SCULPT YOUR HORSE

Deanna Cummins

Copyright©2011

Lesson Three

Drawing

In this lesson you will learn the basics of drawing, how to use your drawing tools, and the techniques necessary for sculpting.

Drawing is an important first step in creating your sculpture. Drawing improves your hand coordination and gives you a visual understanding of the horse’s body structure. Learning to draw will help you learn to sculpt. Drawing practice will help you when it comes time to shape the clay for your sculpture.

Why you must draw your subject before sculpting

Drawing is a very helpful tool for creating the composition. It helps to plan the structure and organize the artist’s ideas. It is also very important for understanding the shapes in different positions. Drawing exercises the two-dimensional thought process of the brain and helps with comprehension.

Drawing techniques and exercises

There are a number of drawing techniques available to the artist. The basic techniques for this course:

A. Relaxation exercises for the hand.

It is necessary to draw freely and softly. A relaxed hand will allow you to do so! Practice quick motions with your pencil making soft shapes, such as up and down motions with more pressure at the start, gradually getting softer. You can also do this exercise in a circular motion.

B. Shapes.

This helps to break down your subject into parts and to focus on the uniqueness of the individual parts of the body. Practice drawing circles, ovals and squares. At first it will be difficult to draw a round circle and a straight square. But practice visualizing one line at a time before you draw it. It will be necessary to practice this exercise for a few days before you will be able to master the shapes. During this exercise, focus on keeping your hands relaxed and drawing soft lines.

C. Handling your tools.

The position of your hand on your paper and the way you hold your pencil will influence how you draw your subject. It is necessary to practice often in the beginning. (Later in this text there are pictures of different hand positions.)

D. Shading

Making two dimensions become three dimensional is the start of comprehending the art of sculpting. To make an object look three dimensional you will need to understand its full content. How do you show that an object has many sides when it is on paper? Basic shading consists of applying more shading in the weighted areas of an object. Shading on a horse will be in the areas with more tension as well as the weighted areas of the body. For example: you will want to shade the shoulder and hip because these are a couple of areas that will have more action ¨tension¨ and the hooves and legs should be shaded because they carry the horse’s weight. Shadows also help to create depth in a drawing.

E. Drawing from your head versus drawing from life.

Drawing from your head and contrasting it with drawing from life will reveal your true comprehension of your subject. Drawing from life will be one of your most valuable exercises. Choose one part of your horse; his neck for example, and practice drawing just that part of the horse and see if you can match the shape on paper. Practice each part of the horse this way.

Drawing from your head: start by visualizing the image you want to draw. Visualize one line at a time! For example: start with the profile of your horse. The first line to draw would extend from in front of the ears down to the top lip. Ask yourself, how is this line shaped? Is the line straight, curved and does it” indent”? Some horses have very flat foreheads which blend into a dramatic ¨Roman nose¨ while others may be straight with small lumps and indentations. You will never draw a ruler-straight line on a horse! This is because horses are naturaly imperfect. The ¨imperfections¨ are what an artist should be looking for when creating a portrait! These are the attributes which set individuals apart.

Next work your way up the chin, lower jaw to the jowl and so on.

Drawing tools and how to use them

The tools used for drawing are simple and few. All that is necessary are two different grade pencils, paper and a pencil sharpener. All your needed tools are provided in the tool kit offered with this course.

Holding your pencil properly is important! You will want to hold it at a 45-degree angle from your paper. This is the position for most drawing exercises.

Refer to the photos below for examples of holding your pencil.

Holding your pencil properly will give you the most control when you apply pressure. One point to remember: always avoid pressing hard with your pencil. This will cause indentations in your paper and it will be difficult to control your lines if your hand is tense. You want to carefully glide your pencil over your paper leaving a soft pencil line. It is important to rest your hand to keep it relaxed.

Holding the Pencil

This is the way you will hold your pencil most of the time.

This position is often used for shading.

The negative space

Identifying the negative space will give you the ability to more easily understand the shapes and how they connect. Seeing the negative space helps for smoothing and reshaping your clay after it is added to your armature. Practicing and understanding the negative space is very important. Practice by looking at the outline of your subject as the example below shows. A good place to start is the belly line and inside of the legs.

Your horse on paper

On a photograph of your horse, outline the negative areas.

As you draw, focus on the small details of each line. This exercise will help you to define one line from another. Notice that the connections of the muscles are defined. For example: the throat begins after the jowl which is round and the neck has a slow curve ending at the chest muscles which protrude slightly out in front of the neck. Make sure you distinguish the muscle connections of the horse!

The horse as shapes

On a number of photos of your horse in different movements find and draw all the basic shapes of the body. (Refresh your memory by rereading Lesson 2)

Break the horse down into as many basic shapes as you can! These shapes should consist mostly of circles and ovals. Remember that these are the basic shapes of the body. They condense and extend when the horse is in motion.

Inside these shapes find the muscular shapes of your horse. These can distort due to their density. These will vary from circles to squares to rectangles and so on.

To find these shapes start by drawing the obvious indentations of the horse’s muscles. (This was explained in lesson 2)

Hair versus muscle

Hair (mane, forelock, tail) against muscle is an important contrast! You want to have hair that looks full, soft and flowing and in contrast the muscles should look strong and natural.

When you are drawing, you can define the hair against the muscle by drawing two lines for one strand of hair. This will help make it look thicker and softer. You want to make sure it is flowing in a natural direction. If your horse is moving, notice how his movement causes the mane to flow away from his body.

A horse’s mane helps define the discipline as well as the breed of horse. If your horse is a hunter, depict him in hunter braids or if your horse is western pleasure horse, put bands in the mane. This is a fun way to help define the horse’s breed and discipline.

When you are sculpting your horse’s mane, forelock or tail, make sure you add enough clay to make it thick, soft and flowing.

The focus is the same as when you are drawing.

Assignment

Part 1: Practice the drawing exercises A-E in this lesson. Email your drawing exercises to me at: dncummins06@yahoo.com

Part 2: Draw the negative space of your horse, practice drawing your horse’s shapes as well as defining the hair against the muscles. Email three of your best drawings.