I am increasingly often asked how to begin the journey of icon writing. Do you need to know how to draw beforehand? Do you need a special studio? Can you try it if you are not Orthodox?
The answer is simple: yes, you can try.
Icon writing is a path that combines art, craftsmanship, focus, and spirituality. Of course, technique is very important, especially when working with egg tempera, pigments, a wooden panel, and gold, but at the beginning the most important thing is the willingness to enter the process.
Icons are not created in haste. They require silence, patience, and humility before tradition.
1. Find a Good Workshop or Teacher
It is best to begin learning under the guidance of an experienced iconographer, either during in-person workshops or online. Independent attempts are possible, but the technique of egg tempera, preparing the paint, handling the brush, and building successive layers of color are much easier to understand when someone shows them step by step.
Icon writing is not only about painting an image. It is also about learning the principles of composition, symbolism, light, color, and the spiritual meaning of the representation.
2. Prepare Basic Materials
At the beginning, you do not need a professional studio or a large number of tools. A well-chosen basic set is enough.
For your first attempts, the following may be sufficient: a lime wood panel prepared with levkas, egg yolk for tempera, good brushes, a quiet place to work, and a basic set of pigments.
Among the pigments, it is worth preparing: yellow ochre, red ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, Prussian blue, and titanium white.
Such a set allows you to begin working with color, build basic tonal transitions, develop garments, backgrounds, facial areas, and the first highlights.
Over time, other materials will naturally appear: additional pigments, gold leaf, gilding tools, agate burnishers, bole, and specialist media. At the beginning, however, the most important thing is to learn the basics.
3. Do Not Choose a Pattern That Is Too Difficult
Your first icon does not have to be complicated. It is worth starting with a simpler representation that will allow you to focus on the basics: drawing, layers of color, light, and the rhythm of work.
At the beginning, people often choose an image of Christ, for example “The Savior Not Made by Human Hands”, or an icon of a saint with a fairly clear composition.
A simpler pattern does not mean lesser value. On the contrary, it allows you to enter the process more calmly and better understand the language of the icon.
4. Enter the Process with Focus
An icon is written differently from an ordinary painting. It is a form of work that requires inner stillness. It is good to begin with prayer, a short moment of silence, or focused attention.
For one person it may be the “Our Father”, for another the “Hail Mary”, and for someone else simply a moment of pause and conscious entry into the work.
It is important not to treat the icon merely as decoration. An icon carries a spiritual dimension, which is why it requires respect, attentiveness, and patience.
5. Give Yourself Time
Icon writing is not a race. A small icon measuring 20 × 30 cm may take two weeks, a month, or even longer to complete. This is completely natural.
Each layer needs time. Each stage requires attention. Sometimes you need to wait until the surface has dried properly. At other times, it is worth stepping away from the work for a moment in order to return to it with a fresh eye.
In icon writing, it is not only the final result that matters, but also the path we go through during the work.
Summary
If you want to start writing icons, find a good teacher, prepare basic materials, choose a simple pattern, and enter the process with patience.
You do not have to know everything right away. Icon writing teaches slowly: through practice, silence, repetition, and humility before tradition.
The most important thing is to begin with respect, calmness, and an open heart.
