Horsin' Around Vol. 14

Dec 3, 201024 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: Dec 3, 2010

5.2K Views

_{Hello everyone, and welcome to “Horsin’ Around”, a monthly article that brings you the latest news in and around the dA Equine Community! I’d be grateful if you could give me feedback on what you think of it, and if you have any suggestions for future issues, I’d love to hear them. If you think that you, or anyone else you know, deserves a feature, let me know and I’ll feature them here! I hope you enjoy this issue, and thanks for reading!

MichelleWalker

Issue 1/Issue 2/Issue 3/Issue 4/Issue 5/Issue 6/Issue 7/Issue 8/Issue 9/Issue 10/Issue 11/Issue 12/Issue 13

Love for the Underapppreciated

_{A selection of artists and some of their works that I feel deserve more faves and views! Please spare a minute, go check out their wonderful galleries and show them your support.}

_{Suggested by Skye-Fate}

This talented pixel artist has some really lovely images, and offers very reasonable prices for her commissions. So why not stop by to show your support!
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This Russian artist has a very light and delicate style, which is very unique! Sadly, her English isn’t good, so she may not be able to communicate with most of us, but her art speaks for itself!

This lovely traditional artist has a beautiful gallery full of fantasy/medieval art, which is just a joy to look at! Stop by and marvel at the details she puts into her work.
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Featured Digital Equine Artist

This artist has a wonderfully varied gallery filled with almost photo-realistic digital paintings, as well as fun stylized pieces! If you’re not already familiar with her work, be sure to stop by her page.

Featured Traditional Equine Artist

Mary has a very beautiful gallery consisting of wonderful coloured pencil and sketch works. She is a really friendly person too, so don’t be afraid to stop by her gallery to say hi!
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Featured Equine Photographer

This photographer’s stunning gallery will blow you away! She really captures the beauty of the West in her amazing photos.

Featured Equine Photomanipulator

A relatively new artist, but a very talented one at that! Her work is very inspiring and creative.

An Interview With…

_{Every issue of H.A, I will be interviewing one of your favourite equine artists! This issue, is is Ceinwen has an absolutely stunning gallery with a wide variety of digital, traditional, fantasy and realism works! She excels at equine art, but her other pieces are not to be overlooked; stop by her incredible gallery for a browse and see for yourself!}

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Hello and thank you for joining us! Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Hey no problem. My name's Ceinwen, 21 and I live in Wales in the UK. I work as an artist, community artist and look after my little sister.

Cool. How long have you been drawing horses for?
Since I was able to hold a pen - I still have stacks of paper covered with horses done from age 3 onwards!

Wow, really? Can you tell us why you enjoy drawing them so much?
I think its partly the shapes and lines that a very high muscle intelligence gives to them, and the fact that built for speed, their anatomy is so beautifully balanced and fluid. I love the creativity you can use with poses and expressions, because of the expressive movement of equines, and their often wild and free-flowing hair. There's something very mythical and romantic about horses, and also very civilised, considering humans were carried to our current level of development on their backs. I love playing with lots of different interpretations.

Do you have a particular way of drawing horses?
If I'm drawing a particular horse's portrait, I will sketch ad infinitum 'til I get a sketch I like, at which point I will rough it out larger and build it up into a finished piece. When doodling or designing a mural or tattoo I usually start with one part and work outwards, which is more hit and miss but less predictable. All this sketching and doodling means I always have tons of material around I can riffle through if I'm particularly stuck. I have pages and pages on each horse part - muzzles, ears, for example, that I draw from life or memory.

Interesting. Can you share with us what your very favourite piece in your gallery is?

I have a soft spot for this one because I managed to perfectly manifest the vision I wanted to make. I think there is nothing more soulful than a horse's eye except maybe the moon, so I tried to infuse this painting with the spirit of both!

Looks amazing!  Do you have an OC (original character)? Can you tell us a little about him/her?
Well I don't write much fiction, but I do like to tell stories aloud. I make up a lot of different characters, none of them represent me though. I've had various RPG characters, my favourite is a pirate called Merrig, who is a chillingly indifferent, brutal opportunist with incomprehensible motivations... very satisfying to write about!

Awesome! Is there any particular part of equine anatomy that you find difficult to draw?
It can be tricky to get hoof angles right, and I can be quite lazy so I just tend to suggest leg detail, but when I make myself concentrate I can usually handle it. Ears are sometimes hard to place correctly, and I am terribly inclined to make nostrils way too big.

  Good to know we all have trouble, then! So what would be your favourite part of drawing?
Sketching, because its instant gratification and takes no time at all!

And where do you get your inspiration from?
Reading voraciously, I love books and the pictures they make in my mind often inspire me to paint or draw, also going for walks, visiting horse shows, meeting lots of interesting real life horsey characters...

That’s interesting. Is there any particular medium you would like to try?
I think I've tried just about everything but I'm keen to someday learn to make real tattoos - designing them is great but actually working on skin would be very cool. I'd love to try mosaic too on a grand scale, or wood carving.

You’ve been an inspiration to a number of budding equine artists out there – can you share some tips to those just starting out?
Don't worry about quality. I cannot say that enough! Do not worry about the quality of your drawings, or compare them to your favourite artists' work, just get as much quantity out as you can. If you think its awful, shrug and draw a new one. Just keep going, keep going, you have to try and draw every single day, maybe try a project like 'draw 10 horses a day' to make sure you keep going even if you feel they are no good! And try and keep everything if you can... and eventually your own style and skills emerge - making you a totally unique and one of a kind artist (even if in the beginning a lot of your work does resemble other people's, that's fine as long as you don't claim their ideas as your own, dishonestly!)

  Thank you for your time. Any last pieces of advice you can give to your fellow equine artists?
Thanks for asking me! Advice? First off, don't ever take anything anyone says as the one and only way, there is no one and only way and we are all different and we are all creative so I wouldn't dream of giving so called expert advice, but secondly just keep going!! I love seeing what people do and I can never get enough equine art so keep making it and keep sharing it and we'll all benefit together!

Ceinwen xxx

Equine Fiction

_{There are many wonderful horse-related comics and fanfiction around dA, so if you have one, please let me know and I’ll feature it here!}

"Legend of the Ice Horses" by Valvador is (according to the artist) "A Graphic Novel based on popular book written by Margit Sandemo, 'The Legend of the Ice People'. If you're a fan of Margit, I hope you like my adaptation; if you haven't met Margit's book yet - I hope that my adaptation will make you a fan of her!" Chapter one starts here:

Themed Features

_{December’s Theme: Winter

December’s Colour: White

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December’s Breed: Shire}

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Photography Corner

_{Showcasing some of the finest and most majestic images of equines from talented photographers around the world.}

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Contests

_{There’s always a contest or two going on within the equine community! I’ve listed a few current ones going on at the moment, and also ones running out before the next issue is released. Are you hosting a contest and want to advertise it here? No problem! Just drop me a note with a link to your contest journal, a brief description and a date for the deadline and I’ll feature it in the next issue!}

Theme: Design her an Equisona (horse character)
Deadline: 10th December 2010
Read full contest details here: vox-morda.deviantart.com/journ…

Theme: Imaginary equines in unusual angles OR Famous horses in History
Deadline: 15th February 2011
Read full contest details here: elite-equine-artists.deviantar…

Help Desk

_{Helpful Resources}

Having trouble with a difficult pose? Stuck on how to draw certain horse parts? Feel like you’ll never get the hang of drawing horses? Don’t fear! There are a number of wonderful stock accounts, Groups and tutorials that will help you on your way. When using stock, always abide by the stock photographer’s rules, and always remember to link back and credit the photo you used.

_{Featured Tutorials}

_{Featured Stock Account}

A really wonderful stock account chock full of amazing action photos! Definitely stop by if you’re in need of inspiration!

_{Featured Group
Want your Group featured here? Just drop me a note!}

This is a great Group if you find it overwhelming browsing the many equine stock photos on dA. They have helpfully gathered a good collection of photos into different colour co-ordinated folders to help you find what you're looking for!}