Guide For Painting Deer

Get some good reference pictures, and if you can, take a good look at live animals. This is also where going to your local state show/convention would really help a lot - seeing the mounts of other top taxidermists. While there are color variation in deer, there are similarities among the deer, most notably that there are several shades of color on their noses, eyes and ears. (A deer’s nose is never black or any single color for that matter) You want a realistic coloration with smooth transition and, particularly around the eyes, a soft look. Experiment with different colors until you get a pattern you are happy with. Always go from light to dark as you apply your colors and remember “less is better!” I think the mistake most new taxidermists make is putting too much paint. There are some tutorials that are very helpful on this site on the subject.

 

I use 4 colors on deer to blend to my desired tone. They are Superhide white, Mars red, Burnt sienna, and dark brown.

 

I always used white, flesh, chocolate brown, black and Yox (whatever the name is today) black

 

Bill Yox has his paint schedule in one of the old Breakthrough Magazines.

 

The Yox nosepad gray didn't work out for me on whitetails. I used it and immediately had 2 guys return their deer because the nose wasn't "black" I toned it with dark brown and got them satisfied. I use it on axis & fallow deer and pheasant legs.

 

For eyes and noses on blacktails and mule deer, I always used really thinned washes of off white, then flesh followed by dark brown. I would tone that down if needed with medium brown, or darken it up with a super thin misting of black if needed. The darker the colors for each layer, the thinner the wash.

 

Do you have Mounting a Whitetail from A to Z by Rick carter sold by McKenzie. If not, get it right away!

 

Joey, I usually priced those guys out of bothering me. When they came in, I'd tell them I'd buy them a 4 ounce container of flat black and they could paint it like they wanted. I started detailing noses about 10 years ago. One of my better customers brought his deer back saying that his friends ridiculed him for having a gay deer with a rainbow nose. I painted it while he waited. The next season he brought me another deer and in our discussion, he asked me if I'd paint it back like the one I'd done earlier. I must have looked puzzled as I'd just written "BLACK NOSE" on the work order. He said to me, "You know, I looked closely at the deer you painted for me and THAT'S what a real deer nose looks like. I told my friends they were full of crap. Can you repaint that black nose?"
Some customers actually do know what deer look like.

 

I'm with ya George on deer noses aren't black however I'm also with Joey. While yox grey is an excellent color/ stain it's not a good choice alone for noses.
Absolutely fantastic for fish work though

 

I use 3 or 4 colors on a deers nose and Yox's is the brunt of it. The bad thing is, if someone paints a deers nose just black, it really looks stupid to me and sticks right out. The only thing anyone mentioned on my mounts was a deer's nose is not wet looking. I even showed pictures of live deer to the guy and he still wouldn't believe me. So now, I just use satin.

 

I use 1 color , and only one color . All these nose pads have just one color any guesses on what that color is ? I’m color blind and I had to come up with the easiest way to paint .

 

orange.

 

Man , how did you know , I didn’t think anyone would of figured it out . LOL
NOT .

 

Most hunters have never seen a live deer up close. You have to ask if they want it painted like a live deer or dead dear black?

 

In the tutorial section there is, or was, a very detailed tutorial on how to paint eyes and noses with oil paints. It worked very well them and pretty good for me when I tried it.

 

I just went there and all I get is an error page.