Draw a Horse Head

November 13, 2008 in Tutorials by Vyoma | 12 comments

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Subject: Horse Head in profile

This tutorial should get you going on drawing horses – the head specifically.

You should be able to reproduce the results either digitally or using pencil, pen, paper and a good eraser. If you would like to study the results, you can download it at the end of this tutorial.

Basic Shape

Draw Horse Head - 1 - Rough Guide

First, try to imagine and breakdown the seemingly complicated head of the horse. You will notice that it is sphere for the head, a cylindrical protruding to the muzzle and another much smaller sphere for that area. On the profile view, it becomes circles and a cylinder. The neck too is a cylindar and on profile, it would become a rectangle – but to make it interesting, I twisted it a bit.

With the guide in your minds eye, draw these rough shapes to gain confidence before moving on to actual sketching.

Draw Horse Head - 2 - Rough

When you are drawing this on paper, try to make the rough lines as light as possible. If you are doing this in a graphics editor – and it provides layers (like GIMP and Photoshop do), do not worry about the intensity/darkness of the lines. For the next step, start in a layer over this and reduce the opacity of the rough layer.

Sketch

Draw Horse Head - 3 - Sketch Guide

Before proceeding with the sketchcing, observe some of the details that make up the feature of the hourse. The muzzle has a hemi-sperical shape and when it opens its mouth, there is a distict profile silhoutte. The forehead has a bump and the strong jaw muscle causes a bulge on the underside of the head near the neck joint. Do not forget the mane that runs down the back of the neck from behind its ears.

With the above details in mind, start sketching the outline and the details. Try to keep the flow of your strokes along the form of the horse’s head.

Draw Horse Head - 4 - Sketch

If you are doing this on pencil, you can do it a little darker than the rough, or you could switch to a softer (and hence darker) pencil like 2B or 4B.

Lineart

On paper, lightly erase the pencil lines and start drawing with a black pen.

Draw Horse Head - 5 - Line Work

If you are doing this digitally, switch to a new layer, and reduce opacity of the sketch layer. (You can turn off or delete the rough layer).

It may be difficult to give varying thickness to the lineart when done on paper, but going parallel to the already drawn lines and filling it up would do – be very careful when you are doing this. Like in the digital medium, you do not have an undo feature while using a pen.

Draw Horse Head - 6 - Completed Line Art

In the digital medium, using the pressure sensitivity and a inking tool makes it real easy to create the lineart with varying thickness.

You can download the finished artwork and open it to see the different layers to see the progression.

Draw Horse Head - XCF | Draw Horse Head - PSD

If you found this tutorial helpful, pass on the link to your friends or whoever you think might be intrested.

And do subscribe to KalaaLog.com feeds (or use the email subscription form) if you have not done already. I plan to write more such tutorials aimed at both beginner and intermediate levels.

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  1. JennaUnseld’s avatar

    JennaUnseld on December 13, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    This website is cool, because you can learn how to draw a horse!

    Reply

  5. Ann’s avatar

    Ann on July 10, 2009 at 5:36 am

    i have a book holder and it looks just like that.i love horses.that pic is really good.

    -Ann
    ilh

    Reply

  6. colline’s avatar

    colline on July 16, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    omg that rox

    Reply

  7. Zoe horselover’s avatar

    Zoe horselover on September 15, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Hello! I love horses! I also love drawing horses. But I never seem to get the head completely perfect. Im impressed by the drawing! Its very well done tho. But could you teach us how to draw a horse a horse without the horse having a mean head? because this one looks pretty mean….well, thats my comen. but for the rest its very well done!

    Reply

    1. Vyoma’s avatar

      Vyoma on September 17, 2009 at 8:02 am

      I think I understand what you are saying Zoe. :)
      I will surely take up this project when I get time and start posting again.

      Reply

  8. diana’s avatar

    diana on October 24, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    that is a totally awesome horse head

    Reply

  9. Sydney’s avatar

    Sydney on November 18, 2009 at 1:05 am

    The horse looks really nice. I can’t be able to draw it. can you make it more simple looking but not ugly. I’m doing this for the yearbook contest.

    Reply

  10. tessla’s avatar

    tessla on February 5, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    yo this is good and all but i am better no offense jus wanna let ya know!!!no hard feelings!!!!!!:)

    Reply

  11. adrian’s avatar

    adrian on March 7, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    ohhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was really nice I’m so impressed its so beautiful I cannot believe you got to draw it oh my !!!!!! you’re so great I lOve It it’s so simpple but its looks good GOOD JOB guysssssss :)

    Reply