A shape can be further defined by showing how light hits the object to create highlights and shadows. First note from which direction the source of light is coming. (In these examples, the light source is beaming from the upper right.)
There are myriad techniques and tools that can be used to create a variety of textures and effects. By employing some of these different techniques, you can spice up your art and keep the painting process fresh, exciting, and fun!
Most oil painters apply paint to their supports with brushes. The variety of effects you can achieve—depending on your brush selections and your techniques—is virtually limitless. Just keep experimenting to find out what works best for you. A few of the approaches to oil painting and brushwork techniques are outlined below.
Acquaint yourself with the ideas and terms of color theory, which involve everything from color relationships to perceived color temperature and color psychology. In the following pages, we will touch on the basics as they relate to painting.
The color wheel, pictured to the right, is the most useful tool for understanding color relationships. Where the colors lie relative to one another can help you group harmonious colors and pair contrasting colors to communicate mood or emphasize your message. The wheel can also help you mix colors efficiently. Below are the most important terms related to the wheel.
Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. With these you can mix almost any other color; however, none of the primaries can be mixed from other colors. Secondary colors include green, orange, and violet. These colors can be mixed using two of the primaries. (Blue and yellow make green, red and yellow make orange, and blue and red make violet.) A tertiary color is a primary mixed with a near secondary, such as red with violet to create red-violet.
There are many options available to transfer a subject image onto drawing paper or canvas, including using transfer paper, the grid method, or the projector method.
Before creating a full canine portrait, get to know the general shapes that make up each feature. As you practice rendering the features of a variety of dogs, notice the subtle changes in shape, value, and proportion that distinguish each breed.
The eyes are possibly the most important feature when it comes to capturing the personality and character of an animal.
1 Using an HB pencil, begin by outlining the main areas of the eye—the pupil, the iris, the eyelids, and the highlight. Also sketch the hair around the eyes. Almost all dog breeds have a very dark area of bare skin surrounding the eyeball, so shade this area with solid tone.
2 Next, using a 2B pencil, block in the darkest values of the eye, including the pupil (avoiding the highlight) and the area surrounding the eyeball. As you shade, leave small highlights in the corners of the eye to convey the impression of a moist, glistening surface.
3 Begin creating the pattern of the iris using an HB pencil, drawing lines that radiate outward from the pupil toward the outer edge of the iris. Use the HB pencil to add more hair around the eye, following the direction of growth.
4 Finish the eye with an H pencil, adding more tone to the iris and then lifting out some graphite to indicate reflected light. Soften the highlight with a tortillon; then continue developing the hair, stroking over the top of the lid and over the outer corner.
There are a number of ways to suggest whiskers—but keep in mind that many whiskers are light in color and often appear nearly translucent.
There is variation in nose size, shape, and color from one breed to the next. Observe your subject from a variety of angles to truly understand the shape of this feature.
1 Use an HB pencil to sketch the shape of the nose, including the nostrils. Be sure to study your subject and draw the shape you see. Add rough guidelines to show where the main areas of light and shadow will be.
2 Next add tone with a 2B pencil, using tiny circular strokes to emulate the texture of the dog’s nose. Darken the nostrils and the vertical crease through the middle of the nose. Then begin shading the rest with lighter layers of circles. Leave the highlight areas free of graphite.
3 Go over the entire nose with small circles to soften the texture slightly, but keeping a bumpy effect. Leave the top of the nose and the area under the nostril light to suggest reflected light. To create the appearance of a wet nose, avoid blending the darks into the lights, instead allowing harsh separations.
4 To connect the nose to the rest of the dog’s face, begin adding the surrounding hair. Dog fur grows away from the nose, with the darkest areas directly underneath and above. The hair just below the nose is generally coarse, so keep these lines dark and short.
Canine ears can be long or short, dropped or upright, and long haired or short haired.
1 Begin by sketching the ear shape with an HB pencil, outlining the folds and mapping out some of the darker tones.
2 Using a 2B pencil, begin adding hair to the ear, starting with the darkest hair around the base and along the uppermost edge. Let the hair dictate the form of the ear, using very little shading. The hair grows upward and outward across the ear, with a hairless area along the inside flap of the ear.
3 Go over the dark hairs with an HB pencil; this fills in the gaps with a slightly different tone, providing depth and thickness to the hair. Fill in most of the remaining gaps with strokes of a 2B pencil, applying very little pressure for the lighter areas. Finish by lightly shading the hairless area using a 2H pencil.
Dog hair can be long, short, straight and curly. The roughness or smoothness of the hair affects a dog’s overall appearance, as well. There are many variations within each basic type of hair, but you should be able to adapt any of the techniques demonstrated in this section.
1 Long, curly hair tends to flow in waves. Begin drawing wavy lines using an HB pencil, roughly following a consistent pattern of curvature while ensuring that the pattern isn’t too rigid and exact. Overlap some hairs for realism.
2 Darken the areas in between the main clumps of hair using a soft pencil. Then suggest the strands within the clumps of hair nearest the viewer, using long strokes to communicate the length. Leave some areas nearly free of graphite to bring them forward visually.
1 To draw the same hair type with a looser style, sketch long, wavy lines, following a general S-shaped pattern.
2 Rough in texture using lines. Rather than creating definite highlights and shadows, simply draw the lines closer together in shadowed areas and farther apart in lighter areas. When drawing any type of hair, always stroke in the direction of growth.
1 Long, straight hair doesn’t necessarily lay in perfectly parallel lines. In fact, the longer the hair, the more haphazard it’s likely to be. With this in mind, draw long sections of hair, stroking in different directions and overlapping strokes.
2 Carefully shade the dark areas among the hairs; then apply long, light strokes on top of the sections of hair. Use a kneaded eraser to lift out some individual hairs, giving depth to the coat.
1 Draw light, rough guidelines for the sections of hair. Then use long, wispy strokes to gradually build up the strands along the guidelines. Place lines closer together for dark areas and farther apart for light areas.
2 As with the detailed method, add highlights and depth by lifting out additional hairs using a kneaded eraser molded into a point.
Below are some techniques for rendering various canine features in oil and acrylic using common canine color combinations.
1 Begin by laying in a medium value of thinned burnt sienna and sap green using a ½-inch flat brush. This golden brown mix will show through the fur as you paint subsequent layers picking out color wherever you desire using a pointed brush.
2 Continue to darken the shadows with equal parts of raw sienna and black using a soft ½-inch flat brush. Always work your strokes in the direction of the hair growth. Add some white to create a warm gray and work from the edges of your piece toward the fur, lessening your pressure at the end of each stroke to create soft, blurred ends. Add more white to this mixture and use a long, fine-pointed brush to paint loose, soft-edged hairs that fade into the background.
3 To build the middle tones, mix cadmium yellow medium, yellow ochre, and a bit of black. Using a fine-pointed brush, twist and turn your wrist as you move in the direction of the hair growth, creating brushmarks that range from one to two inches long. Vary the pressure you put on the brush to create lines that are both thick and thin. For the lighter areas, add a small amount of white. You may go over your brushmarks with a soft, dry brush to minimize the texture and create the illusion of softer fur.
4 For the final layer, mix three parts raw sienna with one part white and one part cadmium yellow medium. Load a pointed brush and wipe off the excess paint onto a dry cloth so your brushmarks are softer and silkier. Start with the bottom layers of fur and work upward so each brushstroke lays over the previous. Use various amounts of pressure to create thicker and thinner lines. It is a good idea to thin the paint for better flow. Add a very small amount of black to this mixture to create a greenish tone for the shadow areas, staying careful to leave these areas softer so they recede. Add more white to your original mixture for the lighter areas.
1 Create a thin mix of four parts burnt sienna to one part black; then use a ½-inch flat brush to lay in a flat area of color, working from dark to light. Use the pounce technique to smooth out the brushmarks. To remove some color from the lightest areas of fur, use a cotton swab dipped in mineral spirits (if using oil) or water (if using acrylic) to gently wipe away the paint.
2 To create the soft edges in curly or fuzzy hair, start by painting a thin layer of medium (if using oil) or water (if using acrylic) directly over the dried underpainting. When you paint over this wet surface, your brushmarks will be less dramatic and blurred. For the shadows, create a mix of equal parts of black and burnt sienna. Then use a pointed brush to dab the color into the spaces between the curls and under the ear, using squiggly marks. You can blend this more by lightly sweeping a soft, dry fan brush over your marks to knock down the texture. Allow the paint to dry.
3 To create softer brushstrokes, begin by wetting your entire painting again. Next mix equal parts of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and black for the middle values of this curly fur. Using a ¼-inch flat brush, begin to build the lighter values with random, squiggly lines that vary in thickness, moving from top to bottom. To soften the brushmarks, use a fine-pointed brush with a darker version of burnt sienna mixed with black to repaint some of your shadows, blending them with the wet paint in the curls.
4 For the last layers, mix equal parts of raw sienna and white. Using the corner of a ¼-inch flat brush, gently and loosely build up the lighter areas of the hair. Build your values from dark to light slowly to create a softer effect. Switch to a smaller pointed brush if you desire more control, but hold it very loosely, allowing the brush to do the work for you. You will achieve more natural variation in your marks. Add a small amount of cadmium red light to warm the fur or white to lighten it. Use burnt sienna to darken the mix for detail in the shadow areas.
1 Paint the darkest shadow color using a mix of three parts burnt sienna to one part black. Thin the color until it is soft and smooth but not watery. Apply the wash with a ½-inch flat brush and use the pounce technique to eliminate brushmarks. Define the fur texture along the edges by lifting color in short strokes in the lightest areas using a dry, fine-pointed brush.
2 Short, choppy strokes with the edge of a ½-inch flat brush work well for capturing the texture of coarse hair. Always work in the direction of the hair growth and allow some of the underpainting to show through to start building depth and detail with minimal effort. Use a darker version of your mix of black and burnt sienna.
3 To create the illusion of coarse, scratchy fur, try painting with a pointed palette knife instead of a brush. Mix equal parts of yellow ochre, cadmium red light, and cadmium yellow medium for the middle values of the fur. Use the palette knife point and its edge to lay in the color. Scratch into the paint with the tip of the palette knife to spread the color in the direction of the hair growth and create the illusion of fine hairs.
4 There should be a lot of texture on your painting from the palette work in step three, so this is a good time to use the drybrush technique. Load a very small amount of paint on your ½-inch flat brush. Wipe off any excess on a rag. Then, with your brush on its side, stroke lightly across the texture marks so you only pick up the raised parts. Don’t push the paint into the grooves. After you’ve exposed as much texture as you can, use your palette knife to build up even more texture in the light areas. Blend these new areas into the previous ones by scratching into them with the pointed end of your palette knife, working the paint in the direction of the hair growth.
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