How to paint a colorful giraffe in acrylic paints! If you have seen my art before you will know that I LOVE painting colorful animals (the brighter the better!) and in this tutorial I will show you how I created this vibrant giraffe painting.
I have added a short video tutorial below showing me painting this giraffe. If you want to watch the full length video then just head to my Patreon! By signing up to my Patreon you will instantly get full access to every painting video and art tutorial that I have ever made! I also add new tutorials every week.
Let's get started on this painting!
Step 1:
Begin by sketching out the outline of the giraffe onto the canvas using a pencil. Then paint in the first layer of the background using yellow, pink and purple paints to create the look of a sunset.
Step 2:
To add some texture to the background I’m just adding a second layer of paint using my fingers. This creates a really unique and abstract effect to the background of this giraffe painting.
Step 3:
Begin painting the giraffe by starting to paint the neck first. Use yellow shades of paint for the giraffe’s neck and then browns and pinks for the markings. Use white paint to create a highlight down the left hand side of the giraffe’s neck where the sun will be hitting it. I have also added some cooler blue tones to the right hand side of the neck.
Step 4:
Start painting the lightest sections of the giraffe’s face using a light yellow shade of acrylic paint.
Step 5:
Use pink and purple paints to add the shadows of the giraffe’s face on the right hand side. Using these colors to create shadows is a great way to make animal paintings more colorful.
Step 6:
Use pink and purple paints to add the shadows of the giraffe’s face on the right hand side. Using these colors to create shadows is a great way to make animal paintings more colorful.
Step 7:
Painting the eyes! This is my favourite part of painting animals. I recommend looking at reference photos of giraffe eyes and really focussing on the details. Remember to add a highlight to make the eye look really reflective. I go into more detail on how to paint animal eyes in my Patreon Tutorials so check those out if you want to know exactly how I paint them.
Step 8:
Start on the second layer of the giraffe painting using the same colour acrylic paints as before. But this time neaten everything up and increase the contrast by deepening the shadows and brightening the highlights. You can also get more creative and add more color during this section of the painting.
Step 9:
To finish your colorful giraffe painting, continue to add more color and contrast with the second layer of paints, really brightening the yellows and pink tones.
I hope you liked this giraffe painting tutorial. 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!
