Fur for thought:)

In my last post I mentioned that I would be writing about  painting fur and my experiences with it.  First, I think the smoother the surface, the better.  So, it is best to gesso the canvas, sanding between layers to even it out.  I also said that I would be showing my processes as well, so here goes.

I start off by making a very simple, and LIGHT pencil sketch of the subject I will be painting.  My personal preference is to also mark out some color variances.  This is right after I sketched in the bulldog figure, and had been playing around with a few coat colors.

Next thing I did was to put in the basic coat colors, a little bit darker than the true color. I didn't worry about making the fur texture at this stage.

Ok, so here is the finished product.  Details were added here; the eyes, fur texture, nose, highlights.

"Green Bulldog"

Acrylic on canvas

small?

Sorry, not sure on the size of this one, because it's not nearby at the moment.  It is smaller than the 9"x11".  Ok now to talk about the fur, which got it's texture in the final stage.  It's important to note that fur typically moves from top to bottom, and from the center out.  So, to paint fur, because it overlaps, I started from the bottom, worked my way up, and from the outer edges in.  I used a frayed filbert brush to achieve the effect shown.  I kept the strokes very light, and lifted the brush at the end to make the pointed ends seen in reality.  

Thanks for reading:)