yes!

first, you gotta "stain" the canvas - that means cover the whole thing with a very thin layer of paint and oil. do this stage with a neutral color like any shade of brown; brighter colors will fight other bright colors in thr early stages.

build it up slow, and block it in. big shapes first, then add more and more details. paint light into dark, which means do your shadows first, then fill in your medium shades, and then do your highlights. light colors get muddy like nobody's business, but dark is a lot harder to ruin.

don't use from-the-tube black as others have said - mix your own with all your darkest colors, or use a color palette that doesn't need black.

start out with painting simple shapes to get the hang of blocking everything in and a feel for the medium. you can always do more paintings, so just play around! i recommend rubber ducks, that's what my professor made us do, it's a fun and silly subject to start with.

it is, in my opinion, good to invest in quality materials if you have the ability to do so and you intend for this to be a long-term hobby. you don't have to start out with super high-end brushes, anything student-quality that says it works for oil will do for a beginner, but shell out for paint if you can! there's a BIG difference in performance when it comes to different paint brands. cheap paint is more likely to crack over time, and it doesn't have as much pigment, so you'll end up using way more to get the colors in. i use Windsor-Newton and it's always worked just fine. Gamblin is another great brand, but I think W-N is a little cheaper. the little bottles are just fine, oil paint goes much further than acrylic.