Painting a Ceramic Rabbit

A small ceramic-painting project based on my pet bunny: grey-brown ears and face, a white racing stripe, and white paws. It’s based on this little guy:

Starting with A Sketch

This project doesn’t involve making the actual sculpture. I’m just painting it. I don’t even do the oven baking part. I began with an unpainted ceramic rabbit and roughly marked out the main features: the face, eye placement, nose, mouth, ears, paws, and the boundary between the white and brown sections of the coat.

The sketch was especially useful for the face. Once the eyes, nose, and mouth were in the right place, the rest of the markings had something to follow.

Painting the Markings

The ceramic paint colors were built up around the reference rather than mixed to match it perfectly. The ears and face received the darker brown-grey color, while the chest, racing stripe, and paws were left mostly white.

The face received the most attention. Small changes to the eye outlines, nose, and mouth make a surprisingly large difference to whether a painted animal looks friendly, confused, or vaguely haunted.

The Finished Bunny

After glazing and firing, the colors became deeper and glossier than they appeared while painting. The finished piece is more stylized than the original, but it captures the floppy ears, white markings, and general character I was after.