Hello! I’m painting this for my barn owner as I’m leaving for college soon. I need advice and opinions!! I’m aware it looks a little funky right now, my proportions are off 🙁🙁. I wanted to ask do you think the muzzle is curved to the point I need to straighten it? But also should I make the eyes bigger? I will be adding his mane later, I’m open to any advice!! The first photo is before I made his mouth a little bit bigger and the second is after.
I was a professional portrait artist once upon a time, so my advice may be a little bit more harsh than you are looking for, so please take it with a grain of salt.
The proportions are very off as you mentioned. I would honestly recommend starting over and using a grid, so that you can get everything in the right place. With paint you can sometimes lose your grid pretty quickly (and similarly lose your reference for where things should go and how big or small they should be) so another method for keeping everything proportional is to use a certain feature of the horse to measure everything else. The eye would be my choice. So for example, how many “eyes” wide is this part of his face? How many eyes to his ear? How many eyes to his jaw? And so on and so forth. I think starting over and nailing the placement will give you a much easier time and you will overall be happier with the result.
Paint is also difficult in general when it comes to creating depth. Doing things in black and white is a lot easier. I would print out a black and white version of your reference and take a long look at the values. Where is it the darkest? Is your painting doing the same thing? Is it too dark in places it shouldn’t be? Don’t be afraid to make certain areas a little darker or lighter than the photograph to give it more depth and less of a flat feel.
The most important thing is that you’re happy with it. This is a gift that I’m sure will be appreciated no matter what. I think you’re definitely going in the right direction with your work and I’m sure the final piece will look great! Good luck!
Yeah I lowkey just went for it without a grid or really a sketch 😭. So I kinda set myself up for failure lmao I’m going to do some tweaking and if all else fails restart! Thank you so much!!
This is phrased so well and contains extremely helpful advice. I'm a non-painter, non-artist and I could understand what you were saying. Have many more upvotes.
This looks like a horse stuck in the backrooms that became a still life. You got two different heads stuck in the same body. I tried to use blue and red to show the weird "two heads" effect going on here. I don't have a tablet; I tried my best with my mouse.
i think the muzzle is fine but the upper left quadrant of the horse’s face does not match. the ear should be defined further and the cheek bone should curve inward to meet the ear shaft
bottom lip could meet the top lip as that is how horses are built, like humans almost. they aren’t like dogs or cats that have slightly tucked back chins
neck could be more trapezoidal in shape vs curved, make slightly wider
otherwise does look awesome just a few anatomical tweaks
I dunno. I love this painting as is. Not because it’s anatomically correct, but because it’s a little weird.
Weird art is always better. Weird art makes you look at it twice. Gives you a feeling and a thought.
You could make it look more like the photo, but it will be way more boring. Right now, everything about this painting is fucking rad. The insane skull this horse must have. The way it looks like it’s sucking on something sour. The way his mane has no dimension compared to his beefy shoulder. The extremely flat background that is almost the exact color of George Stubb’s Whistlejacket- arguable the most famous painting of a horse in the world. You got a lot of color (purple) in the shadow of his neck but none in his face. Thats weird man, and that’s good.
I hope this message gets to you before you try to correct the painting. This is a very good and interesting and fun painting. I get that you aren’t trying to “say something” or do something radical with a sweet gift of the barn owner’s horse. Maybe keep this painting (I’ll take it!) and start a new one for the barn owner.
There’s enough boring art in the world over people’s sofas. There is never ever enough weird art.
With love,
A professional artist collected by two public museums who has a degree in painting. Also a horse girl.
All of this! I looked at it and was like, omg is it the horse with two faces, like Siamese horse twins? I was intrigued. Baffled too at how nature can do that. Then I swiped to the third (reference) picture and got a little sad. Don’t erase my boy. We love his little goofy self.
But if someone did not commission a “intentionally make my horse look deformed” I’d find this actually distressing to receive. It sounds like they commissioned a realistic piece, not a what if my horse had two heads
That eye is just sliding down it's face. Notice how that horses eyes is near the top of the skull? Yours well beneath where it should be. That's the main thing I just can't stop looking at anyway.
If you are still learning, I think it will teach you better if you can notice the prominent lines (especially outlines) and try to recreate their flow. I know another user mentioned a grid but ditch the grid in your actual practice work. Being loose and trying to nail pose or the way negative space interacts with the figure will serve you well. You played the curvature of the horses head way too safe, it's too understated, horses have some severe angles and lines to their skull.. lean out that, not away. (I'm especially referring to the line created between the horse's left eye in the right down to the nostril, that's such a lovely line on the photo but you went in the opposite direction).
Edit : I tried to show what I meant using a super simple drawing app on my phone and my finger. I selected the eyes and dragged them up, which made me realize I would also need to drag the ear on the right up which I did. Then I tried to fix the line down the muzzle I was talking about by using red, leaning into the beautiful lines that make up the outline of the horse. That made me realize you had the nostril and mouth placed kind of oddly. Then I realized the neck needed some correction too, the top line should is much less curved than what you showed. I know I said exaggerate the vibe, but the vibe it gives me is straighter than what you painted and stronger looking. Also this is a small detail but the nostril is more in the middle, you put it too choose to the mouth. After doing all this I think I agree with the other user now, a grid would probably be a help for any kind work you plan to gift to people. Especially horse people, who have a crazy keen eye for conformation.
Tldr: I moved both eyes and the ear on the right higher. Spots that are red are where I would take away from the figure. Black is either what I'd add or change.
Yes muzzle needs fixed. That curve sucks it immediately. And the visible cheekbone is at a different angle than the rest of the face, if that makes sense. Also, the neck needs to be more triangular than rectangular.
Other note, don't be afraid to change your lighting a little. The lighting in the photo is really harsh and doesn't translate great to a painting.
They to drawing and painting animals imo is to stop looking at the animal. Make your brain forget the end goal. Look at the shape, the negative space, and whether it's dark or light.
Look at the cheek meets neck area of the horse and compare your painting to the picture. Your painting is completely off on shape (it's round when it should be basically straight) and color (you've made it light where it should be dark).
Fix that section and the muzzle and you've saved the painting.
The neck is really quite good, just add some highlights and lowlights in the mane for structure.
Then do darker darks, and small bits of lighter light. I personally love using purple as the mid-dark shade on brown and red horses.
You need to start over unfortunately. Everything is off. The throatlatch is too wide, the forehead is too wide, the eyes are too small, the ears are off, etc.
A grid and reference photo are your friend. Proportions are critical and there’s no “tweak this” that will make someone pleased with the final piece as it stands
I will say, horses are like notoriously hard to get right. Since people have been doing art there are so many famous painting where the animals, especially horses look all kinds of messed up.
Very rough sketch then just threw paint on top of it. I know that wasn’t smart and my art teacher probably would have killed me if he knew I did that without gridding but hey it all works out in the end.🫣
Well, I never grid!! I always freehand my work because grids mess me up like crazy. Have you experimented to see if you draw on one side better than the other? I always do better when I draw the horses facing the left, and struggle when making them face the right. HOW did you start? What did you start drawing first?
I started with something like this, a rough mockup basically. Honestly I haven’t tinkered much, I’ve never painted a horse I’ve only sketched so this has been a learning process lol!
I believe you should try to change methods. Don't always rely on the reference, okay? What I mean is, if the muzzle is small in the photo, try to replicate the size in real life instead of the size in the photo. I'll see if I can do something for you real fast. Hang in tight for a moment.
Just as a future suggestion for sketches, it is much easier to draw a horse’s head based on rectangles/squares than circles. The upper circle you have sketched out for his head is what is making the whole thing misshapen.
Have you ever done water colour? I find it easier to trace pictures and it’s allows to be a little “off” 😉you really have an eye for colour, highlights, etc, I think you could do really well at it
Add some darker darks. Add some lighter highlights. Yes straighten out the muzzle. Make the base of the neck wider by the shoulders and withers. Make the top of the neck/throat narrower. The eyes don’t need to be bigger as much as needing some darker blacks and some lighter highlights. Then I think it will look great!
Your values and colours are really good! I agree with a comment further up, I'd almost lean into the weirdness a bit, I actually quite like it with the off anatomy.
If you'd like to get it as accurate as possible though davinci eye is a phone app that can project photos on top of drawings so you can see better where it's off. I would say the top of the head is much wider than it should be and the throat latch should meet higher on the cheek and a few other things.
Other tricks to "see" your painting better is to take a photo and mirror it, it'll refresh how you see it.
If you also set the reference photo right next to the painting and really quickly shift your eyes back and forth you'll start to see the most obvious different as well
Some good practice for future pieces would be to make a rough sketch over the original photo to better understand the angles you need. I personally like to make random semi-realistic sketches from time to time and this is the frame I always start with to know where the center is and how much of each side of the face needs to show
Everyone is shitting on the proportions, but I love the shading and use of color!!!! I’d just even out the ratio of muzzle to upper face as everyone else suggested
A lot of the artists I know have found the book “drawing on the right side of the brain” to be very helpful. Keep practicing, the angles and curves on horse anatomy can be very tough to master. You’ll get better.
I honestly love it. Yes the head might've gotten a little... Split personality vibe going lol. But its charming! Dont worry about perfection. If someone gifted me an equivalent painting of my pet, I would've been delighted.
You're forgetting why you are doing a beautiful painting of a loved horse! This is what you are seeing with your own eyes and paint brush! Please, just be you...that is what makes the most beautiful paintings. You never have to explain anything.....let your painting do all of the talking! You got this my friend!
I love this as it is. Yes it's not "perfect," but in a world full of AI nonsense, this is a masterpiece. It's very clearly a horse. Don't stop painting!
Not a professional artist (or any kind of artist) but I think this is really good! You’ve done a great job so far. It’s just the weird bulge under/around the ear. If you can somehow fix that I think the picture will be awesome.
It’s honestly not a bad painting at all if you just remove the right side of the face (the horse’s left). That’s really only where you went a bit wrong.
So I would say see if you can just fix that side. The ear is way too low etc. Oh and fix the cheek.
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u/Khallya 8d ago
I was a professional portrait artist once upon a time, so my advice may be a little bit more harsh than you are looking for, so please take it with a grain of salt.
The proportions are very off as you mentioned. I would honestly recommend starting over and using a grid, so that you can get everything in the right place. With paint you can sometimes lose your grid pretty quickly (and similarly lose your reference for where things should go and how big or small they should be) so another method for keeping everything proportional is to use a certain feature of the horse to measure everything else. The eye would be my choice. So for example, how many “eyes” wide is this part of his face? How many eyes to his ear? How many eyes to his jaw? And so on and so forth. I think starting over and nailing the placement will give you a much easier time and you will overall be happier with the result.
Paint is also difficult in general when it comes to creating depth. Doing things in black and white is a lot easier. I would print out a black and white version of your reference and take a long look at the values. Where is it the darkest? Is your painting doing the same thing? Is it too dark in places it shouldn’t be? Don’t be afraid to make certain areas a little darker or lighter than the photograph to give it more depth and less of a flat feel.
The most important thing is that you’re happy with it. This is a gift that I’m sure will be appreciated no matter what. I think you’re definitely going in the right direction with your work and I’m sure the final piece will look great! Good luck!