Learning to Draw a Horse's Head by Tracing Over a Photograph

One of the most important parts of learning to draw is learning to see the important lines. In this lesson, I show you some ways to see the main lines of a horse's head.

Here is a picture of my pony, Guy. I've changed the photo to photocopy to help you see the outlines of his head and neck. The first line I notice is the profile of his face, from his forelock to his mouth. The line goes straight down, then bends around to his mouth.We could draw the bend of his muzzle as two short straight lines. On the next page, I've drawn these lines. You can draw them over the lines on Practice Page 1. Then on a blank piece of paper, try drawing the same lines without a photo to go by.

Now, very lightly, sketch in his jaw line. Notice that this isn't really a straight line in the photo. His jaw is really rounded, and there is a slight curve from his jaw to his chin. We'll adjust it later.

Now we'll sketch in his top line (his mane) and the under side of his neck. I've drawn them as straight lines so that it's easier for you to see how they actually are curves.. The top line curves upward, giving some arch to his neck, and the underneath line curves in, too, to match. Draw your lines slightly curved, as Guy's neck really is. Then draw them on your blank paper. You might want to trace over the photo a few times first so you can get the 'feel' of the curves.

Now for his ears. Look at his right ear and his right eye (the ones closest to the camera). Notice that he is looking at the camera and his ear is pointed toward the camera. His left ear is pointing straight ahead. Horse ears are sort of funnels, with the top of the ear fairly flat and the sides coming together at the bottom of the ear to catch the sound. A horse can turn his ears independently, and almost always his ear and the eye on the same side are looking/hearing at the same thing.

The outside edge of a horse's ear is a 'C' shape. The inside edge has a little dip or notch at the top and then curves out, so it's a very slender 'S' shape. The back of the horse's ear comes down farther to form the 'funnel'. The funnel shows on the front side, too, when his ear is pointed toward us. The left ear is only an upsidedown 'V' because all we see is the top of his ear. A horse's ears match the rest of him. A tall, slender horse has longer, slender ears, often with the notch part bigger. A chubby pony has shorter, less defined ears. Guy's ears match him - a little shape, but sort of wide! In the winter (as in this picture) his ears are very fuzzy (like the rest of him!) both on the outside, and on the inside, too. You can see the thickness of his ear at the edges - it's all that extra hair!

Now let's look at the photo again, where we can see the details of his eyes and nostril. You can see that the shape of the opening of his eye is much like the shape of a human eye - an elipse. Notice, however, that the top line curves up steeply from the inside corner, then curves less, while the bottom line is more straight, then curves up steeply at the outside corner of his eye. Guy is a Pony of the Americas, and like appaloosas, has the sclera (white edge) on his eye, so the dark iris of his eye doesn't totally fill the space. His eye is very dark, so we can't see his eyelashes, either, or see the light reflecting, as you would be able to see on most photos of other horses. On the enlarged picture on the next page, you can see some reflection. When you draw the lines around his eye, use finer lines to indicate the shading.

But where is the eye in relation to the rest of his head? Here's the photo again. Measure with your fingers the length of his ear from the tip to the base (where the little silver concho is on his bridle). Now keep that distance and measure from the base of his ear to his eye. See, it's almosts the same.Draw his eye, using very fine lines to define the shape of the bone around his eye, his eyebrow and eyelids. Color in his eye, but leave a little lighter spot for the reflection. This makes his eye look more alive.

Now for his nostril! Horses cannot breathe through their mouths like we can. So when they are running and need more air, their nostrils expand. Race-horse people say that if a horse has bigger

nostrils, he has an advantage in racing. Both Man O' War and Secretariat had larger nostrils. When a horse is at rest, as in our picture, the nostril is sort of a teardrop shape. The front part of the nostril stands out round when he needs more air. On your practice page, trace in the nostril and then draw it on your sketch. Use finer lines than you used for the outline of his head.

I also drew in a shading line in front of his nostril. You can see where the sunlight is brighter on the front of his face. You can shade that it, too, if you want. Now you're all done except for the fun part - his mane and forelock! Notice the swirls in his mane, which make it stand up rather than lie flat. You can draw the mane on your sketch like Guy's, or any way you want. Enjoy!

Here are the same photos, flipped, so you can try drawing Guy's mirror image. You will probably find that it's easier for you to draw horses' heads facing one way than the other.

Have a go at sketching in his bridle, too!

Look through horse magazines. http://www.horsechannel.com/ is the homepage of Horse Illustrated, Young Rider, Quarter Horses, and HorsesUSA . These magazines have lots of pictures as well as interesting articles.

Also check out Bit & Bridle Magazine: http://www.bitandbridlemag.com/

Look around on the internet for other pictures of horses' heads. Notice the shape of the ears, the relationship between the size of the eye and nostril, the curve of the jaws. Here are some links to get you started. (If you right-click and open a new tab, you can easily come back to this page, even if you cruise around looking at the other photos on this site!)

This is a good silhouette of the shape of earshttp://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/horsepictures/showphoto.php?photo=632

This horse is looking forward, so her ears are pointed forward. Also, her nostrils are more dilated, so you can see how that shape changes:http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/horsepictures/showphoto.php?photo=340

This palomino gives good detail of eyes, nostril and shape of ears.http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/horsepictures/showphoto.php?photo=174&size=big&cat=

This one's a good profile:http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/horsepictures/showphoto.php?photo=220&size=big&cat=

This picture has good detail of both eye and nostrils. You can also see the bone structure and veins in his face. These horses have their summer coats, so they aren't as fuzzy.http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/horsepictures/showphoto.php?photo=74&size=big&cat=

The practice pages follow. You can print them as many times as you like! When you get ready to color your drawings, print them on the heaviest, roughest paper that your printer will handle. Rougher paper will 'accept' the crayon better, where very smooth paper will not take the crayon evenly, and may even chip or slide off! See if your printer can handle newsprint-type sketch paper. It usually comes in 9x12 size, but you can cut it down to 8.5x11 (Put the edges that you haven't cut first, where the printer will pick them up. That way, the pages will feed evenly through the printer.)

If your drawing doesn't look quite right and you don't know what's wrong, try holding it up to a mirror and looking at it in the mirror. Seeing its reflection will help you spot what needs changing!

Enjoy, and let me know how you did!Watch for additional lessons on drawing horses' heads from photos at different angles. We'll learn to draw 3/4 views from both sides and front views, too!

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