As colourists, we are often colouring lots of animals, from cute cats to majestic unicorns. Why not scratch up on some tips and tricks for how to colour animals, including fur and feathers, with this tutorial guide from Colouring Heaven.
If you’re new to colouring, take a moment to read our how to colour guide for beginners, which contains lots of handy tips and resources.
Whether you’re colouring cats or dogs, horses or unicorns, learning how to colour realistic animal fur is a skill you can use on lots of your favourite colouring pages.
We have a couple of really helpful video tutorials all about how to colour fur.
Colouring realistic fur is all about directional colouring – using the strokes of your colouring to imply the direction of the animal’s fur. Build rich layers by starting with a lighter colour and making it darker with each layer. You may find it helpful to use a photo as reference, so you can see the natural direction, colour and pattern.
Some animals, like horses, have long flowing hair almost like a human’s. Here’s a tutorial from our YouTube channel about how to colour long hair.
We have another brilliant colouring tutorial about how to colour realistic feathers. In this video tutorial, our artist Jo Barber talks you through the process of colouring a large, detailed feather using a reference picture, and also how to colour a collection of smaller feathers on a bird.
Once again, the secret to realistic feathers is all about gradual layering, directional colouring, and using reference pictures to create a realistic effect!
We hope this tutorial has taught you everything you need to know about how to colour animal fur and feathers.
If you love colouring animals, don’t miss our article on the best animal, dragon and unicorn colouring pages.
Plus, don’t forget you can download lots of animal colouring pages for free from Colouring Heaven!
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