Materials used:
- PAPER: Bristol Board Extra Smooth Surface Drawing Pad WIDSOR & NEWTON 250g
- Pencil KOH-I-NOOR B
- Eraser, ruler, possibly a compass
The drawing is the basis for creating any work. The precision of its execution affects their final effect, and maintaining the correct proportions is very important, especially in realistic and portrait drawings.
We can transfer the animal's outline from the photo using many different possibilities, such as: tape measure - thumb and pencil, solid, grid, geometric shapes, tracing paper or ruler. However, understanding the proportion and practising them will give us plenty of opportunities to further develop our skills during creating more complex designs, such as depicting the movement of an animal.
In this tutorial, we will focus on using geometric figures. In order to increase precision the ruler will also be used.
Make the sketch lightly with a pencil so that you can later remove the auxiliary lines.
Remember that the smoother (slippery) the paper you use, the less visible the traces of the auxiliary lines are.
For this work, I used the following dimensions:
A square with a side of 9 cm
Section G: 3 cm
- We draw a square (with a side of 9 cm). We divide it in half (P), then into three equal parts (G - 3cm each). The resulting segment (1.5 cm) between the middle line (P) of the square and the line G1 is divided also in half. Within the area at the junction of the top line of the square and the newly formed line (s) we draw two circles so that they touch the lines in three places, thus forming the space between them. If you find drawing circles difficult, at the beginning you can do it with the use of a compass.
- In one of the circles we draw a line where the tangent points of the circle with the square line are. This will serve us as a reference for further work. Already at this point we can notice that this line is the same length as the segments previously marked on the square (G - 3 cm). We lead the perpendicular line (also of the same length - 3 cm) from the middle of the previous one and at the end of it we draw circles that are the base for creating the head. A segment passing through these circles, drawn at their outer circumference, also has a length of 3 cm. It is worth adding that the diameter of the larger circle is 1.5 cm, which is exactly half the length of the G segment.
- At a later stage, we move on to the formation of the leg lines. The front leg starts at the point of the s line, approximately in the middle, between the point where the segment G, drawn within the circle, meets the top of the square and the point where the perpendicular segment, designating the neck, begins. We mark the wrist joint on the G2 line with a diamond . The next step is to draw a circle that will form the so-called hock pond. The point on which we draw it is determined by measuring the distance from the middle of the wrist joint (diamond) to the s line, and then we transfer this dimension lower (from the half of the diamond down). We draw a slightly diagonal line starting from the circle. The line should meet the triangle which forms the hoof. We proceed to the formation of the hind leg. There are three G sections, key for the proportion, which are of a standard 3 cm length in our tutorial. The tangent point of these segments is on the G1 line. The knee joint is much larger than the wrist joint in the front leg, however, it should be noted here that the lower boundary of these joints is in line. Also note that the rear leg is not straight, the angles will obviously be different depending on the position of the leg. In this tutorial, the hock joints of both legs are in the same line as the horse is standing straight, which will obviously change when the limbs are positioned differently, from a different perspective.
- It's time to move on to creating an outline of our horse. It can be different depending on the photo of the horse you are using (more or less muscular).
- Then we rub the auxiliary lines. We add details: muscle lines, tail, we draw the other two limbs, etc.
The resulting drawing is the basis for further work - shading, but also the starting position for various positions of the horse's head and limbs and for adjusting the drawing to the horse's breed (build). Keeping in mind the correct proportions (in particular the joint lines and G sections), we can proceed to more complicated drawings, for example, showing an animal in motion.
TUTORIAL was published in the pages of KwARTalnik - a polish magazine for artists. The magazine can be downloaded for free online at the link below:
https://issuu.com/kwartalnik.artystyczny/docs/kwartalnik-nr-1_1_
