Contemporary Oil Painting Techniques
A course by Alai Ganuza, Visual Artist, Painter, and Illustrator
Discover how to depict the beauty of everyday life on canvas with distinctive brushstrokes and expressive colors
Want to transform everyday scenes into stunning works of art? Look no further than oil painting with Alai Ganuza, painter and content creator whose social media accounts showcase how to marry beauty and the mundane through her unique use of light, color, and expressive brushstrokes.
In this course, Alai teaches contemporary oil painting techniques. Explore color theory and which materials are best suited to you. See how to paint a still life of an everyday scene from the photo of your choice, making adjustments digitally and then translating it all to the physical world using contemporary oil painting techniques taught throughout the course.
What will you learn in this online course?
21 lessons & 30 downloads
What's included in this course?
Get to know Alai Ganuza as she explains how she swapped out sciences for fine arts and became a content creator thanks to her artwork. She also shares her biggest influences and gives you an overview of the course content and final project.
Begin with an introduction to color theory and discover how to make your own guides to save time when painting, as well as how to interpret for your own eyes. Continue by exploring all the available manual and digital tools and choose the ones that are best suited to your needs.
Before putting brush to canvas, warm up with a little prep work. Choose a photo and transform it digitally to use as a template for your final artwork. Then, learn to set up the physical materials for your piece using printing techniques.
Now it's time to get painting! Alai shows you how to add color to your image for that window back to reality, working on each object individually. Next, she shares the secret to the perfect working order while painting with oil and how to retouch the edges and reflections to naturally blend each object to the background.
Discover some final tricks to finish off your piece as well as how to take care of it. Alai also gives you tips on photographing your piece and how to share your work on social media and increase your visibility.
- 99% positive reviews (512)
- 19,338 students
- 21 lessons (4h 39m)
- 30 additional resources (8 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Indonesian · Romanian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Use a photo to compose an oil painting of an everyday scene on the surface of your choice and create your own ode to the mundane.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Beginners and anyone who stopped oil painting but would like to give it another go, as well as experienced painters who want to add a twist to their projects or explore a new medium beyond oil— like acrylics, gouache, or digital—but with a fresh approach and use of color.
Requirements and materials
No previous illustration nor painting experience is necessary, but you do need to know how to use smartphones and tablets.
For materials, you need a surface (paper, wood, canvas, etc.), oil paints in a range of colors, paintbrushes, spatulas, Liquin, turpentine, varnish, and a basic painting workstation. You also need a phone or a tablet with a painting program such as Procreate or similar. If you opt to take the course using a different technique, make sure you have all the correct materials to hand.
Reviews
Alai Ganuza
A course by Alai Ganuza
Although her feet were firmly on the path towards a career in sciences, Alai Ganuza decided to pursue her passion for painting and, in 2020, she earned a degree in fine arts with a major in painting from the Universidad del País Vasco. Her work seeks to pay tribute to everyday life with a unique use of light, color, and expressive brushstrokes.
Alai began sharing her projects on social media each day via Instagram Reels, IGTV, and YouTube, creating a growing demand for her content. It was through these channels that she found herself transitioning naturally to content creation with an informative approach showing how painting can be fast, fresh, and open to everyone.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Materials and Color
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Physical Materials
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Digital Materials
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Theory and Physics of Color 1
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Theory and Physics of Color 2
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U3
Before Painting
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Choosing Our Photo
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Support Preparation
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From the Photo to the Support
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U4
Step-By-Step Color
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Painting Colored Objects 1
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Painting Colored Objects 2
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Painting Colored Objects 3
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Painting Colored Objects 4
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Painting Colored Objects 5
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Painting Neutral Objects 1
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Painting Neutral Objects 2
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Painting Neutral Objects 3
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Background-Object Relation 1
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Background-Object Relation 2
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U5
After Painting
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Final Advice
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How to Make Your Work Visible
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FP
Final project
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Contemporary Oil Painting Techniques
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll master portrait techniques, color blending, brush handling, surface preparation, color theory, and strategies to share and promote your art on social media and online communities.
Yes, the course is designed for those with basic knowledge who want to deepen their painting skills and expand their artistic practice.
Basic painting knowledge is recommended but not required. The course guides you step-by-step, covering essential and advanced topics.
You’ll need oils, acrylics, brushes, a palette knife, a glass palette, canvas or painting surface, gesso, solvent, varnish, and access to a tablet or phone for digital tools.
Yes, you’ll learn how to prime canvases, sand, apply gesso, understand the importance of base color, and how to cut wood for custom supports.
The course covers color theory, pigment mixing, using complementary colors to desaturate tones, and creating custom palettes for depth and shading.
You’ll discover ways to promote your art on platforms like YouTube, pick effective hashtags, and join communities and weekly challenges to boost your visibility.
Very thorough, easy to understand and beautiful work. Love this teacher!
Excelente profesora me encantó. Me encanta su obra, tomaría otra de sus clases sobre otro proyecto de seguo
Alai explica bien aunque me hubiera encantado que las paracticas fueran en diferentes imagenes y no enfocado solo en aguacates, un poco mas variada la imagen....
por algun motivo en el apartado de pintando paso a paso en el episodio 4 no hay audio en español, supongo que es alguna falla...
I definitely require more practice blending colours but overall, I'm happy with this course.
I really adore this course. So many good insights