Dalmatian oil painting tutorial

Step by step oil painting instructions

I've been asked so many times to give painting tuition in my way of painting that I have decided to do my best and show the progress of a painting and describe the steps along the way. If anyone has any questions, please either email them to me at info@azpaintings.com or leave a comment here. 

The painting I will be showing you is on a 16" x 12" box canvas and is going to be a 'reflection' painting. 

As usual I like to paint the eyes first, even though only roughly, but this aspect of the painting is extremely important to me. Once I have the eyes painted I can relax and start to build up the rest of the body. I like to get the shading of the body painted next as it starts then to form the flat image into something with form and life. I start by blocking in a thin layer of paint in the areas of shadow and also all the spots. I don't worry at this stage about making sure the spots are all the same depth of colour but I do try and get the different tones of shading more or less correct although not at their final depth. At this stage I only use Ivory Black and Titanium White. This is a very important step in the painting and if it lacks interest now, the final painting is also likely to be boring. If the painting was of a different coloured animal I would use a complementary but still neutral colour for the shadow. 

I hope you've enjoyed this first lesson in painting my way and will join me for the next stage which will follow soon.

Anne