Drawing Horses

My Horse Head Demo with Simple Shapes was featured in The Art Instruction Blog's July issue. That and finding a big box of old snapshots, got me fired up again to do some horses. I did this drawing of my mare's sire, San Diego, on tracing paper, refining it with several overlays. I learned this technique in college when majoring in illustration and still find it a useful drawing tool. Tomorrow I'll show you how the simple shapes supported the head and neck framework of this drawing.

Still Horse Crazy

Here's the finished sketch from yesterday. I just realized that I said I was going to really  K. I. S. S.  (keep it simple stupid) this year and here I go, already getting carried away and complicated. I am still a little obsessed with horses, you know, especially after my trip on Thursday to the Devon Horse Show after my long absence. I'll try to stick to my word and not get ahead of myself next time. Sorry about that folks.

I also did some gesture drawing today. Here's one of my two minute sketches. I sure am rusty, so you can bet you'll be seeing more drawing exercises like this one from me this summer.  Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to read my blogs and comment on my posts.

More Horse Heads And Some Reader Participation!

Susan Bronsak writes: "Something I've struggled with through the years is the use of shapes in forming my subjects.  Sandy's first exercise for 2011 is just that, using simple shapes (triangle, circle, and square) to create this horse's head.  Although there's room for improvement with my results, I found her exercise easy and definitely fun to follow along." 

I'm impressed with Susan's drawing and her notes.  She has reminded me to do more of the same with my own sketching. You think you'll remember these details and things, but you don't.

By varying the position and size of the shapes and elements, you will be able to portray different breeds and characteristics. I tried out my theory this morning in the doctor's office. I did these the same way as yesterday, just "head copy"- with no reference. By using this simple formula of circle, square and triangle, it was easy. Both of these were done in less than five minutes while waiting for my check-up in the little exam room. Of course that led to discussion about drawing and talent vs. aptitude and desire with my doc. when she walked in.  What fun!

Surprise, surprise! When I got home, I found that Susan had posted another horse drawing on her blog! I hope she is not getting tired of drawing horses, because I sure am not getting tired of seeing them!! And again, she's got notes and valuable insights to go along with the sketch! 

BTW - Susan is also a daily sketcher and has a wonderful blog, sbwatercolors and sketching "Created and maintained as inspiration for others who wish to tap into their creative self and venture into the world of watercolor painting and sketching."

Here is a photo of my mare in profile view to copy and use as reference. She is a good example of a Thoroughbred / Warmblood type. I recommend observing  side views of different horse breeds to get a better idea of the many variations.

My first sketching challenge is to draw or paint a horse in profile view. You can customize it by depicting a certain breed or individual if you wish. Here's a painting I did yesterday using this (basic shapes) system and Rita's photo for reference..

Please draw along with me this summer and use my photos and sketches here on

Sketching Everyday.com and DrawingEveryday.com, to grow and learn. I do appreciate the credit given to me and my blog when you are describing your piece of art if and when posting it, however. example: This sketch was done from a photograph (or sketch) provided on www.SketchingEveryday.com, where artists are encouraged to participate. Sketch (or Photo) Used with permission - © Sandy Sandy

Because I sell my art and digital mages for a living, photos on my other sites and blogs may not be used without my permission.

You may not sign or put a copyright notice of your own on an image if it is a copy of someone else's work and ideally, you should always have permission from the artist or photographer to repost, redraw, paint, or reproduce an image or copy from a work.

You can find images that are in the public domain which you may use freely on Wikimedia Commons.

Let Sketching Everyday 2 0 1 1 Begin!

Woo, I am psyched! I've got some new and exciting ideas for this year's summer sketching series. I hope a few of you artists will step up and share your input with me and our readers. Remember that in every aspect of our lives, we get back in direct proportion to what we give out. I guess that's one of the many reasons for my continuance of this daily drawing challenge over the years.

One of the changes I want to make to this blog is to really "K.I.S.S. IT!"   or, "Keep It Simple Stupid" or as I like to put it, "Keep It Sensationally Simple".  I went online to see what kind of drawing instruction is available. And wow, there's a lot of it and most of it is pretty darn good! So does the world really need another drawing mentor? Well, I don't know, I guess that's for you, my fellow artists and friends to answer. Please let me know how I'm doing from time to time.


To launch the season, I'm starting off with a simple drawing demo of a horse portrait in profile. I'm showing how the foundation starts off with three simple shapes; a long triangle, a circle and a square.

I add directional lines and divide the shapes in half. This gives me a point of reference for angles and location of the features.

I divide the top half of the circle and find the location for the eye. The mouth follows the directional line of the head as does the top and bottom outline. The crest of the neck is drawn and the slight S curve is added to it's underside. The outline of the nose is rounded some and the nostril is indicated with a semi-circle curve. The ears sit below the poll.

In finishing the sketch, I add some subtle curves, slightly indicate muscle and bone structure and add a mane and forelock.

With the pencil drawing complete, I quickly brush clear water to the edges and then "whack on" a light grey value *with a dry brush. Try not to go over the paper more than once and don't scrub. I am only using drawing paper in my sketchbook, not watercolor paper. This teaches you to work swiftly and then get out of there. " In watercolor, just like in golf, the least amount of strokes wins the game." ~ Tony Couch

Then lickety-split, while the area is still damp, I add darker values* and a few details. 

 and. . .  there you have it!

So, why not copy these steps and give it a try!?

If you are new to my blog, or just a little rusty, referring to my Sketching Everyday Lens on Squidoo will probably answer your *questions. You can also study my watercolor sketching techniques in greater detail on my drawing demo pages on DrawingEveryday.com.

Draw A Horse's Head & Neck ~ Side View

I've always loved to draw horses! It's one of the first things I started copying out of an old American College Encyclopedia we had while my sisters and I were growing up. A door to door salesman had sold my folks the set, complete with a two volume dictionary and a wooden two shelf book stand. I remember it had a couple of pages of the various horse breeds. I looked at it so many times, it was burned into my memory. I can still see it in my mind's eye. I remember it was double sided and there were photos in black and white of 16 breeds. I think I drew them all. The drawings took me hours and I painstakingly copied every detail. Too bad I didn't know then what I know now! It would have helped me a lot. I'm hoping that my posts here will help make someone else's journey a little easier, speedier and more enjoyable. I'm working on putting a drawing demo together to kick off the 2011 season. Here today is a sketch from my pad.  I like this system of using a triangle, circle and square to get the framework of the head and neck. I'll be playing with it a bit more before I do the watercolor. By varying the position and size of the shapes and elements, you'll be able to portray different breeds and characteristics. What fun!

Last Post Of 2010 Season

Wow, the hummingbirds are back and Spring (actually feels like summer) is coming on full force! It's time for me to start thinking about getting back into the swing of drawing everyday. In only a month, I'll start my summer sketching series up once again. I love it and hate it at the same time. Once I get going I'm almost always glad that I did. No pain, no gain. I've got a couple of demos and drawing workshops planned as well.

Last summer, I never posted my last drawing for the season, and it's been bothering me, so I'd like to do it now.  This is Rembrandt (aka: Rudy) my 31 year old TB/Paint I got as a yearling.  On August 29th or 30th, he became seriously ill with a bacterial infection. After several weeks, it didn't look like he was going to make it. He was not eating and getting weaker with new complications everyday. We couldn't keep his fever down and he wouldn't eat, so in a matter of a month, he got extremely thin, even though my husband and I were spending up to eight hours a day, feeding him by hand. His lusterless long coat grew mangier by the day. His face took on darkness I had never seen in the 29 years I have known him. My mare was very concerned and didn't let him out of her sight. I was a basket case a lot of the time. Miraculously however, after a month of intensive and draining home care, my horse made a remarkable recovery once the right antibiotic was prescribed. He looks and feels great now and we are happily riding the trails around our home together once again.

OK, I feel better now. Drawing Everyday 2011 will be starting up soon, so stay tuned folks!

Horse Drawing

Today I did the background wash on the horse portrait I did a few weeks ago. Working in sections when using watercolor is sometimes essential and with me, it's a common practice.

Stuck In Left Brain Mode

ACCORDING TO BETTY EDWARDS, AUTHOR OF DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN, "The right brain perceives and processes visual information, in the way one needs to see in order to draw, and the left brain perceives in ways that seem to interfere with drawing. An individual's ability to draw is... the ability to shift to a different-from-ordinary way of processing visual information - to shift from verbal, analytic processing to spatial, global processing." ~ Betty Edwards


I had a hard time shifting into Right Brain Mode when drawing this complicated sketching challenge. Maybe it's because it's my horse and it was hard for me to see the image as just shapes. Anyway, after a couple of attempts I was unhappy with, I put a grid on my photo and did the same one on my paper. I put more lines where the image was more complicated. This allowed me to break the subject up into bite sized pieces. Finally I felt my Right Brain Shift and began seeing only the shapes in the box, instead of thinking about what it was I was drawing.


Here is next week's sketching challenge photo. I hope it's a fairly easy one.

Another Hummingbird Sketch Comes To Life

Here's yesterday's pencil sketch with the wash applied.

Also for this week's sketching challenge, here's a photo of my thirty year old 1/2 TB Paint, Rembrandt (aka: Rudy). Here he is, all braided up and ready for a show. I know we've got some horse lovers out there! I hope some of you will try drawing my sweet boy.


"I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen." ~ Frederick Franck

Friesian Horse Portrait

A change of pace for today, here's a horse portrait using special paper and pencils.