paint on the eyes on the Mona Lisa aren't as cracked? Sorry if that's a stupid question, but I can't help but assume the technique Da Vinci used while painting them is what made them more resistant to cracking.

[@Ravindr-z6l]

Thanks for sharing❤❤❤❤🙏🏼🇮🇳

[@FlorentFargesarts]

My pleasure

[@Hayk_empty_cloud]

So underlayer can be done by acrylic right?

[@hrr222]

I guess the sfumato technique itself is not popular these days not cos its forgotten, but just cos almost everyone (including you) extensivly promote "alla prima" method, which cause extreme popularity of this technique of painting. So its mostly paint bloggers guilt.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

I guess so, however I doubt our influence is so great that we can decide what is popular and what is not in the actual art world, not just in online content. And the art world, it's the same. I have never personally promoted Alla prima more than any other technique, I try to cover a little bit of everything but it is also about popular demand so I understand why many bloggers focus more on that.

[@nic_earrings]

Dear Florent, I saw a video where you draw in charcoal a portrait of yourself, on a tonalised blue paper. I would kindly like to ask you how is the process for tonalizing the white paper to make it blue. Thanks!

[@susanahlstrom1953]

It looks like you are wearing magnifying glasses while painting. What are they? I feel like I might need a pair. Sometimes when I am painting my nose is in danger of getting paint on it.

[@viktorvegh7842]

19:39 I feel like the painted picture doesn’t follow sfumato and has common shadow lines as the picture that Leonardo criticised on the start of your video just look under eyes those shades are dark but gradient around them is too soft

[@oliverzigerlig9126]

hey hey, for example if I have a black vector flower with oil paint ddr background is white, how can I get the flower blurred on the edges

[@smellysock4260]

I probably can't use sfumato painting portraits of tourists sitting on le Pont au Double in front of Notre Dame, but it looks like it could help some more serious pieces. I'd better learn how to do it.

[@ryannaellerbee4577]

This question has nothing to do with this vedio but i use gamvar varnish and i have this peice that i did and when i started varnishing it took some of my paint off my piece. What did i do wrong? It was completely dry. I dont understand why it took my oil paint off the canvas. I had to wipe it off and go back in with oil to cover ot up. Can you do a vedio on varnishing?

[@Engelhafen]

I wouldn’t say that painting you are working on is really a demo of sfumato

[@_Surrealism.Art_]

The sfumato uses a dull tone as a base to give volume, then the color is added little by little, blending as if it were makeup, what you do is not

[@anonymousano3430]

You can call it what you like but of course it’s a technique !

[@GnaReffotsirk]

I knew it. Sfumato is not a process but an outcome.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Pretty much 😊

[@allenvoss7977]

I use my finger, then a nice blending brush

[@cluek9780]

Leo used his fingers a LOT

[@MrJamesaf]

Salut mon frère, voilà faut que tu lises ce livre: The Secret Of The Old Masters by Albert Abendschein... Y a tout dedans... pour comprendre le secret des grands maîtres... Illustrer avec les portraits de Rubens qui dévoile cette connaissance perdue remplacé par le 'alla prima'... Où les couleurs jaunissent... Back to the roots!

[@rogerdestre9980]

Always be delicate around the nostrils so as not to cause your portrait to sneeze.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

🤣🤣🤣

[@gino_auroville]

Los of bla bla bla. But HOW do you do the sfumato? HOW? Can you please get to the point instead of wasting people's time. You made a romance on WHAT sfumato is, but you haven't said HOW to actually do it. I kept fast forwarding the video because you keep romanticizing sfumato and I'm falling asleep, when all I need to know is HOW to do the sfumato. Can I start with a thick coat of paint and then add "diluted" paint on top to create the sfumato? Or is the diluted paint (containing turpentine) going to dilute also the first coating? Can you answer this simple question?

[@sheranlanger247]

I thought sfumato was an acronym at first glance 🤦🏾‍♀️😂

[@atlantic_love]

You are not Leonardo Da Vinci, and have no reason to be trying to associate his work with yours.

[@greenc1088]

Appreciate the demonstration but you were saying the same thing over and over again for the whole 40 mins.

[@VagalovStudio]

BOB ROSS painting sfumato.