First, make sure you have the lineart finished and the color layer all done, and then you can begin your fur.
1. On the color layer, use the airbrush and fill in the base color(s) for your fur.
2. Use the smudge tool(I used brush size 10 for this), and blend the two colors together.
3. Create a new layer above the original color layer and switch back to the pen tool. Pick a lighter color than the base color and start stroking in the direction of the fur(I used size 4 for this). I have pen pressure for my tablet, so I don't need to constantly switch brush sizes to get different thickness of fur.
4. Pick some different shades(lighter, darker, or paler than the main color), and start doing the same thing, going in the direction of fur growth. Don't be afraid to stroke over the two different base colors a bit.
5. Keep adding some more fur. After you think you have enough, switch to the airbrush again and pick a darker color than the base color(s), and add shadows where need be.
6. In the sixth panel it shows the edges of the fur(I took the lineart layer off). I zoomed in twice and used the smudge tool(size 3), to smudge the outer edges of the base color up so its looks like fur. I also stroked down to make the fur strands stick out more. It helps to reference pictures of wolves(or whatever animal you're drawing) for fur reference too.
I usually delete the lineart layer for my more realistic drawings, like I did in "Howling". If you're going for a style like that, you want to only use the lineart as reference to where everything is.
I'm still learning how to improve my fur, so make sure to find ways that work better for you also. Hope this helped you Morning Rain! ^.^ If there's any questions let me know.
