Painting Nature in Watercolor: Jaguar

1. Introduction: Welcome to the class. Today I'm going to show you how to paint a jaguar in Watercolor step-by-step. My name's anna cutino and I'm an artist and a creative entrepreneur. In this class, we're going to focus on this beautiful jaguar. There will be to projects a study of the jaguar's eyes and ears and a painting of his head. You can either paint both of the projects or choose just one. I'll guide you through every single step in real-time. Your practice. Some of the essential watercolor techniques such as wet-on-wet, wet on dry or lifting. And I'll also show you how to suggest fluffy fur and how to use different stages of paper wetness to create the typical pattern of the jaguar's fur. In the Class Resources, I've attached the reference photo, a black and white outline, and a scan of the final picture. There's also the outline and final picture of the eye and ear study. I recommend this class to intermediate watercolor painters who want to level up their skills. So let's get started. 2. Supplies: Let's take look at all the supplies I'm going to use for this class. This is our choose 100% cotton watercolor paper. It's cold press, 300 GSM, and I'll use it for the full portrait of the jaguar. For the eye and ear study, I'll use the gastric centenary watercolor paper. It's also 100% cotton cold press, 300 GSM, but it's cheaper than arches. I like to use it for studies and for practicing. Of course, we will need some watercolor brushes. Here I have a synthetic more brush in size. Two, round brushes in size is 64.0. A tiny spotter brush, a thin liner brush in size zero, which are used for painting the cat's whiskers and a large flat brush for moistening the paper. I use an old kitchen towel. Two water containers, one for clean water and one for cleaning the brushes. Next, we'll need a palette. I usually use an old white blade or the ceramic watercolor palette. To draw the outline. I'll need a pencil. I'll be using an HB pencil. Next, you'll need an eraser to remove any unwanted pencil lines or to remove excess graphite. Most of the time I use a kneaded eraser because doesn't damage watercolor papers so easily. However, for larger areas of drawing, I also use a common plastic eraser. Some paper tissues are also useful. I need masking tape to attach the paper to a piece of cardboard, white gouache. At, of course, we will need watercolor paints. I'm going to use the following colors. Raw sienna, gold, ocher, burnt, umber, ultramarine. Payne's gray, perylene green, and Winsor yellow. Also need a dark brown color, which I'll mix from burnt umber and ultramarine. And I'll mix a brighter green using paralleling green and Winsor yellow. I've included the supplies list in the Resources section where you can download it and refer to it as needed. 3. Study of Eyes and Ears: Okay, let's start with the eye and ear study. First of all, I enlarge the photo and trace the outline on watercolor paper. I've included the outline in the Class Resources so you can easily download it and print it out. When I have the outline already, I start painting the lower eyelid. I can see the highlights on the lower eyelid have a slightly bluish tint. So I apply an underpainting of watery ultramarine. I soften the ends of the blue area with a clean semi dry brush. I let it dry. As the process of painting both eyes and both ears is identical. I'm going to show you the process for just 1.1 year that I start painting the iris. First, I apply a code of groundwater. Paying attention to the highlights, I leave the two small spots dry. Then I start applying gold ocher using my number four brush. I can paint over the pupil now, it doesn't matter. I own, avoid painting the highlights. I can see the color is too light. So I add a bit more gold ocher on the wet surface. Then I apply a bit of burnt umber in the darker areas using a semi dry brush and generally very little water so that the darker color doesn't spread too much and it stays where I put it. This is a darker area of the iris and it can be easily confused with the pupil. But the pupil is a much darker tiny spot that will paint later on. There are also some tiny brown spots in the structure of the iris. So I paint these with burnt umber as well. I keep looking at the reference photo. I can see this very light area at the bottom of the iris. So I list some of the paint here. I let it dry completely. Now it's time to paint the pupil using Payne's gray. I'm using my tiny spotter brush and let it dry again. Next I'm going to paint the dark outline of the eyelids. So first, I apply water to the upper part of the iris to create a subtler shadow in this area. And I apply water through this area above the iris. Then I start painting the outline using my number four brush and a thick mixture of Payne's gray. The Payne's gray spreads very slightly in the upper portion of the iris Then I switched to my spotter brush to have better control. I'd pull the dark paint lower so that it meets the highlights and the pupil. I continue by painting the lower eyelid to get the shapes right. I paid carefully around the highlight on the lower eyelid. Once I finished the black outline, I switch to my number four brush. And very carefully dampen the area under the eye and put a tiny bit of the dark pigment downwards to imitate the shape I can see in there reference photo. The same goes for the inner corner of the eye. While the area is still wet, I add more pigment using my spotter brush under the highlight on the lower eyelid. And I can see I can make the highlight a little bit thinner. And that's it. The I is finished. Now let's paint the ears. First, I apply water to this outer section of the year and the small portion of the head that I've drawn with my graphite pencil. Then I start applying neural sienna. The paper is rather damp. Then what is my brush? It gives me better control and I can leave the area of the light for white or without any paint. I switched to my number four brush and start adding the dark markings. It's Payne's gray in quite a thick and highly pigmented mixture. I forgot to add some burnt umber to the upper edge of the year. I should've done it before adding the black spots, but never mind, I'll do it now. The paper is getting dry, so I use an almost dry brush to avoid creating blooms. And I soften the edge slightly. Then I add a thin line of Payne's gray to the very edge of the year. As the burnt umber is still slightly damp, it will create a soft edge. Now I allow it to dry completely. Alright, let's paint the inner part of the year using the negative painting technique. You can see me applying water to the inner ear, with the exception of the area of the white fur. I need to keep that part dry to be able to paint the air using the negative painting method. I add burnt umber starting at the edge of this white area and pulling the paint further, but not to the very edge of the ear. I let the edge a bit lighter. Then I start adding darker brown. And again, I start at the edge of the light firm. It's burnt umber mixed with ultramarine. I don't pull it too far because I want to create gradually darker area in the inner ear right under the white fur. I repeat the process this time with Payne's gray, and this time I only added right next to the whiteboard. Then I switch to my smallest brush. This one is number zero, and start pulling the paint into the dry area and create ducts of short hair author. While the paint is still wet or damp, I start lifting organic wavy lines beginning at the outer edge of the year. This suggests soft for growing in the opposite direction. I keep cleaning and drying my brush between brushstrokes. This is another useful way of suggesting fur. So we use negative painting method to create the very light fur. Then we used lifting to create soft and subtle suggestion of for growing in the opposite direction. Now I let it dry completely. I carefully use my hairdryer to speed up the process. And then I use white gouache and my number zero brush to paint thin hairs. I begin the lines in the light area and create wavy organic lines. I keep referring to the photo and try avoid overdoing it. And that's it. The study is complete. Now, let's continue with the portrait of the magnificent animal 4. Portrait of a Jaguar - Painting the Body: Let's start by painting the cat's body. But First of all, let me quickly demonstrate how I Practice painting the for. I like to start my painting sessions with these quick exercises to see how the paints behave on that particular day. Depending on the weather and air humidity. The drying times can vary significantly from day to day where I live. So I like to test before I start painting my project, to avoid through painting the precious watercolor paper. See me applying a layer of green water to a scrap piece of paper. And then I apply raw sienna to the wet surface to give it some color variation. I also add some gold ocher and burnt umber in some places. Is you can see in the side view, there is an even layer of paint on the paper. Now I start adding the spots using Payne's Gray. And I test how much to paint spreads in different stages of paper wetness. So now the vapor is wet and the dark paint spreads quite a lot. Use a thick consistency of Payne's gray. And I paint the pattern to one-third of the paper. Then I wait for a moment, or I give the paper a very quick dry with my hairdryer. So that for the second part of my test or my test paper, I paint on moist but not completely wet surface. As you can see now, the paint spreads much less, but it still does. The paper is slowly losing its sheen, but it's still a wet on wet application. For the third part of this test, I'm painting on an almost dry paper and the Payne's gray moves only very slightly. So now, how am I going to use what I've just found out? The effect I got in the first third of my paper is perfect for the Body reference photo, the Body is slightly out-of-focus. Further from the viewer. I imitate this effect by painting on a nicely wet paper. While painting the cat's head, I'll be painting on moist paper so that this posit don't spread so much and I have more control. And finally, I'll be painting on an almost dry paper in those areas where I need maximum control and only very subtle spreading of the paint. Like, for example, painting the tiny dots at the base of the cat's whiskers. So let's get started with Painting the Body. Clean water to the cat's body using my number two cosine or mop brush. I go carefully around the head. In the chest area. I pull the water beyond the edge of the drawing so that the paint later forms a soft edge, imitating the fluffy fur of this area. In the chest area, I pull the water beyond the edge of the drawings so that the paint later forms a soft edge imitating the fluffy fur of this area. Let's have a look from the side to see where I've moisten the paper. Notice how far I've taken the water beyond the edge here No, I paint the entire body with Rosanna. I clean up the edges with the tip of my brush. Then I add gold ocher in a few places to add interest. Now I apply burnt umber to this area. In the reference photo, I can see a darker shade here. To further darken displays, I also add some burnt umber mixed with a bit of ultramarine. In the middle of this brown shape. I want to paint the Body in just one layer. So I really try to nail the value of this shape. Right away. I switched to my number four brush and start painting the dark spots using a thick consistency of Payne's gray. I follow the pattern I do with my pencil, but I also improvise as needed. Especially next to the cat's cheek. I'll use the dark spots to slightly emphasize the contrast between the head and the Body. Let me explain. The jaguar is cheek is almost white in this area in the reference photo. So I paint some spots strategically right next to this pale area, which will make the head come optically more in the foreground. I don't want to overdo it or make it too conspicuous. So I'm very careful when painting these spots. Now I let it dry for awhile and then once the surface loses its shape, when I use my hairdryer to derive the body completely 5. Head - First and Second Layer: Now that the Body is perfectly dry, I apply water to the jaguar's head, with the exception of his eyes. So I'll leave the eyes dry and I'll paint them later on. I want to make a soft and fluffy edge on his chin. So I pull the water beyond the pencil line just in this one specific place. Let me show you from the side view where exactly I apply the water. Now I start painting with raw sienna. First in the upper part of the head. I paint the outer edge of the years. I am carefully painting the, the bottom edge of the ears where I'm going to form the white her, like we did in our study. Now the Nose. This is also a raw sienna. I actually use raw sienna for the entire first Layer. On the sides of the nose. I'm paying attention to where the brownish color ends. And the third turns into creamy white. The line is approximately here, aligned with the first row of the cat's whiskers. Now under the eyes. But I leave a white stripe right on the eyes. Then I paint the chain using a very diluted raw sienna. The paper is too dry already to form a soft edge on its own. So I'll paint a bit past the edge of the chin and then soften the edge using a clean, slightly damp brush. Now, I dry this layer using my hairdryer. I moisten the head again, leaving the eyes dry. I'm going to apply a second layer of paint. This time. I'll deepen the colors to give the head more volume. I'll also add gold ocher and burnt umber in some places to imitate the colors I can see in the reference photo. I start with raw sienna on the nose. I also pulled the color up here on the forehead. I keep looking and the reference photo, and I tried to imitate the values and tones in this layer. In the Third Layer, I'll paint the dark pattern typical for jaguar's. And after that, I don't want to read wet the paper again to avoid disturbing the dark spots. This is gold ocher and I'm using my number six cosine your brush. Now we're raw sienna and the eyes. Notice there's the light stripe right under the eyes. I use a thick consistency of raw sienna so that the paint doesn't spread so much and I can apply it better or with better accuracy. I also switch to my number four brush. Now I add burnt umber to the bridge of his nose. And also this thin line on the forehead where I can see a crease in the fur in the reference photo. I also paying these shapes next through the nose in bend under. Okay, that's it for the second layer. Now, let it dry 6. Painting the Background: In this lesson, I'm going to paint the green background and at the same time create fluffy fur in the area of the cats chest and the very bottom of his chin. So first of all, let me show you on a separate piece of paper. We already painted the chest area. So I quickly recreated here. I draw a line representing the cats chest. Then I apply clean water on the area of the chest and the surrounding area so that the paint can spread freely beyond the pencil line. From the side view, you can see the entire width area. Then I apply raw sienna and let the pain form a soft edge over the pencil line. I take my smallest brush and start applying a very dark, thick, concentrated Payne's gray. Now let it dry. I carefully use my hairdryer. Now that it's completely dry. I apply water on the surrounding area and also a few centimeters in through the completed chest Painting. Do it in quick and gentle brushstrokes to avoid lifting or reactivating the black spots. You can see the entire wet area again. For this demonstration, I'm using Payne's gray, but later on in the final painting, I'll use perylene green. I use my cosine your brush and apply a thick mixture of dark color, starting at the left side and gradually pulling the paint to the pencil line. Now, the crucial part is stopping at least centimeter or more before the pencil line and letting the thick mixture of the dark color spread on its own and create a fluffy soft texture, reminding of animal hair. I can see the pain stopped too far from the pencil line. I add a little more of the thick paint and again, let it spread on its own. Okay, let's paint the background on our final picture. The entire background is quite large, so I'll separate it into two sections. First, I'll paint the bottom section. I use large flat brush to apply clean water to the area of the Background beginning near the top of the cats year. I also add water to the cat's chin and a few centimeters into the chest. As I demonstrated in the previous exercise, I want to create some soft and fluffy fur on both the chin and chest. Let's have a look at the entire wet area. I let the bottom-left corner or dry to achieve the darkest color possible. But of course you can apply water there as well. Then I apply a very dark and concentrated perylene green. And now it's absolutely crucial to stop painting at least a centimeter before the pencil line of the chin and the chest. Let the paint travel there on its own and create the fluffy hair. First I use the big bush brush and then I start painting around the cat's head. I switched to my mop brush. I paint carefully around the edge of the head in those areas where I want a hard edge Now I let it dry completely. Next, I apply clean water through the rest of the background. I also add some water through the left side of the already painted green area. This way, the green color that I'm going to apply blends nicely and doesn't form a hard edge in the middle of the page. Now I use the thick mixture of perylene green, again, beginning in the already painting area, and then going up. The big wash brush helps me cover large areas quickly while the paper is still wet. I'm not going to create the fluffy fur on the head or the bag. So I take the pain to ride to the pencil line. I keep using the large brush, but of course you can switch to a smaller brush to clean up the outline. As long as the paper is wet, I can add some darker color to the corners. But of course, if you're paper is already drying up, It's better to stop, let it dry completely, and then possibly re-wet the paper and continue painting. Once I'm happy with the darkness of the background, I sprinkle some water droplets on it to add watercolor blooms suggesting some foliage or sub blurry background, as I can see in the photo. Now, I switched to a small detail brush and clean up the edge where needed. I also add some tiny brush strokes in the bottom area of the year to suggest hairs. Then I let it dry completely. I decided I want to add another layer to the upper part of the Background. So I'll add some yellowish green and more perylene green. First, I apply a code of clean water to the Background and I stopped somewhere around the middle of the paper. Then I use my round brush to add mixture of perylene green and Winsor yellow to this area here. And some thick and dark perylene green to the upper-right corner and to the very top of the painting that I sprinkle water droplets again. And the Background is done. Now I allowed the painting to dry completely 7. Eyes: Now it's time to paint the eyes. We've already practiced painting them in the study and the procedure will be identical. First, I paint the lower eyelids using a very watery ultramarine. Notice that the color is really diluted. Hello it to dry. I'm using my hairdryer to speed up the process. Then I start painting the iris. First, I apply a code of clean water to the iris with the exception of tiny highlights. Then I start applying gold ocher using a small brush. And I add thick mixture of burnt umber to the darker areas of the iris. Now I repeat the process with the second, I, First water than gold ocher. Finally, burnt umber in some areas. Allow both eyes to dry completely. When it's completely dry, I draw the pupil again as I can't see it properly. And then I paint the pupil in Payne's gray. I'm using the tiny detail brush and I allow it to try again. Next I'm going to paint the dark outline of eyelids. So first I apply water to the upper part of the iris to create a subtle shadow in this area. Then I start painting the outline using my detail brush and a thick mixture of Payne's gray. It will spread very slightly in the upper portion of the iris. And that is the shadow I'm trying to create. I paint carefully around the highlight on the lower eyelid. You can see how the cat suddenly comes to life as we continue painting BI. Once I finished the black outline, I switched to my number for Castillo brush and very carefully re-wet the area under the eye and pull a tiny bit of the dark pigment downwards to imitate the shape I can see in the reference photo. I improve the shape of the upper eyelid following the reference photo. And that's it for the left eye. Now let's repeat the process for the right eye. A little bit of water to the upper part of the iris. Then start painting the outline using Payne's gray. Avoid painting over the long highlight on the lower eyelid. I absolutely love how the cat comes alive. One of the is, are there. Now I'm painting around the highlight. I keep looking at the reference photo to get the shape right. The final step gently moisten the area under the eye and pull a light layer of pigment to create the gray area going towards the cat's nose. And that's it. Now, let the eyes dry completely 8. Ears and Nose: At this point, I'm going to paint the ears following the same steps as I did in the study. First, I apply water through the outer section of the year. And I also pull the water is slightly further to easily create a soft edge. Once I start applying the paint. You can see the wet area in this side shot. Then I pick up some burnt umber using my number four brush. And then using a slightly damp brush, I soften the edge in this area. Now, let's repeat the steps on the right ear. Water, burnt amber, and soften the edges. Then go back to the left ear while the paint is still slightly damp. And add the black outline on the upper edge. Repeat on the right ear. While the ears are drying, I'm going to paint the nose. I'm using my mop brush and I apply water to this area. I leave the actual Nose dry. Have a look at the entire wet area in this footage from the side. Then I pick up a thick, highly pigmented mixture of burnt umber and start sculpting the sides of the nose. As you can see, the water settled into the paper a bit and the paint is quite thick. So that means it doesn't spread so much and stays more or less where I put it while creating soft edges. Next, I paint the actual Nose using dark mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine. I'm painting wet on dry. And as the area above is still wet, the upper edge of the nodes will have a soft edge. Then I apply water to the chin, as you can see from the site food H I pulled the paint down and start painting the mouth using a small brush. This is Payne's gray. The paint spreads a little and creates a soft edge. If it spreads too much, use a semi dry brush to soak up some of the paint. Then I add some more of the thick mixture of Payne's gray to this area between the nose and mouth While the paint is still a bit dumb, I lift some of the paint using a small brush to create the highlights near the nostrils. While the Nose is drying, I go back to painting ears. First, a layer of water to the inner part of the year. Then I add a bit of burnt umber. It shouldn't spread to the very edge of the year. The edge should stay lighter. Next, I add some of the dark mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine to the inner part of the year. Using my detail brush, I start painting the hairs in the ear using a negative painting method. Don't overdo it. Just add a few flicks of your brush to suggest fur. While the paint is still slightly damp, I use a clean, slightly damp brush to lift some other paint in the shape of hair's. Starting at the outer edge of the year. I keep cleaning and drying my brush between brushstrokes. Can I repeat the process on the right ear? Water? Burnt umber, mixture of ultramarine and burnt umber. Then add flicks suggesting fur. Then lift of some paint to imitate for going from the outer edge and let it dry completely. The final step is to darken the nose and improve its shape. This time, I'm painting wet on dry using a highly pigmented mixture of Payne's gray and a small brush. I define the upper edge of the nose and darken it while carefully avoiding the highlights I lifted. Here, I improve the shape and add a bit of color here on the sides of the nose. The nose is complete 9. Head Third Layer: Alright, we are getting to my favorite part, who are our jugular gets his typical spots. And First of all, I'll erase those pencil lines I don't need anymore, such as around the eyes, the nose, and on top of the cat's head. But of course, I keep the outlines of this pose that I'm going to paint now. Next I apply a layer of clean water to the entire head, with the exception of the eyes, ears, and the nose, and chin. I carefully go around these areas because I don't want to disturb the already finished parts. Now, if you paint in dry and hot environment, it might be better to paint the head in sections. But as I'm painting in a cooler room, I can afford to paint the entire head in one go. I take my smallest brush and start applying a very dark, thick, concentrated Payne's gray. I begin on both sides of the head and continue to the center of the head. I'm following the logic that the eyes are the focus of the photograph. And so the further behind the eyes, the more blurry the picture, the more we are on the focal plane of the eyes, the sharper the edges of the spot. So I start at the sides while the paper is still wet like a lot. Then as the paper gives rather damp, I can paint around the eyes and on the forehead and the tiny spots around the mouth. If you find the paint is spreading too much, you might need to wait until the water settles into the paper or use a smaller brush or thicker mixture of paint. I follow the pattern I do with graphite pencil and add the same time. I keep referring to the photo. I can see the marks are getting smaller in the center of the face. I had a bit of a bottle on the right side of the forehead. So that's why I now paint the smaller spots on the BI before I go back to the forehead. Once the water is settles into the paper Notice how the markings in the center of the forehead made the crease appear deeper. I add a little bit of Payne's gray to the inner corners of the eyes, then soften the edges using my mop brush. Next, I have looked at the spots and correct them where needed. For example, on the sides of the cats cheeks. I'm adding Payne's gray to the very edges too, so that the markings don't finish. Suddenly, I need to create the 3D illusion. So some of the spots have to be on the very edge of the cheek. The same goes for the top of his head. The surface is almost completely dry now, so I can add some spots wet on dry to the forehead. I can see in the photo that especially in decrease in the center of his forehead, there's there are some tiny spots missing. I can improve the shape of some of the spots. Now that it's almost dry, I'm not risking, I'll create any unwanted blooms. Alright, let's allow it to dry completely. And in the next unit, we are going to finish it off by painting the whiskers and other small details. 10. Adding Detail: The final step is to add some details to the painting. I make sure the surface is completely dry. I'm going to deepen the color in the inner corners of the cat's eyes. First, I add some water to this area in the inner corner of both eyes using my mop brush. Then I switched to a small brush and start applying Payne's gray following the shape I can see in there reference photo. I'm using only very small amount of water and a tiny brush to have a lot of control. Then I take a slightly damp mop brush and soften the edges of the dark area. Now it's time to paint the whiskers using white gouache. I switched to my thin brush and mix the gouache with a small amount of water. So it stays very opaque, but allows me to paint the thinnest lines possible. I highly recommend practicing painting the whiskers in one study, breaststroke on a spare piece of paper. As you can see, I keep this pair piece of paper next to my painting and keep checking the consistency of the gouache as needed. I start by painting the white fur. In the years. We practice this in this study. I start at the base of the hair in the very light area and paint organic lines. I'm not painting all of them in one direction and some of them naturally overlap. The night pain differ in the right ear. Of course, you can use a liner brush. I use my round brush size zero for the shorter brushstrokes. But when I start painting the whiskers and longer hairs, I switch to my size zero liner brush. There are some hairs on the cheeks. I make them very thin, very subtle. And finally the whiskers, again, I'm painting them very thin and some of them overlap. Some shorter hairs in this area. I keep checking the reference photo for inspiration. And that's it. Let's remove the masking tape. I always remove the tape carefully and other an angle so it doesn't read the paper. And that's it. Here's our finished painting. 11. Final Thoughts: Thank you again for joining this class. I hope you had phon and learn something new. Don't forget to post their projects to the project section of this class. I'm looking forward to seeing it. If you have any questions, just leave a comment in the discussion section. I also look forward to your feedback. I'm always very interested in class reviews because they helped me improve my teaching style. Follow me on Skillshare for more tutorials. Have a lovely day, and I'll see you soon.