Create a dog illustration using a reference photo, gouache paints or watercolors, and colored pencils.

You can download the reference photo that I used if that makes it easier for you to start off, OR you can use your own reference photo of your own dog or you friend’s dog. If you choose using your own reference photo, you may find the lesson “Choosing a Reference Photo” very helpful.

These are the 5 steps to complete this project:

Decide the reference photo that you want to use. Include the one that you’ll use in the projects gallery. Remember that you can download the image that I used for this class, or use your own reference photo. It would be much cooler if you actually paint your own dog. You can even tell us a little bit about the dog you’ll be painting.
Create the base drawing and share it in the projects gallery. I’ll share two ways to create the base drawing of the dog in the lesson “Base Drawing”. Choose the one that makes you feel more confident, but I will always recommend following the “brave option” to really practice and improve your drawing skills.
Time to use your gouache paints or watercolors: Mix the colors, test them and create the color palette that you’ll need. Share a picture of your color tests. Follow the lesson “Creating Colors” to get some tips about color mixing.
Paint your dog illustration by looking at the reference photo during the whole process. Share some pictures of the painting process at different stages.
Add some texture and final details with colored pencils. Share a picture of your final artwork in the gallery projects section! :)

Which supplies do you need? (Watch the lesson “Supplies” to see them all)

A pencil, an eraser and a regular white sheet of paper (if you follow the brave option to create the base drawing).
Gouache paints (or try with your watercolors if you don’t have gouache paint). It will be enough with the following colors: blue, yellow, red, sepia and an opaque white.
One or two water containers.
A white watercolors palette (you can also use white plastic plates).
Watercolor paper, a4 size.
Two watercolor brushes (One of them should be number 5 or 6, and another one should be number 0 or 1).
Any absorbent paper (Kitchen paper or a paper tissue work great)
A small piece of watercolor paper to test the mixed colors.
Colored pencils. The ones that I used this time are Prismacolor colored pencils.

It would be really awesome to see your project in the gallery projects section. Can you imagine how cool would it be to see a lot of doggies in the project gallery?

You can ask for feedback from me or any question that you may have during the process.

Ewelina Kuczmanska

32

335