How to Draw and Paint a German Shepherd in Watercolor Step by Step

Hey friends, today I'd like to show you how I painted this classic German Shepherd dog in five simple steps. I'll include a list in the description below of all the supplies used in this video as well as a link to the reference photo in case you'd like to try this painting for yourself. Step number one, draw an erasable grid. Creating a freehand sketch is much easier when you use a grid. A grid breaks down the large picture into smaller, more manageable sections and helps you make better judgments about your spacing and shapes within your composition. If you'd rather not draw directly onto your watercolor paper with a grid, you can do the drawing on a cheap printer paper first and then transfer the finished sketch to your watercolor paper. Make sure your reference photo and watercolor paper are the same aspect ratio. You can use programs like Photoshop to resize any image to match the width and the height of your paper. My paper today is a seven by ten inch block of Fabriano Artistico 140 pound hot press paper and on the computer in front of me I have my reference photo in the same size. I create grid lines in Photoshop first and then lightly draw the matching lines on my paper using a ruler. I measure the halfway point horizontally first, connecting the two sides with a straight line and then intersect this line vertically at the halfway point. I add vertical lines at the halfway point on both sides of the center line. You can make smaller squares or rectangles depending on how much information you want to compress inside of each box. Step number two, draw. Draw the German Shepherd using your grid. Start with a general and then add detail. I always begin with the largest shapes, such as the slope on the back. I compare how far each shape is from my grid lines. Once you have a couple of marks down, you can compare any subsequent marks to the ones you've already finished. With a little practice, anyone can learn to sketch using a grid. This is an especially helpful skill when you're creating a larger painting or if the subject matter is very detailed. Include only as much information as you need to get started confidently with your paint and erase your grid lines before proceeding. Paint base washes. Paint in small sections and start with light base washes. The distinctive coloring on the German Shepherd made it very easy to break it up into four easy sections. The hind legs, the middle body, the front legs, and the head. I find breaking it up into manageable sections makes the painting process so much more fun and relaxing, not at all overwhelming. Since I'm right-handed, I usually work left to right. I chose to use two sets of primary colors for this painting, a warm set and a cool set. To create the chestnut colored fur, I combined my warm red and warm yellow, adding water to adjust the value as needed. Avoid any areas that are bright white, such as the patch of fur on the tail. With watercolor, white is created by allowing the white of the paper to show through. So you really have to plan ahead for those areas. If you want to learn more about mixing and painting with primary colors, by the way, I have created a two-hour course all about painting with red, yellow, and blue. This course is part of my Watercolor Mastery Membership, which has over 95 real-time, fully narrated tutorials, including the full-length version of this German Shepherd. All the tutorials come with a complete list of supplies used in each project, reference photos, and traceable line drawings for you to download. I'll leave a link in the description so you can check that out. Add fur texture and go darker with your values. As you paint each section, if you're using hot-pressed paper like I am, you might find that your paint dries really fast. This makes it easy to stay focused on one section at a time and add layers on top of your base washes. To create dark brown with my primary colors, I mix a little of all three using just a bit more red than blue or yellow. By combining pure colors straight out of your palette with very little water mixed in, you can create rich, dark colors for painting the shadows in your dog. I do have a couple of methods I like to use for the fur texture. I sometimes splay the bristles of my brush so that there are natural gaps in between the bristles, and by feathering the brush across the paper using short, quick brush strokes, you can create convincing fur texture quickly and easily. I also use small brushes to paint individual strands of fur. My small brush for this painting is a silver black velvet round brush size 4, and if you'd like to learn more about painting fur, check out this video. I really slow down and use a small brush when painting the details of the head. Do squint at your reference photo. This will help you see the important shapes and values, and include those. I chose to leave out the leash, so this required adjusting the values of the fur on the neck. I had to kind of imagine what the fur would look like without the collar and leash tugging at it. The last step is to add the background. Once you've completed the dog, you can add any kind of background you like. Since I painted the dog quite realistically, I thought it would be a fun contrast to make the background more loose and painterly. After all, I want it to look like a painting, not just a slavish copy of a photo. I start by mixing up a very dark green using my cool blue and cool yellow. I use this to paint the shadow beneath the dog in the shape of grass blades. I do quick vertical brush strokes, making sure that they're not perfectly uniform, but rather moving in all different directions so that the grass looks natural. I use a lighter green to paint the areas of grass that are in the sunlight. Next I grab a generous amount of Prussian blue, this is my cool blue, with tons of water on my brush, and I use a circular motion of the brush to suggest some sky behind the dog. I like to be quick and minimal with the background. As soon as you're happy with your shapes, put down your brush and resist the temptation to keep picking at it. There is the finished German Shepherd. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe if you're new here. Check out these other tutorials about painting dogs in watercolor and I'll see you there.