I am a beginner artist and really should still follow rules which in acrylics usually means painting from dark to light colours. .. but I find that working from the background towards the front of the painting seems to work best for me, regardless of the colours. So first of all I paint the chosen background. Secondly I draw or, in this case, trace the subject onto the background. With animal paintings like this one I start with painting the eyes and then the nose areas. This immediately gives the painting life that I can work around. And to be honest, if I can't get those right there is no point to continue with the rest of the painting as they give it all the character it needs. Once I am happy with those areas, I shade in the background colours of the subject before I then add the first layer of more detail. I then continue to layer until I am happy with the result. This seems to give my paintings a depth and 3D effect. Acrylics allow me to paint over any mistakes and to redo an area as often as needed.