# Did some horse art recently!



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

Pretty much what it says on the box!

These are for a personal project I'm working on, something of a running story.


































Not sure where I want to go with these two. Got half a mind of making a short kids story out of them

















Been doing a lot more horse sketches as of late, but those still need to be run through the ol' scanner!


----------



## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Sorry, we are going to have see more of these, and the story that goes with them! 

And are those flying possums?!


----------



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

Happy to oblige!

And yes! The shetland pony and the possum form an adventuring duo of sorts! It started as some friends simply prompting me to throw the elements 'possum, horse, unicorn and wings' all into one drawing, and it escalated from there, haha


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Avna said:


> Sorry, we are going to have see more of these, and the story that goes with them!
> 
> And are those flying possums?!


Yes, I really need to see more! Your art is so evocative! Knowing that there is a story behind it... I need more!


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Superb! What is the medium?


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I showed these to my daughter. She said, "I would read that book." She especially liked the last two. She's 14.

I would read that book, too!


----------



## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

About the picture of the raven looking down at the horse-- Once I was staying in a tent at the Point Reyes National Seashore horse camp with my horse and I was the only one there. I woke up to the clip clop of two horses. Looking out the tent window, I did not see any horses, it was deserted, so went back to sleeping. Clip Clop Clip Clop again. I got up and went outside, no horses. But up in a tree were two ravens looking down at the camp saying clip clop clip clop perfectly.


----------



## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Your art has an amazing way of giving the impression of motion and context while also capturing the beauty in that exact moment. Evocative is absolutely the right word. I can't wait to see more!


----------



## Danneq (Sep 18, 2020)

These are gorgeous!


----------



## MeditativeRider (Feb 5, 2019)

I hope you come out with a graphic novel to go with these amazing pictures! The last ones make me think of The Tea Dragon Society, which my kids loved (not saying your pictures are the same but just that there is very much a market for graphic novels like that; they have got very popular recently).


----------



## Fuddyduddy1952 (Jun 26, 2019)

Wife loved them! Is that Cernunnos in the first one she wants to know?

Sent from my SM-S205DL using Tapatalk


----------



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

Thanks so much everyone! 
It makes me very happy these images are so well-liked!


As of yesterday I've made one more piece of the pony and possum duo:









Naturally, the pony will get one of these as well! Likely with some mushrooms and pumpkins involved to really get into the autumn spirit!
For some reason making this really boosted my excitement for the season. 




> Superb! What is the medium?


Photoshop and a Huion screen tablet! The sketches are a combination of colored pencil for the base sketch, and fineliner to clarify things a bit. 



> I showed these to my daughter. She said, "I would read that book." She especially liked the last two. She's 14.
> 
> I would read that book, too!


That's so lovely! Really happy to hear that! 



> About the picture of the raven looking down at the horse-- Once I was staying in a tent at the Point Reyes National Seashore horse camp with my horse and I was the only one there. I woke up to the clip clop of two horses. Looking out the tent window, I did not see any horses, it was deserted, so went back to sleeping. Clip Clop Clip Clop again. I got up and went outside, no horses. But up in a tree were two ravens looking down at the camp saying clip clop clip clop perfectly.


Oh wow, that's really cool! I didn't know they were so good at mimicking sound!
Corvids are something special, man. I keep hearing stories of just how clever these guys are.



> I hope you come out with a graphic novel to go with these amazing pictures! The last ones make me think of The Tea Dragon Society, which my kids loved (not saying your pictures are the same but just that there is very much a market for graphic novels like that; they have got very popular recently).


That's certainly something I really want to do! And thank you for bringing the Tea Dragon Society to my attention, it looks so cute! Absolutely lovely



> Wife loved them! Is that Cernunnos in the first one she wants to know?


No, I went for kind of nondescript monsters, because lanky dudes with antlers and limbs that are slightly too long always work pretty well if you need someone standing around creepily, but I definitely see the connection. I've noticed people also see the background creatures as Wendigos a lot.


----------



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

So yesterday during my livestream the possum's friend, the Shetland pony, also got a Fall-themed drawing! Also a great excuse to look at adorable Shetties for a few hours, haha.
But this time things were a bit different, because the possum was done in Photoshop, the software I've worked in for almost eight years now and which I know inside out.
Several weeks ago I got CorelPainter2020, along with a number of other Corel programs, in a HumbleBundle for only 25 bucks. So I've been very excited to try those out, starting with Painter.
And the line art was heavensent. It's got a brush that adds formidable weight to linework once you get the hang of it and for someone who's not great at line art, this was a nice experience:










But then we arrived at Coloring Station. 
See, Painter really tries to imitate the look of traditional art and for me that was never really something I was interested in pursuing. Things looking 'digital' was never something I saw as a bad thing. Oil paints, acrylics, pastel, watercolours; they all have their own, beautiful signature looks, but to me so does digital; one really doesn't need to try to be the other to be a beautiful artwork. 
But at the same time I'm not against it either; I can see it having its uses. 
However, the fact that this software is so different in how it handles color makes it a super steep learning curve! Very exciting, but also frustrating at turns, but slowly but surely I feel I'm getting there. I learned that I need to let go of how I think the program should respond to my input and be open to the things it does differently to see if it's something I want to keep using in the future.
And I'm really liking that. It's easy to get rusted shut in something, whether it's a traditional or a digital medium, and expanding my horizons with new things is a great way to keep learning!

Here's the current colored result (I want to try all sort of different things, haha):










Also I realize I'm sort of making this an art journal, hope that's okay!


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Definitely ok. Tiny has one that we all love.


----------



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

Glad to hear that! And true, hers is a joy to follow!


----------



## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

Gee, back when I drew horses as a kid all I used was a pencil. It was OK but not great like your's. Now I draw and paint horses with words. The reader sees the horses inside their heads.

Under a moonlit tree a dark mare is standing in the mist. The moon hangs in the branches like a ripe pear and a mockingbird sings in a voice of silver. Memories come flooding back and time is just a laughing child.


----------



## SuddenLife (Jun 1, 2015)

Update! I finally managed to color the pony in a way I liked!









It helped that I did some other work before that one to get more familiar with the software;


















Still far from fluent in it, but that's okay! I did a livestream of the shetland pony, and honestly, I could make a hilarious compilation of all the moments where I just fell silent mid-sentence because the software did something I 100% did not expect haha. It's a trip. 
But hey, one step at a time. I have something of a simple routine down, so that's a good start.


----------

