Watercolour Chimpanzee Baby Tutorial
Paint a baby chimpanzee using expressive wet-on-wet techniques, layered colour, and soft fur textures while learning how to keep your watercolour fresh and natural.
What's included
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Welcome to my online class
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Watercolour Chimpanzee Baby Tutorial
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Copyright information
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How to keep your paper flat (stretching)
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Watercolour Chimpanzee Baby - Downloadable files
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Watercolour Chimpanzee Baby video - Part 1
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Watercolour Chimpanzee Baby video - Part 2
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About this class
- $55.00
- Lifetime access
- Instant delivery
- On demand
Watercolour Baby Chimpanzee Tutorial
In this advanced two-part watercolour tutorial, a playful baby chimpanzee slowly comes to life through expressive washes, layered tones, and soft fur textures. The reference photo was taken at Taronga Zoo in Sydney and captures a charming moment of movement along with the chimp’s distinctive pink hands and feet.
Throughout the lesson, the focus is on simplifying the reference image and making thoughtful colour choices rather than copying the photograph exactly. By working from broad shapes to finer details, the painting develops naturally while maintaining the looseness that makes watercolour so appealing.
What You’ll Learn:
- Establishing a painting with loose wet-on-wet background washes
- Creating soft fur textures by allowing paint to bleed naturally
- Building depth gradually through layered washes
- Simplifying a complex reference photo
- Using colour creatively rather than copying the photo exactly
- Mixing natural darks using French Ultramarine and Transparent Sienna
- Adding subtle skin tones with a violet mixture of Ruby Red and Ultramarine
- Painting expressive eyes and facial features
- Strengthening key details using both brushwork and pencil
Artist’s Insight:
This painting focuses on capturing the character and softness of a young chimpanzee without becoming overly detailed. The process begins with loose washes and simple tonal shapes before gradually introducing darker fur and facial features.
A key idea throughout the class is allowing the paint to do the work. Instead of painting individual hairs, pigment is placed onto wet paper so the natural movement of water creates soft fur textures.
Subtle colour variations bring life to the chimp’s skin and face. By combining warm and cool tones and reinforcing important lines with pencil where needed, the painting develops structure while still maintaining the softness of watercolour.
A key idea throughout the class is allowing the paint to do the work. Instead of painting individual hairs, pigment is placed onto wet paper so the natural movement of water creates soft fur textures.
Subtle colour variations bring life to the chimp’s skin and face. By combining warm and cool tones and reinforcing important lines with pencil where needed, the painting develops structure while still maintaining the softness of watercolour.
Class Preview
Watch a short preview and see what is included in this class.
Checklist
Here's what you get with this class.
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Supplies list
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Colour reference photo
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Line drawing to trace on to your paper
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Multiple progress photos
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Photo of the completed painting
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Full length instructional video showing how to complete the painting
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is your refund policy?
We think you'll love our classes, but if you're not absolutely satisfied within 30 days, just contact us at [email protected] and we'll refund your purchase, no questions asked.
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For how long do I have access to the class?
You have lifetime access. Your content doesn't expire, so you can come back and revisit it anytime.
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What supplies do I need?
A supplies list is included with each class, however we do encourage you to work with what you already have.
Dive into Watercolours
No Traffic, No Timetable, No Worries
Online courses are not just convenient, they're better.
In our online classes, you get to pause, rewind, and revisit any part of the lesson you want. Missed a stroke? No dramas! Just go back and watch it again.
Plus, all our classes are filmed in real-time and fully voiced over. That means you'll catch every stroke, every detail, and every step you need to nail that painting. It's like having a personal tutor on your screen, only better, because you're in total control.
So what are you waiting for? Grab a brush, hit 'play', and let's get painting!
Student Works
Come back later to see student works painted from this tutorial.
Instructor
Meet your teacher for this class.
Louise De Masi
Watercolour Artist
Louise De Masi is a professional watercolour artist and qualified teacher based on the Mid North Coast of NSW, Australia. She has over 23 years’ experience as an artist and has been teaching watercolour online since 2011.
Louise’s calm, step-by-step approach focuses on helping students understand how watercolour works, so they can paint with more confidence and enjoyment.
Her work has been sold and licensed worldwide, and she has co-written a book on painting sea life in watercolour.
Social proof: testimonials
“I am taking an in person class and I learned more here today [in this YouTube video] than I have in 6 weeks of the class… Signing up based on this video!”
Irene
“You are an outstanding teacher and are always so explicit with your instructions that you make it almost impossible for us to fail when following your tutorials. You have a wealth of information that you are always so happy to share with us. I have not as yet found another teacher who teaches as well as you and I have certainly watched thousands of You Tube tutorials. You are the best and deserve all the recognition you get!”
Marion
“Just finished watching this tutorial (I always watch them before starting to paint them) and I wanted to say it's so helpful to have the reference photo showing while you paint. I find myself thinking what I would do next and where I would add color and then when you do it too I know I'm learning -- even before I put paint to paper. Thank you for your explanations and thorough descriptions of what you are doing. You are the best teacher!”
Bonnie
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