Painting A Tower of Giraffes In Acrylics & Ink

I had to look up the word used to describe a group of giraffes. It is called a tower. Cute, isn't it? Today I show you how to paint this tower of giraffes in acrylics and ink. I venture off the normal road and have a bit of fun with these adorable creatures, showing you how to interpret a picture to put your own stamp of peculiarity on it.

I start today's project on one of Dala's Canvas panels. This one measures 18" x 24" (+/- 46 x 61 cm).

I will be painting the background in three shades of blue.

I start with the palest blue in the center of the canvas.

The medium value is painted around the center while the first colour is still wet, allowing the two shades to mix on the canvas.

The darkest of the three is painted on the outer perimeter of the canvas, once again allowing the wet paint to mix. I then wait for the background to dry completely.

I used charcoal to draw the giraffes on the background. I worked from a photo of actual giraffes, simplifying the lines to suit the naive style of my painting.

Painting directly onto the blue background would influence the colours of the transparent and semi-transparent paint too much, as you can see from this sample I have painted. Notice how the blue affect the yellow on top, creating feint tinges of green.

For this reason, I start by painting the giraffes white.

I start with only the areas that will be painted first, leaving the rest blue for the time being. This prevents confusion on the drawing.

The main giraffe is painted Yellow Ochre.

A second giraffe is painted Burnt Sienna.

The third giraffe is painted Venetian Red.

I then paint the remaining parts of the giraffes white.

I paint roughly 1/3 of the spots purple.

Another third of the spots are painted green.

The remaining third is painted an intense magenta.

I now need to add definition to the faces of the giraffes. I do this by adding highlights. Starting with the main giraffe, I mix the original Yellow Ochre with Titanium White.

I paint this on the necessary parts of the face of the giraffe.

The colour for the second giraffe is mixed.

The highlights are added to the second giraffe.

I mix the colour for the last giraffe.

The remaining giraffe receives its highlights.

I now start defining the eyes and noses and mouths.

Payne's Grey is added for further definition of the facial features, including the ears.

White dots are placed in the eyes and then the giraffes are outlined in black ink. Pay attention to the lashes that were added.

I use ink to draw swirls and curls onto the giraffes.

I then add white highlights. This immediately lifts the painting which works brilliantly with naive art of this type.

Contact Marietjie Uys if you are interested in purchasing this painting at uys.marietjie@gmail.com for R1680. Free delivery in Gauteng. Whimsical Giraffes is acrylic and ink on canvas panel, measuring 18" x 24" (+/- 46 x 61 cm), unframed. Artist: Miekie.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

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Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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