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The Outline Drawing
Transfer the line drawing to your paper. You can make your own transfer paper by coating a sheet of thin paper with graphite. Place the graphite side down on your drawing paper, put your line drawing on top and carefully transfer your lines by going over them with a sharp lead. Don't press too hard or you'll dent the paper. Just press hard enough to get a clear transferred line.
The First Fill Layer
Put some finely ground graphite (you can make your own with an emery board) on a scrap piece of paper. Dip a small brush into it, make some practice strokes, and then use it to fill in the horse's face.
Fill in his lips, face and ears. Don't try to darken any area to its full value yet. Instead, make this first layer a little lighter in all areas than what you see on the finished piece. Leave his blaze and eyes untouched for now.
If your brush marks look streaky, you can help smooth them out by going back over them at right angles using a scrubbing motion.
Fill in his mane and neck next. Be careful not to rub out all your guide lines when you are doing this fill layer. Fill his mane into about a 2 or 3 value for now. To create a 2 to 3 value with your bush, make sure its almost empty on a scrap piece of paper first. His neck is very dark so you can really scrub in the graphite there with the ends of your bristles. Start to notice where the shadows are falling on his neck and chest. The darker area goes all the way down to the bottom of his chest and it's at an angle.
Use a kneaded eraser to clean up any graphite that has gotten out of the lines.
Details - First Stage
Nostril Details
Create some ground graphite, dip a paper stump into it, and make a few practice strokes on a scrap piece of paper. Using the tip of the stump, work some of the darker details into the nostrils, lips and sides of the face. Notice that the lips get lighter towards the edge very gradually. The nostrils have both hard and soft edges you need to pay attention to. The insides of them, near his blaze, have a hard line and the outer edges softly lighten out to the edge. You can use a stump to pull the graphite out into the soft edges.
Notice that his bottom lip is visible on the right side and it's very dark. Use a 2h pencil to darken in that area. Again, don't darken anything in to its full value yet.
Face Between Eye and Nostrils
To darken the right side of his jaw, use a 4h lead to do a fill and your sharp stump tip to fill in missed spots. Use a brush to help you smooth if you want to.
Notice that I've stroked in some dark detail lines on the left jaw and darkened in the dark detail under his eyes also. Follow your detail lines to get these areas positioned right. Use a stump or a 4h lead to do this.
Ears
The ears are a very dark 81/2 to 9 value. Don't darken the ears in to their true 9 value right yet. Use a 2h and carefully fill in around the edges, highlights details, and mane hair. Don't press too hard with your lead. Smooth this all out with a stump but be careful not to lose the hair detail. Pull some graphite into the ear highlights with the stump.
Neck and Chest
Near his face, his neck is an 8 or 9 value and gets lighter to the left. Use a sharp 2h lead to darken his neck along his jaw line. Again, remember to use a gentle touch with your pencils. Leave the general area of his mane untouched for now but continue darkening his neck down into his chest. Your 2h lead with leave a streaky fill that you can smooth out with a brush if you haven't pressed to hard. You can also use a stump to help you smooth and it will also help darken the area a little more.
The muscles in the bottom of his neck are about a 5 or 6 value. Define the shadowed areas of the muscles first with a 4h lead first, so you won't lose them. Pull the graphite over into the lighter areas with a stump or brush to make a gradual transition. Use a 5h lead to darken if needed.
Use a kneaded eraser to clean up any smudges outside of the horse's outline.
Lips to Nostril Tops
His face details range from a 5 value to an 8 value. Darken the lip edges to their true value with a brush or stump tip. (Remember, you will always be adjusting your values as you work so don't feel bad if you have to do it several times during the drawing.) Darken the details under his nostrils in a more detailed way using a 4h or 5h lead. If you lose the highlights along the bottom edge of his nostrils, just erase them back out. Use a brush and a little ground graphite to darken the area between his nostrils.
Blaze and Cheeks
Darken the line inside his blaze along the left side. This line has a lot of hair texture in it so you can leave your fill a little rough. This broken line continues almost to the level of his eyes. Use a hard lead like a 7h to make the little shapes that make up this line.
Darken the right cheek up to his right eye using a 4h or 5h lead.
Darken his left cheek using the darkened detail lines as your guide lines.
Using 4h or 5h lead, start to darken the detail under his eyes. Be very careful to follow your detail lines.
Details - Third Stage
Eyes and Eyelids
Using a very sharp 2b, carefully outline the eyes. Use a sharp 4b to fill in the rest of the eye.
His eyelid creases are very dark. Use a 4h and a 2h to carefully darken the creases. His eyelids are a little complicated and there are creases on both top and bottom lids. Use your detail lines to help you place them correctly.
Here are some hints for handling area with small details like his eyelids:
Try using a stump to lighten a too dark area instead of an eraser.
Use your stump to make gentle transitions.
Save your highlights by drawing around them when you can.
If a detail seems to elude you in one area, come back to it later when you have a fresh eye for it.
Remember that you can always come back and add, subtract, or change detail.
Mane Forelock
Use a 2h to start filling in the dark streaks (10 values) in his forehead and neck mane. Don't be overly concerned with correct positioning, just try to get the shadows in the general areas they should be in.
A good way to get the hair shadows shaped well is to "turn off" seeing the hair and "turn on" seeing the shadows. It's a mental shift that takes some concentration but you can see that the shadows do have a rhythm and pattern if you really look at them. Just get the general pattern of the shadows blocked in and you'll have the general lay of the hair right.
Use a 4h and to darken the next darkest shadows (9 & 8 values). Use a 5h to block in next darkest shadows (6 & 7 values). If the highlights of his mane (the strands you haven't touched yet) look too light, use a stump to darken them by softly stroking them into 3 to 5 values. Use your stump to darken the soft mane hair across the bottom of his ears, too. The hair at the bottom of his ears is soft looking, so blur the hard outline lines with the tip of your stump.
Mane on Neck
His neck is very dark and the bottom of his mane almost disappears into its shadows. To create that effect, fill in the entire area to a 6 or 7 value with a 2h lead. Then use a stick eraser that's been sharpened into a wedge shape to lift out the details of the hair. Try to lift of the hair strands in curves that follows the form of his neck. You can soften and refine this effect later.
Lips to Nostril Tops
His face details range from a 5 value to an 8 value. Darken the lip edges to their true value with a brush or stump tip. (Remember, you will always be adjusting your values as you work so don't feel bad if you have to do it several times during the drawing.) Darken the details under his nostrils in a more detailed way using a 4h or 5h lead. If you lose the highlights along the bottom edge of his nostrils, just erase them back out. Use a brush and a little ground graphite to darken the area between his nostrils.
Blaze and Cheeks
Darken the line inside his blaze along the left side. This line has a lot of hair texture in it so you can leave your fill a little rough. This broken line continues almost to the level of his eyes. Use a hard lead like a 7h to make the little shapes that make up this line.
Darken the right cheek up to his right eye using a 4h or 5h lead.
Darken his left cheek using the darkened detail lines as your guide lines.
Using 4h or 5h lead, start to darken the detail under his eyes. Be very careful to follow your detail lines.
Details - Third Stage
Eyes and Eyelids
Using a very sharp 2b, carefully outline the eyes. Use a sharp 4b to fill in the rest of the eye.
His eyelid creases are very dark. Use a 4h and a 2h to carefully darken the creases. His eyelids are a little complicated and there are creases on both top and bottom lids. Use your detail lines to help you place them correctly.
Here are some hints for handling area with small details like his eyelids:
Try using a stump to lighten a too dark area instead of an eraser.
Use your stump to make gentle transitions.
Save your highlights by drawing around them when you can.
If a detail seems to elude you in one area, come back to it later when you have a fresh eye for it.
Remember that you can always come back and add, subtract, or change detail.
Mane Forelock
Use a 2h to start filling in the dark streaks (10 values) in his forehead and neck mane. Don't be overly concerned with correct positioning, just try to get the shadows in the general areas they should be in.
A good way to get the hair shadows shaped well is to "turn off" seeing the hair and "turn on" seeing the shadows. It's a mental shift that takes some concentration but you can see that the shadows do have a rhythm and pattern if you really look at them. Just get the general pattern of the shadows blocked in and you'll have the general lay of the hair right.
Use a 4h and to darken the next darkest shadows (9 & 8 values). Use a 5h to block in next darkest shadows (6 & 7 values). If the highlights of his mane (the strands you haven't touched yet) look too light, use a stump to darken them by softly stroking them into 3 to 5 values. Use your stump to darken the soft mane hair across the bottom of his ears, too. The hair at the bottom of his ears is soft looking, so blur the hard outline lines with the tip of your stump.
Mane on Neck
His neck is very dark and the bottom of his mane almost disappears into its shadows. To create that effect, fill in the entire area to a 6 or 7 value with a 2h lead. Then use a stick eraser that's been sharpened into a wedge shape to lift out the details of the hair. Try to lift of the hair strands in curves that follows the form of his neck. You can soften and refine this effect later.
Lips to Nostril Tops
His face details range from a 5 value to an 8 value. Darken the lip edges to their true value with a brush or stump tip. (Remember, you will always be adjusting your values as you work so don't feel bad if you have to do it several times during the drawing.) Darken the details under his nostrils in a more detailed way using a 4h or 5h lead. If you lose the highlights along the bottom edge of his nostrils, just erase them back out. Use a brush and a little ground graphite to darken the area between his nostrils.
Blaze and Cheeks
Darken the line inside his blaze along the left side. This line has a lot of hair texture in it so you can leave your fill a little rough. This broken line continues almost to the level of his eyes. Use a hard lead like a 7h to make the little shapes that make up this line.
Darken the right cheek up to his right eye using a 4h or 5h lead.
Darken his left cheek using the darkened detail lines as your guide lines.
Using 4h or 5h lead, start to darken the detail under his eyes. Be very careful to follow your detail lines.
Details - Third Stage
Eyes and Eyelids
Using a very sharp 2b, carefully outline the eyes. Use a sharp 4b to fill in the rest of the eye.
His eyelid creases are very dark. Use a 4h and a 2h to carefully darken the creases. His eyelids are a little complicated and there are creases on both top and bottom lids. Use your detail lines to help you place them correctly.
Here are some hints for handling area with small details like his eyelids:
Try using a stump to lighten a too dark area instead of an eraser.
Use your stump to make gentle transitions.
Save your highlights by drawing around them when you can.
If a detail seems to elude you in one area, come back to it later when you have a fresh eye for it.
Remember that you can always come back and add, subtract, or change detail.
Mane Forelock
Use a 2h to start filling in the dark streaks (10 values) in his forehead and neck mane. Don't be overly concerned with correct positioning, just try to get the shadows in the general areas they should be in.
A good way to get the hair shadows shaped well is to "turn off" seeing the hair and "turn on" seeing the shadows. It's a mental shift that takes some concentration but you can see that the shadows do have a rhythm and pattern if you really look at them. Just get the general pattern of the shadows blocked in and you'll have the general lay of the hair right.
Use a 4h and to darken the next darkest shadows (9 & 8 values). Use a 5h to block in next darkest shadows (6 & 7 values). If the highlights of his mane (the strands you haven't touched yet) look too light, use a stump to darken them by softly stroking them into 3 to 5 values. Use your stump to darken the soft mane hair across the bottom of his ears, too. The hair at the bottom of his ears is soft looking, so blur the hard outline lines with the tip of your stump.
Mane on Neck
His neck is very dark and the bottom of his mane almost disappears into its shadows. To create that effect, fill in the entire area to a 6 or 7 value with a 2h lead. Then use a stick eraser that's been sharpened into a wedge shape to lift out the details of the hair. Try to lift of the hair strands in curves that follows the form of his neck. You can soften and refine this effect later.
Lips to Nostril Tops
His face details range from a 5 value to an 8 value. Darken the lip edges to their true value with a brush or stump tip. (Remember, you will always be adjusting your values as you work so don't feel bad if you have to do it several times during the drawing.) Darken the details under his nostrils in a more detailed way using a 4h or 5h lead. If you lose the highlights along the bottom edge of his nostrils, just erase them back out. Use a brush and a little ground graphite to darken the area between his nostrils.
Blaze and Cheeks
Darken the line inside his blaze along the left side. This line has a lot of hair texture in it so you can leave your fill a little rough. This broken line continues almost to the level of his eyes. Use a hard lead like a 7h to make the little shapes that make up this line.
Darken the right cheek up to his right eye using a 4h or 5h lead.
Darken his left cheek using the darkened detail lines as your guide lines.
Using 4h or 5h lead, start to darken the detail under his eyes. Be very careful to follow your detail lines.
Details - Third Stage
Eyes and Eyelids
Using a very sharp 2b, carefully outline the eyes. Use a sharp 4b to fill in the rest of the eye.
His eyelid creases are very dark. Use a 4h and a 2h to carefully darken the creases. His eyelids are a little complicated and there are creases on both top and bottom lids. Use your detail lines to help you place them correctly.
Here are some hints for handling area with small details like his eyelids:
Try using a stump to lighten a too dark area instead of an eraser.
Use your stump to make gentle transitions.
Save your highlights by drawing around them when you can.
If a detail seems to elude you in one area, come back to it later when you have a fresh eye for it.
Remember that you can always come back and add, subtract, or change detail.
Mane Forelock
Use a 2h to start filling in the dark streaks (10 values) in his forehead and neck mane. Don't be overly concerned with correct positioning, just try to get the shadows in the general areas they should be in.
A good way to get the hair shadows shaped well is to "turn off" seeing the hair and "turn on" seeing the shadows. It's a mental shift that takes some concentration but you can see that the shadows do have a rhythm and pattern if you really look at them. Just get the general pattern of the shadows blocked in and you'll have the general lay of the hair right.
Use a 4h and to darken the next darkest shadows (9 & 8 values). Use a 5h to block in next darkest shadows (6 & 7 values). If the highlights of his mane (the strands you haven't touched yet) look too light, use a stump to darken them by softly stroking them into 3 to 5 values. Use your stump to darken the soft mane hair across the bottom of his ears, too. The hair at the bottom of his ears is soft looking, so blur the hard outline lines with the tip of your stump.
Mane on Neck
His neck is very dark and the bottom of his mane almost disappears into its shadows. To create that effect, fill in the entire area to a 6 or 7 value with a 2h lead. Then use a stick eraser that's been sharpened into a wedge shape to lift out the details of the hair. Try to lift of the hair strands in curves that follows the form of his neck. You can soften and refine this effect later.
Lips to Nostril Tops
His face details range from a 5 value to an 8 value. Darken the lip edges to their true value with a brush or stump tip. (Remember, you will always be adjusting your values as you work so don't feel bad if you have to do it several times during the drawing.) Darken the details under his nostrils in a more detailed way using a 4h or 5h lead. If you lose the highlights along the bottom edge of his nostrils, just erase them back out. Use a brush and a little ground graphite to darken the area between his nostrils.
Blaze and Cheeks
Darken the line inside his blaze along the left side. This line has a lot of hair texture in it so you can leave your fill a little rough. This broken line continues almost to the level of his eyes. Use a hard lead like a 7h to make the little shapes that make up this line.
Darken the right cheek up to his right eye using a 4h or 5h lead.
Darken his left cheek using the darkened detail lines as your guide lines.
Using 4h or 5h lead, start to darken the detail under his eyes. Be very careful to follow your detail lines.
Details - Third Stage
Eyes and Eyelids
Using a very sharp 2b, carefully outline the eyes. Use a sharp 4b to fill in the rest of the eye.
His eyelid creases are very dark. Use a 4h and a 2h to carefully darken the creases. His eyelids are a little complicated and there are creases on both top and bottom lids. Use your detail lines to help you place them correctly.
Here are some hints for handling area with small details like his eyelids:
Try using a stump to lighten a too dark area instead of an eraser.
Use your stump to make gentle transitions.
Save your highlights by drawing around them when you can.
If a detail seems to elude you in one area, come back to it later when you have a fresh eye for it.
Remember that you can always come back and add, subtract, or change detail.
Mane Forelock
Use a 2h to start filling in the dark streaks (10 values) in his forehead and neck mane. Don't be overly concerned with correct positioning, just try to get the shadows in the general areas they should be in.
A good way to get the hair shadows shaped well is to "turn off" seeing the hair and "turn on" seeing the shadows. It's a mental shift that takes some concentration but you can see that the shadows do have a rhythm and pattern if you really look at them. Just get the general pattern of the shadows blocked in and you'll have the general lay of the hair right.
Use a 4h and to darken the next darkest shadows (9 & 8 values). Use a 5h to block in next darkest shadows (6 & 7 values). If the highlights of his mane (the strands you haven't touched yet) look too light, use a stump to darken them by softly stroking them into 3 to 5 values. Use your stump to darken the soft mane hair across the bottom of his ears, too. The hair at the bottom of his ears is soft looking, so blur the hard outline lines with the tip of your stump.
Mane on Neck
His neck is very dark and the bottom of his mane almost disappears into its shadows. To create that effect, fill in the entire area to a 6 or 7 value with a 2h lead. Then use a stick eraser that's been sharpened into a wedge shape to lift out the details of the hair. Try to lift of the hair strands in curves that follows the form of his neck. You can soften and refine this effect later.
Details - Fourth Stage
Nostrils and Tip of Nose Details
The inside of each nostril is a 10 value that softly merges into the edges. The edges of his nostrils are light and get even lighter near their outsides. Use a B or 2b lead to darken the entire 10 value area of each nostril, then use the tip of a stump to gradually soften and blend that dark value out into the nostril edges.
The wrinkles on his nose between his nostrils are very soft and undulating. To create the wrinkles, tap the highlight areas with a kneaded eraser pinched into a point until they lighten. If they become too light or are shaped wrong, correct them with a 4h or 5h pencil using little hatching or tapping motions.
Blaze Detail
Use a 4h or 5h lead to draw dark, sharp details into the white blaze area's edges. Use a stick eraser that you've cut into a wedge shape to erase white details out into the dark areas on both sides of the blaze. Both the light and dark zigzag details are sharp and jagged looking. Use a 4h lead to reshape them if you need to.
Details - Final Stage
Mane Forelock and Ears
Notice that most of the strands of hair in his forelock have soft edges. The guide lines you drew are probably sharp or crisp looking so you may need to blend and soften them. You can do that by gently tapping them with a kneaded eraser that's been pinched into a point or by rubbing them with the point of a stump until they blur slightly.
If the highlights of the hair strands are too light, go over them lightly with the tip of a stump until they darken to the right value.
To make the hair strands more realistic looking, use a 6h or 7h lead to thin some of them. To help keep the edges soft and varied looking, thin them by many small hatches along each edge instead of a long solid line along the entire strand.
Use a stick eraser that you've cut into a wedge shape to lift out light valued strands and to touch up any highlights that need it. You can use a stick eraser to gently lift out fuzzy hair detail in dark areas, too, like at the bottom of the ears.
His ears are an extremely dark 9 value but they do have some highlight detail. Fill the ears in with a 2h around their edges and a 2b on their interiors. Use a stump to pull graphite over into the highlight areas then use a 4h to even out and darken the highlight areas even more. The highlight areas are very dark and soft around the edges so blend carefully and use a kneaded eraser to lift out graphite if they become too dark.
Mane, Neck, and Chest Area
His neck area, next to his left cheek, is 9 or 9 1/2 value. Use a B or 2b to darken in that part of his neck. Continue filling in those dark values up into his mane hair. There are some muscles at the bottom of his neck that you can help define by using a kneaded eraser to gently lift some graphite over their tops.
The hair strands low on his neck almost completely blend into the shadows of his neck. Notice that the shadows under his mane, low on his neck, are 9 and 10 values, but the shadows near the top of his neck mane are 7 and 8 values. That's because the sun is above and behind him and the light washes over his body from behind and over the top. You can see this pattern in all the shadows and highlights of his mane. Both shadows and highlights are lighter near the top of his neck than near his chest.
You can use a stump to help darken in highlights in a gentle way if they are too light. Use your sharpened stick eraser to bring back out highlights that need lighted again and to help create hair strands. Work back and forth with your eraser and stump until the highlight and shadow patterns seem right.
Use your stick eraser to lift out the mane strands on his neck. If the strands look too large or aren't shaped right, use a hard lead to redefine them. Finally, use your 6h or 5h to help create delicate thin hair detail all over his mane. You don't have to draw each hair, just a few will be enough to make it look like hair.
Finishing
To make the portrait look more finished, make the left side line of the horse's chest smoother as I did here. You'll probably need to clean up the paper around your portrait, too. You can use you're stick eraser to do that but be careful not to erase any hair detail.
