Drawing the Horse

1. Use reference materials. Some people work better from live, animated objects while others work well from photo references, magazines, or books. A great reference to go along with those above is the book "An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists" by W. Ellenberger. This book shows the bone structure, muscle structure, and other important aspects of the horse and other animals, as well as more in depth key relative measurements.

2. See with your eyes, not with your memory. You may be tempted to change parts of the horse based on what you remember. Once you have enough experience with the subject your working with, there is more room for experimentation. But when starting out, try to work within the confines of realism in order to gain a better perspective of the subject.

Points of the Horse

The picture to the left names some of the more important points of the horse's head and neck areas.

Laying Out The Drawing

Once you have your reference materials, lay out the drawing with the main positioning and muscle structure outlined. Keep in mind that this drawing will be your main guideline for the sculpture, but don't add too much detail here.

Relative Measurements

The following measurements are very close approximations. These measurements are slightly different for different breeds of horses, but are a great general reference.

A (head), D (neck), and E (the distance between the withers and the point of the shoulder) are typically equal in length. In draft horses, D is slightly shorter (larger head, thicker body, shorter neck)

B and F are typically the same length, and are approximately 3/5 the length of A, D, or E. In english thoroughbreds, B is slightly longer (longer face, thinner neck). C is approximately 2/5 the length of A.

Actual Measurements Laying Out the Sculpture >>