watercolour seal

Such a wonderful content pose. I couldn't resist painting this bliss ;-)

I really enjoy sketching animals. It's so much about observation, right from the pencil drawing through to the brush strokes. And in a sketch, rather than a painting, we're after capturing the character and pose with a minimal of fuss and detail.

In this lesson we play with the light against shadow, creating form with both hard and soft edges. We also look carefully at all the colours in that silky fur, so that the seal looks natural - it's not just one, single grey or brown.

You can find the full video tutorial on Patreon or Renee's Studio.

Happy painting!

Thanks to James Rathmell on Unsplash for the reference photo.

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One of my all-time favourite paintings of a stormy day in a ruined Roman town in Spain.

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how to actually progress in watercolour

how to actually progress in watercolour

30 March 2026

This is a detailed post — grab a coffee. I get asked about this a lot, and it deserves a proper answer. I'm often asked some version of the same question: how do I actually progress in watercolour? ...

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