Graphite horses

[ElaineH]

C730C692-BEDF-4D2D-A8AA-C539EB557EEF.jpeg

Mike, I would be very grateful for your comments on this drawing so far. I would also like to ask if there is a limit to the number of times Blu-Tack can be used to lighten areas of the drawing. The horse on the left is lighter than the one on the right, and I would like to add more depth, but not darkness. Thank you.

[Mike Sibley]

Well, this should be quick... it's spectacularly good!

You wanted more? OK. Three things struck me immediately:

To my eye the hair is near-perfect. I can feel the smoothness under my fingers as I move them down the necks, And if I brush them up towards the head, I can feel the resistance as the hairs part.

The eyes are the focal point of the drawing, despite the head collars possessing similar values.

And the connections work too. The nuzzling left-hand horse is looking at its friend. And that horse isn't looking at anything in particular, which leads me to feel it could be switching its gaze from its friend to me.

If the two horses had been looking at each other, that would exclude me - the viewer. But as you've presented it, I don't feel alienated.

I would also like to ask if there is a limit to the number of times Blu-Tack can be used to lighten areas of the drawing.

No, there isn't. Because Blu-Tack works by lifting graphite up out of the tooth, the paper suffers no harm. You should be able to repeatedly darken and partially erase - as I do very often.

I love the skilful use of values you've used within the hair - especially the left-hand neck. I'd achieve that subtle modelling by gentle lightening with Blu-Tack; as gently darkening it again; and then lightening - until I reach the point that it looks exactly as I intended. As you can see in: ERASING TO FINE-TUNE

[ElaineH]

Good news about the Blu-Tack! Will be referring again to the ‘Erasing to Fine-Tune’ tutorial. Thank you very much for your invaluable suggestions and encouragement (having recently been going through a stage of nothing going right with my drawings, this is very much appreciated!!). The image is a royalty free reference - think it was pixabay,- so I cannot take any credit at all for the positioning. - but I do love the soft, gentle and relaxed feeling portrayed by the closeness of the horses.

[Mike Sibley]

The image is a royalty free reference

In that case... I'll ask a question I didn't want to ask earlier

I was going to ask if this was a composite you'd put together. Now I'm wondering if it's a composite study somebody else put together... because the left-hand horse looks as though it's been flipped horizontally.

I could be wrong. I'm no horse expert. BUT... the head collar has a buckle half-way down the right-hand side of the horse's face - and all our head collars have only ever buckled on the horse's left-hand side. Just wondering...

[ElaineH]

Well Mike I think you could well be right about the headcollars!. I came across the photo being used as a reference for an online drawing demonstration, but the techniques described were quite different to yours. I cannot now find the image on pixabay - maybe it was from a different royalty free site.

[Mike Sibley]

I didn't ask to take anything away from your lovely drawing. It's just... rather curious

[Laurene]

Hi Elaine. I do hope you finish this drawing because you've done so much beautiful work already. Mike's observation on the head collars actually made me pay closer attention to them and admire the fine work you've done there! The leather looks like leather, the metal bits look like metal, and the close attention you've paid to the stitching brings it all together. Looking forward to the next update!

[ElaineH]

Hello Laurene, thank you very much for your kind comments. I will definitely finish the drawing....although have not got very much spare time just now. I hope you will post some of your work as well, I would love to see it.