EQUINE ART
Amparo
art??
All horses of the same breed looking alike, with no regard for that
individual personality?
BAD anatomy?
No feeling or romance?
Just illustration?
Corny poses?
Now you name some!!
Sullys Maze
amp...@aol.com (Amparo) writes:
Yes, I am definately opinionated on this subject. I grew up
drawing horses all my life, and spend 10 years professionally
as a scientific illustrator, so detail and accuracy really
was my speciality
>In your opinion, what are the common problems, complaints with equine
>art??
>
>All horses of the same breed looking alike, with no regard for that
>individual personality?
>
>BAD anatomy?
I will reply to both the above comments. My biggest complaint is
that the anatomy is bad, especially the heads. Now, granted, head
shape differs from breed to breed, and individual. HOwever, I have
seen many paintings of horse where the head is just not right. Seems
a lot of artists have problems with the muzzle and lower lip, and
also the placement of the eyes.
What I always tell students I work with, and believe, is that no
amount of detail and rendering can compensate for inaccurate
intitial drawing. I have seen artists work that has beautiful
shading, muscles, highlights on the coat, etc, but it is ruined
becuase the horse itself is not drawn well.
If someone is going to dash off a quick sketch or even abstract
of a horse, this is not important. But, if the artist is going
to attempt to illustrate the horse as realistically as possible,
then the structure is critical.
Okay, here is an example (boy am I setting myself up to be flamed,
probably) If you have an copy of the October 93 WEstern HOrseman
look at the cover painting. It is for the all breed issue. At
first look it is a gorgeous paintng of a lot of horses, all colors.
To me, it just doesn't cut it, because for all the beautiful
rendering, the heads and conformation on quite of few of the horses
is really wierd. Some of the heads are really pinched in
behind the lower lip. Some of the horses have just enormous butts,
two horses have really tiny little pin heads for the size of the
body. So, despite the wonderful subject, and careful painting, to
me it all falls apart. This is just my opinion, and I would stand
up my work against this painting any day.
I also get annoyed when horses are drawn really well, but the
tack is wrong.
>
>No feeling or romance?
>
>Just illustration?
>
Hey, what do you mean by "Just illustration" asks a former
illustrator??!!
>Corny poses?
>
>Now you name some!!
>
How about colors that don't exist.
Also seems that some of the WORST drawings of horses are in
the self-teach books on drawing horses!! Talk about mutated
head shapes!
Anyway, just some of my thoughts.
Karen , who is just as critical of her own work.
David Eaton
have many faults. The horse is too far on the forehand, the rider's
shoulders are slumped forward, his knuckles are on top, adn the
saddle is way to forward. But I really love equine art when there is
lots of feeling in it.
Thanx, Amy Eaton