Beginner Highland Cow Painting with Traceables

by | Mar 18, 2025 | Painting Tutorials | 0 comments

Traceables:

Highland Cow Painting Steps:

  • 1. Background color: 00:00
  • 2. Highland cow shape/ underpainting: 00:28
  • 3. Eye placement: 2:06
  • 4. Snout Placement: 2:50
  • 5. Horn details: 3:17
  • 6. First layer of hair: 3:56
  • 7. Second layer of hair (dark tone): 6:19
  • 8. Third layer of hair (highlight orange tones): 7:01
  • 9. Nose placement and nostrils : 8:23
  • 10. Chin placement and shading: 9:38
  • 11. Eye details: 10:27
  • 12. Fine hair details and highlights: 11:04
  • 13. (OPTIONAL) Add color! 11:53

Learn step by step how to paint a highland cow for beginners in this video. You can use the traceable if you struggle to get the head shape, however I walk you through how to create your own shape for a highland cow. You may want to prime your canvas for this painting for a smoother surface because there is a lot of fine detail. The highland cow hair is the most fun part of this painting! I will show you how layering four different layers of hair creates the signature highland cow with highlighting and shading. If you want to take it a step further you can even add colorful streaks of hair at the end! As always feel free to use these beginner painting steps as a starting point to create your own style cow. Happy Painting!