How to Paint a Realistic Dog in Watercolor

1. Introduction: Hi, welcome to Kembart Drawing Studio I am an artist specializing in realistic watercolor and I've been working in realistic watercolor since 2013 I like this technique and resulting character in watercolor painting I often paint landscapes, some urban activities, flora and fauna and so on one of my favorite subject is dog so in this class I will show you how I paint a Beagle Dog that focuses on the face, and half of the body. I will show you how to find reference photo, how to transfer drawing onto the paper how to map these layers the steps of painting wet on wet and wet on dry techniques, how to make shape and dark and light shading on the subject how to make the gradation, and the detailing process in realistic painting I have prepared an outlines sketch and reference photo for you to download so you will be able to paint it as well so even if you are a beginner or experienced painter you will be able to learn a realistic painting techniques in this class Okay, let's get started. 2. Materials: So these are the materials that I'm going to use for my watercolor painting first, I'm going to use to Fabriano watercolor sketchbook 300gsm, with size 16 x 23,7 centimeter or 6.3 by 9.3 inches. this paper is quite thick and very soft, and it is really good for both beginner and professional then I'll be using watercolor paints from Winsor and Newton, don't worry if you don't have the same paints as me, you can use any watercolors that you have here. I've got a mechanical pencil to make the sketch and an eraser to erase or lighten the sketch lines I'll be using three round brushes there are silver black velvet paintbrushes with sizes 2, 4, and 6, this brush has soft bristles that will make it easier for us to create gradients and details and I'll be using a mop brush size 1 as well to work on larger area so that work is easier and faster and here I have two jars of water for mixing the color or washing the brushes, I prepare two jars to save my time if I have to replace the clean water while painting, then I have a tissue to wipe the brush, paint, or water on the paper when the placement isn't quite right these are the supplies I'm going to use feel free to use whatever you have on hand. 3. Choosing a Photo: If we are about to make a realistic painting, we will need a reference photo so here I will explain a little bit on how I find my reference photo I usually look for my reference photos on the image provider site like Unsplash, there are thousands pictures available on this site that you can choose the images on this site are royalty free you can use them freely for your personal projects however, these images cannot be resold apart from the Unsplash, you can also get various kinds of images on other image provider sites such as Pixabay, Pexels and so on okay, I'm going to find the dog picture that I want, I'll just type in the search box you can see there are tons of dog pictures popping out so in choosing a reference photo, it would be better if we pay attention to the composition, proportion, light exposure and a good face shape I'll scroll down until I find a picture that fits my need okay I think this picture is very good and I will use this one why is it good? I think this picture is in a good position, focuses on the face facing three-quarters, not too sideways and not too forward, and half of the body can be seen for the lighting, we can see that the light is on the right side of the subject so that the dog's face has a light value and dark values so that it looks artistic, and also the facial expressions look relaxed and cool so thanks to Evy Prentice for providing this great dog picture and we can also provide feedback to the contributor in the way this website suggests well, before painting, I will erase the background to white to make it easier for our eyes to focus on the shape and color of this dog now I will erase the background by using Adobe Photoshop, just cut it simply like this okay, now we have got the reference photo that we will use in painting I will print this picture then we will start the sketching stage. 4. Sketch: Now we are going to make the sketch so to sketch here is to make a drawing design with graphite lines, well, the sketch technique I use is tracing using a reference photo. so here I have printed the reference photo which I will trace, I have adjusted the size to fit my watercolor sketchbook so first, cover it with transfer paper on the sketchbook and then stack with the reference photo that has been printed on the top of it, make sure the reference photo is positioned exactly as you want and then glue the edges with tape then follow the lines first we start from the eyes, nose, and mouth, then to the whole dog to make it easier for you to see the outline when tracing it I have also provided an outline sketch for you to download this technique will be very helpful for getting accurate shape, composition and proportion in sketching this technique also speeds up the sketching progress and doesn't spend a lot of time when it's done, remove the reference photo and the transfer paper then we can add some other sketch lines to clarify and make it easier for us to see the overall sketch pattern just make a thin sketch, try not to be too thick so that the sketch is not visible when it is colored later in the next video we will start the painting process. 5. Base Layer: The steps we are going to use are painting from the lightest layer to the darkest layer so in this video, the first step we're going to do is layering the base color of the whole subject the first part is the white part of the dog's fur, first of all take orange and mix it with red with more water to make the color transparent, why using that color? if we look at the reference photo, this white color has a slightly orange tone due to the lighting so I use a completely transparent orange and red then continue to the neck part I use the mop brush size 1 to make it easier and speed up the work and the last is the body part the second part we will block the brown areas of the fur, eyes, nose, mouth and some parts of the dog collar using orange, why orange and not brown? as I said earlier, we are working from the lightest layer to the darkest so in this case, before we go to brown, we use orange first, actually it doesn't matter if I use transparent brown directly, here I just want to explore it to get a vibrant color leave a small circle still in white around the eye part which is a flash of light in the eye then the lower part of the eyeball leaves small white part as a bright highlight on the eyelid then block the left side of the face according to the sketch outline and the color of the reference photo. on the nose part here, leave a white part for a bright flash of light then continue to the neck part now I’m gonna use the mop brush for the wider area then continue on to the left and right arms and some parts of the collar by using the same orange and for the last one is blocking the color of the collar with a mixture of red and orange starting from the left first then evenly block the collar according to the sketch line now all parts have been coated with the base layer, and for the next step we will work on the details of the other parts one by one. 6. Eyes: In this video we will paint the eyes part after the base color layer, now we will map the eyes with a brown to make it easier for us to see the shapes and the dark and light colors well I’ll be using round brush size 4, I take burnt sienna and mix it with water we are going to start from the left eye, the first thing we need to do is making a circle to leave the base layer of orange which is a flash of light in the eye then continue to the upper area and the bottom area a little bit which is the dark part of the shadow, then on the right eye using the same color don't be rush, remember to leave the base layer and white on the eyeball, just do it slowly then continue to the eyelid we leave a white part for the color of the lower eyelid okay, now we can see the eyes color more clearly, where the dark and the light areas are after mapping the brown layer this will serve as a reference for coloring at the subsequent shaping and finishing stages I use a hairdryer to speed up drying now let's mix burnt sienna and black to make a brownish-black that will be applied to the left eye area keep the orange of the base layer for the flash of light we can see the flash is starting to look bright then now stack it with dark brown on top of the eye and shape it according to the color in the reference photo so this is the part that is shaded. now we add orange to the left of the outer edge of the eye then soften the transition then for the last layer we will stack it with a denser brownish-black to emphasize the eye shape stacking a darker color in the wet area will create a subtle gradation of color refraction okay I think that's enough for the left eye, now let's continue working on the right eye follow the same steps as the left eye, take burnt sienna then apply it to the orange layer area leave the previous color wet and then stacks around the eyeball with the brownish-black when the previous brown meets this black it will produce a soft gradient just let the middle of the eye mixed with the brownish black now the eyes have started to form the white glint and the brown gradation in the middle of the eyes make them look realistic and now let's mix blue and burnt sienna to make a dark gray for the eyelid we dab it here back to the palette to make a darker gray to darken the eyelid okay, now we're going to work on the fur around the eye with a mixture of burnt sienna and orange and last, give it a final touch by stacking and shaping the eyes to make them look realistic and in the next video we will continue to work on the nose part. 7. Nose: In this video I will show you how to paint a nose using same technique I used in the previous video, where the first step is mapping dark and light colors and then shaping them to have a realistic look in order to make a realistic nose shape, we need to understand the direction of the lighting and the shadows to make it easier to map the colors lighting from the right side tends to make the upper and right areas of the nose look lighter than the left and lower areas now I’ll be showing you the color mapping that I mean, first we use burnt sienna to map the dark area on the nose now let's mix blue and brown on the palette with a lot of water to make a transparent grey we will apply this gray to all three white areas of this paper after mapping out the brown we can now see it's dark and light tones the gray area is the area of the flashes of light, then the orange is the middle tone and brown is the dark tone as I said before, the light part of the nose is dominant in the upper and right areas and the dark part is on the left and bottom areas now let's shape the nose by referring to the mapped colors first mix burnt sienna to be applied to the orange layer or the middle tone keep the color wet and now make a dark brown to be applied to the lower part then put it in the nostril as well I think it is necessary to stack a darker brown in the middle tone layer then in the lower area using an even darker color then take a little bit of water to soften the transition on the gray edges I use a tissue to wipe the wet brush okay, it's starting to take shape and now I'm just going to tidy up and give it some finishing touches okay, here's the nose and in the next video, we will continue to work on the mouth part. 8. Mouth: In this video we will work on the mouth part the part of the mouth under the nose has a darker light okay first we will map the brown to create the pattern follow the direction of the sketch and focus on the reference photo to see which dark areas we need to color in brown this is a mouth pattern that will be a reference for the shaping process at a later stage I speed up the drying process now let's make a dark brown mixture to apply to the darkest part of the mouth now add burnt sienna to the bottom and the top left following the reference photo let this color refract the dark brown in the mouth for a soft transition effect okay, we have finished working on the mouth for the next video we'll be working on the collar part. 9. Collar: In this video we will work on the collar part in this part there are several colors used yellow on the buckle, red on the collar strap and brown on the lower left iron pendant okay I will work on the collar strap first because this part has a very clear light and dark areas then I'll be working on the dark brown part of the pendant on the left once the strap and the bottom left pendant are formed, it is easy to determine the dark and light tones of the buckle because we only need to match the color tone of the collar strap and the pendant this will reduce the wrong color tones that are sometimes too dark or too light so let's apply the color to the center of the strap first as this middle part has the lightest color but there is also the shadow area which is quite dark in this area so let’s make a mixture of orange and a little bit of red next let's continue to work on the right and the left strap add burnt sienna to make it more brown now I'm going to work on the left strap with a mixture of black and a little bit of orange and red continue on the strap in the middle of the buckle I apply it on the left and middle part of it then on its top and right edges as well then darken the strap on the right side following the reference photo move to the middle part to soften the transition now we're going to work on the pendant on the left using a mixture of burnt sienna and a little bit of black stroke down on the iron pendant and block this pendant now let's work on the buckle using a mixture of yellow and orange apply the same color to the entire surface of the buckle and keep it wet until the next color build up now create a mixture of orange and yellow again, but mix it with a little bit of dark color on the palette this time to make a denser color then apply it to the left part of the buckle up to the middle part seems like we need to add more yellow to the right part of the buckle and the last one is applying a dark brown to the middle area separating the right and left areas, this will make it look more realistic then continue working on the iron pendant with a dark brown on the bottom area, and grading it into the middle area above it and lastly, give finishing touches to the whole collar and now let's make a stitch texture on the top and bottom edges of the collar by using a clean brush with a little bit of water rub it one by one until the color fades I use a round brush size 2 which has a small pointed tip to get the impression of a tidier stitch then the middle buckle strap as well in the next video we will continue to get to the face and ears parts. 10. Face & Ears: In this video we will be working on the face and ears of the dog, in which generally this video will show a technique for painting the fur the lighting from the right makes the face and ear on the right side looks very light and the part of the face and left ear that is not exposed to light tends to be dark this is the advantage of choosing a subject with lighting from the right or left side it will also make the subject looks more attractive and artistic. so the first part I'm going to work on is the light white part in the middle then the left face and ear, and the right face and ear will be the last one we are going to use the wet on wet technique to make the fur which is first started by wetting the surface of the paper that we will be working on and when it's damp, make the fur by scratching the dark and light parts according to the reference photo the effect will make the fur look smooth later we will also use the wet on dry technique on certain parts where the tone is predominantly dark here I will show you what I mean the first step we do is coating the middle area of the face with the clean water now I use mop brush size 1 to speed things up now mix burnt sienna and blue to create a grayish brown which will be applied in the middle area at the eye level following the reference photo now I am using a round brush size 2 which is sharp to scratch thin lines the coloring process is started from the lightest color to the darkest this is the first layer and we will stack it again with a darker color later we work in layers I am going to work on this area while waiting for the top area to dry a little bit to be stacked again, for the upper part of the mouth, use a mixture of red and burnt sienna following the color in the reference photo as we can see, the most dominant area is in the upper left corner of the mouth while waiting for the bottom part to dry a little bit we can move on to work on the top keep stacking and scratching it until you get the texture and color of the fur that are close to the reference photo we will give a light gray touch on the right now we are going to continue working on the left corner above the mouth with a denser reddish-brown add the dots to indicates the mustache area add an even darker color to these areas and scratch it one by one using the sharp tip of the brush okay, I think it looks pretty good, already looks graded and realistic next, let's work on the left face part, from the top to the bottom coat the top and cheeks with water first and we are going to use a brownish orange there is a dark area here pointing slightly upwards the brown is quite dark, just like the previous technique pay attention to the dark and light areas then stack and scratch the color to get the texture and color of the fur that is close to the reference photo continue working on the bottom part this is the top of the mouth where the fur is white however, due to the effect of light reflection it makes it looks brownish-orange after wetting this area, then use the burnt sienna to stack it and prepare the left edge area for highlights and for the last one just add a dark brown color to the right corner now let's work on the left ear part this part is a shadow area as well so because this part is darker in tone we just layer it with brown to save the time we don't need to wet it first, it will be very time consuming because basically we will get a dark color just evenly apply it now we will stack the dark values according to the reference photo using a mixture of black and a little bit of burnt sienna then last, soften the transitions between the ears and face the next step is to work on the right face first, wet it with water the technique used is exactly the same as the previous technique but in this section the color used is lighter because it is in the area that is exposed to the light same as the previous technique, mapping the dark parts using burnt sienna dry it first, then we wet the whole ear alright, this is the result and looks realistic in the next video, we will move to work on to the neck and body. 11. Neck & Body: In this video we will work on the fur on the dog's neck and body, this neck part has the same white fur as the face but due to the shadow effect it makes the fur on the neck a little darker the left and right corners of the neck have an even darker color then as we can see, the left side of the body is darker than the right alright, let's work on the neck first, then the body the technique used is the same as the previous wet on wet technique We wet it first using clean water then we will work on the dark areas on the left and right corners first to get the overall neck pattern so that later it will be easier to make the middle neck area use the burnt sienna to coat the left area a little bit of the middle area and the right corner area as well now mix it with black to create a dark brown that will be applied to the left corner area then use the lighter color at the bottom following the borders of the collar next, use the same color on the right corner part and soften the color transitions here now let's continue working on the body We wet it here first start from the left using the same technique stack the color until it becomes dense following the reference photo okay the left side is done now we move on to work on the white part in the middle and the right part using the same technique and still refers to the reference photo we wet it first alright now we can see the neck and body are finished and shaped the next step we will give the final touch which is the overall finishing 12. Finishing Touch: Overall this dog painting is almost finished and in this video i will give a thorough finishing touch this finishing process focuses on clarifying or emphasizing several parts which will make this painting look more alive some of the finishing touches that I do are emphasizing the color softening the transitions of some parts that are deemed necessary and making fur scratches let's start by stacking the chin with a slightly darker color and softening the transition between the chin and neck area soften the transition on the right as well then emphasize a darker color contrast on the pendant to make it looks more real and add a dark color emphasis under the necklace now, let's make the fur scratches on the upper part of the front using white with a little bit of water scratch it one by one using the tip of this round brush size 2 play with the brush pressure to make varied white scratches so they are not flat continue to the right part as well okay, here is the overall result of the painting that looks more realistic after the overall finishing touches 13. Thank You: Congratulations, you have arrived at the last stage of this class I hope this class will be obvious to you in understanding how to paint realistic paintings using watercolors I would love to see your work you can post your project in the project section thank you for joining this class and see you.