Natural Stripes - acrylic painting lesson

In this lesson I will teach you how to paint a realistic Zebra from start to finish. I provide a sketch that you can transfer to the canvas (I recommend 16 X 20 for a large painting or 11 X 14 for a smaller version). I will also show you how to use the grid method if you prefer to take that approach. As always I encourage you to try to do your own sketch as well to transfer to your canvas. This lesson is very straight forward and only uses 4 colors! The dramatic black background paired with the black stripes makes for a very nice contrast and composition. The small variations in white is where the magic happens. I'll take you through each step in this painting. Painting stripes is tedious, but not hard once you transfer the image. This one is a lot of fun, and you'll learn a lot about subtle shifts of value and color within your whites and blacks. Canvas Size: 16 X 20 (or use 11 X 14 for a smaller version) Medium: Acrylic Colors Used: Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White and Black for the background (I suggest Mars black).