Horses manes (update)

Well she's getting way more than a cartoon, that's for sure! She's very lucky, if you want my opinion.

It might be too late to say this but the front legs are too short,

Not that it looks bad or anything, it's a beautiful piece of art work.

Just imagin the horse standing down right now and you'll notice the legs are wee bit too short.

The main should be more thick, horse hair sticks together even when in the wind.


Here is a painting of a horse with some good thick main hair which would look good on yours.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2...HT_400_400.jpg

http://www.tainted-sky.net/draw/horsecomi34jpg.jpg
Any better? I just dont understand it I guess lol. People are telling me but I can't seem to do it...

urg. lol. it looks like an old mop....*gives up*

No don't give up .. never give up!

Your horse is amazing .. not many people can even draw a horses head lol,

A horse is one of the hardest creatures on earth to draw, so don't feel your not doing good because this is awsome work!

Here is one last photo that can hopefuly help.
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2...f/horserun.jpg

The thin streaks make it look almost ghostly. It's pretty actually. Try using bigger streaks different sized strands might make the mane look fuller. :)

Are you using photoshop? If so try using the burn and dodge tools with a slightly thicker setting to make the mane.

It's hard to see on this picture, but I did it here a little bit...if you go over it with that dodge tool or with a color over lay you'll add a whole nother layer to the hair, and it will give you some more thickness...you can also use a colored paintbrush with a lower opacity to give you that same ghosty look.

I'll see if I can sit down and do some 'red lines' a little bit later. :)

When I'm sketching a horse's mane, I start with the lightest and finest hairs to get a good base, then gradually build it up by getting dark and thicker, especially around the poll and roots. Then I would take a rubber and highlight the parts that catch the light, this creates a good contrast and gives the mane some body.

Of course, I know sketching is pretty different to what you do (and you do it very well!), but I just wondered if you can work on it using the same technique. :)

Audrey, just an idea, can you post the horse without the mane (the tail is perfect, no touchy touchy).. then people can draw red lines to help with the low.. its the middle section of the mane that makes me tilt my head & that loose swoosh on the forehead...

The body looks awesome though :D

I´ll try do a better one later at home but heres an idea.........just fill in more the blanks........you know more clumps of hair......

Thanks everyone....

I tried, again, at redoing the mane. I tried to think of how it would flow...

http://www.tainted-sky.net/draw/horsecomi4.jpg
I think it looks a little less like a mop but needs work D:

http://www.tainted-sky.net/draw/horsecominomane.jpg
no mane

also if you have any other advice for making it look "sharper" please tell me. I know the anatomy is wrong, but I'm not going to fix that now.

I need to ditch the bg don't i?

another attempt, I can seem to make it right either, lousy mouse thing..........

anyway I think just filling it in more and the details you just did on top of that would be great, and just the front legs a tad longer.........but other than that it´s great.........the personyou are doing this for will be thrilled when you hand it over.......

heres a long maned horse rearing
http://harvey.harker.org/u/harker/je...s/friesian.jpg
http://harvey.harker.org/u/harker/je...andalusian.jpg
http://daw.dyndns.org/thumbs/gallery...20Friesian.JPG
http://www.simecorp.com/artsmart/pho...HR_cindy_5.jpg

Read before looking at my red lines, other wise it'll look like I'm on crack or something lol

Start the hair from the bottom & work your way up(as in individual strains, bottom to top).. the upper hair is ontop like you know... BUT your *mop* makes it look like the hair is all coming from the top of the neck only & just covering the neck in a lot of places... I think your flow is mostly ok, but the hair needs to look like its coming from the whole neck, not just one place...

AS you know I suck at explaining anything, but I hope that makes sence... I only have paint here, so I cannot do anything (I'm still at work)... I use GIMP & I would use the blury round tool to make the hair (solid centre, but blured edges).

Do you remember that GSD puppy I did? (its of Travis when he was a little fella, a PT members dog)... It took too many hours to do the fur as I tried to draw almost all the hairs.. it was crazy! But when I printed it out on photo paper, people think its a photo of a real dog!