Paint a dog nose step by step

First they work their way into our hearts, then into our homes, and sooner or later, if we’re artistic, they find their way into our artwork. Pets, and in particular dogs, are one of the most-painted subjects by Nature Studio members once they reach a level of independence through taking the tutorials to develop their painting skills. When we paint our pets, we really want to achieve a close likeness and capture their vitality. That can feel a little daunting, but when you break down the portrait into its component elements, a pet portrait can be an achievable and rewarding project. So in this mini class, we’ll look at how to paint a dog nose.

The nose we’ll paint in this class belongs to a pretty spaniel dog.

Paint a dog nose step-by-step

If you just want to paint a dog nose for practice, you can try this in a sketchbook. We’ll build up the nose’s shine and texture in layers, following the stages in my wet-on-dry watercolour method. Paint along with me, and in a short time you’ll see a big, wet, shiny, 3D dog nose appear on your paper. Want to paint the full spaniel portrait? There are a couple of ways you can do this:

1) This mini class is a real-time section from the full length tutorial

Usually my mini classes give you a quick overview of how to paint something. But this dog nose class is different, because you can paint along with me in real time. It’s a section from the full tutorial of this sweet spaniel, which has 3 hours of video instruction. In it I cover every step of how to paint this spaniel in full. There’s also a traceable outline drawing, downloadable reference photos, a list of paints used and the option to ask for help and feedback. The full class is included with Nature Studio membership, and lower down on this page you can see results by real members who took the class.

2) Or you can try painting the spaniel from this and the other two mini classes I’ve shared

In two other mini classes, I’ve shared how to paint realistic dog’s eyes as well as how to paint silky dog fur. Those mini classes give you an overview of the process in case you want to try painting this portrait on your own, or go straight onto using the techniques when you’re painting other dogs.

Watch the mini class:

Check out these member results!

Before you move on, I thought you’d like to see these results by Nature Studio members who’ve taken the full length step by step class.

Learning the skills through the tutorials helps members to reach independence so they can confidently paint whatever subjects make their hearts sing. And often, those subjects are their pets! It’s also quite common to hear from members who’ve painted their friends’ pets, because what makes their heart sing is putting a smile on the face of someone they love.

Here’s a collection of pet portraits members painted independently after growing their skills:

I hope you’ve found joy in painting this dog’s nose with me and that you’re feeling inspired to paint more dog noses as part of some full portraits. As always, I’d love to hear from you if you’ve felt inspired by this class, have given it a go or just if you enjoyed watching. Have you struggled with how to paint a dog nose in the past? Do you think you’ll try again? If you tried this mini class, were you happy with your results? Please do let me know.