Here are the essential oil painting supplies that I recommend for beginners
When starting to oil paint, I recommend beginners start with just these 4 essential oil painting supplies:
1. an oil paint set
2. small canvas panels (or value-priced stretched canvas)
3. an oil paint brush set (or use brushes you already own)
4. an oil paint medium
That’s all you need to start! Everything else you can scrounge from home! Click on the links above to learn more about to see some recommended products.
What brands to buy
Feel confident when entering an art store.
Art stores are my weakness: I’m like a kid in a candy store when I enter them. I have spent hours happily poking around and dreaming of all the possibilities.
BUT I also know they can be overwhelming to a beginner. I was a complete novice when I started painting, and so I bought some really dumb things.
The problem with art supplies, in my humble opinion, is that the labels don’t do a good job of explaining what the art supply is for.
And a problem with many oil painting How-To books is that they recommend professional grade art tools that are overkill for a beginner. No, you definitely don’t need an $800 top-of-the-line easel to start painting. You can save that for when you become a professional painter.
To start oil painting, all you need to buy are these 4 basic supplies. In fact, they all you may EVER NEED. (I still use egg cartons to as brush holders!).
So read on to learn more about the essential art supplies, and some of the brands I recommend for beginners
1. Oil Paint Set
Buying a set is usually is a bit more economical than buying single tubes, so that’s why I recommend beginners start with an oil paint set.
It’s also simpler. There are also a LOT of different colours (pigments) out there. This can be a bit overwhelming for the beginner. A paint set takes that all away.
And don’t worry — you will have plenty of time to learn and experiment with all the colours later. In fact, it’s part of the FUN of learning. As I explain in my Intro to Oil Painting course, you won’t know until you try! Your signature style can come out of the supplies you use.
So for now, you just need to get started. And that’s why painting sets put together by reputable brands are great.
If you want to buy your own individual colours, or have inherited some oil paint colours, I recommend using the split-primary palette. You will just need to buy 7 individual tubes of paint. Click to read my article.
Which type of oil paint: traditional or water-mixable?
Water-mixable paints can be thinned and cleaned with water which means you don’t have to worry about solvents. Solvents like turpentine and OMS (Odourless Mineral Spirits) emit aromatic compounds which need a properly ventilated space.
If you are painting small, there is very little difference between the two paints.
Later, if you want to try traditional oil paints, you can always mix your water-mixable oil paints with traditional ones, which means you won’t waste a thing. The water-mixable paint will lose its ability to be thinned with water and will act like regular oil paints.
Which grade: professional or student quality?
Most reputable paint brands have a student quality and a professional quality. Student quality paints are less expensive than artist quality paints because they have less pigment in them, or they use a lower quality pigment, or both.
This will be most noticeable when mixing colours. You will be able to mix more beautiful colours when you use artist quality paints.
#DumaDoArtTip: Buy the grade you can afford but that won’t make you “miserly” with the paint.
As a beginner, you don’t want to worry about wasting paint. You want to allow yourself to play, be experimental, and waste lots of paint!
Worrying about wasting paint will make you stiffen up. Giving yourself permission to paint the worst paintings ever is how we progress fast.
#DumaDoArtTip: You can always start with a student-grade paint, and then start adding artist-grade colours one by one. This will allow you to “SEE” the difference between the paints, too. That’s what we are doing as artists. Learning to see.
Don’t buy dollar store brand paints though… you will never get nice colours from them. Too frustrating. Pigment quality does matter when it comes to colour. Stick with name brands.
BONUS Content: don’t forget to download my Quickstart Guide to Oil Painting. It’s got my 10-step process for creating perfect paintings (almost) every time. And it’s FREE!
NB: This website is reader supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission but at no cost to you.
Student quality Paints
Traditional oil paint sets
Winton Oil Colour
Winsor & Newton, Winton Oil Colour Paint Starter Set.
10 x 37 ml Tubes.
Gamblin 1980 Oil Colors
Gamblin’s student quality paint set comes with 8 x 37 ml Tubes, plus a cradled wood panel and solvent-free gel.
Artist quality Paints
Traditional oil paint sets
Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour
Winsor & Newton Artists professional quality paint, 10 X 21 ml Tubes.
Water-mixable oil paint sets
Cobra Water-Mixable
Royal Talens Cobra artists’ water-mixable oil colour value pack, 10 x 40 ml Tubes.
Georgian Water Mixable
Georgian is by Daler Rowney. This water-mixable oil brand starter set comes with 10 x 37 ml Tubes.
Artisan Winsor Newton
Artisan is Winsor Newton’s water-mixable oil brand. 10 x 21ml Tubes.
2. Canvas panels
You can paint on anything that’s deemed suitable for oil paint: that includes canvas, wood, hardboard (Masonite), copper, aluminum, and even glass.
For beginners I recommend canvas panels because:
- they are ready to go and need no further prep (wood and hardboard need sealing and priming with gesso), and
- they are really economical. Even dollar store brands will do if you are practicing.
The difference between dollar store and pro-grade canvas is that the latter is designed to last hundreds of years. It’s doubtful your early pieces will be hung in a museum, so you don’t need to worry about that!
A bonus feature of these canvas panels is that you can easily frame them in a store-bought frame because they are thin. Canvas stretched around wood f are minimum .75 inches wide. They won’t fit into most store-bought frames because these frames are meant for photos or paper. The canvas will protrude from the back. But thin canvas panels fit perfectly.
#DumaDoArtTip: Buy lots of small canvases. The more you paint, the faster you will learn. And when you paint mini paintings you can FINISH a painting in a few hours. Stock up during sales!
48 panels! This multi-pack of canvas panels has comes with these 4 sizes: 4×4, 6×6, 8×8, 10×10 (12 of each).
14 pack minis with easel
These 4″x4″ mini stretched canvases come with their own easel. Bulk Pack of 14, Primed, 100% Cotton.
3. Brushes for oil paints
Natural bristle brushes are the traditional choice of oil painters. They are the stiffest and make those nice brush marks in the paint.
But you can also use synthetic brushes. These are softer resulting in smoother brushstrokes.
I’ve even read that some artists use sable brushes to smooth out areas! Sable brushes are the softest bristles and usually for watercolour painters.
What does this all mean? It means you don’t have to fret too much about brushes to start. They are all ok for oil paints. Over time you will be able to try them all and see which ones you prefer the most.
A small note: If you are painting with water-mixable oil paints, you will notice your natural bristle brushes will get soft and soggy over time. This is because the bristles absorb water. So, if you are using water-mixable paints, you may want to stick with synthetics.
#DumaDoArtTip: use bigger brushes than you think you need. Most beginners use brushes that are way too small. Your biggest brush should be about 1/6 the width of your canvas. So if your canvas is 6″, you need a 1″ brush.
Natural bristle brush sets
5-piece Princeton Artist Brush Set
Set is made of white Taklon and includes one each: Round size 2, 8 and 12. Flat size 3/4″ and 1/2″,
Winsor and Newton, Winton Hog Brush: Set of 5
The Winton Hog Brush range offers excellent quality at an affordable price. Bright No.8, Flat No.6, Round No.6, Fan No.3 and Filbert No.6.
4. Oil Paint Mediums
Paint mediums are added to paint to change its flow and texture.
For traditional oil painting, I recommend starting with artist-grade linseed, walnut, or safflower oil. These are called drying oils because they will dry to a hard finish. These are also the ones used when making oil paint, so they are a good basic choice to start with.
For water-mixable paints, you will need to buy specially made mediums for water-mixable paint.
If you want to paint solvent free (solvents like Turpentine and OMS have aromatic compounds that can be toxic over time) choose solvent-free mediums.
You can also use mediums to clean your brushes while painting.
Artist-grade drying oils
Not only are these solvent free, but you can use these oils to clean your brushes while painting. That is a nice way to keep your painting area solvent free.
Mona Lisa Linseed Oil
Speedball Mona Lisa Linseed Oil. 8-Ounce.
Dries faster than safflower and walnut oil but does have a tendency to make the whites yellow over time. This is more of a concern for professional artists though. Perfectly fine for beginners and less expensive than the others.
water-mixable oil Mediums
Solvent-free oil Mediums
Specially formulated without solvent, for solvent-free painting.
I have also prepared this KIT of student-quality paints and supplies perfect for the beginner. If you want a one-click shopping trip.
That's all you need to get started with oil paints.
Those are the 4 essential oil paintings supplies you need to start. It might be all you ever need! But if you want to learn more about oil painting, my Free QuickStart to Oil Painting Guide explains it all to you in an easy to understand way. Plus it has my Duma Do 10 painting process. Just 10 easy-to-follow steps that help you complete a successful painting!
If you’re ready to try oil painting, then you’ll love my itty bitty Intro to Oil Painting course. It features real-time painting demos that you can watch over and over. Visual arts are all about seeing, so nothing beats watching an artist at work.
Ready to try oil painting?
Download my FREE Quickstart Guide to Oil Painting.