# drawing horses...



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Cheyenne ,

I have enjoyed your many posts. If you are serious about a serious reply, then I will lay it on you.
I have been drawing horses since ever I can remember. And have drawn more than I could possibly count. What happened to them? 99% of them got thrown in the garbage. But, I learned from each attempt and that is my number one piece of advice to you;
Get some really cheap paper, some good pencils or other drawing medium that you like, and draw and draw and throw away. You see, if you worry about the finished product, it will become so precious to you that you will be afraid to strike out and make mistakes in the the effort to try new things. Never let the blank, white paper stop you. Don't worry about what comes. You pick up your pencil, hover over the paper and think about a horse; maybe stretching it's head down to graze. Or, striking off in a canter. Feel the way that the horse shifts it weight and where and how the energy flows from the first foot on the ground to the next and the next. It is this line of energy that you will want to draw first. Kind of like the spine and the leg from which the horse is pushing off. Everything else will flow from there.
Don't go too slow. move briskly and if it isnt' right, toss it aside and draw another. just go and go and see what comes out of the spirit. Out of 10 or 12, you may get one good one. But it will be alive!


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## SkyeAngel (Sep 8, 2010)

I agree with tiny, most of the drawings I've done have been thrown out, it takes a LOT of practise, so just keep trying.

A tip i give people who are struggling a little with outlines is to print out a reference pic and draw a grid over it. Then grid out your paper in the same way and draw it square by square, this way you are focusing carefully on each section. After a lot of practise you will be able to pay more attention to each line of your reference picture without having to draw the grid.

I also have another friend who swears by turning their reference picture upside down and drawing the whole thing upside down. Her reasoning is that it's very easy to have an image in your head of what you THINK a horse's head/back/whatever looks like, and so you don't really concentrate on the image. By doing it upsidedown shereckons you don't see it as a horse any more so you forget about preconcieved ideas and just draw what you see, making a better drawing. Personally i haven't tried it but it works for her

I hope some of this can help. The most important thing is: practise, practise, practise!


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

thanks guys!
I'll try some things and see how they turn out


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## ladybugsgirl (Aug 12, 2009)

wow tinyliny written well. I have also drawn circles and piece it together.


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## ladybugsgirl (Aug 12, 2009)

here is a website that might help....
Drawing a Horses Front Legs on the left under The Animals there is a listing for horse art and they give you tips on anatomy, drawing the front and hind legs etc...


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

oh cool thank you!


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

here are some pics that I randomly drew. Sorry 'bout the quality.

Try #1 was good except that it turned out looking like a mule. The farthest back leg was really good though.









Try #2 wasn't too bad. The neck could be longer and the horse looks preggo, but other than that...









Try #3 was supposed to be a gallop, but it ended up looking like a trot...









Try #4... Like I said, I tried.









Try #5 looked a bit better than number #3. This was suposed to be a canter...









Try #6 was supposed to be an Andalucian. the butt was too high and it wasn't stalky enough...










that's all that I did yesterday. I just grabbed a book of horses and tried to draw the pictures  I'll give it another go tomorow, but do you have any tips for me? Thanks!!

P.S. I'll be making a post for drawing requests and seeing if I can practice with some people's horses. I'll post a link to it once I got it going!


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

here's that link... 

http://www.horseforum.com/art-requests/want-me-draw-your-horse-73753/#post860150


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Your canter horse is on its' right lead and it's bearing weight on the strike off leg. It looks like it's moving. I like that. You can really add a feeling of movement by having the tail and main "wave". You know because the horse move up and down, and the mane and tail stream out behind him, they , too , will have an up and down Wavelike form, not just straight lines. Unless the horse is in a really fast gallop, then the long tail/mane tend to stream out in straight lines.

the Andalusian's head is really nice, it has the convex shape just perfect.
Maybe you'd like to just draw a head like that next time.

Press harder with your pencil and let the lines be darker and lighter; darker means it's more important; either bearing more weight or is a line of energy and movement or you can use line thickness to help with three dimentionality.

Good work.


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

Thanks!
Yes I'm not too good at manes 
okay cool, I'll try some shading too next time, and work on the movements of the horses. #3 the picture was a race horse but people... as much as I try I can never get them right so I decided to forget that 
I'll see if I can find a good picture of a paint horse and try shading with that one! I'll post them on here after I'm done!
thanks!


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## Flintlock (Sep 8, 2008)

Often times I look at the shape of the surroundings and not the actual subject I am drawing. Sometimes we can become engrossed in the subject as to skew it. By focusing on the background, adjoining shapes, or PARTS of the main subject AS YOU GO ALONG, you take your eye off of the primary object and can often get a more realistic view.

Good luck!!
Wess


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

okay thanks! 
http://www.horseforum.com/art-requests/want-me-draw-your-horse-73753/
there's a link to some of my drawings so you can see what I need to work on from there too. I just put 3 pics on there.


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

I darkened this one a little:


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

heres a pic that I just randomly drew










I guess it didn't turn out too bad...


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

here's another random one that I just drew now...


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

...I'm gonna fix that rump...

Whoa I'm trying, but it's not doing much. Is it the connection from the rump to the back leg that's going forward?
I'm trying to fix it, but I don't know what's wrong with it. It looks like the rump is too rounded, but...


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## KawaiiCharlie (Nov 17, 2010)

i learnt by using things like this.
DrawingNow - How to draw a horse step by step
How To Draw a Horse - Step-by-Step
Learn how to draw a horse step by step

just keep practicing, youre getting better already


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

thanks I'll take a look at those!


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## Cheyennes mom (Aug 6, 2010)

I uploaded another few pictures onto here: http://www.horseforum.com/art-requests/want-me-draw-your-horse-73753/

if you wanna keep critiquing!
Lay it on me!


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