Painting better manes and tails

Happy Superb Owl Sunday! Here's a great tutorial by Darynn Bednarczyk of DeeJayBe Studios. Thanks Darynn!

Painting Better Manes and Tails

by Darynn Bednarczyk

I learnt to paint hair detail a couple years ago when I was told my work felt ‘flat’. It is easiest to just paint the hair solid and call it done. However, it is quite easy to add depth by utilizing the sculpture as a guide. This will enhance both your paintwork & your sculpture!

One of the most interesting things about this method, is that the painting process is actually backwards! We are going to start dark and build to light. Whereas normally in painting, we would start light, and build to dark.

My rule of thumb is to use three shades of colour for each section of mane. You can either choose for these tones to be warm or cool. I wanted the white to be warm & the black to be cool. This is done by using brown tones or grey tones in my mixes.

I use JoSonja matte acrylic with Golden Maple brushes size 1 & 4/0.

Using a mixture of Burnt Umber & Smoked Pearl, I paint the entire mane. It’s okay if things aren’t perfectly solid, I find this adds variance. We want this to be a nice tone that feels slightly ‘unclean’.

Using Smoked Pearl, I add highlights to the ridges of the sculpture. I water the paint down slightly so it flows evenly. Having some transparency is good. I use a significant amount of this to make the mane feel overall lighter. I allow my darker mix to hold place in the depths of the sculpture.

Using Warm White, watered down, I add this to the very tops of the ridges as a further highlight. This can be used sparsely or dramatically.

I paint the whole mane, Carbon Black.

Carbon Black & Warm White mix to create a Dark Grey. I add this to the high points of the sculpt.

A lighter Grey mixture, to add finishing highlights.

I will then go back in with the other mixes and further refine/smooth this out. Sometimes it can take some reworking. Using a blending gel can also be helpful and further this technique if you prefer a softer feel. I like Folk Art brand.

This particular sculpture is quite dramatic, so it can be a slightly challenging to paint. Trying this method on a smoother textured mane can have a really elegant feel. Play with brush size to really get fine detailing on your top layers.

Using small containers or a wet palette to hold your paint mixes helps the process! This takes some time, so having the right water to paint ratio ready to go, lets you jump back & forth between colours. I like the Sistema paint containers because the lids lock in place and seal the paint inside for use weeks even months later. They are also flat in the bottom which makes them easy to clean.

Hopefully this helps in your painting journey! This is a tedious step, but so worth it in the end!

Also, not my NaMoPaiMo horse, just an opportunity to share a little lesson!