How to Draw a Horses Chest Side on

How to Draw a Horses Chest Side on:

Too often than not I see this mistake done again and again.

So I'm going to have to try and straighten out this problem right from the start with all our budding artists who have started their drawings of horses!

I have to say thought..... that this part of the horse is not the easiest to draw when you start drawing the horse, and even us seasoned artists have to remember the rules we learnt the hard way when he first started drawing horses.

You see.... through mistakes, you learn  by correcting them, in this way your lesson is learnt best.

What we perceive with our eyes is not necessarily the same as when we try to interpret it onto paper.

I have been a victim of this myself in the early days, and I don't know really.... how we foresee the horses chest as so prominent. I think it must be something psychological. Just as we perceive the human back as straight when we try to sculpt or draw it.

                              Drawing Courtesy: 2Sistina

I have put a few examples of a horse in action side on.

You can see that in both drawings the horse has both its front legs forward, and the other drawing, with one of its legs back. 

In this drawing you can see how the shoulder muscles have straightened out in how to draw a horses chest.

Which in turn has given us more view of the horses chest. The muscles of the chest are fairly visible to us in this drawing.

Giving us the impression that the horses chest in fairly broad and flat.

In how to draw a horses chest side on, you can see the definition of the chest muscles and are aware that the horses legs are paced firmly behind the chest.

The chest has two major muscles which contract and expand to the horses movements, this constantly changes when the horse is moving.

Above all you need to remember that the horses two front legs need to be behind the horses chest, this can seem simple enough.

But when you put this into practice you might find yourself questioning where you are drawing your lines.

Here we have a very basic sketch of a horse with the most common mistake. This is where the far shoulder to the chest is set too far forward.

In how to draw a horses chest side on its a fairly common mistake, mainly because we perceive that the front leg juts out far more than it really does.

                    Drawing Courtesy: jeanner

Always remember that the leg is positioned in line with the withers of the horse, not further in front.

See on this, drawing the artist has featured more of the horses front shoulder muscles, the reason: the horses front leg is now in line with the top of its shoulders.

This is where you need to change the muscles of the horses chest accordingly.

You see how the chest muscles are bunched up, more defined and protruding out past the shoulder muscles.

You might think that I would be concentrating on the horses front legs more than the shoulder muscles.

But as you can see the chest is the extension to the front legs and this is where the muscles of the shoulders are constantly changing to the position of the horses front legs and its different paces of speed.

In turn, those big front chest muscles will contract and feature more than if the horse has its legs extended out front.

When it comes to how to draw a horses chest side on, always remember the rule.

I have entered a straight line in this drawing so that you can see the clear definition of where the shoulder follows a straight line with the withers of the horse, right down to the hoof.

This way you really cant go wrong when it comes to placing the front of the horses legs in their right position, no matter whether the horse is: walking, trotting, cantering, or galloping.

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