Painting Realistic Curly Fur in Oil – 9 Tips

graphic for Curly White Fur article on how to paint realistic curly white fur. 4 images of a painting of a dog with curly white hair. The largest image on the left is finished. The smaller 3 images are in various stages of painting. Text reads "Painting Realistic Curly Fur". Painting by Shelley Hanna.

Painting realistic curly fur is definitely not for the faint of heart. Painting straight white fur is hard enough, but conquering the twists and turns of realistic curly fur is a challenge that can level up your skills as an artist. I’ll share everything I learned while painting this Bichon Frise portrait with all his luscious locks so you can approach your own curly portrait paintings with confidence.

In this painting tutorial, I’ll cover the following topics:

  1. Understanding the Anatomy of Realistic Curly Fur
  2. Choosing the Right Materials
  3. Preparing the Canvas
  4. Sketching the Subject
  5. Laying Down the Base Colors
  6. Building Texture with Layers
  7. Adding Highlights and Shadows
  8. Finishing Touches and Fine Details
  9. Tips on Drying Time

Continue Reading »

How To Paint A Pet Portrait – Limited Palette, Unlimited Possibilities

Pet portraits can be a big challenge for artists. In this article, I’ll take you through my step-by-step process for painting a realistic pet portrait using only four colors. Using a limited palette helps to eliminate some of the headaches while painting. This pet portrait is in oil, but I’ve used the same approach in acrylics and even while painting digitally.

I’ll begin with a quick overview highlighting the main steps. I’ve expanded the section on detail (step 10), giving extra tips.

Continue Reading »

How To Paint A Senior Dog Portrait – Tips & Tricks

A senior dog portrait painting has a few unique challenges. But these sweet older faces are so rewarding to paint for a variety of reasons.

Senior Dog Portrait Title

When painting portraits of older people, you need to take into account how to paint wrinkles, grey hair and changing facial features. When you paint a senior dog portrait, having a plan for painting the white fur on their face as well as the changing skin on their nose can make your portrait a success.

Continue Reading »

How To Paint White Fur – Painting A White German Shepherd Step-By-Step

paint white fur pin 1 paint white fur pin 2 paint white fur pin 3 paint white fur pin 4

Knowing how to paint white fur may not seem like that big of a challenge until you try it. The trick is to not paint white fur with white paint – at least not at first.

how to paint white fur step by step title

In today’s tutorial, I’ll walk you through step-by-step how I painted this beautiful white German Shepherd named Maiden. I’ll go over some of the challenges I had with the lighting of the fur and how to model it. I’ll also talk about how I decided when to

Continue Reading »

How To Paint A Corgi – 9 Helpful Dog Portrait Tips

This article on how to paint a corgi has been on my “to do” list for almost a year. I actually had it written and was ready to publish when my website had a catastrophic failure and I lost the entire thing. Life certainly has its ups and downs and this past year has been full of challenges.

Portrait of Penny corgi painting title

Fortunately, things have a way of eventually balancing out and creating art is one of the ways that distracts me from the harder things in life. I’ll tell you more about Penny the corgi and her amazing human at the end of the article. But for now, let’s dive into

Continue Reading »

Pet Portrait Painting: Watch Me Paint A Pug

Pet portrait painting a pug – it may not be easy to say three times fast, but I’ll make it easy to go through each step. You’ll learn my approach to painting black fur, creating a focal point, my painting challenges in oil and how I decide when the painting is “done”.

pug portrait painting title 2

All of the images from this article are screenshots from a video I did while painting this pug. The video should appear on the screen somewhere on this page, but you can always head over to my YouTube channel to see the full video.

Continue Reading »

10 Tips For Painting A Dog Portrait Featuring A Japanese Chin

dog painting pin top 10

dog painting pin close up

dog painting pin 4 up

In today’s tutorial, I will go over 10 tips for painting a dog portrait. The images in this post came from screencasts of a painting I started on the iPad with ArtRage and then finished on the desktop with ArtRage 6. I use the same approach to digital painting as traditional painting, so whether you paint on a canvas or a tablet, the steps below will apply.

Title graphic 10 tips

If you’d like to watch the speed painting I created from the screencasts, click the

Continue Reading »

How To Paint A Cat On The iPad Pro – Digital Painting Tutorial

Tippy Cat Art Tutorial Pin 1 Tippy Cat Art Tutorial Pin 2 Tippy Cat Art Tutorial Pin 3

Learn how to paint a cat following along with this painting tutorial on the iPad Pro. Whether you are a traditional or digital artist, this approach will help you develop your skills and get results. As with any tool in the artist’s toolbox, it takes practice and patience to achieve a quality piece of fine art. Artists are visual learners and seeing the process step-by-step can help you understand how to create portraits of your own.

Learn how to paint a cat digital painting tutorial

This portrait features a very special cat named Tippy. He was a feral cat (thus the tipped ear) who decided he liked humans and living indoors. I met him at a local pet store where the lovely women of Diva Cat Rescue had him up for adoption. He was such a handsome boy I had to paint his portrait to help get him and the organization

Continue Reading »

8 Tips For Painting Black Fur – Traditional & Digital

I love black dogs (and cats) so I thought I’d share some of my tips for painting black fur. I recently came across an inspiration photo on Sktchy that looked EXACTLY like my dog Claire that had passed many years ago. Claire and I were very bonded, so it was like getting a “hello” from heaven when I saw the picture. I knew right away I had to paint her!

8 tips for painting black fur traditional and digital in artrage step-by-step tutorial

I did this quick study on my iPad using ArtRage, but the tips I’ll be giving here apply to painting in oil or acrylic as well. This is the same approach I use when I’m on the easel.

ArtRage is as close to traditional painting as it gets. It’s fun and convenient and,

Continue Reading »

How To Paint A Sphynx Cat In Oil Step-By-Step

How To Paint A Hairless Sphynx Cat

How To Paint A Hairless Sphynx Cat

I don’t know what it is about a hairless Sphynx cat that I find so fascinating, but I’ve always wanted to paint one. At first I thought they were so ugly they were cute, but now I only see how beautiful and interesting they are.

How To Paint A Sphynx Cat In Oil On Canvas, Step-By-Step

Below is my portrait of “Harry” the hairless Sphynx cat which technically is still unfinished, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever finish it. If I do, there will be an update to this post in the future!

How To Paint A Sphynx cat in oil – "Harry" by Shelley Hanna

Sphynx cat “Harry” near completion

My Approach To Painting Harry, The Hairless Sphynx Cat

I took photos and a few videos while painting this portrait thinking I would put together a “how to” guide like I did for my painting of Chewy, but it was a lot of work and not many

Continue Reading »