Ever Wanted to Draw a Horse?

I’m of the opinion that what it takes to draw a horse is hours of practice. A whole horse drawing is the sum of it’s parts, and horses have a lot of parts. In many ways, depth of detail makes or breaks equine art.

And while it is fair to say that art is subjective, that is no excuse for lack of practice or attention to detail. You get what you pay for.

Laying a good foundation by understanding basic horse anatomy is a good place to start, and there are plenty of resources online when learning to draw the equine form. Here are some of the best I found:

About.com

Their tutorial is short, but About.com does a good job of using shapes to build a foundation in their equine drawing tutorial.

Instructions are concise and general, but it’s the pictures that really make the article. They are spaced perfectly, big and easy to see and sketched by an artist who knows horse anatomy.

The Toad Hollow Studio

As if sketching the body isn’t enough, how about learning how to draw a horses head. The Toad Hollow Studio gives an in-depth lesson on drawing and shading.

This website is breaks the process down in to several parts, and each one is full of helpful information, not just about the drawing but preparation, and tools as well.

Basics
Supplies
Printable tools
and the lesson in 3 parts

Fantasy Art Resource Project

A strange place for such an amazing horse drawing resource but Fantasy Art Resource Project had the best tutorial I found anywhere. It is well thought out and definitely worth checking out as you sharpen your pencil.

The lessons are designed to teach the artist a bit about the animal prior to the actual drawing lesson.

Lesson 1 – Anatomy
Lesson 2 – Breeds
Lesson 3 – Movement
Lesson 4 – Drawing the horse

Need inspiration? Check out these videos of horse drawing masters

Now that you have some tools and a little inspiration, pick a breed and start drawing.