 Welcome to Monet cafe. I'm artist Susan Jenkins and art is definitely better with friends So come join the fun subscribe to this channel if you'd like to have more art instruction coming your way Today's short tutorial is catered towards beginners on painting feathers and fur I had some portions of this footage at the tail end of another video that I just uploaded before this one Where I painted a bear and I talked about a lot of artistic principles But it was a much longer video go back and watch that one if you want But I felt like a lot of people may not have even seen this footage at the end And I thought it was a perfect opportunity to talk to you beginners. So first let's begin with this little study of the flamingo feathers Here are my selections of some of the colors actually in this flamingo They were more purples and darker values than you might think so I'm using a little I think this was a sample piece of Sennelier card. I got with something And I've had it around forever. So Normally I buy it in the pads in two different sizes So I'm going to just do a little portion of this flamingo and this is just barely sped up a little bit here So what I'm doing first is kind of like with the bear, but I'm not working from a sketch here I'm just getting in the generalities shapes and forms and I'm using a little bit of a Middle value there to kind of start and I know if you look at the flamingo even though I'm cropping it I'm just doing a portion to kind of show you the feathers I see down at the bottom of his neck there. See how dark that is we might have a tendency to just go Oh flamingo pink, but he's actually got a lot of orange and red in there and some deep deep colors so again notice how grainy this looks as I'm applying it and if you're novice to this paper you might be like Oh, I don't like this paper look at all the space and look how textural But give it some time and remember that it is so great for layering and you can really get a lot of layers Even if you're using some soft pastels. I zoomed in a bit here now this color was it It's bright really that border between the shadow going towards his body It wouldn't quite this bright, but I know that I can tone these things down So I'm just kind of working things up knowing that's what happens the more you use it You start to develop the confidence of knowing, okay I'm building upon things and I can gradually change and Work things as I go so I'm now just getting the general gesture of some of those feathers and the direction that they're going in and Lightly that's another thing you learn to control is your pressure It's one thing I guess I felt like I needed to do a video just on pressure often and how to hold the pastel We just had that in one of the patreon storytime lessons as well But how hard you press and how you hold it and how you turn it I liked how Richard McKinley said that he uses his pastel He came from an oil painting background and he uses it like he uses his brush and if you can think of these little pastels as like your little brushes turning them and changing the pressure and Changing the direction you can really really accomplish a lot and maybe have an aha moment So you see how I've just done some layers I mean this whole thing didn't take that long to do But now I'm just giving he has a little brighter side to the front of his neck there And I also knew there would probably be some cooler and darker tones in some areas So I'm just kind of working some of those in knowing that I can layer on top of them Very similar to how I did the bear I put darks down so that I could add those little highlights of Fur and in this case feathers on top of it and notice now here It's usually towards the end when you start adding more of your highlights And I noticed too underneath our brain would tell us those feathers like right over his leg are Pink and light pink like the ones at the top, but they're actually cooler in color temperature They're more in the shadow. So that's why I went ahead and grabbed some of the purply colors And this is a case to where I just grabbed what I had the legs are actually much darker than what I put down here And I darken them in a minute. So our brains again tell us all those legs look like they're just lavender or a lighter color And then under his belly was darker than you might think so you're just constantly Looking at value comparing things and fortunately with this surface you can make changes, you know It's not like you have to Freak out if you put the wrong thing down You've got a little bit of a leeway because of the ability to layer now That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get it right the first time, but it's a gradual process And you learn that the more that you progress as an artist So I'll continue to work here on this a little bit and notice while I paint how I'm actually even Shaping the flamingo still I noticed he was actually his wings Were more poofed up at the top So I still have the flexibility with this paper and surface to be able to make slight changes and adjustments as I'm painting And I keep noticing as I try to add some lighter Values underneath there. I keep noticing now that it's just too light. It was really much more in shadow Then your brain might tell you so value value value I know I preach that like crazy, but it really is that important and now I'm starting to add a little bit more of the The spice or the icing on the cake by putting in some of those final fluffy poofy feathers and And and the darks is really what allows these things To show up and to have a base to put upon it and notice how I am just Gradually adding little bits of this lavender again. I felt like it was a little too light underneath But there were certain areas where there was kind of a lighter lavender in Between the feathers like he has some plumage underneath him That was a little bit lighter But I had to be careful because the lightest parts were really only at some of the feathers towards the top in the back And you know in hindsight, I really should have done the whole flamingo But the purpose and the focus of this was really just to give some of the techniques and Cater it specifically towards beginners for feathers and fur and how important Layering is and also if you're going to do animals with feather and fur You can achieve results on unsanded paper But you're really able to get that layering much easier with sanded papers I skipped ahead just a little bit here to show you how I'm kind of working some darks within their kind of negative Painting I darkened his legs. Like I said, I noticed boy those legs are definitely darker than my initial Observation and now is where I'm gonna kind of reshape his back. It was had more of a hump to it. He was fuller Up top than I had originally drawn him So I just added a little bit and added some of those feathers going across the top across the other layers and the Gestural and directional strokes of feathers and fur as you'll see in the next one is Really what gives that illusion of the qualities in the animal that you're trying to paint So I hope this little example has helped you understand a little bit more about the benefits of layering and Getting down your darks first. Here's a little zoomed-in version of it But it gives the impression of flamingo feathers And now let's move on to another subject this cute little puppy. What is that like a little lab puppy? He is so cute. I love dogs and I'm just going to turn this paper and focus I know it's kind of weird focus on his ear and show you the same concepts But again, look how I put down quite a bit of dark I just focused on a shape and I'm focusing on the values kind of working dark to light. I know that my The fur is going to have to have something to lay upon So just like with the bear you've got to get that underneath coat of fur Which is going to be darker to be able to layer the Fur or feathers or whatever it is Whatever animal you might be working on so as in the flamingo example This is similar. We're getting down the darker value and then we're gradually laying the values and the colors That are appropriate on top and I'm also Avoiding right now notice how I'm using the side of my pastel I may be getting slight indications of some of the little marks And I'm just tapping them down with my finger to keep them from looking so specific I noticed too. There's still more of a shadow in that little area. That's kind of concave in his ear So that's why I add a little bit of that Neutral type of purple. I'm adding a little bit more dark. I think that's the egg plant color that's darker And it's going to appear too dark right now, but I'm doing this in anticipation of layering the fluffy fur that's going to be Covering over the ear and this is the same principle even though I chose the ear It's the same principle as the body or fur around the face or fur on the neck the concepts are the same and the Strategies are the same. I noticed that I added a little bit of lavender in there his ear if you notice is a little bit in shadow You're only getting a little bit of backlighting kind of behind his ear so that's why I chose more neutral colors and a little bit more cool colors than you might think Just like in the flamingo are You know our brains say flamingo pink Well, there was a lot more red and orange in that flamingo than I used pink and a lot more lavender Well, the same with this we use our our skills of knowledge as an artist of how the world works to Overcome what often our brain just quickly assumes so again not like the flamingo being pink our brain assumes this dog Oh brown tan kind of like in the bear example or video that I have the longer video on the bear and using the same Surface and what I mean by knowing the rules as an artist and how the world works once we know these things We can really take our paintings to a new level and two of the rules are Color temperature again, I know this dog's ear is a bit in shadow So once again that caused me to understand I need to keep my colors a little bit cooler Not so bright. They're not in bright sunshine perhaps a little bit more neutral. Oh, I decided to go ahead and Quickly draw in the little dogs. I I don't know. I just didn't feel like stopping I knew it wasn't gonna work out with the flamingo's body right there Oh and one of the other rules is value and like I said, I talk about that all the time But if you can get color temperature and value right, you're really ahead of the game Also, I do have a video that's been quite a popular video on the five Things you can do to create depth in your artwork something like that I'll try to put a little card up here so you can click it and see it But that has five principles that I tell you is really gonna help your artwork So I hope this was helpful for beginner artist I'm always trying to cater to the beginner artist. You guys are so appreciative and once again go back and check out that bear video I know it's longer, but you might learn something in watching that one too. Alright guys like this video Let me know what you think become a patron and happy painting