If you like to paint colourful animals then you are in the right place! This cute puffin painting was so much fun to create, and I have made a tutorial showing you exactly how I did it! Birds are one of my favourite animals to paint, especially puffins as they are super cute.
I have written step by step instructions below breaking down the process of creating this puffin painting. If you prefer to watch the video process, then you can watch that on my YouTube Channel below
If you want to watch the FULL LENGTH video, then you can join my Patreon and get access to this as well as all of my other full length art tutorials!
I hope you like the video for this cute puffin painting. If you’d prefer the written instructions then just have a look below!
How to Paint a Puffin in Acrylics
You will need:
- Acrylic paints (white, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue and black)
- Canvas (any size will work, I chose a square canvas)
- Paintbrushes
- Palette knives
- Water
Step 1:
To paint the sunset coloured background, begin by using a paintbrush to paint a wash of yellow, orange, pink, purple and blue paint, as seen in this photo. Then, use the palette knife to ad these same colours over the top, this time adding more texture. If you don’t have a palette knife, just paint the second layer with the paintbrush.
Step 2:
Start painting the puffin, beginning with the red tones of the beak. Make sure you use a reference photo so that you know exactly where the colours go.
Step 3:
Continue painting the puffin’s beak, this time filling in the black section using black, white and a little blue acrylic paint. Then, use yellow, white and orange paint to paint the yellow section of the puffin’s face inbetween the beak and the face.
Step 4:
Start painting the puffin feathers with a mix of black, white and blue paint. Using lighter grey in the areas highlighted by the sun, and a darker grey in the shadowed areas of the head.
Step 5:
Continue to paint the puffin’s feathers using mainly black, blue and white paint, mixed to create different shades of grey.
Step 6:
Use the same colours of acrylic paint to mix up some much lighter shades of grey. Use this paint, along with the white, to paint the white section of the puffin’s face. Make sure you continue to look at your reference photo so you know where to paint the highlights and shadows.
Step 7:
Once you have painted all of the puffin’s feathers, you can start painting the eye. Puffin’s eyes are very unique so be sure to look at lots of reference photos.
Step 8:
To finish the puffin painting, use a pointed brush to add some finer details to the feathers, and increase the contrast if needed.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, don’t forget you can join my Patreon to get access to all of my full length animal art tutorials!
