Painting a multi-color tail

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for some tutorials! This first one comes from Laura Skillern, and should be a great help to anyone painting pintos or Appaloosas. Thanks, Laura!

How to Paint a Multi-color Tail

by Laura Skillern

It’s really, really, REALLY hard to paint in scale hair in a stablemate. However, a multi-color tail like on a tobiano still has a texture to it even if you can’t see the individual hairs.

I combined a couple techniques to find a happy medium. First, I alternated painting white and black hairs with a teeny tiny brush (18/0 spotter from Michaels).

Next, I went back over the tail alternating black and white Pan Pastels. I use an 1/8 inch angle brush for this. I try to get the black mostly in the deeper crevices of the tail to pump up the shading. I don’t dull coat in between the black and white, instead letting them blend on one layer. I will repeat this step a couple times until I’m happy with it.

Finally, I finish off the black part of the tail with some Burnt Sienna pastel on the tops and tips so it’s a shaded black, not just a flat black. Feel free to brush on a lot more Burnt Sienna than you think you need because it will mostly disappear once it’s dullcoated. It takes a couple layers to get to the point you can barely see it.

Thanks again, Laura. My Hornet and I really appreciate this one!