The Art of Painting Horses

Class Preview

Use acrylic or oil paints to capture the grace, power and personality of horses in portrait. Learn how to paint these magnificent animals using simple techniques.

Foundations for a Great Painting

Meet artist Andrea Gianchiglia and start planning your painting, beginning with a good reference photo. Andrea discusses elements to consider and shares lighting tips. Set up an appealing composition with thumbnail sketches, then create a perfectly proportioned gesture drawing.

The Eyes, Muzzle & Ears

Begin painting the windows into a horse’s soul: the eyes. You’ll create a monochrome underpainting on a toned canvas, setting the values, then begin painting in color. Learn Andrea’s tips for capturing a realistic look for the eye, then paint the horse’s soft muzzle and expressive ears.

The Mane, Tail & Coat

From short and glossy to long and wind-blown, achieve a natural look for your horse’s mane and hair. Andrea shares techniques for using the edge of a flat brush to suggest the colors of hair, a dry brush to soften the edges, and a rigger brush to suggest hair strands. You’ll paint hooves, too!

Markings

Learn to capture the many colors and markings that make painting horses so fun. Reproduce the subtle rainbow of colors in a white horse’s coat, and in a black horse’s. Andrea also shows how to marry different areas of color on horses such as pintos, Appaloosas and dappled grays.

Horse Accessories

Horse paintings can include a lot of accessories. Andrea demonstrates how to paint the brass and silver buckles and rings on bridles and other tack. You’ll also see how to realistically depict stitched and distressed leather, and get a quick overview of painting rope.

From Start to Finish

Now that you’ve mastered the many details of painting horses, put them all together and paint along with Andrea to create a complete portrait. You’ll learn where to start, how to add layers for rich depth of color and, finally, how to create a background that complements your horse.

Fine-Tuning & Details

With Andrea’s guidance, get those last details in that bring your painting to life. Cool and warm glazes will add richness to darker colors, while dry brushing can bring out highlights. A finer brush adds details such as the hair of a forelock or dangling reins, and of course, your signature!