How To Paint Fur In Watercolor Pencil
This lens is about creating the look of fur in a watercolor pencil painting. WC Pencils are one of my favorite mediums for their ability to achieve a high degree of detail. I use them most often for making realistic paintings and portraits.
The portrait I was working on for this tutorial was of a very special horse named Catch. You can purchase prints of Catch or many of my other works by visiting my website, Wild Faces Gallery
Also if you would like to read all about Catch and see real life photos of him, or to follow the painting's progress (with full story) from start to finish please visit my blog, Fur In The Paint
The portrait I was working on for this tutorial was of a very special horse named Catch. You can purchase prints of Catch or many of my other works by visiting my website, Wild Faces Gallery
Also if you would like to read all about Catch and see real life photos of him, or to follow the painting's progress (with full story) from start to finish please visit my blog, Fur In The Paint
Greetings
My name is Mona Majorowicz I am a professional artist who has been making my living selling my work for some time now. I have been in the art and framing industry for over 20 years. I am an animal artist, (meaning I paint critters) who works primarily in Oil Pastel or Water Soluble Pencil.I own and operate Wild Faces Gallery with my husband Mike in a small rural town in Iowa. There we sell my original artwork and prints, as well as do quality custom framing and offer Giclee printing for other artists as well as for ourselves
I maintain a blog called Fur In The Paint, as well as write a regular column for Apples 'N Oats (an equestrian magazine) about painting horses.
Animals are my passion and art is how I chose to express it.
Applying the Base Colors Dry
This is a detailed step by step How-To on creating the look of horse hair using watercolor pencils. This painting is being done on Arches 140# hot press watercolor paper. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.First, I applied the base colors dry. I tend to scribble with little thought, other than following the general directions that the hairs run.
Colors used: Chocolate, Dark Blue, Indigo Blue and Violet/Wine
Note: The colors mentioned are descriptive names, NOT the actual names on the pencils. Why did I do it this way? Well heres an example, Sanguine. . . what the heck color is Sanguine? (It's a ginger/pumpkin color for those who are curious.) Also, I usually use multiple shades (2 or 3) of each color listed.
Add A Water Wash
Here, I added water and blended out the color. I tend to use small brushes (For this, I used a #5 round.) I prefer to use cheap brushes, as the scrushing action (not a real technical term) of lifting the pencil into a liquid paint, tends to ruin the brushes.I select the area to work in by following the muscle shapes or shiny coat lines. I do this, so if there are any heavy lines of pigmentation around the edges, they work with you in laying in a denser color for the shadows. In this instance, I worked the main neck muscle up to the shoulder line.
I wet a small area at a time, working quickly, so there is a minimum of hard edges. Again, try to follow the hair growth. It will look a little patchy. But because multiple layers will be applied, how it looks at this stage is kinda irrelevant.
Note: You could use a larger brush. Just be aware that this will put down more water. You may want to consider using heavier papers or stretching your lighter weight papers if buckling becomes a problem.
Second Layer Added
After the paper has dried (approximately 1-2 minutes) I add the second layer, again following the direction of the hair.Colors Used: Chocolate, Purple, Terra Cotta, Indigo, and (very limitedly) Black.
Ten add water wash as before.
Using A Sharpened Pencil To Create The Look Of Hair
I create hair effects by gently scraping a sharpened pencil of a lighter color, through the existing layers of color, while the paper is still wet. I generally don't do this over the entire painting. On this painting, I will only use this technique for the extreme highlights on the face and crest of the neck, as this is where I want my attention to be. Most of the neck will be done with a dry pencil.Here, along the crest (top of neck) the scrape marks are freshly done. While the scrape marks in the area of the neck have had additional color applied, with a dry pencil for more subtle blending.
Note: If your paper dries before you finish with scraping in hair, just re-wet the paper using your brush. A Q-tip also works well to wet, as well as to lift off areas of intense color.
Working In With Dry Pencil
The neck area is now half done. All of this work was done dry. I burnish in color until the paper no longer accepts more. Then if necessary, I go in and wet the paper again. This will allow me to continue to add more layers of color.Colors Used in Shadow Area: Chocolate, Purple, Terra Cotta, and Indigo.
Colors Used In Highlights: Cinnamon, Ginger, Periwinkle and Light Blue.
The End Results
At this point, the neck area is pretty close to being completed. I say pretty close because as I work, I tend to go back in and adjust coloring to fit the rest of the painting. Nothing is really considered completed until I have signed the painting. Horse Portrait from Start to Finish
I included this so you could see how the whole painting comes together. Not just the neck area. It may be helpful in following the process as a whole.Here is just the line drawing of Catch, that I submitted to the horse owner for approval. Once gotten I moved ahead.
Horse Portrait: head is complete
At this point the horses head is finished. At least until I finish the rest of the horse and the background. I always go in and adjust the highlights and shadows as the last thing I do in a painting. Detail of Horse Head
This is the same photo as the one above, except it is closer to offer you a better idea of how the color has been laid down. As well as seeing hte actual pencil lines. Horse Portrait Just About Complete
Need Background
Here the horse is pretty much done, except for the fabio like mane that I apply later. And of course the background.And of course to veiw the finished painting, just scroll back up to the top.
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by WildFacesGallery
Greetings,
My name is Mona Majorowicz. I am an animal artist who has been in the art and framing industry for over 20 years and have been making my l... (more)
My name is Mona Majorowicz. I am an animal artist who has been in the art and framing industry for over 20 years and have been making my l... (more)
