Any advice for painting a black Lab?

[bif]

I've heard painting black pets can be tricky. I'm doing a painting of my daughter's black lab. I'm doing it in acrylics. Any tips?

[femmedem]

1. There's some advice here:

https://shelleyhannafineart.com/8-tips-for-painting-black-fur-traditional-digital/

And a demo here:

(I hope it's good; I haven't watched it.)

Your brain is going to try and trick you into painting everything too dark because, you know, it's black. But squint and look for the lighter values. If you are working from a digital color photo, you might try editing it to black and white to see the values more clearly.

Good luck and have fun!

[bif]

9. Thanks. For some reason the images wouldn't load

But I found this vid, which is pretty good:

[GPV]

2. I did mine in watercolor with blues, greens, and purples to

give the black dimension.

[essaynnc]

3. I would suggest .....

Sherwin Williams. 7432, "Black Dog", get the eggshell,. use a roller and two coats for complete coverage....
!!!!!🙃

[MiHale]

4. Tarps and plenty of treats...

Just kidding…

[GenXer47]

5. don't get paint in the dog's eyes

I think they used to paint horses but good luck!

[Effete Snob]

6. Wouldn't dyeing it make more sense?

[essaynnc]

7. Oh dear, I've started something...

But I've changed my mind...if you're going to go through the trouble, use SW 5621, "Mouser Orange"; definitely a more dramatic result !!

You can thank me (or cuss me out) later !!

[FalloutShelter]

8. Work light to dark

Start with light blue, move to purple, then to brown tones then detail with black.
Take a flat brush and use a razor blade to thin it out until it is a rake and you can use it to paint the fur in light strokes, built up.

JMHO!
Good luck!

[Tetrachloride]

10. A half shadow created by light from a window

water glistening after a swim

[chowmama]

11. Tranquilizers

Lots and lots of tranquilizers.

[Ocelot II]

12. I recently did an oil painting of a black dog, and found it challenging.

This dog was a German spitz, with thick, coarse fur that didn't lie flat, not short, shiny fur like a Lab's, so my experience probably wouldn't really apply to your painting. But with oil painting the normal technique is light over dark, so the underpainting was grayish, black in the shadows, and lighter gray highlights where the light touched the fur. I tried to emphasize the shiny eyes and nose more than the dog's coat.