how to paint a dog: an easy canvas painting

We all love our pets! Would you like to know how to paint a dog?

This step-by-step tutorial will take you through eight easy steps of painting a perky little dog on canvas. It's easy for a beginner to paint on canvas.

The painting is done with only three colors, using the basic techniques of oil painting.

An acrylic artist may easily do the painting with the same steps.

Painting is fun!

easy canvas painting for beginners

This dog painting uses a canvas that has been stretched around wooden stretcher bars. There are two types of stretched canvases.

A traditional canvas is stapled to the sides of the wood bars. When the canvas is stapled on the sides of the stretcher bars, the finished painting will need a frame to cover the staples.

A gallery-wrap canvas has the canvas stapled on the back of the wood bars. We can paint the canvas over the side of the bars. Then the finished painting may be displayed without a frame. It's a modern look for today's paintings.

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how to prepare the canvas

Painting on canvas is easy. NO preparation is needed! The commercial art canvases are ready for painting. They have already been prepared with coats of gesso.

They are easy to paint on because the gesso prevents the paint from sinking into the canvas.

This painting was done on a triple-primed 'ad' 11x14 inch gallery-wrap canvas. But you certainly may do the painting larger or smaller, as you learn how to paint a dog.

draw the dog on the canvas

Lightly draw the dog on the canvas with an ordinary pencil.

People good at drawing can just sketch the drawing onto the canvas. I used the grid method. You may see some of my grid lines in the next photo.

Alternately you may trace the image off of the computer screen and then transfer it to the canvas with 'ad' graphite paper.

What brushes?

Traditionally oil painting is done with 'ad' Hog Hair brushes. Today there are synthetic brushes that work just as well. The brush should be stiff enough to move the oil paint.

This painting was done with a #4 flat brush. A #2 round was used for the eyes and nose.

Use the brush flat to cover larger areas. Turn it upright and use the edge to paint the thinner areas.

Paint the darks on the eyes and nose.

Use a little 'ad' odorless mineral spirits to thin the paint. Use just enough to make it flow; you want the paint to remain black.

Paint the black of the eyes and nose. Leave the shiny highlights unpainted.

Paint a dog with 3 colors and white.

This painting uses 3 oil colors: Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna and Thalo Blue, plus Titanium White.

Mix Burnt Sienna with "a little" Thalo Blue (phthalocyanine blue) to make a black.

Instead of Thalo Blue, you may use Prussian Blue. It's a good all-around blue. Ultramarine Blue also works well with Burnt Sienna for mixing black.

how to use oil paint

The 2 rules for oil painting are simple.

Paint dark to light and thin to thick. Paint the thin dark colors first. As the painting progresses, paint thicker and lighter.

Paint dark to light: White is an opaque color, so any time we mix white with a color it become opaque. Opaque colors will cover darker colors, when we paint over them.

The reverse, painting dark over light colors is more difficult. We make it easy on ourselves by always painting dark to light.

Paint thin to thick, some people say 'fat over lean'. When we start painting, thin the paint with a solvent or medium. Thin the colors less and less, as the painting progresses.

The last layers of paint are thick, 'fat paint' with little or no thinning. It's called 'fat paint' because oil paint is manufactured with linseed oil, which is a fat.

All my 'oil' paintings are actually alkyd paintings. Alkyds handle just like oils and they dry within 24 hours.

Griffin Alkyd paint has been my oil paint since the 1980s. When I switched from traditional oil paint, I enjoyed them so much that I never went back. There is a beginner's set of 6 tubes of Winsor and Newton Griffin Alkyds on Amazon.

#1 how to paint a dog

Paint the dark colors. The eyes and nose are actually part of this step, but I didn't to take a photo of the drawing before I started painting.

You have already mixed the black paint, now add just a little white to make a dark grey.

Refer to the finished painting to locate the darkest grey areas.

Paint the shadowed areas of the fur.

#2 Paint the ears and tongue

Burnt Sienna is a dark earthy orange. It and Ultramarine Blue are my most used colors. Almost always, I use one or the other or both in landscapes, portraits and of course animal paintings.

Depending on the brand of paint you use, you may need to tone the Burnt Sienna down with some blue. Use Cadmium Orange to spark up the mix for the dog's tongue,

Paint the shadows inside the ears.

Use Burnt Sienna to paint the shadow areas inside the ears. If the color is too orange, dull it with a "tiny touch" of blue.

Paint the shadows of the hair sprigs. Leave the white sprigs unpainted until step 6.

Paint orange in the ears and on the tongue.

Add Cadmium Orange and white to the shadow mixture. Finish inside the ears. Paint around the sprigs of hair.

Add more orange to the mixture and paint the tongue.

#3 how to paint a dog fur

The light is from the left, so there are more dark colors in the grey fur on the right-hand side of the painting.

Notice the right shoulder is mostly dark grey because it is in shadow. The fur shadows on the right cheek are darker than the shadows on the left cheek.

Paint the greys on the dog's fur.

#4 paint the background

The background color is a light blue. Mix a little blue with a pile of white, add a touch of orange to neutralize the blue. Get more top tips on how to mix colors.

Cover the background with one coat of paint, so only thin the paint if necessary.

Paint around the dog. You may texture the background some with the brush strokes. In this painting the strokes are smoothed down, so they wouldn't compete with the dog's face.

Paint the background around the dog.

#5 painting the dog's eyes

The eyes are a large part of how to paint a dog.

The black pupils of the dog's eyes were painted in step #1. Now paint black under and around the inside of the eyelids.

Paint brown around the black pupil of the eyes. Mix a speck of blue with the sienna to make brown. Do not add any white. Thin the paint a bit, so it's easy to paint on with your smallest brush.

Leave some white areas around the colored part of the eyes.

Finish painting the nose with a grey highlight blended smoothly into the black. Darken the nostrils if they need it.

Notice how the eyes warm up the painting.

#6 shadow the white fur

Paint the shadows on the white parts of the fur; the top of the head, under the nose, around the muzzle, the front of the chest and the paws.

Mix blue, sienna and white for the light brown. The shadows on the paws are greyer with more blue.

It looks funny now, but in the next step the shadows will blend into the highlight color and look more natural.

Do the next step before the shadow colors dry.

Shadow the white fur on the head and paws.

#7 the finish and details

Paint all the white fur with straight paint, no thinner.

Mix a tiny bit of orange or Burnt Sienna into white to warm it. White out of the tube is a cool color and we want  warm highlights.

While painting the white around the shadows, blend it into the edge of the shadow colors. Even cover-up some of the shadows where needed.

Paint and blend the highlights into the shadows.

Add a couple of tiny specks of warm white on the eyes.

Use the paint from your palette, browns, greys, and sienna to simulate a wood fence. We don't put details in the fence that would draw the attention away from the dog.

There you have it - that's how to paint a dog!

enjoy - dog painting is fun!