Drawing Fur

Wildlife artist JASON MORGAN has spent more than 20 years perfecting his technique for rendering animal fur. Discover his simple, three-stage approach with stunning results

- JASON MORGAN

Many artists are apprehensive about drawing and painting animals. They might really want to draw their own pet for instance, but all that fur just overwhelms them. So where do you even start?

I vividly remember struggling to paint animals when I started more than 20 years ago. Instruction was almost non-existent back then, and what did exist sorely lacked in detail and techniques, almost as if the artists were keeping secrets back. It was so frustrating. I made it my goal to share everything I learnt myself, so others could progress quickly.

When you are confronted with something difficult, I have found that it’s best to try to simplify it, to break it down into more manageable and achievable parts. With regards to animal fur, the first stage is the basic tone and colour. I try to make this layer just slightly darker than I want the finished artwork to be, so the lighter details will show up when placed on top.

The second stage is where I start adding the shadow areas of the fur texture, these are the small areas you sometimes see in between the lighter hairs – something I will explore in detail in the lion demo below. If the lighter hairs only need to be moderately lighter than the darker “under fur” textures, then you won’t need the stage above.

The third stage is where I begin to add lighter, more detailed fur and hairs on top of the first two layers. This final stage might take many layers, maybe four or five, before I have built a painting to the stage where it looks like realistic fur.

Let me show you my process using some examples.

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