realistic fur

[jay.kay]

I have a Leah Goddard style (realistic squirrel) beaver that I have finished detailing and burning the fur and am ready to begin painting.

My plan is to use Burnt Sienna acrylic paint overall then drybrush with white for highlights. My problem is that I have never done this before.

Am I on the right track?
Any advice welcome.

ROOSTER

[Tom Ellis]

Rooster, I think she has the painting instructions in the WCI article. Make sure most of the paint is out of the brush when you dry brush, and go across the furr rather than with it.

Good luck, Tom

[jay.kay]

Thanks Tom.
I have not been able to open the pages with the info.

I started the beaver in one of her workshops but was not there for painting.
I was doing a demo myself.

Is the squirrel article the only fur painting tutorial on the web. I have looked hard.

Thanks,

Rooster.

[Donna_T]

Rooster,
Depending on what kind of squirrel you're depicting (eastern/western), the one base coat color may not show it off the best. I generally use 2-3 colors for the base, especially if I want to show highlights for the highest spots, and lowlight for the muscle (deep) contours. I like to dob a shade darker wash down in the low, joint/muscle areas. The reason I say dob is because you don't want to paint it in a straight line--you want irregular and blending edges. So I usually use just the tip of a small stiff bristle brush to apply it in a pouncing or dobbing motion--moving around rather than just making one long swipe at it.

Then, I like to use a more golden version of my base color--perhaps using a yellow ochre wash or drybrush of it on the highest areas--cheeks, belly, hip, etc.

Then when my carving it totally dry, I drybrush by using a warm white/ivory/offwhite to do it. I typically don't use solid bright white--too harsh. When drybrushing, I use a flat firm brush, just barely touch it in the off white, then pounce it off the brush onto a blue shop paper towel (use color instead of white--you can't tell how much white you have left in the brush if you use a white paper towel) and when there's hardly any hit of white left, brush ACROSS your carving's fur texture. The secret is to add very little highlight with the drybrushing and only do it where the sun might shine on it to give an illusion of sunlight.

I don't know if there's a tutorial on here--but you might search for previous postings on the process. I know we've had the discussion with several offering their techniques previously.

Hope it helps. Good luck and let us see your finished product. Oh yes, be sure to clean the char off the woodburned texture before painting. An old toothbrush, denture brush, or 3M radial disc on very low speed works great on this step.

Donna_T

[jay.kay]

Thank you Donna,
I have searched extensively for instructions on painting fur, including this forum, with no success.

Your detailed answer helps me a lot.

A beaver is a darker brown than a squirrel so I will use a dark brownas a base colour.Do I thin it down?

I will then use the burnt sienna with a stiffer brush avoiding the crevices.

Could I just tint awhite with burnt sienna to warm it up for dry brushing the highlights.

Rooster.

[Donna_T]

Rooster,
Sorry, but I misread your original posting--thought you were talking about a squirrel instead of a beaver.

First, I only paint with thinned acryllics--a wash. That means about 8-10 drops of water (or flow medium) to 1 drop of paint. Since the beaver is dark, I'd use the darkest value of your paint to do the shading first and just one pass on it. Then I'd use 1-2-3 coats of the main color over the entire carving, since there's no white that I can remember on a beaver. This dulls and blends with the shading, especially if you've done it in an irregular pattern like I mentioned. Be sure and dry each coat before adding another layer of paint. You won't be able to tell if you've got the color you want until the paint is dry (cheat and use a hair dryer to speed the process while your paint is already mixed). I'm thinking burnt umber might be closer to a beaver's color than sienna. However, using the burnt sienna might be a good one-coat color for the lighter color over the burnt umber in strategic places (fat part of its cheeks, middle of the belly, hips--depending on whether the beaver is standing on hind feet or all 4). Where the beaver is black, I'd tone down the black by using half black and half burnt umber. It's more natural than pure black.

You can tint your white with raw umber to cool it or sienna to warm it. For drybrushing, I use the color full strength. That and eyes are the only things I paint with full strength paint.

All that said, what I'd do with a process I'd not used before, is get a scrap piece of the same wood, and spend 10-15 minutes carving a portion of your beaver that would have a joint and high spot. Then I'd paint it and experiment on it before doing your beaver. When dry brushing, it's important that your paint be dry or the drybrushed highlight will soak in and muddy your carving color.

I hope that helps some. I know it's confusing, but like I said, I'd never use a new painting process on my actual carving until I'd tried it out on a scrap.Let us know how your beaver turns out when you're finished.

Donna_T

[jay.kay]

Exactly what I need.
Thanks.

I have over twenty hours into this carving and did not want to do a mediocre job of finishing. I am a novice hand hand carver but have been power carving for four years ( www.chainsawcarve.ca ).

I will post the finished work.
Do you have anything on the web?

ROOSTER

[Donna_T]

Rooster,
Send me a private message (PM) with your snail mail address and I'll mail you a couple of things on painting animals. I don't have a scanner, so I have to resort to the old fashioned way to share info.

I've posted some photos in the past, but it's been awhile--don't have a website or gallery site.

Donna_T

[cedarshavings]

Can you explain dry painting to me? When and where to use it. I'm gathering it's mostly for highlights? What type of brush is best for doing this?

Thanks
Steve

[Donna_T]

Steve,
Dry brushing is used for adding realistic highlights to carvings. It can add depth to fur and hair, as well as rocks, clothes, and heck, just about anything.

You paint your carving, especially using the thinned paint or wash method...and let it dry well. Drybrushing is usually done with a firm flat brush. It can be a stencil brush, ceramic painting brush, or a synthetic and softer bristle brush. If I'm doing a 9-12" carving, I like a flat brush that's about 3/4 to 1 inch wide. I like using a blue shop paper towel so that the paint shows up on it.

If I'm only using one color to add highlights with drybrushing, I use an off white, soft white, ivory color. I put a dollop of it on my paint pad, and lightly stroke my brush in the edge of the paint, so that about 1/16"-1/8" of paint is across the tip of my brush. Then I wipe it off on the blue paper towel until nearly no color show up. (sometimes I touch the brush to the back of my hand just to test it and see that there's barely any paint left in it.) Then I brush across the flow of the carving. If we're talking about hair/fur, it mostly flows back and down the animal so I'm going across the fur horizontally. I make one stroke to test and make sure there's not too much paint and then I can usually get 3-4-5 strokes out of it before I have to reload, wipe off, and do more.

This is typically done to the fullest part of the carving area--cheeks, brow, ear, roundest part of the belly--areas that would catch sunlight--and not all over. If you don't get enough paint off your brush, and you get a "glob" on the fur/hair, quickly rub your finger or thumb over it to diminish it and make it blend more. Depending on the carving, I may drybrush some yellow ochre or burnt sienna insome areas before I do the off-white. It makes a golden-sunlight-on-hair look.

If I'm drybrushing habitat, I'll use it on rocks, trees, etc, and it catches on the edges of your carving path. Each carving stroke will add an edge or facet and that's what the drybrushing will highlight.

That's roughly how I do drybrushing. Hope it helps.

Donna_T