How to Paint Shiny Fur

how to paint shiny fur in acrylics easy

In this tutorial I will show you the easy way to paint shiny fur! This tutorial is for black shiny fur, however the painting method will work with other colours of fur too! This is a great technique for painting pet portraits and other animals with a shiny coat.

Below is a quick video showing you the process of painting this shiny fur, however if you’d like to watch the full length tutorial then sign up to my Patreon and you will get instant access to this as well as all of my other full length tutorials. I upload new videos all the time so there’s always new content to watch!

Time to paint!

To paint this shiny fur you will need:

  • Acrylic paints (black, grey, brown, white, blue)
  • Canvas
  • Paintbrushes (medium flat and medium pointed)
  • Water

Step 1:

shiny fur painting tutorial

Begin by sketching out the outline of your animal onto the canvas, I am going to paint a black dog for this tutorial.

Then, mix some black paint with blue and brown to get a dark shade, and paint in all of the darkest areas of the fur.

Step 2:

how to paint shiny fur in acrylics

Then add a little white to the paint you were using in step 1 to make it a couple of shades lighter. Use this paint to paint all of the mid-tone areas of the fur. This is basically every part of the fur that isn’t a shadow or a highlight.

Step 3:

shiny fur acrylic painting tutorial

Add some more white and a little blue to your paint to make a very light grey and use this to paint in all of the highlights. This light shade of paint will make the fur look really shiny.

All of the fur should have a coat of paint at this point.

Step 4:

shiny fur art tutorial

Add some detail to the fur by using the same three shades of paint and painting in the fur lines using a pointed paintbrush. 

I go into more detail on how to paint the fur lines in the Patreon Tutorial.

Step 5:

To finish painting this shiny black dog I continued to add fur lines and details using a pointed paintbrush and slightly watered down paint. 

See how the contrast between highlight and the shadows makes the fur look really shiny?

I hope you enjoyed this shiny fur painting tutorial and find it helpful when painting shiny pets and other animals! 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!

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