Animals, like humans, are unique in the sense that no two are identical.
The differences in hair, fur, texture and color is numerous.
An animal's fur color is rarely one tone.
Shadows, reflections, and highlights all add to the variation in color.
If you would like some ideas and guidelines for creating basic paint formulas for obtaining the correct fur colors, keep reading.
Let's start with what may be the trickiest color for fur; white.
White fur is not pure white.
You should always add other colors to the white.
If you want a cool variation, add a touch of black to create a soft gray.
If you desire a warm tone, add a small amount of burnt umber.
As you work your layers, you will lighten this white.
The very final layers may be pure white as highlights.
Next, we will create brown fur tones.
For browns, start with white and add red and burnt umber.
Add more burnt umber for darker brown fur.
Red fur, as on a fox or cat, would be created by starting with the brown mixture and adding cadmium red medium to it.
Adding more or less burnt umber and cadmium makes variations of red fur.
Many animals have yellow tones in their fur or hair.
Use a light brown mixture and add some cadmium yellow medium.
The value you create depends on how much yellow or burnt umber you use.
The last basic color for animal fur is black.
Like white, black fur is never pure black.
A nice mixture to use for reflected areas of a shorthaired animal is black mixed with prussian blue and a touch of cadmium yellow.
The mixture works nicely where you want a very sleek shiny cool look.
To create a warmer look, use black with alizarin crimson and cadmium red.
It is always a good idea to experiment with color before applying it to your final painting.
Practice on paper, starting with light values and darken them - creating color scales for each of the basic animal fur colors.
Remember that painted animal fur and hair colors should closely match your subject.
Use the colors mentioned in this article as a starting point and add pigment to match the color needed.
Have fun and enjoy learning to paint animals.