Starting Out in a New Medium

qwerttyty1029 asks: "What is the easiest traditional medium to pick up if you don't know any, but do know digital?"

For figure painting and portrait painting, I'd say oil is the best to start with, because you can take your time and control the blends, and the values don't shift much when it dries. 

For cityscapes, landscapes, and quick sketching, I'd recommend gouache and watercolor, because: 

1. The cleanup is easier and it's less toxic.

2. They're better suited to international travel because there are no banned solvents, so the paints are less likely to be confiscated.

3. They're more suited to sketchbooks and indoor work.  They're lighter and more compact.

4. The quick drying time lets you overlap previous passages without picking up wet paint.

5. Watercolor and gouache are closer to drawing, and can combine with all sorts of mixed media approaches, such as colored pencils, brush pens, chalk, and fountain pens.

Using water-based media (watercolor, gouache, casein, and acrylic) hones your decision-making strategy so that you commit to strokes without fussing or second-guessing. 

With any new opaque medium, I'd suggest starting with just two tubes: black and white. That way you can keep it simple and avoid all the hue and chroma issues.

Easel J asks: "Got any plans for an eventual oils in the wild? Would love to see your oil painting process on video."
Yes, thanks for asking. This coming week, on May 1, I'll be releasing a new Gumroad tutorial called "Unconventional Oil Techniques." It's 93 minutes long, jam-packed with info, demos and exercises. During the course of producing three dinosaur paintings, I'll demonstrate over 11 techniques in black and white oil paint in real time. These 11 techniques include some familiar ones like transparent vs. opaque, side dragging, and oiling up. I also demonstrate more unusual ones, such as pouncing, stippling, and palette-knife blends. 

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PDF of watercolor materials

Gouache materials list