What I Want to Practice:

• Finding a starting place
• Using correct proportion
• Using contour lines for emphasis
• Observing from photo, not instructor’s drawing
• Experimenting with eraser for highlights
• Knowing when to stop (exercise vs finished drawing)

My Plan

• Watch video in full, then try to draw using only reference photo
• Use only an HB pencil, charcoal pencil, vinyl eraser, kneaded eraser, and blender
• Simplify background
• After drawing, watch video again and see where I need more work
• Try again later

Self-Critique

• Notice how cleverly I hid the hardest parts with grass and tail….lol. I am going to call this artistic license since the instructor did it, too. 🙂
• I don’t quite understand how to find the right proportions, but I was able to get some of the angles correct by squinting with a pencil to approximate.
• That neck is not quite right. (too thick?)
• Where the neck meets the head could be fixed with shading. I see it now.
• My shading needs work for smooth transitions, especially legs (compare to instructor)
• I like the tail with the erased highlights, but I could not make this work on the mane.

What I Learned

• Oh my goodness, that ear nearly defeated me.
• I need to practice just horse heads before trying the whole horse.
• Studying equine anatomy would be very helpful.
• A white/gray horse on a white paper is tricky. Might try again with gray paper.
• I studied John Singer Sargent’s contour lines as suggested.
• I learned about interrupted contour lines.
• I need a sharp-edged eraser for details.
• Adjusting lines as the drawing progresses is normal. Yea!!!
• Surprisingly, I love working with graphite and charcoal. I did not expect to enjoy anything without color.

Thanks for Visiting 🙂

~Sunnyside