PAINTING FUR
PETS CAN MAKE GREAT
SUBJECTS, BUT PAINTING
THE DETAILED TEXTURE
OF FUR IN WATERCOLOUR
CAN BE COMPLEX HERE
ARTIST SIÂN DUDLEY
SHOWS US HOW IT’S
DONE IN EIGHT STEPSw
e Brits love our pets, and for many of us who
love to paint, a pet portrait seems the perfect fi t.
For watercolourists, however, painting hair or fur
is a daunting prospect; capturing the texture and highlights
of hair and fur when working from light to dark is tricky, to
say the least. With the help of Molly-Mou, and her delightful
mix of doggy wool and hair, I hope this demonstration will
give you the confi dence to try it for yourself, assuming you
can get your pet to ‘sit’ for long enough!
Start by choosing materials that will work with you to
achieve the effect you want, NOT or rough watercolour
paper will help enormously.
The techniques used in this step-by-step are based
heavily on understanding which brushes to use, and how to
use them to produce marks that can be interpreted as hair
or fur. If you are not confi dent in this, take time to
experiment. Try working on both wet and dry paper,
holding the brush at different points on the handle, at
different angles, and twisting and turning the brush as
you paint. You could even try standing up and using your
whole arm; to produce fl owing hair – you’ll need to use
fl owing brushstrokes.(^1)
Draw up your image using as few marks as
possible; the danger in drawing in too much detail
is that you will be tempted to tighten up as you paint.
Mask any essential highlights, such as dots of light
in the eye, or the odd individual hair. Use a lining
pen, tightened as far as possible, to create very fi ne
lines. Draw thoughtfully with the masking fl uid as if
you were applying white paint, making creative,
expressive marks.
Use a toothbrush to fi nely spray masking fl uid in
areas of fuzzy fur; not only will this reserve tiny
white dots, it will affect the way the paint moves
across these areas.
(^2)
The fi rst area to be tackled was the fuzzy edge along
the dog’s back. Using the fi ne tip of the sword I painted
tiny fi ne lines, criss-crossing them and changing both
colour and tone as l went.
I then sprayed the wet lines with a fi ne mist, spraying
outwards (you may notice some of the fi nely-sprayed
masking fl uid here too).
(^3)
Continuing while the paper is still damp, work wet-in-
wet across the body, laying down the fi rst textural layer
of the fuzzy fur on her chest. Work in the direction that the
fur grows in – use your reference photo, there might be
CREATURE
COMFORTS
Siân’s MATERIALS
- DA VINCI SERIES 35, SIZE 4
- A SWORD LINER
- A DAGGER BRUSH
For this piece I have chosen colours
that I know will granulate: Burnt
Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cobalt
Blue and Mars Black.
in the eye, or the odd individual hair. Use a lining
pen, tightened as far as possible, to create very fi ne
lines. Draw thoughtfully with the masking fl uid as if
you were applying white paint, making creative,
12
Molly-Mou’s curly
fur made for
a challenging
portrait subject>DEMONSTRATIONORIGINAL PHOTO66 Demo -fur.indd 67 11/05/2016 11:39