Painting Horses Clinic...Post your questions and Pics if you have them!

[kathrynloch]

I got a question for y\'all.

I\'m an average (at best) mini painter and working really hard to improve. But I\'m really knowledgeable about horses and can paint a decent animal.

Ok...my question is, what should I do if I want to help a professional painter improve their horses? I mean, in regards to humans, these guys got me beat hands (and a couple of other things) down.

I\'m a no-body, but I know what I know, and it ain\'t half bad...I think.

So...what are your suggestions on how a peon could offer advice to make the best of the best hopefully even better? Or should I just shut up now and put the bag back over my head?

Cheers,
Kat

 

[lizcam]

First off start by letting go of the \"I\'m a nobody\" thing. You paint well. I particularly like the first two. The last one is a bit flat but the 2nd one really looks like it\'s got hair. Well done on that!

Start by writing up a tutorial. Take it slow and pick one thing at a time to write up. By doing this you learn how to explain things. In the end you can post it here and help everyone.

Have conficance in yourself. You do well and you should be proud.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Kathryn; Are we talking specific people here?
If not as Liz has suggested an Article with Step-by step pictures will do wonders to help others.

If it is someone specific, then drop them a line, suggest that something they have done or are doing isn\'t 100% accurate.
Be polite and make suggestions. Most people will take polite suggestions on board.
However if it\'s me you are talking about, then that\'s a whole different ball game..... lol

 

[No Such Agency]

At CMON, nobody\'s a nobody! lol An article would be great! We already have an extensive article about how to paint the diverse array of human skin that exists. Something explaining the basics of horses, breeds and coloration etc. would be welcome.

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

Yea, get writing an article please Ive recently started a Napoleonic army in 28mm so i will be painting a number of horses over the coming weeks/months.

My experience of painting horses (indeed minis in general) is limited, so any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Yep, an alternative to the standard GW \"How to paint a horse\" text (which isn\'t that great but everyone uses it because they don\'t know any better) would be good. If you do an article, please use piles of pictures. I hear tell they\'re worth at least 1000 words each.

 

[kathrynloch]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the support. I think I will write that article. There are so much more than just your basic black, brown, and gray. lol

Just using reference photos available on the net of real horses will improve someone\'s painting tremendously.

I\'ll definitely see what I can do.

And DR - of course it\'s about you!

Nah - just kidding.

Thanks again everyone!!!

Cheers,
Kat

 

[Donga]

We are all nobody\'s, that makes no-one a nobody...

Write the article!

I for one love painting horses, infuture less barded more naked

 

[kathrynloch]

Thanks Donga.

I\'ve started the article. It\'s going to take awhile though.

And I agree - the barding and tack can be a pain. That\'s why I like my resins.

 

[mud duck]

Well in that case.... Liz could I borrow that for a sec?

<Crack!>
gods I love bull whips

To WORK young Lady! Stop the chit chat and get to writing! A thousand words by Monday! And the rest of you <looking around> Don\'t the rest of you some painting to do? lollol:twisted::twisted:


Oh here\'s you whip back Liz.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by kathrynloch
I\'ve started the article. It\'s going to take awhile though.

Takes nine months to make a baby and that\'s worth waiting for.

 

[freakinacage]

your horses are lush article it is then (even though you have started)

 

[BPI]

Hi Kathryn, horse stuff definitely, I\'ve got some that I\'m avoiding currently lol Just a thought, you could change the title of this thread to \"The Horse Clinic\" or some such & as well as posting your Article WIP, invite peope to post pics where they\'re stuck so you can provide advice? Might help to gather horsey stuff in one thread? B.

 

[waghorn41]

Hi Kat, on with the tutorial! I love horses but I think the two main areas are skin/hair and muscles. That for me is what makes the mini live.

 

[kathrynloch]

Fantastic suggestion BPI - I went and did just that!

And put away the whip guys - I\'m writing, I\'m writing! lol

Posting questions with pictures will help with the article too. There is just SOOO much info to cover, this will allow me to target it.

When you post, please give what you\'ve done so far, what you want your end result to be.

Also, please post the scale of the mini - I treat smaller scales differently than larger ones.

Please let me know if I can use your question and pic in my article (with full credit of course).

How\'s that? Anyone have anything else to add? I think this will really help with the article.

Thank you...and post away!

Cheers,
Kat

 

[lizcam]

Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!

A horsey artical! I want to convert a bunch of horses I have into centaurs but I\'ve been afraid of doing the horsey bit on them and NOW I\'ll learn how!

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

Cool, a horse painting clinic

Okay, here are some WIP shots of a 28mm scale horse from Victrix miniatures (base is 20mm x 40mm)
Im pleased with how the coat has come out (black primer, 2 coats scorched brown, 1st highlight vermin brown, thin wash devlan mud, 2nd highlight 75/25 vermin/desert yellow, 2 thin washes devlan) and the next task is to do the tail and mane (black)
What do you suggest i use to shade/highlight these areas?

Also, what do you think about the socks? Personally im thinking they look a bit unnatural. I resisted the temptation to drybrush them into the coat colour, but now im thinking i maybe should have lol

Bear in mind that these will be gaming pieces (ive got 5 of these atm, many more to come) but i think it will be good to use them as practice (ive always wanted to get something in 54mm scale & make a nice job of it)

Any help & advice would be much appreciated

 

[kathrynloch]

Thank you for posting Chigh!

You have an excellent start! But you are suffering from too much \"even-ness\" if you know what I mean. The horse is looking a bit flat because it is too even over it\'s entire coat.

There are several things you can do to overcome this. Do you prefer to glaze or wet-blend?

When I work on horses, I like using wet-blending because it allows me to get the colors just right. I use Liquitex Slo-Dry Retarder. (Note: I\'ve discovered the Liquitex does NOT play well with Vallejo paints. If using Vallejo - use the company\'s glazing medium.)

First, I would take the Scorched Brown and mix it with a bit of black to darken it up. Then have your regular Scorched Brown and another Scorched Brown mixed with a small amount of Bleached Bone. All with a liquid retarder. Put your darkest color in the recessed and build up. The deep areas of the girth and shoulder, the bottom of the belly and flank, the deep recesses in the legs.

The large muscle groups should be plain Scorched Brown - the barrel and the big muscles in the shoulder and hip.

The highest points of the muscle groups should be your lightest mixture. The top muscle in the crest of the neck, the point of the hip, the places where the bone is closest to the skin on the face and in the legs.

The socks are actually done very well. But again, you have done them too equally. Pick a sock and pull it farther up the leg. Very rarely do horses have even markings. Pick a second sock and do it half way.

When doing markings, I very rarely dry-brush - it adds too much grittiness. You want thin, thin, glazes for the main body of the sock. But when you do the hair detail at the top of the sock, here it meets the color, you actually want thicker paint.

Adding water causes the paint to spread out, with hair detail you want to maintain the body of the paint so it doesn\'t do a wash effect. Get your smallest brush and very carefully paint the sock in a downward motion - go with the angle of the leg - the hairs of your brush will give you the feathered look automatically. Pull downward toward the hoof to simulate the direction of the hair on the horse.

For the mane and tail Since you are doing a chestnut (a completely brown horse) I would again mix your scorched brown with black but I would glaze this one - no retarder. Cover the entire mane and tail. Lighten your mixture with more Scorched Brown then hit all but the deepest recesses. Lighten again and keep your highlights on only the raised areas of the mane and tail. Keep going until you get the look you want.

I hope this makes sense, please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks again for posting!!!!

Cheers,
Kat

 

[kathrynloch]

Originally posted by lizcam
Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!

A horsey artical! I want to convert a bunch of horses I have into centaurs but I\'ve been afraid of doing the horsey bit on them and NOW I\'ll learn how!

Well, converting and painting are two entirely different things!

Exactly what are you planning to convert? A horse body with a human torso? I can help with the conformation and maybe blending the two. But having a better idea of your plan will help.

Cheers,
Kat

 

[lizcam]

I want to take some elves and horses and make a unit or two of centaurs for Roger Bunting\'s wood elf army. I\'d like to have the elf part have the same skin tones and \"hairyness\" of the horse part instead of looking like a human thing growing out of the front end of a horse.

The converting part I think I can handle but it\'s the painting part that has me a bit intimidated. Right now I\'m doing neither but that will (hopefully) end VERY soon. When I have my stuff unpacked I\'ll show you what I have and what my ideas are.