The Cartoon Horse

Cartoon horse:

Horses and cartoons, do they go together..... they sure do.

So you don't think that you could do much with horses, as a horses face does not show much emotion due to their faces not having many muscles.

But that never stopped the cartoonist has it!.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."~ Scott Adams

So did your imagination have to go to the "front lines" in order to find expressions for a horse cartoon.

Let's think about what we can use when it comes to horses....

Think about their different sizes for one thing. We have: tall horses, big horses, short horses, and darn right really small horses.

Surely there is something we can start to work with here.

We only have to think about the Shetland Pony, for one, they have fat bellies, short legs and mountains of scruffy hair.

So they are great candidate to set your imagination off into different tangents.

What about the heavy horses, with their big bushy feet and rather large rumps.... we could go on.....

And we shall..........

The good ol' race horse with it's long legs and skinny frame.

You could also then think of their different attitudes. As owners have different attitudes, so do the horses.

What about cheeky children at a riding school. You could then think of a "tinkers horse" pulling an old cart.

To the highly strung race horse parading around in the starters circle.

Do you see where I'm coming from here?

And where I'm heading?

If all else fails, and you are still stuck for ideas for the cartoon horse, you can go back to the basics. Build up your own little story of the characters you want to see. Even their environment around them.........

Have a look at these drawings I have drawn here for you, so you can get some ideas......

What if it was teaming down with rain, how would your horse feel? 

What would he look like? 

Not the best, I am sure. What if it was a situation where your horse was at a show dressed out in it's best gear.

Only to look sodden and cold by the rain as it falls into it's eyes, and the bows in its' main and tail are all hanging down sodden and completely wet.

There's more than getting a diagram of lines and circles set up and just drawing a cartoon horse.

You need to look deeper into what you are going to do, and how you are going to do it.

"By the way, if you would like to know about how to think of different variations of horses in cartoon form. You will learn these tips in my free monthly "pet art newsletter" .

Without that how can you go about drawing the horse in a funny situation or character.

Yes, that's right! your feeding the fuel to your imagination.

Setting the plot "Artist Wise".

Once you have chosen what sort of cartoon horse you want to do, you go through these steps.

In order to know what sort of situation you are putting your cartoon horse in, and what sort of features your horse will have under the conditions.

He or she may be:-

• Proud

• Shy

• Frightened

• Snobbish

• Lazy

• Cheeky

• Crazy

• Tired

Think about what I have written down here, and remember that art does run into so many different areas. And not just the ability to put pen to paper, or paint brush to canvas.

Your imagination is going to be of the greatest benefit to you as an artist.

And learning how to use it in these sorts of circumstances are good step by step guides lines for the future. Not only  in this area, but in fact many areas of art.

 Return from The Cartoon Horse  to Cartoon Animals