Painting (fine) Fur.

[Thryth]

Hello Fellow Painters!

How would you suggest painting fine fur (suggestion for course fur are also welcome ) to a high-quality standard?

Usually I try layering (tedious though it is for something like this) for hair with a lot of detail or course fur, but for miniatures with very fine fur, I'm not sure how to proceed. Just make belive that it isn't there? A wash for shadow somewhere along the way?

I'm sure that there are many people on this forum that will be able to enlighten me.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Ritual]

Fine fur, pretty much the same as hair, I usually paint as if it was a smooth surface at first. Then, when I get to the final highlights I start to pick out single strands of hair. You will get a strange and unnatural effect if you have really deep shading between strands of hair in areas that reflect a lot of light (if the texture is very fine). So, it's best to treat that area, to begin with, as if it was smooth and build up initial highlights all over the area. The final highlight are enough to create a sense of texture.

[Skullcrafts]

Typically, I will basecoat the fur area (coarse or fine) 2 or 3 shades lighter than I want to the color to be. I then wash that with a color that's about 2 shades darker than I want the fur to be. I will then drybrush 3 successively lighter colors to achieve the color I want. I'll then pick out highlights with white or bone color.