WALKTHROUGH: How I Paint Feathery Fur
EDITING ARIA FROM 2025: I apologize for how small the images in this walkthrough are. When it was first created on my old Patreon, you could right-click to view them larger but that was no longer the case when I retrieved them for this re-upload. I hope it’s still helpful for some despite the issue! <3
Hello Moonbeams,
I had issues with the video I tried to record this month so I created another technique article for you, this one being about how I painted this large griffin/fox creature, particularly her feathery fur.
Surface: Gessobaord with two coats of Daniel Smith titanium white watercolor ground and one coat of QoR watercolor ground
Brushes: Pentel Aquash Waterbrush size small, Hwahong flat brushes sizes 1, 2, 5 and Hwahong round brushes size 1 and 2. Princeton Velvetouch round brush size 20/0 (my detail brush of choice)
Paint: Daniel Smith Prussian Blue, Daniel Smith Burgundy Yellow Ochre, Daniel Smith Carbazole violet, Daniel Smith Indian yellow mixed with Carmine (for the orange colour) Daniel Smith phthalo green, Koi white watercolor.
This painting was transferred to my painting surface via a projector and I used a Derwent Graphitint pencil to do the actual transfer sketch.
Because I saved this creature as the last part of the painting, her lines had gotten quite rubbed off so I re-outlined her with a mixture of carbazole violet, carmine, and Indian yellow to create the brownish orange outlines.
I do not always outline every feather when I am painting a feathery creature, but I wanted to outline the feathers on her neck and tail because they had so much movement and I wanted a blue print reminder of how they should look when I painted over them.
I did a rough blocking in of the colour on her body using Indian yellow, carbazole violet and carmine mixes. I allowed her body to have a lot of very visible brush strokes going in the direction of her feathers/fur. The brush strokes aided me in creating the early version of her coat that I would define later.
I then focused in on the wings. I used the same colour for them but kept the longer feathers (the primaries and secondaries) more pale where the light shone through them.
I used my 20/0 brush for the feather details.
Feathers are made up of little fibers called barbs which are made up of smaller fibers called barbules. These stick together like velcro and give the feathers a fairly smooth look so painting every little barb is not always necessary, unless we are painting a super closeup feather. The amount of detail can be artist specific! :)
I moved on to blocking in the face, once more starting with rough brush strokes and adding details over the top using my 20/0 brush.
I also added some little scratches and texture to the beak using white watercolor/gouache.
I added some details to the body, going over the rough brush stroke textures with my size 1 brush and my 20/0 brush to create more depth and detail. I also took my size 1 flat brush and lifted out some highlighted feathers.
To make the feather's feel more furry, I applied a bit more texture to them than I might if I had been painting a bird. The extra hair details made the feather texture feel more fuzzy and furry, but the smaller, scale-like structures I created kept it from feeling purely like fur.
I moved on to the billowy, very unrealistic tail. A big foxy tail is quite a silly and unrealistic choice for this creature but I could not resist! After all, this beast's wings are also far too small to hold a creature of her size up so she must be applying some kind of magic to her flight!
I went over the detailed feather pattern I had painted on her tail using my size 1 brush and my 20/0 brush mainly, adding more hair fine details and deepening the shadows using carbazole violet and my shadow shade mixture (made up of ochre yellow, prussian blue and carbazole violet)
Finally, I painted her feet mainly using my shadow shade mixture.
To create the smaller scales on the underside of her talons, I basically painted in a bunch of quick little scribbles in a circular motion which created an uneven mottled effect that felt like a rough scaly texture.
I also used a bit of white watercolor/gouache for some of the highlights.
Here she is all finished. Pardon the cell phone-quality photo! I have yet to scan the painting. I had so much fun with her and I hope this article was enjoyable for you!
~Aria 🌙
