1. Neglect the Values 2. Avoid Trying to Find the Right Color - try to put it in its context (try, compare, adjust). Start w the darkest parts of the painting 3. Avoid mixing the colors on the canvas - work as much as possible on the pallet. 4. Not stepping back enough to assess and look 5. Not enough or Too much paint
After painting a few years, I've made every mistake here, lol. This was a wonderful tutorial, bravo! I really hope a new artist will discipline themselves to following this tutorial. Many canvasses will be saved.
Very good advice on all points. If you're a painter, beginner or advanced, reading the comments, do an experiment where he talks about getting all the right values in a simple still life with a grisaille underpainting, and then use colors over it that you know are wrong but still the right value. You'll be surprised how well it pulls together when you step back, even though the colors are abstracted. Starting your work with the darkest values, as he says, is also good advice because dark values are scary and we doubt ourselves. Learn to trust what you see in values and not what you "know" and the rest of the painting falls into place.
This video was a real eye opener. I was like “oh I already keep values as a priority” on tip 1 but when I continued I realized Ive been doing every thing wrong and this video helped a lot! I was so frustrated with painting and I almost never get inspired but I think this video kind of gave me an inspiration to paint more.. Thanks!
The beauty of your program videos and your RUclips videos is that one, you keep the subject matter simplified, two, you impart your experience and knowledge into the videos, three, your dedication of improvement on each video is so self evident. Well done my friend, keep up the great work.
I knew about a lot of those but the one for checking values using the reflection in your black phone screen was a new one and I really liked that idea. Thank you for sharing!
I would say one of the best things you can do to a painting your struggling with. Is first ask another artist to give feedback... And if you still want more... Give up on the painting. Take a break for like a week. When you come back you will find you have a different mindset, different inspirations, and fresh eyes. It can make a world of differance to your work and help you see your own mistakes and help you learn.
As a long time photographer I find taking a a photo of it really helps. I love looking at it in black and white because it is easier for me draw what. I know where shadow and light are to create depth. I love black pastel and charcoal for that reason. I am about to try oil paint for the first time.Love your videos!
These are literally my favorite videos ever, they're so chill and helpful and they give me hope when I'm stuck and feel like I'm not improving 😂 thank you for making these!!
I've learnt so much from your videos, they are helping me become a better artist! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with us, you're awesome!
I am always amazed about how much painting and hair styling have in common. From color value, to stepping away from the piece and looking at a distance.
A very good tutorial. I only wish that you had given examples for No 2: "Try, Compare, Adjust". I think a beginner might be a bit flummoxed without some demonstration.
Thank you for your videos. I really get a lot out of them. In the current video, I really appreciate point number 4 - stepping back from the painting. Often when I paint, I am so close to the painting and focused on one detail I forget the entire painting. Focusing on a detail is important but it must be tempered. One way I have found to be useful to balance is to take a cell phone photograph. It is like using the reverse mirror (tailored for the modern age). At a stopping point, I take a photo of the work with my cell phone. Granted, modern cell phone cameras enhance the colors way more than looking at it with the naked eye. Never the less, this lets me see my work in a different contextual setting. Often I find that the obsessing over the most minute details, while important, can stop. I have done enough. Learning when to stop is crucial. It is so very hard for artists.
I find it very useful to work with a mirror behind me which quickly enables me to view it from a distance . Thank you for sharing your knowledge 👍 keep up the good work
He is great for beginner like me in oil painting. The 5 mistakes he listed here completely were what I went through the last 3 months. I also made a major mistake of using wrong surface.. I am following him from now on!!!!
I’ve been doing art for a while and still had trouble with values, thank you because your explanation was just GREAT!! It had a better understanding in my eyes than when in art school and my instructor’s explanation was just uncomprehending to me.
Excellent thank you for what you do. As an artist myself, I also take the opportunity to learn as much as I can. An artist can be a teacher and always a student. Keep safe.
Your paintings are beautiful. I want to thank you for teaching, helping others to try to paint too. You are an excellent teacher. I really appreciate your interesting, instructive tutorials!
Also there is a soft look to painting on canvas and a harder texture and quality when painting on board and wood panels. Choose the painting surface based on the project
Number 4 is so important!!! I learned this around 15 years old. Always step back and see how your work looks from farther away. It makes a load of a difference and you can point out where something needs adjusting, etc
Don't forget skilled as well, a talent you don't learn you just have the natural ability for it. Painting takes time to learn and with that become a better artist.
Thank you for these tips. They are definitely helpful. I only wish you would sell prints of your artwork. There is an evocative, reflective quality to them that is beautiful.
Paintings are an optical illusion' you don't see the illusion yourself until you walk away and come back to it. Standing back and looking, looking at the painting in a mirror (so see a 'different' painting, and walking away (even for 30 seconds) then looking back...all good habits. Great video as ever, just wish you had thought of a mistake that I haven't made at some time...but then mistakes are a great way to learn. Thanks.
It's a common mistake, never hesitate to try a small color sample, even if you know it will be wrong... then look, compare and change if necessary. Oil paint can always be removed or covered so no worries. It also removes a lot of the "color anxiety", normal for beginners.
This is fantastic- I have been muddling value and chroma- your slide is so clear that the same value can have different chroma. I think also the habit of naming colours can confuse chroma as the different intesities are named different things and we think of the different chromas as colours/hues
Thanks, Dannielle. Color naming and color theory is a gigantic mess, for sure! Everyone sees and names colors differently. But as painters, we have to learn to understand colors more in depth.
Florent your videos are fantastic, your advice so useful, thank you for sharing your vast knowledge. You are an incredibly talented and skilled artist, I just love your work. ❤️
Florent - so right - No' 4: standing too close to the canvas. Trying to get students to stand back and look at their work can be SO difficult but it's something I stress to them constantly.
To be honest I am just learning how to paint but I start by kind of sketching with a lot of dry brush in a light color. Sometimes white or grey. I then begin to paint “in” adding light or dark still basically sketching in paint and using mostly a dry brush. In this way I gradually build up the composition constantly refining and adding color, revising, refining and blending. I start sort of ambiguously and ending with decisive details.
thanks! that was very useful. The idea of mixing paint on your painting is in fact ok if it’s watercolour where you can achieve the most surprising effects.. I’m trying to move away from watercolour and of course I get into my old habits
Kate Beedot he has a video showing a sphere he did by mixing on the canvas vs going back to the palette and picking up new transitional color. The one where he uses new paint instead of mixing on canvas looks way better. But that’s for beginners, I think once you’re more experienced you can do that and you know how to make it not look flat.
It's also ok for oil painting, but it's not a reliable color mixing strategy for beginners... It's too unpredictable. But with experience, it's possible.
Hi Florent, thanks for the great content. I would like to clarify something about point 5. It is important to take into consideration of Fat over lean. If you put too much medium and thin down your paint in the first layers, one should be consistent in the layers on top, meaning one should start with paint almost without any medium and using hard brushes to apply paint as thing as possible also using rags to take off excesses of paint in the first layers. Adding medium in subsequent layers if the person wishes to thin down paint changing to softer tools to apply the paint. and so on
Lol you are explaining a concept you clearly do not understand whatsoever. First off, mediums are not the same as solvents, you seem to think everything is a medium and medium equals fat. Not so. You don't typically start with straight paint and no idea what a 'hard' brush is. Solvents are turpentine or white spirit. They make paint lean. You SHOULD use them in your first layer (for washes, like a watercolor). They are not a medium. Oil is a medium, and that makes a layer fat. Using straight paint first would make a fat layer, you can do it, but then the only way to go next is more straight paint or add oil. Simplest way is to start with turp or WS, then next layer use a mix of say half turp and half oil, then just oil or straight paint.
@@satchelyork you are saying exactly the same as I did with one exception though. Somehow you came to the conclussion that I am confusing mediums with solvents without me mentioning solvents once, I know exactly the difference. I never mentioned solvents because using solvents in the first layers weakens those layers which are the ones that will adhere to the support, introducing a number of potential problems to the painting. Therefore It is not recommended to use solvents but pure paint with hard brushes (bristle hog hair brushes), in that way the oil in the paint will create a very strong bond to the surface or support. Don't take that word from me, cause I did not invent the argument, go and check the book by Virgil Elliott "Traditional oil painting" who by the way works with conservators and scientists from Museums and Universities doing research in the field.
Do you know Daria Callie? She paint with oil and before start she do every colors on her pallette. So I think that maybe we can do it but I am a beginner so I don't really know.
There is different environments to paint in. Silence is preferred so you can focus on your work. But sometimes the freedom of working while listening to an audiobook or music can change the way you paint. Sort of painting without thinking can give you surprising effects and help you realise your own style.
![Oasis - Oasis Live '25 [Official Trailer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gol_JnuEtKM/mqdefault.jpg)
the internet is amazing, all these resources for free! thank you so much for sharing with the world :)
You're welcome, I'm glad my work can help others.
Beautiful
☺❤🙏
1. Neglect the Values
2. Avoid Trying to Find the Right Color - try to put it in its context (try, compare, adjust). Start w the darkest parts of the painting
3. Avoid mixing the colors on the canvas - work as much as possible on the pallet.
4. Not stepping back enough to assess and look
5. Not enough or Too much paint
After painting a few years, I've made every mistake here, lol. This was a wonderful tutorial, bravo! I really hope a new artist will discipline themselves to following this tutorial. Many canvasses will be saved.
Very good advice on all points. If you're a painter, beginner or advanced, reading the comments, do an experiment where he talks about getting all the right values in a simple still life with a grisaille underpainting, and then use colors over it that you know are wrong but still the right value. You'll be surprised how well it pulls together when you step back, even though the colors are abstracted. Starting your work with the darkest values, as he says, is also good advice because dark values are scary and we doubt ourselves. Learn to trust what you see in values and not what you "know" and the rest of the painting falls into place.
This video was a real eye opener. I was like “oh I already keep values as a priority” on tip 1 but when I continued I realized Ive been doing every thing wrong and this video helped a lot! I was so frustrated with painting and I almost never get inspired but I think this video kind of gave me an inspiration to paint more.. Thanks!
Absolutely correct, I've been painting for years and I discovered all this the hard way
You had me at get coffee 😯 im listening
The beauty of your program videos and your RUclips videos is that one, you keep the subject matter simplified, two, you impart your experience and knowledge into the videos, three, your dedication of improvement on each video is so self evident. Well done my friend, keep up the great work.
I knew about a lot of those but the one for checking values using the reflection in your black phone screen was a new one and I really liked that idea. Thank you for sharing!
I would say one of the best things you can do to a painting your struggling with. Is first ask another artist to give feedback... And if you still want more... Give up on the painting. Take a break for like a week. When you come back you will find you have a different mindset, different inspirations, and fresh eyes. It can make a world of differance to your work and help you see your own mistakes and help you learn.
Also, hold your painting in front of a mirror or upsidedown. Reversing what you see will bring out a lot of what you'll want to correct.
As a long time photographer I find taking a a photo of it really helps. I love looking at it in black and white because it is easier for me draw what. I know where shadow and light are to create depth. I love black pastel and charcoal for that reason. I am about to try oil paint for the first time.Love your videos!
Learning about oil, after decades of gouache, pen & ink, is daunting. This is so good I'm going to look for it again.
These are literally my favorite videos ever, they're so chill and helpful and they give me hope when I'm stuck and feel like I'm not improving 😂 thank you for making these!!
I've learnt so much from your videos, they are helping me become a better artist! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with us, you're awesome!
I'm glad I can help ! :)
I am always amazed about how much painting and hair styling have in common. From color value, to stepping away from the piece and looking at a distance.
A very good tutorial. I only wish that you had given examples for No 2: "Try, Compare, Adjust". I think a beginner might be a bit flummoxed without some demonstration.
Thank you for your videos. I really get a lot out of them. In the current video, I really appreciate point number 4 - stepping back from the painting. Often when I paint, I am so close to the painting and focused on one detail I forget the entire painting. Focusing on a detail is important but it must be tempered. One way I have found to be useful to balance is to take a cell phone photograph. It is like using the reverse mirror (tailored for the modern age). At a stopping point, I take a photo of the work with my cell phone. Granted, modern cell phone cameras enhance the colors way more than looking at it with the naked eye. Never the less, this lets me see my work in a different contextual setting. Often I find that the obsessing over the most minute details, while important, can stop. I have done enough. Learning when to stop is crucial. It is so very hard for artists.
I find it very useful to work with a mirror behind me which quickly enables me to view it from a distance . Thank you for sharing your knowledge 👍 keep up the good work
I can't believe I haven't thought about using a dropper for the solvent, thanks for that.
He is great for beginner like me in oil painting. The 5 mistakes he listed here completely were what I went through the last 3 months. I also made a major mistake of using wrong surface.. I am following him from now on!!!!
I’ve been doing art for a while and still had trouble with values, thank you because your explanation was just GREAT!! It had a better understanding in my eyes than when in art school and my instructor’s explanation was just uncomprehending to me.
Thank you Florent, stepping back is helpful. The hardest thing for me is I get too detailed too early in the painting. It's hard to pace yourself
I guess it comes with loads of practice.
I would have picked the exact same 5 points. Especially your point on values and also viewing from a distance.
Great advice as always
You are one of the best I have seen - thanks!
Thank you so much ! ;)
Excellent thank you for what you do. As an artist myself, I also take the opportunity to learn as much as I can. An artist can be a teacher and always a student. Keep safe.
Oh My God! Where were you Florent? Thanks for being here and so generously creative.
Great video for beginners. These tips will avoid a great deal of frustration for them. Thank you!
Your paintings are beautiful. I want to thank you for teaching, helping others to try to paint too. You are an excellent teacher. I really appreciate your interesting, instructive tutorials!
Also there is a soft look to painting on canvas and a harder texture and quality when painting on board and wood panels. Choose the painting surface based on the project
Wow, aren't you just Wonderful!
Your channel is definitely the most informative.. easy to follow and and answers my questions when I'm struggling.
Number 4 is so important!!! I learned this around 15 years old. Always step back and see how your work looks from farther away. It makes a load of a difference and you can point out where something needs adjusting, etc
Your paintings are awesome! You're so talented
Thank you so much !
Don't forget skilled as well, a talent you don't learn you just have the natural ability for it. Painting takes time to learn and with that become a better artist.
this answered many questions i didnt even know i had, thank you
Thank you for these tips. They are definitely helpful.
I only wish you would sell prints of your artwork. There is an evocative, reflective quality to them that is beautiful.
I have never seen glass as palete for colours, that is brilliant idea. It is easier to clean it as on wooden palette.
This is the best video I saw this year. Thank you!❤️
Paintings are an optical illusion' you don't see the illusion yourself until you walk away and come back to it. Standing back and looking, looking at the painting in a mirror (so see a 'different' painting, and walking away (even for 30 seconds) then looking back...all good habits.
Great video as ever, just wish you had thought of a mistake that I haven't made at some time...but then mistakes are a great way to learn.
Thanks.
You're an amazing teacher, thank you so much!
Thank you Sir,for this videos it helps me to improve my artwork,and thank you for the technique.God Bless
Been wanting to learn how to oil paint might start w your lessons! Thanks
The picking and finding the color like a puzzle is exactly what I have been doing. Ugh.
It's a common mistake, never hesitate to try a small color sample, even if you know it will be wrong... then look, compare and change if necessary. Oil paint can always be removed or covered so no worries. It also removes a lot of the "color anxiety", normal for beginners.
Me too! All the time and paint I have wasted..
Thank you for sharing this, I've been struggeling for so long!!
I have to say that I love your eyebrows. Thank you for the video too.
He does have excellent eyebrows, I have always thought that! Along with huge talent, skill, incredible knowledge and that really lovely French accent.
@@BlueKungFu ~ Agreed! ❤️
Thank you . One day Im going to try painting. Really inspired right now by the work of Hannah Van Bart.
This is fantastic- I have been muddling value and chroma- your slide is so clear that the same value can have different chroma. I think also the habit of naming colours can confuse chroma as the different intesities are named different things and we think of the different chromas as colours/hues
Thanks, Dannielle. Color naming and color theory is a gigantic mess, for sure! Everyone sees and names colors differently. But as painters, we have to learn to understand colors more in depth.
very, very helpful. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I am struggling with oil as a beginner, I use acrylic mostly and finding oil very difficult
I concur with the mistakes mentioned. Thanks for the reminders!
another great tips of painting mate
I am a beginner, and definitely guilty of all of these! Thank you for a great, super helpful video!:)
Thank you for sharing your tips, Florent! You are a true professional
Wow these tips were AMAZING thank u!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻😍😍 i really think these tips were for all mediums
Your explanations are so clear and helpful!
That dropper in the paint was kinda what I’ve been looking for. Cool
Florent your videos are fantastic, your advice so useful, thank you for sharing your vast knowledge. You are an incredibly talented and skilled artist, I just love your work. ❤️
Thank you so much :)
@@FlorentFargesarts You're very welcome Florent, it's you who deserves the thanks. 🙏
Florent - so right - No' 4: standing too close to the canvas. Trying to get students to stand back and look at their work can be SO difficult but it's something I stress to them constantly.
You explain so well - THANK YOU!
This was so, very, helpful!!! Thank you for your clear explanations!
Just started the video...Man, your beard has such a pretty colour.
Mathilda !
Hi Florent! These are some great tips. I’m just learning to oil paint and this has helped a lot. Thank you for these videos!
OMG! Amazing content. You got a new subscriber
A HUGE THANK YOU!!!
To be honest I am just learning how to paint but I start by kind of sketching with a lot of dry brush in a light color. Sometimes white or grey. I then begin to paint “in” adding light or dark still basically sketching in paint and using mostly a dry brush. In this way I gradually build up the composition constantly refining and adding color, revising, refining and blending. I start sort of ambiguously and ending with decisive details.
Well it's ten o'clock at night but now I feel absolutely compelled. I must make coffee.
thanks! that was very useful. The idea of mixing paint on your painting is in fact ok if it’s watercolour where you can achieve the most surprising effects.. I’m trying to move away from watercolour and of course I get into my old habits
Kate Beedot he has a video showing a sphere he did by mixing on the canvas vs going back to the palette and picking up new transitional color. The one where he uses new paint instead of mixing on canvas looks way better. But that’s for beginners, I think once you’re more experienced you can do that and you know how to make it not look flat.
It's also ok for oil painting, but it's not a reliable color mixing strategy for beginners... It's too unpredictable. But with experience, it's possible.
This channel is so underrated.
Very good advise! Thank you so much!
Amazing advice, you're the best! Thank you!!!
Great idea to use a dropper to add the medium!
Tons of great information. For beginner or advanced.
Oh how much I wish I had a studio instead of sitting in my tiny room, especially in this pandemic
Thank you very much for your counsels. I appreciate it.
Thank you so much for your video's!!!!! Love them.
Thank you!
Fantastic video, Florent! I love your work and your videos!!
I love your channel !
So helpful 😍
Very good! Thanks for sharing!!!
You're welcome Henrique :)
awesome videos thx! love to know what you listen to when you paint!
Thanks, it helps me a lot!
Great advice, and I also want to compliment you on your English. If I could speak your language as well as you speak mine I would be very proud.
Perfect thank you...just what i needed🖒
Thank you for those useful tips.
Thank you so much for this video! It is very informative! :D
Very true. Very useful.
Thank you so much! This is very helpful. 😀
I never saw Bob Ross have these problems with his alizarin crimson & phalo blue skies, knife-dragged mountains, and phalo green splodged bushes.
He did THOUSANDS of paintings. He had A LOT of practice.
@@paulhoskins7852 I was actually having a slight dig at him, he was a great guy but other artists in the same genre were much better.
Darth KEK well obviously he has to cater to beginners
@@belarusbraginski8817 So did Bill Alexander but look at his stuff.
Happy little mountains
Thanks for such great tips!
Great video, thanks!
Thanks
I actually learnt french from your video previously.
Thanks for the video bro. Also...you look like the guy of that band bring me the horizon
Mixing colors on the canvas are good for an almost felt look. To have a clean gradient from the middle to all the edges
Sir Dante the Dank ok
What?
Hi Florent, thanks for the great content.
I would like to clarify something about point 5. It is important to take into consideration of Fat over lean.
If you put too much medium and thin down your paint in the first layers, one should be consistent in the layers on top,
meaning one should start with paint almost without any medium and using hard brushes to apply paint as thing as possible also using rags to take off excesses of paint in the first layers.
Adding medium in subsequent layers if the person wishes to thin down paint changing to softer tools to apply the paint. and so on
Lol you are explaining a concept you clearly do not understand whatsoever. First off, mediums are not the same as solvents, you seem to think everything is a medium and medium equals fat. Not so. You don't typically start with straight paint and no idea what a 'hard' brush is. Solvents are turpentine or white spirit. They make paint lean. You SHOULD use them in your first layer (for washes, like a watercolor). They are not a medium. Oil is a medium, and that makes a layer fat. Using straight paint first would make a fat layer, you can do it, but then the only way to go next is more straight paint or add oil. Simplest way is to start with turp or WS, then next layer use a mix of say half turp and half oil, then just oil or straight paint.
@@satchelyork you are saying exactly the same as I did with one exception though. Somehow you came to the conclussion that I am confusing mediums with solvents without me mentioning solvents once, I know exactly the difference.
I never mentioned solvents because using solvents in the first layers weakens those layers which are the ones that will adhere to the support, introducing a number of potential problems to the painting.
Therefore It is not recommended to use solvents but pure paint with hard brushes (bristle hog hair brushes), in that way the oil in the paint will create a very strong bond to the surface or support.
Don't take that word from me, cause I did not invent the argument, go and check the book by Virgil Elliott "Traditional oil painting" who by the way works with conservators and scientists from Museums and Universities doing research in the field.
Do you know Daria Callie? She paint with oil and before start she do every colors on her pallette. So I think that maybe we can do it but I am a beginner so I don't really know.
There is different environments to paint in. Silence is preferred so you can focus on your work. But sometimes the freedom of working while listening to an audiobook or music can change the way you paint. Sort of painting without thinking can give you surprising effects and help you realise your own style.
Great. 😊👍
You make me want a coffee. Lol. I. Knew all five rules, but not follow them often.
Wow wonderful,
I am honored to see your painting. I will be watching videos frequently with sub..
I make espresso with my espresso machine to before I start painting to!!!!!!