Cat painting

Margo5 wrote

on 24 Dec 2009 9:54 AM

I have already gotten some good information on painting fur from several different people and owe a special thanks to Robin; however, I think I have pinpointed my real question. Evidently, colored pencils are good to use for this along with the watercolor. Does the colored pencil go under or on top of the watercolor, and should it be regular colored pencil or watercolor pencils? Does regular pencil cause the watercolor to resist? Is the best way a combination of both?

Thanks in advance for any information and insight.

valeriemalley wrote

on 30 Dec 2009 5:25 PM

Hi Margo:  I noticed today your comment on a blank Gallery page asking where Coco had gone -  he was deleted somehow when the changeover in the site occurred. You were talking about animal fur - I know when I was painting Coco and the fur wasn't working, I reapplied the undercoat colour of the fur in order to hold the white coat and painted what I saw in the photo - that the cat fur moved in every sort of direction, bunching up because of the haunches, creasing where the neck and head were turned - the coat looked mostly fluffy with not many definable individual hairs, so I had to work at it as sort of clumps of fur as opposed to individual hairs - what helped was that I had my tongue resting upon the upper corner of my right lip as I concentrated on what I was doing.  :)   The photograph of Coco was of him sitting on my sofa in front of a window and was painted with acrylics.

A book I noticed from Northlight Shop is  "Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic"  - you can look through some of the pages of the book if you go online - and it shows how various furs can be painted.  I've order the book for myself hoping it will give some answers on the 'how to's' of painting animals.

Margo5 wrote

on 30 Dec 2009 6:03 PM

Valerie, this is absolutely terrific -- both the painting and the information. Thank you. Do you know how the pencil strokes would work best with watercolor or have you only tried this with acrylics? I love the effects you got. Terrific eyes not to mention the fur and all the fabulous nuance of color in the shadows. By the way, I am rolling on the floor in laughter about your "tongue resting upon the upper corner of your right lip." It is a good thing no one takes pictures of us as we concentrate on rendering our paintings.

When I say that I wonder what would work best with watercolor, I am thinking of both regular colored pencils and water soluble colored pencils. Which is best? I am also wondering whether under the first layer of blocked in color is better or at the very end or both. Do you know if there is any problem with wax bloom from regular colored pencils if you use watercolor with them? I think I had seen that book -- Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic (and maybe even borrowed it from the library). I will look again. It might be good to purchase for reference.

Thank you for the information and for sharing this wonderful painting.

valeriemalley wrote

on 1 Jan 2010 12:01 PM

Thank you Margo for your kind comments.   I intend to go through some of my books on watercolours to see any suggestions for fur they may offer, and I'll pass along to you anything I find.   While I have painted with watercolours, I do concentrate on acrylics which allows me to go over mess-ups with impunity i.e., under the trees in my cat painting is a grey-blue couch and a window showing a red sunset.   I've not used watercolour pencils to know how they would work in conjunction with your watercolours for definition.  I notice today that you are planning to do a study first and I agree with you that you will be tickled with the results and for the reasons you express - but it will certainly allow you to work out the puzzle of replicating fur - I'm sure you will be able to translate what you learn on your study to your 300 lb paper.   I guess the trick then is to relax and paint with the same energy and enthusiasm on your final painting.  Here's to elan and a steady hand :)

Margo5 wrote

on 1 Jan 2010 2:31 PM

Wow, Valerie, that is amazing to know that you were able to completely paint over that couch and red sunset with the white fur of a cat and get such a great painting. It amazes me that you can use acrylic to get not only such opaque results, but also depending on how you handle it and maybe what type of acrylic paint you use, you can also get translucent effects. Thank you so much for sharing this information.

Margo5 wrote

on 2 Jan 2010 1:40 PM

Valerie, if you are interested, you can see my cat painting on the watercolor forum. I decided penciled in fur was more work than I was willing to do at this point.  Forums » Discussions by Medium » Watermedia » Cat study in watercolor

Robin11 wrote

on 30 Mar 2010 11:56 AM

I draw and paint a lot of cats.  Some of them I put individual hairs in, some of them not at all.  Most in between!  It's a matter of preference.  If it's an ultra closeup, I almost always include some of the directional hairs, if it's farther away, I wouldn't!

Regarding watercolor pencils and colored pencils, they really are two different animals.  And of course, they can be used together, you can layer regular cps over all kinds of things...wood, acrylics, ink, and yes watercolors.

I would just have some fun with it, try out different techniques and find the effect you love!

Margo5 wrote

on 21 Apr 2010 10:49 AM

Robin,

If you ever get a chance, you need to try to look at a colored pencil painting by Diana Lee called "Cat Reflecting." I think you would really like it. Wish I could tell you how to get to a copy of it to see, but I got tired of waiting for the URL to come up. It was in some information that came from wetcanvas.com.

Margo