This is the easiest way to paint curly fur with acrylic paints! I remember a while ago when I was painting a pet portrait and the dog had really curly fur, and I didn’t know how to paint it. Then I discovered this technique which is really simple and it looked great!
Below is a short video showing how I painted this curly fur, and if you would like to watch the full length tutorial in real time then sign up to my Patreon and you will get instant access to this as well as all of my other full length tutorials!
Let's get painting!
Step 1:
Start out by covering the area of canvas where the fur will be in a dark shade of paint. make sure the colour matches the colour of the fur that you will be painting. I’m painting brown fur so I have used dark brown paint.
Step 2:
Mix up some paint a shade lighter than the first layer of paint that you used, and paint in some rough curls. If you are following a reference photo try to copy the direction of the curls in the fur on the animal that you are painting.
Step 3:
Mix up a lighter shade of paint again, and then paint over the top of the curls, leaving some of the darker paint showing, particularly where the shadows are.
Step 4:
Add some lighter paint and paint onto the curls just where the highlights are. This is anywhere that the light is bouncing off of the fur. Only paint in the direction of the fur and try to leave a few gaps in between each stroke to replicate the individual hairs.
Step 5:
Mix up an even lighter shade of paint (or even white depending on the colour of the fur you are painting) and paint in some finer fur lines to the curls. Do this mainly over the highlights as you will want the shadows to show through to create that depth.
Step 6:
To finish the fur, continue to add some finer lines to make it extra fluffy. If you want to watch the full version of this tutorial where I go into much more detail, just check out my Patreon.
I hope you found this curly fur art tutorial helpful! If you want to learn more about how to paint colorful animals sign up below to get my FREE top 10 tips sent straight to your inbox!
