Colouring my animal

Hi, I want to add some realistic colouring to the model of a jackal I have made. The image that I used to make the model is also in the file, How do I add a colour to the model that is similar to the one in the photo?
pika.skp (1.1 MB)
(it’s a jackal, not a pika, but never mind the name.)

If you turn off perspective mode and go to the front view in x-ray mode, you can move the image to align with the geometry:

After opening the image component and selecting the image, you can use the Materials dropper to grab a “snapshot” of the image location. Exit the component and paste the image onto the appropriate parts of the jackal (all but the front legs). Move the image to align with the front leg:

Again, open the image and use the dropper to select it again. Paste it onto the front legs. Here’s the result:

I don’t mean EXACTLY like the photograph, just similar to it. Look at this picture for some details.

As you can see, it’s not coloured like a photograph, it’s just colours. How do you do that?

Turn on hidden geometry and physically paint the individual faces. If you just paint the faces that separate one colour from the next you can quickly paint all the rest of the contiguous ones by holding down Ctrl.
In the case of that sheep, that would mean just painting all the grey faces that border the fleece. You could then quickly paint the rest of the legs and face.
Alternately, you can pre-select the faces (carefully…with swipe-select) and paint them all in one operation.
This entire figure is painted that way.
http://www.formfonts.com/files/1/17953/cheerleaders-varios-poses-costumes-are-grouppainted-for-easy_FF_Model_ID17953_2_cheerleader02b.jpg

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