Q&A for How to Create a Reverse Painting on Glass

Choose a reference picture to work of that has a clear division between light and shadows. This means that you want to see strong highlights and very definite shadows. When you follow this breakdown between the light and the shadows, it's easy to paint a realistic illustration even if the colors in the reference are different from the oil paints you have.

In general, you create gold with some brown paint⁠—like burnt sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre or raw sienna⁠—and white. Add other colors, like cadmium yellows or reds, depending on how dark you want your gold tone to be. Put raw umber or ivory black into the mix to create a shadowy effect. A really nice ochre color that helps you warm up your gold tones is "gold ochre," which is sold by Gamblin Artist. It's perfect if you want a gold color in a medium tone.

Use paint pens made for writing on glass. You can get them at the hardware store.

The best paint for glass is glass paint. You can get it easily in a stationery shop.

You can use acrylic paint as a substitute for oil paints. Acrylic paints dry faster than oil paints, so I prefer them.

Reverse painting is when you paint on a surface, but use the opposite side of the surface. For example, you paint on the glass and turn it over so it’s won’t smudge and it looks cleaner. Reverse painting helps layering and detail. The final product in neater. It can be done with clear surfaces or translucent ones for a faded effect.