In an oil painting, should the background be done first or last?

I'm going to do my first oil painting soon and I'm wondering whether the background should be done first or last. And if it's done first should I cover the entire canvas including where my subject will be, or just leave that area blank for the subject?


Thanks in advance. :)In an oil painting, should the background be done first or last?
well, what I always do is i draw first the contour of what my painting is going to have. for instance; I'm working in an autumn landscape with trees and everything. I use a pencil to draw the horizon boundary and just draw the shape of my trees (no details are needed). then, I paint the background sky, wait for it to dry up a little, and then work in the background bushes and everything. I don't know what your painting is going to be, but I suggest for you to work in your background first.


hope i helpedIn an oil painting, should the background be done first or last?
I would tend to block out the central figures first, then do much of the background. That way, I could go in and do background details, including the areas that are partially ';behind'; the subject.





Oils, being a fairly opaque medium, can then be applied to the figures in the forground, filling the spaces blocked out for them and even covering up some of the pre done background areas. This would be much simpler than trying to carfully work ';around'; the forground figures, hoping not to get paint onto the subjects.
I'd just paint the entire background so that you can have the subject wherever you choose and not worry about the background. It's also easier to see the background as a whole, and not have odd gaps in it. A big gap in the middle can often mess up perspective. However, you may need a lot of oil paint to paint your subject over the background. So perhaps just paint the background more lightly where the subject will be.
I'm in art at school so ill give you my e-mail and if i email you sometime then that will be the answer but i think my art teacher said you do the background first but ill check Monday my email is terrysdog3@yahoo.com so ill email you





hope when i email you the answer will help
start from the top and go down. paint the whole thing, but make the subject the most stand out thing. Everything else is a ghost.
Generally speaking, it makes more sense to do background first and modify it as other things are added to give it the balance your perceptive eye or taste wants!
Do the background first with as little texture as possible. Build up your texture as the whole picture developes.
It should be done first.
You always do the background first, you build layers, you paint from back to front!
It must be done first.
first