Horses coming out of my pencil!!!

©Claire Nobles, 2011

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I won't be able to upload new paintings for a while even if I finish them. But I can show sketches!! This sketch is a commission that has a deadline, so everything else has taken a backseat until this project is underway.

The request is a fairy on a horse. It's being painted for the client's very dear friend as a gift, so there are a few specific requests.

I was online for over an hour today googling and sketching "rearing horses." The first few attempts to create the drawings were hilarious! I had a bunch of overweight fatty horses! The one above has gotten better from the first few, but he still looks a tad pudgy... I'll have to fix it. I'm used to drawing dainty whimsical unicorns, so it was funny to see that horses are really the opposite of dainty and much more powerful creatures (in a non-magical way). 

©Claire Nobles, 2011

The sketch above is a slightly more detailed version of the maiden. (sidenote: doesn't she look so awkward without a horse or at least a chair under her??) I decided to make her an elf instead because the wings of the fairy were getting in the way and not aesthetically pleasing and mostly because I realized "Why would a fairy ride a horse if she could just fly?"

Hopefully the client wasn't dead-set on a fairy.... She described her friend as a tough horse-riding girl who would never be caught riding sidesaddle in a pretty dress. I think an elf will go for her personality better. Just think of Arwen from Lord of the Rings.... She was bad-ass on her horse! 

Anyways, the elf is dressed in a riding corset, pants and hecka awesome riding boots. So she's pretty hardcore.

Also, since I'm on a horse kick, I will be attempting to get done another horse maiden, Epona. I blogged about this a while ago and just hadn't gotten around to sketching it out. That painting is for a friend who just asked really politely if I would paint Epona, and I couldn't turn her down. There's no deadline, but I'd like to do it simultaneously with my other horse painting. And now that I'm thinking about it I *should* add another unicorn into the mix... But I'm probably too lazy.....

Side-note, I told my watercolor classmate, Splotchy who owns a horse that I was going to draw a horse rider and she is practically asking every class about my progress. She said she'd give horse anatomy pointers too, so I'm in good hands... or hooves...? If I fail, blame Splotchy.