One thing artists knows is that when using oil paint takes days and often weeks to dry completely. Wet on wet painting is not ideal and many dislike doing that and coming up with ways to speed up drying times is what we look at here. The drying time is a huge difference between water and oil based paints and when you follow these tips you will be able to paint over the original color or be hard to touch.

Drying mediums

You have various drying mediums to combine with oil painting which include turpentine, cobalt dryers, lead dryers and alkyd mediums like Neo-Meglin, Galkyd and Liquin.

Painting on flat surfaces

When you paint on a textured canvas the paint will dry slower, thus is a flatter surface without crevices advised.

For the background omit oil and use acrylic instead

Use a quick drying acrylic paint when you are doing an oil painting, but only for the background. You will not only have a much faster procedure, but also have a very interesting and unique contrasting effect between the oil paint and acrylic.

Use faster drying paints

If you have an art commission with a tight deadline you might have to sway away from the medium you use, which is oil paint that takes time. Instead opt for watercolor, acrylics, digital painting and gouache. The downside however is that you cannot get the perfect blending and vibrancy with these paints than you get with oil paint.

Linseed oil

Although it does not work with all oil paint brands, you will have to enquire about the brands first, you could combine linseed oil with the paint and this significantly increase the drying process.

Brands and pigments of oil paints

That is true, you have to carefully select your brand and pigmentation and titanium and ivory black for example dry slow and burnt amber and lead white harden faster.