Horse Capital Digest
November, 2005
"Drawing Horses Step By Step"
Article and Artwork by Heidi Mattson
The horse is a perfect subject for art: he is majestic, noble, and conjures up romantic images for many. Drawing a horse is no easy task: horses come in many shapes and sizes , each with his own attitude and movement. For the aspiring artist, there are some tips and techniques to follow that can make your drawings both accurate and emotional.

First, you have to decide what you would like to focus on. It is very helpful to be familiar with your subject, whether you know the horse or at least the breed or event you are trying to interpret on paper. The more you can picture in your mind, the more feeling you will be able to bring to your drawing. Select a good photograph large enough to show the horse in plain view without heavy shadows (I generally draw from color photos even though I am working in shades of gray). The easiest photo to work from is a view of the horse from the side, where he is facing straight ahead. Other positions may be more appealing, but will require the knowledge of perspective as well as proportions. Keep it simple until you have horse anatomy perfected.

A good paper is essential. Purchasing paper in large pads is convenient and economical, and acceptable for pencil drawings. Be sure to buy paper that is perforated and will easily pull out from the pad. I use the Strathmore 400 drawing series paper in 18” x 24”. I like a large area to work in, and the paper is very smooth so I can get a lot of detail.

For pencils, I primarily use regular Bic mechanical pencils with a .7mm lead. These are easy to find, inexpensive, never need sharpening, and can be used to make very tiny details. It is also a perfect beginners' tool. As you get more familiar with drawing you may want to add graphite pencils with a different hardness to develop more contrast within the drawing.

You will also need a smooth surface to lay your paper on before you begin to draw. I have an artists' desk which accommodates very large pieces of paper and will allow me to angle the desktop for ease of drawing. However, a sturdy table will also work. Be sure the surface is totally smooth as your drawing will pick up any textured surfaces beneath the paper.

After you've chosen your reference photo and are set up, it's time to begin. Your first task is to create the correct size of horse for your paper. If this is a troublesome area for you, you might try measuring your photograph and your paper and gridding off key areas. This might include the top of the horse's ears, the back of his rump, and other extremities. Be sure no part of the horse strays too close to the paper's edge.

Take your time with this part, and don't be afraid to start over if things aren't working. It helps to draw lightly so mistakes erase easily. I like to place a circle where the horse's upper head will be. Then I draw a smaller circle in the direction of his muzzle, and add sketchy ears. Next, I draw his neck, and a large circle to represent his sloping shoulder muscle and the beginning of his upper legs.

At this point I don't get detailed on drawing legs, but I always add an approximate length to be sure I'm not drifting too close to the bottom of the paper. I'll add a rough line for the top of his back and bottom of his belly. Every horse has a hip bone that separates his middle body from his rump. This bone divides the body pretty evenly and gives me a reference point to begin the downward slope of his rump, to end his lower belly, and to tie in the inside of his back legs. I usually add the inner leg and then bring the back rump line around before attempting to draw the hock.

After I have a basic shape on paper, I double check my proportions. Does my horse's muzzle come down even with his middle chest like it does in my photo? Are his neck and back lengths in harmony with my photo? It's much easier to change things now, before I'm halfway into a drawing and spot a major error. Once the basic shapes are correct, I go back and make my sketch more exact. This means shaping those ears and muzzle, and down into the neck and back and rump. I also add a little more shape to my legs. Another thing I'll put in is the basic shapes of saddles and headgear if that's going to be in my drawing.

I always work from the front of the horse to the back. This is easiest to do if the horse is facing to the left, so I can work left to right and not drag my hand through finished areas. If you are having trouble with smudging, a simple trick is to place an unwanted photograph, glossy side down, beneath your hand to keep it off the paper. You can also use a spray-on art fixative, but be sure to cover up any areas you might want to later erase. Even the most workable fixatives aren't very forgiving.

My next step is to draw the horse's head. To me, this is the win-or-lose point. Most of a horse's expression is in his head and eye, and for me this has to be perfect. I'll draw the bridle or halter in technical style, making anything that will be lightly colored - buckles, bridle flash, stitching on large portraits - very sharp and exaggerated because it will be greatly softened by the surrounding dark areas. I also like to draw the horse's eye early in the portrait. I am careful to focus on the shape of the eye as I see it in my reference photo, as every horse is different. After the shape is down, I will add a large circle in the top front of the eye. This will represent light reflected from the eyeball, which is circular and needs such emphasis to avoid appearing flat. Then I pencil in the pupil of the horse's eye, which is shaped like a Tic Tac. This is colored in darkly. The remainder of the eye is shaded in a medium tone, and then the edges of the eyeball and under the lashes are made very dark.

To shade in the horse's body, I first lay down a light layer of pencil across an entire section, such as the horse's neck. Very little of a horse should be white unless you are dealing with a very light coat color. I choose the lightest shade any portion of the neck appears in the photo, and then add pencil to the shadowed areas to create deeper shading. It is easy to add shading but much more difficult to erase it.

At this point I am ready to work on the horse's front legs. There are some anatomical things to remember about horses that help to make a correct shape. First, a horse's leg will only bend where there are joints, as in the shoulder, knee, pastern (ankle), hip, and hock. The bones in between those joints are straight, although there is muscle that creates bulges in the upper legs. A horse's knee is not very prominent when viewed from the side. His pastern angle is generally the same as the angle of his shoulder as it ties into his neck. The front angle of his hoof is also usually the same as the shoulder angle. The legs in the foreground of the picture should always reach lower on the page than the legs in the background. These are all helpful in shaping the legs.

His tail ties in towards the top of the rump. Tail hairs should be drawn with long strokes in the direction of hair growth. This is also true of manes that are natural. The top of the hair will be denser and darker than the bottom, where hairs should split off strand by strand. I believe the horse should always be the focus of the drawing. I don't usually add shadows or backgrounds, but I will add some light shading around the horse's hooves and a few small spots between them to create a feeling of the horse standing on a hard surface. When I am finished with that, I sign my name, date it, and take my paper outside, where I spray it liberally with a fixative like Krylon's Workable Fix. This will help keep it pristine and treasured for years to come.

Remember that everything worth doing takes practice and time. Art is no exception. It is a talent, but it is also a skill. My first horse drawing looks nothing like my four hundredth. Every time you concentrate on getting those shapes down, you will get better. I don't have to see a photograph now to know how a hoof or ear should look; it's imprinted in my mind. If horses and drawing are your passion, let your dreams take you places.








Completed drawing at left.