Paint three different black animals.

This course includes exercises where you can practice blending colors on the paper and mixing your own shade of black.

It’s essential to complete each lesson, as the more time you put into practice: ‘wet on wet, lifting, and blending colors on the paper, the better you will get at it. It’s all about feeling it in your hand, how much water to use on your brush, and how much water to use with paint.

Consistent practice is the key to improving your skills.

Please view the accompanying full guide in the Project Resource below.

Project 1.

You will begin with simple exercises to get the feel of adding colors wet on wet and mixing your own shade of black on the paper.

Project 2.

Before we start painting a full cat, we will practice just painting the cat’s ear. You will learn how to apply the colors wet on wet, let some of the colors bleed toward the background for soft edges, and start painting a black cat with undertones.

Project 3.

Next, you will paint a whole cat, wet on wet.

We will begin by wetting most of the paper, except for the areas around the cat’s ears. This is to keep the paint inside the ear areas since we don’t mind hard edges there. We will also wet the background everywhere else, where the cat’s fur needs to look soft and fluffy. This is so the paint bleeds over the outlines of the cat toward the background.

This part can be tricky, so paying attention to how wet the paper is, how far to apply the colors, and what ratios of water and paint to use is essential. This is where I will be guiding you throughout all the way.

Project 4.

In this lesson, you will be painting a black lab in watercolor. We will also make sure that parts of the dog are soft and fluffy.

We will repeat some of the steps from above; however, in this lesson, you will also be recreating gray hair. For that, we will keep parts of the fur much lighter and begin with applying undertones.

We will use masking fluid for watercolors to mask some of the whitest hair and whiskers. After painting the dog’s fur, we will focus on painting details., such as eyes and nose.

You will have the option to add a background at the end once we finish painting the dog.

Project 5.

You will paint another dog, a bullterrier, with only one layer.

This lesson is a bit easier since you will be wetting only the inside of the dog—no background. I decided to add this lesson last since one of the main techniques I teach in this course is to paint fluffy fur, and the bullterrier has short hair.

Regardless, you will have lots of fun since, at first, you will be playing with undertones, and in the first few minutes of color application, the dog will look blue, but not for long, until we start applying the darkest tone, our own shade of black, created by mixing colors.

Project 6

For your final project, you will participate in a painting challenge where you will create a black dog entirely on your own. The painting challenge will allow you to put into practice all of the techniques you have learned throughout the course.

After completing all your black animal paintings, I encourage you to share them with our community. This will give you the opportunity to receive valuable feedback and connect with other members.

I am eagerly looking forward to seeing your finished work!

Art Materials for the entire course.

Throughout the course, we will use a similar color palette for painting black animals in watercolor. However, in Project 4, when you paint the “Black Lab,” you will add a background - this is optional.

1. Watercolors.

You don’t need to use the same brand of paints I use (Holbein); you can use the colors you already have. However, I highly recommend the paints I use as they are easier to control when painting wet on wet.

Suggested colors:

Quinacridone red (pinkish red)
Vandyke brown (ashy brown, or sepia)
Raw sienna (similar to yellow ochre but more orange)
Raw umber (optional)
Burnt sienna (reddish brown)
Cobalt blue (or Ultramarine light)
Phthalo blue red shade (primary blue per Holbein's color chart)
Indigo (darkest blue)
Isoindolinone yellow deep (richer orange-like yellow)
Sap green (if you are adding a background in Project 4)

2. Watercolor Paper.

I recommend using 100% cotton watercolor paper, Cold Pressed or rough, 140lb, a paper that is good for layering. I recommend Arches Cold Pressed 140lb, Canson Heritage, or Saunders Waterford rough or cold pressed.

Please note: While most of my paintings are painted on a Cold Pressed 140lb, the Collection by Hahnemuhle, I have recenlty moved away from this paper. The reason is that Hahnemuhle has changed the way they make The Collection Cold Pressed 140lb, and the paper no longer has the same texture. Instead, this paper feels like hot pressed, and I don’t recommend hot pressed for this project as the paper will dry in seconds, and it's lacking on texture, texture that you need for lifting and overall color application.

3. Brushes.

Flat 1”- 2", or size 20, or 24, a larger wash brush ( I am using da Vinci's Casaneo, Flat 24 ) + a larger wash brush to wet the paper (optional), I am using a flat 40 "Casaneo" by da Vinci
Round 8 - 12, a medium-size stiffer brush and a medium-size softer brush for color blending. You can also use a quill brush, for example, size 2 ( I will be using a long quill size 2, “Songbird”, and a round brush size 8 “Golden 1” by Maria Raczynska )
A rigger size 2, or a liner brush to lift the colors ( I will be using a rigger size 2 brush, “Songbird” by Maria Raczynska )
Round 2 or 3, a smaller medium stiff brush for details and lifting ( I will be using a round 2 and 3 “Songbird-Details” by Maria Raczynska )

4. Other materials

Masking fluid for watercolors and an old brush to use with masking.
A small bath towel to wipe your brush on (essential)
A paper towel for additional lifting, if necessary
Three small jars with clean water for the easiness of dipping a brush or cleaning your brush
A plastic palette, or if you don’t have one, a dinner plate
A good light with a daylight bulb. Preferably two lamps on your desk, plus a headlight.
A picture of a color wheel - you can use one in the WorkBook attached to this course.

Maria Raczynska

Watercolor teacher

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