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Painting a leopard with watercolors

Painting a leopard with watercolors. Animals are among the most popular subjects when it comes to painting with watercolors. In today’s article, I decided to choose an animal I particularly love, a feline widespread, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia: the leopard. The fawn coat is characterized by the typical black spots, the severe and concentrated look, and the pride typical of felines: here we have found a perfect subject for our next watercolor! In the work we will carry out, I will show you how to work on a drawing with many details, using the liquid for masking and the one for mixing.

What tools do you need to paint a leopard with watercolors?

I’ll show you the photo of the finished work right away to encourage you to continue reading! Let’s start immediately from a fundamental point: the choice of colors and materials that we will use in this guide. Of course, if you’ve come here by chance and want to spend an afternoon relaxing by painting a bit, you can use the material you have at home.

How to paint a leopard

The drawing of the leopard. First, I drew the leopard directly on the Chanson sheet of paper.

I used a photo of a leopard found on the internet and transposed it onto the exposed sheet. If you have problems withdrawing, you can help by using carbon paper or drawing a grid that will help you copy the subject while maintaining the proportions. When painting with watercolor, there are many styles and schools of thought: some people prefer to paint directly without tracing the basic drawing with the pencil and cool drawings.

In this case, the result we want to obtain is a watercolor that we can define as realistic. For this reason, I find that it is better to explain the basic design by including almost all the details and particulars. As you can see from the photo, I fixed my sheet to the table using paper tape after completing the drawing. I left a 1cm wide frame on each side. To ensure that the video is equidistant from the edge, you can help by tracing the structure with a pencil, using squares (as was done during technical drawing lessons!) Or simply by marking one centimeter at the ends of each side and drawing a thin line and light (pencil 2h or more) using a ruler.

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Using graphite, I filled in the coat and nose patches and defined the shadows in the ears, on the sides of the nose, and the muzzle. Infinitely I completely lightened the drawing by removing the excess graphite with the rubber bread. This way, the original drawing will not be visible once the painting is finished.

We apply the liquid to mask

You’ve already used the liquid to mask, haven’t you? If the answer is no and your goal is to paint with watercolors, you need to try it. There are no excuses! The liquid for masking is a unique compound applied to the areas of the painting that we want to “protect” from color and water. Initially drink, a few minutes after being applied to the sheet, it will consolidate, creating an impermeable and color-impenetrable surface.

By doing so, we will not have to worry about “not going out of the edges” while we paint, and the areas masked with the liquid will remain the color of the paper we are using. As you can see from the photos, I applied some juice to the sides of the mouth, in the areas covered by the hair, under and beside the eyes, and in the ears.

Basic application of colors: let’s color the coat

We are finally ready to start getting serious! First, spread a preliminary layer of color, a base that we will apply on the whole drawing, without taking too much care to cover the spots or details previously drawn in pencil. The color I used is a mixture of ocher, burnt earth, and brown, very diluted to create the first layer and gradually darker in the areas where I wanted to add volume and shading.

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The color has been mixed and diluted using the Winsor & Newton Mixing Liquid: this product slows down the drying time of the watercolors. It, therefore, allows you to obtain the best shades of color and avoid leaving “spots” due to the rapid drying of the water on the sheet. In addition, it was designed to create backgrounds and work on large areas of the design, having enough time to blend and spread the color evenly.

Let’s add details and shadows

After waiting for the first layer of color to dry, let’s move on to the details of the leopard’s coat and muzzle. In general, I always mix a few drops of Gum Arabica to the colors before using them. By doing so, I will obtain a brighter and more transparent final result. Gum Arabica has precisely this characteristic. It is usually used as a binder in the preparation of watercolor colors and is therefore present in a small part in many of the watercolors on the market. Used as an auxiliary, it reduces the miscibility of the colors, allowing a more precise separation of the colors and increasing the transparency and brilliance of the paint once dried.

Let’s paint the background

It’s time to take care of the background and finishing touches. In my case, I created a greyish blue by mixing dark blue with a hint of black. Also, in this case, I used the Mixing Medium to dilute the mixture. It allowed me to spread the color over the entire background and blend it to my liking without creating spots.

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