Last Updated on February 21, 2023
If you are a complete and absolute beginner to learning painting, then apart from everything we talk about here on Loiaconoart.com, you might also find these resources useful to get started.
Our goal is to help you get started as a painter so we hope these resources are helpful.
Great YouTube Channels for Painting Rookies
1. The Art Sherpa
Calling herself ‘Cinnamon Cookie’, the Art Sherpa is American and offers dozens of videos and tutorials through her YouTube channel and website, to beginners.
Her tutorials include on:
- Acrylic beginners tutorial
- How to paint with acrylics
- Painting with a twist at home
and numerous other topics. In essence, she focuses on acrylic painting for beginners and her lessons are easy to follow.
2. The Paint Along Lady
Claire is a painter based in Wales, UK, who in addition to her own YouTube channel, provides workshops where you can paint along with Claire.
The Grown-Up paint-alongs are designed for adults who wish to follow the teacher as she explains each and every stroke as a new painting is created.
This is a great way to learn and makes you feel part of a community.
You can also attend Claire’s workshops online and in person.
3. Alice May
Alice has a YouTube channel on which she teaches some very good step-by-step guides to painting.
You might find this ten-minute video on how to paint a daisy a good starting lesson, for example.
Alice also has a Weebly account which you can find here, to learn more about her.
4. Will Kemp
Will Kemp’s channel on YouTube also provides some great content for you as a beginner to creating your own art.
These lessons, in particular, I found interesting:
- Absolute Beginners Water-Mixable Oil Course
- Colour mixing basics – Acrylic Colour Bias
- Acrylic landscape painting techniques
Will has a solid following on YouTube, with his videos easy to follow and covering many of the key areas and topics that you will need as a beginner painter.
5. The Paint Coach
The free lessons that the Paint Coach provides are more advanced in that the lessons might be more relevant as you develop.
If you have a few months of experience in painting and are looking for further tips to develop your painting style, The Paint Coach is worth checking out.
If you enjoy painting flowers, for example, his video on 7 tips that will help you paint is worth viewing.
Facebook Groups and Pages for Beginner Artists
6. Learn to Draw and Painty Group
This Facebook page, which has been running since 2002, brings together beginner and more advanced artists.
It’s like a forum for finding out about paint-alongs, for posting pictures and news on your own creations, and for networking.
7. Oil Painting Group
If you have your heart set on learning oil painting as your medium, then this Facebook group specializes in all things to do with oil painting.
This is an active group with over 30,000 members who have a passion for oil painting and it’s a useful resource if you use Facebook.
8. Paint With Me
Paint With Me is a popular Facebook group from Alifya, which provides a weekly paint with her as she does a live painting.
Alifya teaches both watercolor and acrylic painting and she is also on YouTube. Her classes tend to be free for the first 24 hours and then she has a subscription service for her lessons.
9. The Artists Hangout
The Artist Hangout is a useful place to be part of a community and to get support and motivation as you develop as a beginner.
Blogs for New Painters
10. Kevin Hill
If oil painting is what you really want to master, then Kevin Hill’s tutorials are great for learning about topics such as contrast, light, and those finer details in your oil paintings.
Kevin’s tutorials are suitable for both beginners and more advanced painters, as long as you are using oil.
11. Anna Mason
Anna focused on teaching how to paint with watercolor to beginners, and she offers classes mostly online.
Anna’s story is probably quite similar to your own in that, if you are reading this, then you might also be someone who didn’t pick up a paintbrush for years and then, later in your adult life, have an interest now to learn.
You might enjoy these posts Anna has written:
- How to paint a cat in watercolor
- How creating art can make you a stronger person
12. Artists Network
If you are happy to pay a membership and have access to over 800 video workshops and be part of an art network, then the Artists Network is one of the best.
Personally, I find that when it comes to painting for beginners, there are many good videos for free on YouTube that it is already enough.
Having said that though, I have many artist friends who are part of the Artists Network and who recommend it.
13. The Acrylic University
There are also some interesting articles on the blog ‘Acrylic University’.
Some articles I enjoyed include:
14. Ran Art Blog
Ran is an art instructor who specializes in pencil drawings, but he also teaches painting to all levels using oils.
Ran has some useful posts including on the Color Wheel and about oil painting supplies.
Other Art Resources You Might Find Useful
15. Arty Shark
Arty Shark is run by Carolyn Edlund and her site is all about helping you, if you are an artist looking to build an art business.
She provides weekly tips and advice on matters such as how to sell your art and how to make your art more profitable.
16. Fear and Being an Artist
This is a blog post that I found useful and that you might also enjoy, that talks about how to overcome your fear as an artist.
As someone starting off when learning, there are always questions in one’s mind such as if you will be good enough, or how you will create something different from what other people do.
17. Google Arts and Culture
Is there anything that Google does not do you might well be asking! 🙂
The Arts and Culture section though that Google has created is impressive and a great resource for getting inspiration as an artist.
The sections that you might find especially interesting are:
- Art Mediums – here they cover all the mediums such as oil paint, ink, clay, graphite, stoneware, and dozens more.
- Famout artists – a great place for getting inspiration and ideas
- Art movements – in case you also have an interest to learn about about the history of art too.
18. Painting Like Picasso
If you have any interest in Picasso’s art and are curious to learn how to paint in the style of Picasso, this is a very useful video and worth watching.
The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) provides the video above and also has a great site and many other videos for learning about art on their YouTube channel.
19. Acrylic Art Set for Beginners
There are some excellent resources on Amazon for beginner artists and this acrylic beginner set makes it much easier to get started.
20. How to Transfer an Image to Canvas for Painting
In order to make painting fun, even as a beginner, you might really want to trace an image onto canvas, to then paint it.
So you might, for example, have a photo that you really want to learn to paint onto a canvas.
This video below from Jason Morgan is a great start.
21. Jacksons Art Blog
Jacksons predominantly are an art supplies company based in the UK, and I am including them on this list as they have a handy blog section on their site.
22. Learn to Paint Academy
There tend to be two different schools of thought when it comes to using online resources for learning to paint as a beginner or intermediate artist.
Firstly, you might feel that there are so many wonderful free videos such as on YouTube for learning everything about getting started that there is really no need to pay for online lessons.
In point two on this list, for example, Claire’s paint along classes on YouTube is a very easy and free way to get started.
Secondly, some people find it easier to have a structured way of learning, where they can follow a set of lessons as they learn.
If this second option best suits you, then the Learn to Paint academy can be a good paid option.
23. The Virtual Instructor
One final useful painting for beginners resource that has some good lessons on it is the Virtual Instructor website.
They provide lessons for painters of all levels, including on:
- Painting with pastels
- Mixed media lessons
Hi. I’m Dr Valeria Lo Iacono, a lady in her 50s living in the UK. I write about the over-50s and 60s lifestyle including on travel, health, food, and fashion.
