Horse Drawing
Hi guys!
I am sorry it’s been such a long time since my last blog post. Moving to Hamilton has been crazy. I have been so busy with Christmas commissions so a massive thank you for everyone who has commissioned me for work this year.
So a lot of the work I have been working on is secret, but I did find time to work on this horse drawing. I used to love drawing horses but when I was little I figured I need to branch out to other animals. Now I find horse drawing tricky, however I think I’m doing pretty well.Â
So here are a few work in progress shots from my horse drawing. As you can see it’s just layering colours from lightest to darkest. It is very important to keep an eye on your reference photo to know where the highlights and shadows are. I try to just look at my reference photo for 5 minutes to study all the details. That way I can add them to my nature drawing whatever it happens to be. The more details you notice and add the more realistic the piece will be. Now that doesn’t mean every square inch should have tons of detail. The head or the focal point will have the most detail, but like in this horse drawing the body recedes then it will have less focus, or if a leg is heavily shadowed it will have less detail than one in balanced light.
Horses are a great animal to practice as their hair is rather short. So you are able to see all the muscles under the hair and how they raise and lower. Horse drawing for this reason is also difficult but it’s an excellent practice exercise. They also come in a huge array of shapes and sizes. Try drawing breed extremes, such as an Arabian and compare it to a Shire horse. Study your reference photos to pick out the differences and show those differences in your horse drawing. You will notice that even the noses are a completely different shape.
Progress Shots of my Horse Drawing
Here you can see as I begin my horse drawing I start with the head first. Typically starting with the eyes as if the eyes are wrong it throws off the whole drawing. I know muzzles are not my strong point, I always tend to draw them too wide or I over compensate and make them too narrow. So I made a point to triple check dimensions. Keep layering your colours, using many colours like this adds interest and dimension. Don’t just pick one colour pencil and go yep that’s the right colour. This will flatten out your horse drawing.
As I move through the body, I just kept layering and kept looking at my reference photo. Where did the hair group together, where were the lightest colours, was there specs of odd colour patterns, was there any scars.
Something also to note, I drew the grass first that way I could have blades of grass over my foal. This way it puts the foal into the setting, and makes the horse drawing look more realistic.
My finished horse drawing is available for purchase over on my ebay account.Â
If you would like to keep up to date with my pet portraits you can do so in a variety of ways. Facebook is your guy if you would like to connect on a more personal level and look into my daily life, along with tips. If you are more interested in regular artwork posts then instagram is the one for you. Speed drawings and videos are available on my youtube channel.
