Oil Painting: Underpainting Helps!

For practice, I started working on this picture of Oscar Wilde. Oscar is just about my favorite person in history and I think he has an interesting, enigmatic look to him.


I was really surprised by how the picture is turning out. I'm not done, but I'm getting close! I think what helped me so much is that I did an underpainting in opposite-type colors using cheap-o Wal-Mart acrylic paints. Then, when I went to paint over the underpainting, I could use it as a guide to help me find the lights and darks.

I painted the darks first, then the lighter parts. I have a lot more work to do with this. Oscar is recorded to have green-yellow eyes, for example and his hand is jacked up.

But if you have trouble with oils, try the underpainting thing. It helped me a ton.