Have you ever lost track of time watching painting tutorials on YouTube? I know I have! And I’ve found some AMAZING painting videos I’d like to share.
Today I’m going to list over 50 of the best “how to paint” videos that I’ve watched in the last few weeks. I’ll start with the videos that apply to all painting mediums, and then share several videos for specific mediums (acrylic, oil, gouache, etc). Enjoy!
Painting Videos for All Mediums
1. The Biggest Art Mistakes in Drawing & Painting
Jared Cullum shares the biggest mistakes he made when learning to paint and that he sees among the students in his workshops.
10 minutes
2. Five Visual Design Elements to Improve Any Painting
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Mark Mehaffey shares five tips on creating better compositions. This video is a clip from his DVD watercolor workshop, but still contains valuable information for all artists.
10 minutes
3. How to Find Your Own Oil Painting Style
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Steve Atkinson of Draw Paint Repeat talks about finding your painting style while he paints a rockscape from a photo reference. The painting is in oils, but the artist’s comments on finding your painting style apply equally well to acrylic painting, watercolor painting, and any other art medium.
22 minutes
4. How to paint LANDSCAPES with DEPTH using Atmospheric PERSPECTIVE!
Learn how to accurately paint atmospheric perspective with painter Andrew Tischler by balancing tones, values, and color.
22 minutes
5. Gouache Tutorial: 12 Tips for Painting from Life
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James Gurney shares 12 tips for artists who paint from life and choose subjects that move a lot as he does three quick sketches. The medium is gouache, but most of the tips apply to almost any medium, however, and any subject.
9 minutes
Acrylic Painting Videos
6. Ten mistakes beginners make in Acrylic Painting – Painting Tips with Lachri
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Lisa Clough of Lachri Fine Art talks about the ten mistakes she sees most frequently among her students. She also shares ways to overcome those mistakes or avoid them altogether. Lisa is a multi-media artist with many excellent tutorial videos on painting animals, still lifes, and other subjects in acrylics.
21 minutes
7. Five Tips You Should Always Do When Using Acrylic Paint Clive5Art
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Now that you’ve seen what you shouldn’t do when painting with acrylics, how about five tips on things you should always do for every painting? Each step in preparing to paint is demonstrated as well as described. You can’t go wrong with these tips.
12 minutes
8. Acrylic Painting Techniques – Light & Shade (Part 1 of 2)
Will Kemp of Will Kemp Art School demonstrates painting form with a simple still-life study of an apple. Kemp starts with toning the canvas, then paints a rough underpainting, develops detail, and finally adds glazes for the finishing touches to paint an apple study in a classical style. There are two videos in the series.
Part 1: 23 minutes
Part 2: 5 minutes
9. Painting a Realistic Sunset in Acrylics
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Wildlife and landscape painter Chuck Black paints a realistic sunset using acrylics in this real-time, fully narrated video. He uses a limited palette of six colors, so you can see how he mixes colors for this vibrant painting. The video is long, over two hours, but it’s packed with information, tips, background, and other information along with a materials and supplies list (in the description.) An ideal project to paint along with.
2 hours, 17 minutes
10. Realistic Painting Tips – How to Paint Fur
Also from Chuck Black is this video about painting realistic fur in acrylics. His video includes how he composed his painting from assorted reference photos, as well as step-by-step descriptions of painting fur. He used oils over acrylics for part of this video but doesn’t indicate when he switched. However, he used the same colors and brushing methods for both, so you could easily do a completely acrylic (or oil) painting using his painting method.
18 minutes
11. “Playing the Sun” is the Best Summer Landscape, Acrylic
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Yushkevich Viktor Nikolaevich is a Russian realist landscape painter. The video is an unnarrated time-lapse, but you can see how he paints an extremely realistic landscape with clouds, hills, and water from a photo. The degree of realism he creates makes this video not only informative but enjoyable to watch if you love realism or landscapes.
29 minutes
12. How to Paint Tropical Water – Paint Recipes with Mark Waller
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A quick painting exercise for acrylic painters. Mark Waller paints tropical water with sunlight shining on the sand under the water. I’m warning you! Mark’s methods are deceptively easy looking. This video is included in this list even though it is “just a painting exercise,” because there are so many great videos in the Explore Acrylics collection. Most of them are very short, fun to watch, and packed with invaluable information for artists working in acrylics.
10 minutes
Gouache Painting Videos
13. My Top 5 Gouache Tips! Gouache for Beginners
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What five things do you need to know before you begin painting with gouache? Watch this short video to learn more about paint, brushes, and more.
14 minutes
14. How to Use Gouache//Tutorial for Beginners – Tea to Butter Method
Interested in learning gouache? Mary Sanche’s fifteen-minute video provides basic information on diluting the paint, laying down an underpainting, and layering paint for saturation and detail. The artist also makes suggestions on when to use opaque color and when to leave areas more transparent.
16 minutes
How to Use Gouache//Tutorial for Beginners – Tips for Painting Gradient Washes is an excellent follow-up video by the same artist. Mary also has several tutorial videos on using gouache for landscapes, birds, and some inanimate objects (armor, bones, and more.)
15. Gouache Techniques: Tiling, Grisaille, and Mid-Tone Methods
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Hajra Meeks shares three methods of painting with gouache. She also talks about some of the differences between gouache and other mediums such as watercolors and oils.
9 minutes
16. Gouache Painting of the First Tomato Sandwich of the Summer!
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See how artist Carol Pascale paints a still life with gouache. Carol narrates step-by-step from a basic sketch to the finished painting. She includes the names of the colors she uses, talks about what she’s doing at each stage and why, and shares tips on painting value and light and shadow. The video description also includes a list of supplies.
17 minutes
17. Gouache Painting Tutorial: James Gurney’s 25 Tips for Sketching Architecture
Artist James Gurney paints an old house using gouache over a casein underpainting. The video is not step-by-step, but the artist incorporates tips for gouache artists into his video. The demo painting was painted en plein air, so you also get glimpses of Gurney’s outdoor setup.
12 minutes
18. Gouache Painting Girl Portraits
Fine Art Academy is a YouTube channel dedicated to Chinese artists of all types. The artist in this video is unnamed. There is no narration; just an artist, a model, and a portrait in progress. But the video is almost in real-time from the initial sketched brush strokes to the finishing touches. Watch closely and you’ll notice a few unorthodox uses of paint and brushes.
58 minutes
19. Painting – Plein Air Gouache Demonstration
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Artist Aaron Blaise brings over twenty years of experience as a Disney animator to painting a landscape on location, talking about what he’s doing and why through every step of the process. He shares general tips on composition and painting as well as specific tips on using gouache.
30 minutes
20. Working Through Mistakes: Avocado Lemon Still Life Gouache Tools and Painting Demo
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Jared Cullum is a comics and story illustrator by trade but paints a still life in this video. As he paints, he talks about choosing his subject, tools and tips, and how to work through mistakes.
14 minutes.
21. How to Paint with Gouache – Tutorial
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Illustrator Tim Dowling demonstrates his drawing process from initial concept to finished work. The video includes tips on mixing gouache, layering, blending, framing a composition, and more.
7 minutes
Oil Painting Videos
22. Oil Painting for Beginners Part 1 – Basic Techniques + Step by Step Demonstration
Florent Farges covers the basics of oil painting beginning with reasons to try oil painting instead of watercolor or other painting mediums. Florent also shares opinions about why oil painting is perceived to be complicated, and why that doesn’t have to be true. The video also includes a demonstration of painting a human eye in a realistic style.
29 minutes
23. Oil Painting Tips – Tutorial with Step-by-Step Information
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This real-time video features Flemish artist, Martijn Versteeg (Figurative Hyperrealism) painting a hand study on paper. The video is captioned with color information, mixing suggestions, and other tips from his palette and color mixing methods to paint application and blending.
16 minutes
24. How to Paint Portraits: Episode One Russell Petherbridge’s Portrait
Andrew Tischler paints an oil sketch from life, then develops a studio portrait based on that sketch and photographs of his model. He describes the thinking behind his painting method, color choices, and correcting a portrait that goes astray. This video is the first in a series of seven videos in The Great Art Adventure series. Subjects range from Tischler’s life-like portraits to birds, landscapes from New Zealand, and seascapes from the west coast of Australia.
17 minutes
25. Full Oil Painting Tutorial – How to Paint a Dog in Oils
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Carole Rodrique paints a realistic dog portrait with oils. The video is a mix of real-time and time-lapse, but Carole narrates from beginning to end. She shares tips on the tools and supplies she uses, as well as transferring her drawing, and developing a portrait from the initial color block-in to final details.
2 hours, 42 minutes
26. The Illusion of Detail
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Artist Stuart Davies’ favorite subject to paint is dramatic skies and he does so on unusual art supports (usually plywood) using unusual tools (house painter’s brushes.) In this video, he shows and tells how to paint a dramatic sky filled with lights and darks and the accompanying landscape. The video is filled with tips, tricks, and much more.
54 minutes
27. I Paint Three Peaches – Painting Demo
Mark Carder demonstrates his attempt to paint a specific texture—peach fuzz—using a limited palette. He also discusses the importance of getting values right and color mixing to create the look of texture without actually painting surface details.
38 minutes
28. In Fangorn Forest – Palette Knife | Brush Oil Painting – Wet on Wet
Perth, Australia artist Dusan Malobabic uses a palette knife and brush to paint an impressionistic woodland scene. The video is time-lapse with some real-time to show Malobabic’s methods of paint application and manipulation on a black canvas.
23 minutes
29. How to Paint a Seascape, Part 1
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In this video, Michael James Smith begins the process of painting a small beach scene with a breaking wave. The video is mostly real-time with instruction and descriptions of what he changed from his reference and why he made those changes.
18 minutes
How to Paint a Seascape, Part 2
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30. Oil Painting Time Lapse | “Journey to the Sun” | NASA Inspired Art
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Lena Danya shares her experiences with a trip to NASA to see a rocket launch, and then paint a space scene featuring a close-up of the sun. The painting portion of the video is a time-lapse, but Lena talks about her visit, the background of the particular event she attended, and her large-scale painting. Lena’s painting process is of great interest, but of even greater interest to artists should be how her passion for her subject led her into the “middle of things.” What’s your passion?
14 minutes
31. Portrait Painting Tutorial | Breaking The Rules
In this portrait painting video, the artist tackles the painting process differently, beginning without first sketching his subject. Throughout the video, he talks about the painting process, but also about the importance of understanding the principles of painting so you can effectively break the rules.
1 hour, 38 minutes
Watercolor Painting Videos
32. Try These 2 Simple Tricks for Easy Watercolor Clouds
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Artist Steve Mitchell of The Mind of Watercolor shares two very easy ways to paint clouds with watercolor. These techniques are ideal for adding a sky to complex landscapes and/or painting skies and clouds en plein air.
17 minutes
33. Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners | Wet into Wet | Art Journal Thursday, Episode 39
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Learn three ways to use the wet-into-wet method of watercolor painting to create small studies. They are great painting exercises for mixing water and watercolor, no matter what your level of expertise.
9 minutes
34. 12 Watercolor Hacks You Need to Know
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Kirsty Partridge shares 12 hacks to take your watercolor work to the next level. You may already know about—and use—some of them, but you’re also certain to learn something new to improve your watercolor painting.
16 minutes
35. How to Paint a Realistic Retriever Dog in Watercolor
Rebecca Rhodes shows how she paints a realistic-looking dog portrait in this real-time video with captions.
28 minutes
36. Understanding Watercolor’s Hard Edge Personality
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Why does watercolor make such hard edges? Why do pale washes often dry with a dark edge? Steve Mitchell from The Mind of Watercolor answers those questions and others about the nature of watercolor, watercolor edges, and how to avoid them and remove them.
15 minutes
37. Keeping Washes Clean and Colorful in Watercolor
Laurel Hart paints a model in an outdoor setting with strong light using watercolor. The focus of this video is creating clean, colorful washes, but it includes the artist describing the changes she made in her reference photo, the value sketch she started with, and some of the tools she uses for her paintings.
59 minutes
38. Kanta Harusaki Watercolor
A quick video featuring a quiet water scene with a boat painted in watercolor. I include this video despite it not being narrated or having much additional information because some of the methods used to blend are unique and fun to watch.
7 minutes
39. Cold-Day Watercolor Sketching from my Car Demonstration
If you think everything has to be perfect before you paint, you need to watch this short video. Artist Jared Cullum takes advantage of a bit of time to paint his car on a cold day. Even missing some basic supplies, he creates a landscape study in a watercolor journal in about half an hour.
8 minutes
40. Using Neutral Tint // Grisaille Watercolor Techniques
Lindsay Weirich, The Frugal Crafter, demonstrates using watercolor with a grisaille underpainting, a method more commonly associated with oil painting. Her subject is a still life with glass, so you can also see how she paints reflections and transparent objects. This was originally published as a live stream, so it’s quite long.
1 hour, 22 minutes
Egg Tempera Painting Videos
41. Egg Tempera from Start to Finish by Fergus A. Ryan
Fergus A. Ryan describes the process of painting with egg tempera paints. The video begins with a brief history of egg tempera painting, including Ryan’s methods for making his paint and gesso, then follows him through the painting process.
23 minutes
42. Colin Fraser artworks in Egg Tempera
Colin Fraser talks about his work, his working methods, and the motivations of an artist. He also talks about his chosen medium, its drawbacks, and its paybacks. This is not a tutorial video, but it is an inspiring one, no matter what medium you prefer.
11 minutes
Casein Painting Videos
43. Casein Painting in the Wild
This short video is a trailer for a much more involved video series by artist James Gurney. It was not my intent to include “sales videos” but there’s enough information in the trailers to introduce you to casein paints and casein painting if you’re not already familiar with it. Gurney also has many other casein painting videos in his Casein Painting playlist. Each video addresses some aspect of painting in general and casein painting specifically. Length ranges from 14 seconds to over 10 minutes.
4 minutes
44. Casein Quick Paint
This is the first in a series of short, time-lapse videos highlighting the quick casein studies of Cliff Cramp. He paints in studio and on location using casein. Videos range in length from just under three minutes to nearly five minutes, so you get a quick look at several subjects.
45. Casein Paint Sketching Tutorial Demonstration: Vintage Radio Flyer Tricycle
Jared Loves to Draw artist Jared Cullum narrates this time-lapse casein painting demonstration in casein.
2 minutes
46. Four-Minute Painting with Casein
Don Low describes with captions over this time-lapse video how he paints an illustration through multiple layers with casein.
4 minutes
Acrylic Pouring
47. Deco Art Acrylic Pouring Tips & Techniques – Lachri
Lisa Clough of Lachri Fine Art does four small acrylic pours in an art deco style. The video includes lots of tips and technique suggestions for artists who have never done acrylic pours before.
32 minutes
48. Acrylic Pouring for Beginners – Step-by-Step – Chakra Colors
See how to do an acrylic pour from preparing the colors to varnishing and signing the finished painting. The video is mostly real-time but contains captions to describe what’s being done.
18 minutes
49. Acrylic Drip Painting with Syringe – You Have to Try That!
See in real-time how to paint with acrylics using syringes to apply the paint into wet acrylic on stretched canvas. Mostly real-time with some informative captioning.
6 minutes
Resin Painting
50. Resin Painting for Beginners
Learn everything you need to know about resin painting in this 17-minute video covering resins, hardeners, additives, and methods.
17 minutes
51. Easy Epoxy Resin Beach Art Using Real Sand!
Australian artist Sue Findley mixes actual beach sand with clear resin to create beach art that includes the beach. The video is a time-lapse, but Sue tells what she’s doing and why throughout the video, which includes two projects.
9 minutes
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