Painting a giraffe with water colours

In a series of painting animals, this is another popular animal for artists to paint. Since these exercises are for children, I have used simple outline sketches and flag colours for beginners. This wild animal is frequently seen in African jungles and wildlife sanctuaries in Africa. The giraffe is considered to be the tallest animal in the African forests. The average height is from 8 to 15 feet. It is a strong animal which mostly eats leaves and grass.

Figure 1 shows the shape of the body drawn in three oval shape circles showing the animal standing.

Figure 1A is an outline sketch done in 2B pencil. Notice the long neck which shows the animal's height. Figure 1B shows a light coating in brown. A basic wash is put on before going into details.

Figure 2 shows an oval shape pencil sketch and 2 A shows the movement of a running giraffe. This will help to analyse the movement of a running animal.

Figure 2B shows a colour figure of the animal showing the position of the legs. I have first applied a pale wash of burnt sienna and outline done with a thin nib.

Figure 3 shows a finished painting of a giraffe. After the outline sketch is completed the whole animal is given a wash of pale fawn, made from a weak mixture of burnt sienna and little yellow ochre.

Part of the body, head and across the legs and the edges of the wash are softened, leaving white on the chest, belly and inner side of the legs.Once the basic layer is completely dry, the pattern of brown patches is added, using a strong mixture of burnt sienna. As this is applied, patch by patch, the colour is varied with water and a little black.

Washes of pale grey are used to define the modelling of the face and ears, whilst a thinned wash of black is applied to the darker muzzle and nose. A stronger black is used on the horns, tail and mane, with a little burnt sienna on the lower part of the mane. The grass is done with a mixture of green to wetted paper with long brush strokes.As beginners, use thick drawing paper 150 Bond or Kent paper. No. 1, 2 and No. 6 Sable hair brushes and for details drawing use a pointed No. 1 brush or a pen with a thin nib.