All of September I’m having a “Paint Your Pet Challenge.” Masterclass students AND non-students can participate in this challenge for a chance to win ANY of the following prizes:

1) Master’s Touch Acrylic Paint Set + Mixed Media Pad.

2) Master’s Touch Variety Brush Set + Watercolor Travel Pad.

Challenge Rules

1) Once you’ve completed your pet portrait (cat or dog) post your photo on social media and tag @laurenelizabethfineart (Lauren Elizabeth Fine Art Facebook page) OR send me a photo if you do not have a Facebook.

2) Use any paint medium you want. It must be on canvas or paper.

3) Post a photo of your painting before September 25th. Winner will be announced on September 30th.

Acrylic Dog Painting

Painting your dog can be daunting, but I assure you with a little patience, acrylic instruction, and a good reference photo, you can paint any dog with ease.

In summary, here are the steps for painting your dog with a landscape background. Remember, a great painting requires great photos. Make sure you have at least 3-reference photos of your dog AND the background you want.

Step 1: Paint the base coat onto your canvas first. Then once dry, paint or sketch the dog and background.

Step 2: Paint the background before painting the dog in the foreground. If you have a dog in the background then paint them together.

Step 3: Layer colors to add depth and distance to your painting (if you are adding a landscape background). This may take many layers. I spent a good 2 hours on the background before moving onto the dog.

Step 4: Start painting low lights (shadows) on dog. Make sure your color is brighter than the background, but the darkest color on the dog. That way you don’t loose your dog if you have dark colors in your background.

Step 5: Add final highlights to your background. THEN add final highlights to your dog. This step is all about fine tuning what you already have. So painting over top the previously added hair, pedals, and leaves, not adding more.

Get More Tutorials

Any good painting takes time. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a couple days to complete. If you want more in depth instruction, I have many dog painting tutorials in my Online Animal Art Masterclass.