Painting Fur – part two – wildlife art

Hi everyone,
The question I get asked more than any other by beginners is “How to paint thin lines for fur etc”.

So I thought it might be of use to post a page from my wildlife art ebooks here, just to explain how I get around the problem.

Where I find most beginners go wrong is that they immediately think that to paint fine lines they need to either use a very small brush, or something like a rigger and they also think they will need to thin the paint down with medium almost to a water consistency.

Both these ways have dissadvantages though (IMHO).

By using a tiny brush you will only get 1 or 2 strokes before you will need to load up the brush again, and when you consider how many hairs need to be painted on the usual wildlife painting, that is going to be a problem – big time.

By thinning the paint down lots with medium the paint become transparent or semi transparent, which usually means that the paint hardly shows up etc.

So I have found over the years, that it is usually better to keep the paint nice and thick, use a fairly large brush, and load it by dragging 1st one side, then the other through the paint to make a chissled edge, then wet the painting surface with a tiny amount of medium (I’m using Alkyd Walnut medium at the moment). In fact It’s probably easier for you to see in the pics below

Don’t get me wrong, I also use a rigger, but that is usually reserved for the final hair details or for very long fur strokes.

Hope some find this of use.

CLICK EACH PHOTO TO SEE LARGER

SEE ALSO – HOW TO PAINT FUR

Update 13th May 2013

I have just released my brand new painting ebook – How to Paint Fur

Its full of EVERYTHING you need to know to be able to confidently Paint Fur today!

Full detail s on my advanced fur painting techniques site or click the photo below

advanced fur painting techniques

Tiger Painting – Underpainting completed

Hi Everyone,

You can see in the photo below that I have now gone over most o f the Tiger Painting,  blocking in and also adding the under texture of the fur. Most of this stage wont be visible in the final painting, but it gives me the perfect base to build upon and compare colours etc

How to Paint Fur – Texture (short fur)

Note – Update 2013

I have just released my New Learn to Paint Animals eBook

Details are on my “learn to paint oils” Tutorial site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been asked about painting fur lots of times, and I thought it might be useful to start a new post and show another example.

I took this one from my Learn to Paint wildlife in oils ebook, but there are other examples on my other ebooks too.

These are just screen grabs so I hope the quality is still OK to read when I upload them here. I’ll put in some extra text to explaine it all a little more

Hope it’s helpful

If the photos are not large enough to read try clicking them and they should open in a new window

I guess I shoul dreally be asking everyone to download my ebook sfor all these details, but I guess it is Xmas coming up so hope you like it

And if you would like to read more about painting wildlife you can click here

My Favourite Art Forums

I thought I would take a little time to tell you about a few art forums I have been a member of for years, they are a great place to go to meet like minded artists, show your latest artwork and even ask for critiques. Here are the ones I visit quite frequently and think are the best

The Pet Portrait Forum

Wetcanvas

Artpapa

Hope to see you all there

Tiger Oil Painting, Update (wildlife art)

Just thought I would show you a quick photo of the latest update on my Tiger Oil Painting.

As you can see below I have blocked in the foreground rock and also started to add some texture and more realistic colours to the Tiger’s back and forelimb.

No details as such yet and still a long way to go of course

Great Mountain Gorilla News – plus Gorilla Prints

I recieved this newsletter from the African Wildlife Foundation last night, it’s really great news for the Mountain gorillas – for a change, so I thought I would share it with you all.

Plus it gives me the chance to show you some of my gorilla paintings / prints

baby gorilla print

Mountain Gorilla Census Reveals Increase in Population

AWF With the International Gorilla Conservation Programme Celebrates Conservation Win
AWF with our friends and supporters has been eagerly awaiting the results of the latest census of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif – and now the numbers are in!
The analysis, conducted in March and April 2010, indicates that there are a total of 480 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in 36 groups along with 14 solitary silverback males in the Virunga Massif, which includes three contiguous national parks: Parc National des Virunga in DRC, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. The only other location where mountain gorillas exist is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

silverback gorilla Print

 Along with the 302 mountain gorillas censused in Bwindi in 2006 and four orphaned mountain gorillas in a sanctuary in DRC, this brings the total world population to 786 individuals.

The last census undertaken in the Virunga Massif was in 2003, when the population was estimated at 380 individuals. The current figure represents a 26.3% increase in the population of mountain gorillas in this area over the last seven years, which is a 3.7% annual growth rate. This increase in the population occurred despite the killing of no less than nine mountain gorillas, in four separate incidents, during this time period.

Of the 480 mountain gorillas censused, 352 (73%) were habituated (349 in groups and three solitary males) and 128 were unhabituated (117 in groups and 11 solitary males).
“This population has made an absolutely remarkable recovery from the approximately 250 individuals that existed only three decades ago.

This recovery is due to the relentless collaborative efforts of many organizations and institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda,” stated Dr. Augustin Basabose, Coordinator of Species at the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition of African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Fauna & Flora International, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Read the full release on awf.org

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This print is of a Western lowland Gorilla – but I’m going to put it in anyways

Wildlife Art Ltd Edn Prints on Ebay

Hi Everyone,
I have just listed (6th Dec 2010) on Ebay, a selection of the Wildlife Art Ltd Edn prints that I currently have in stock and ready for immediate despatch. So if your an International collector you should still get them before Xmas if you order ASAP.

The prices are the same as on my Wildlife Art Site, it just gives you an alternative place to purchase.

Here is the Link to my Ebay Wildlife Art Page

There’s a selection of my Tiger prints on Ebay at the moment

Wildlife Art – Reference Photos on Ebay

Some people are either a little concerned about giving their card details out on private sites or have cash in their ebay accounts they would rather use, so for that reason I have listed my Wildlife Art reference Photo CD’s on ebay.

You can find them here -

Ebay Listings volume 1

Volume 2 (listing will start in a few hrs)

Tiger Oil Painting – Next Stage

Here I have begun the very 1st layer of oil paint (alkyd oils) on the Tiger, just scrubbing in the basic colour at this stage, many more layers to come as you will already know if you follow my painting style. (You can see more details of my oil painting techniques here)

This is basically a fairly dark underlayer which will give me a nice base to paint my lighter detail over.