Expressive Animal Portraits in Watercolor

Bring the animal kingdom to life through captivating artwork by exploring a wide variety of watercolor techniques
Watercolors give you the opportunity to paint with expressiveness, color, and storytelling. For artist Sarah Stokes, watercolor painting is also a meditative practice. She specializes in wildlife art and has had her work displayed in galleries around the world.

In this course, Sarah takes you through the steps you need to create enchanting portraits of animals that highlight the beauty of the world around us. Follow your intuition and elevate your watercolor skills with a range of different techniques.

This is Sarah’s third Domestika course. In her first two, Artistic Watercolor Techniques for Illustrating Birds and Artistic Charcoal Portraiture: Creating Atmosphere, she explores other subjects and materials you can use to express yourself.

What will you learn in this online course?
Get to know Sarah and find out how her family inspired her to become a professional artist. She shares where she finds her inspirations for drawing and painting, as well as how her artistic style has evolved over the years, and what you can expect from the course.

Familiarize yourself with the materials used to create professional-looking watercolor portraits. Explore the importance of tone, how to build layers with watercolor, and how different brands and pigments vary in quality and application. Then, learn how to use black paint to paint a white horse.

Experiment with painting different animals and subjects to practice your watercolor skills. Learn to merge colors on paper by painting a cat, interpret complex patterns with a fox, and mix colors by illustrating an eye. Finally, discover the techniques to paint finer areas like fur and antlers using texture and shadow.

Now it’s time to look at more complex pieces that incorporate both loose and detailed brushwork. Complete the painting of a stag from earlier in the course using layering, splashing, and wet into wet techniques. Once dry, Sarah demonstrates how to make your paper look handmade.

Practice the skills learned throughout the course by painting a fox in a loose, interpretive style using a photograph as a reference. Paint wet into wet as well as wet on dry to build up tones in the fox’s fur. Then finish your painting by adding detail to your composition with gel pens.

Finally, experiment with backgrounds, fantasy colors, and compositions. Learn how to take your own photos and how to attract potential commissions. Sarah shares her tips on taking good photos of animals and creating work at a professional level, from developing a web presence to getting the best out of your materials.

What is this course’s project?
Paint an animal of your choice in an interpretive style of watercolor, paying particular attention to tone and structural accuracy.

Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone with an interest in capturing the animal kingdom in watercolor form or building on their knowledge of watercolor techniques.

Requirements and materials
Previous experience with watercolors is essential.

In terms of materials, you will need watercolors, brushes, gel pens, and paper.