Easy Tutorial on the Seven-Layer Oil Painting Technique: Secrets of the Old Masters

Hi, this is Min. Welcome back to another video. In today's video, I want to share an easy tutorial on how the Flemish painting technique of 7 layers works and why the old masters used it. Let's get started. The first question is, why do we need this layer? Why not just put paint directly on the canvas? In the past, the old masters didn't have cameras, nor did they have tools like Photoshop for color sampling. Their ability to achieve accurate colors relied entirely on their brain's perception of color. But how did they manage to create such realistic and precise colors? First, let's understand how our brains perceive color. When light shines on an object, it reflects specific wavelengths that determine the object's color into our eyes. The reflected colors enter the eye through the corneum and lens, reaching the retina. The retina contains three types of cone cells, each sensitive to a different color of light, red, green, and blue. These cells respond to various wavelengths, converting light signals into electrical signals that are sent to the brain via the optical nerve. However, the brain can sometimes make mistakes in this process. Let's take a look at this image. We observe two circles set against different background colors. The circle on the left appears brighter than the one on the right, but they are the same color. So what is happening here? The brain employs a color constancy mechanism to maintain a stable perception of the circle's color. That means the brain integrates information from cone cells, combining details about the background light source to determine the color of an object. This integration process allows the perception of the same color to vary on the different backgrounds. This phenomenon we call the simultaneous contrast effect. This shows that even the same color can appear differently to our brains due to the influence of the background. Well, this may not significantly impact our daily lives. It can affect painting, as artists need to translate the colors they see onto their canvases. Our perception can sometimes be inconsistent, so we need to find a balance with our brains. To ensure that colors artists see match those they paint, it's essential to use a neutral color as the background. This helps compensate for varying light and dark colors, allowing the eyes to perceive colors more accurately during the matching process. So what exactly is the neutral color? Let's take a look at this picture to see how neutral colors work. We set this purple circle to represent our target color. First, we use a white background. I'm going to put the purple color onto the white background first. Then I use the color picker tool to select the purple that I perceive. So this is the purple I observed. So, let's see if I picked the right one. Clearly, I went a bit too bright. Here's the process of how I perceive the color. During the first observation, when the brain sees the purple circles against the dark blue background, it interprets the color as being lighter. Then, in the second observation, I use the color picker tool to select the purple I first saw on the white background. At this point, the white surface reflects light, causing our brain to judge the previous color as becoming even brighter. This reflection affects our secondary perception of the purple circle, making the result I choose appear brighter than the first purple on the deep blue background. So the brain made two mistakes in total. Next, I change the background to a more neutral warm olive color. It was like the first oil layer in Prematura. So do that again. So I'll stick with this one. Let's check out my choice. It's super close this time. So, this is the principle. When we place the purple circle against the neutral green background, the background color influences our perception of the purple circle. Compared to the dark blue background, we ultimately feel that the brightness of the purple circle decreased when viewed against the light green background. As a result, the outcome was closer to our target color than the last one. So different neutral colors like gray, brown, olive, and beige can effectively guide us in better judging colors. But you might still wonder, if we have those neutral colors as our background, why can't we just use the color we perceived directly on the canvas? It's all about transparency of oil paints. The result we achieve on canvas is a mixture of different transparent and opaque paints. Regardless of how you mix them, the oil in oil paints will give the final result a semi-transparent or semi-opaque effect. I need to explain this part using Photoshop's layers tools again to help you better understand. Let's start with the magic of the two layers of burnt umber. So why use two layers instead of one? Burnt umber is inherently an opaque color, but when mixed with a medium, it can become quite transparent. So we start by adding a base color similar to burnt umber, then reducing its opacity. Using a soft eraser tool, we erase some shapes. This technique is called rub out in oil painting. By using a dry cloth to wipe away shapes, we achieve very soft edges. This is the first layer. Once this layer is completely dry, we move on to the next layer, which we called multiple layer. Once this layer dries, it forms a smooth surface that reflects more light, similar to a varnish effect. This makes the color appear brighter and more vibrant. So on top of this, adding another layer is like applying varnish again. Here I've directly duplicated a layer and used the overlay function. This layer makes the highlights brighter and the shadows darker. The magic happens when it creates a glowing effect around the soft edges we just made. And this effect will remain until the end of the painting. In other words, it was like being on a stage where we spotlight the main subject, give it the most radiant focus. This is the key step in transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary in many classical oil paintings. Personally, I believe one layer is good, but two layers are amazing. By the end of this process, we achieve a very warm, neutral underpainting. Now let's talk about the dead under layer. Following the same principle, since we selected colors against a warm, neutral background, this enhances our ability to judge the scale of values. This warm base color will guide us in creating a rich value range, especially in the midtones. It is important to observe that the gray on the final canvas differs from the gray on the palette. In another aspect, after completing this layer, we achieve a very neutral grayish tone. This subtle shade of gray closely resembles the surface color of our skin. In classical oil painting, the result of this layer serves as a base tone for the subsequent color layers. Next is the most mysterious layer. The main characteristic of this layer is not just to add color to the gray. The mystery lies in how the previously established neutral crude tone base color allows us to focus more on the warm tones. For example, if our target is the color of this midtone area, the crude gray background helps me concentrate more on the colors, as the slightly cruder background temperature enables our brains to better perceive the proportion of the warm tones. So I generally keep the previous gray as a reference for measuring the color tones. This method allows my subsequent color layers to become increasingly vibrant through the overlay function. So the Flemish painting technique can seem pretty, daunting just like any of the old master methods, right? But if you really understand the technique and how it works, it can make the whole painting process way easier. Each step isn't just about finishing the part, it's actually setting you up for the next one. Every step builds on what you did before, making it so much easier to follow through until you're done. Next is the complete process for this tutorial, which took about 2 hours. I've speeded up by 10 minutes. Honestly, having this clear method really boosts your creativity. I hope more artists start using these steps in their painting process because it can help you create more effectively. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for watching, see you next time! If you have any questions, leave a comment below.