How to Paint Sharp Focus Realistic Oil Paintings

Set up your scene. To paint a truly realistic oil painting with sharp focus, your model should be right in front of you in real life. A photograph, for example, will make it more difficult to capture the depth of your scene. You can visit a local park for a nature scene, create a still life in your home or position a model for a portrait.

Take a picture of your scene so that you have something to refer to if you need to re-create it or refer again to a scene in nature that has changed over time.

Pick out the colors of oil paints you will need. Examine your scene carefully, and squeeze each color onto your palette. If a color in your scene appears to be darker, lighter or a different shade from what you have, mix colors together until you get the desired effect.

Use a thin small to medium round paintbrush to get a sharper focus. Large, sweeping patterns and lines created by thick brushes will detract from the realism you're trying to create because you'll be able to see the stroke direction.

Hold your paintbrush toward the middle. This gives you the most control to create a realistic painting.

Paint with lighter colors first. Then, move to darker colors. This helps capture the realism, particularly with shadows and depth, more sharply.