10 STEPS TO DRAW

A REALISTIC HORSE
by Darrel Tank
10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse
Copyright © 2016 by Happy Brain, Inc
and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. This e-book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or if
shared in it’s entirety with all copyright notices intact.

Adapted by the 5-Pencil Method Team from Darrel Tank’s

Burdock: Your Guide to Drawing a Realistic Horse series of
Art Studio drawing classes.

First Edition Published, 2016

ISBN 978-1-61732-040-8

Happy Brain, Inc

9301 Ocoee Street #528
Ooltewah, TN 37363

www.fivepencilmethod.com

Reference photo by Steven Lilley / CC BY-SA 2.0

You’ll Never Think
of Drawing a Horse the
Same Way Again…
Your childhood dream awaits! Bring a beautiful horse to life
on paper with these 10 easy-to-follow steps
by Darrel Tank

N o one should miss out on the fun of draw-

ing! But most of us still need to know
where to start. And how to progress through
each step.

In other words… we need a plan!

 So here’s the plan you need to turn your wish to draw amaz-
ingly realistic horses (and a lot more) into…

...a gratifying set of skills that will afford you the unwav-
ering control over your pencils that you’ve dreamed of for
years!

You’ll soon discover that the reason these drawing tech-

niques work so well is because they are based in a unique
way on the very same visual rules that create the world
around us.

Of course, we’re also going to have to deal with the big lie
that has circulated for decades (and probably centuries)...

...the lie that says drawing is one of those innate skills that
you’re either born with or you aren’t.

That could not be further from the truth!

Just like none of us is born knowing how to read, write, ride

a bike, play the piano, or put one foot in front of the other,
drawing is also a skill we have to learn!

Sadly this destructive misconception of “you’re just born

with it” has been perpetuated by many of my fellow artists.
(Is it a way to set themselves apart? To cope with insecurity?
I like to think it’s not malicious.)

Yet… sadly, this has kept millions of people (maybe even

you) from experiencing the life-changing self-confidence
and sublime joy that come from flexing your creative muscle.

FREE Drawing Class! (Promise yourself that you won’t let this lie rob you of
Register for a free drawing
reaching your potential!)
class from Darrel Tank show-
ing the process for drawing
this horse. Register for this free So let’s get going on what I think you’ll find to be a very
class now. Learn more... exciting journey...

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 4 of 34
 Step 1: Draw a clean layout with
your 4H pencil.
Here’s the horse drawing that I’ll walk you through in the
following steps.

NOTE: Get a printable version How you begin mastering the art of drawing depends large-
of the horse reference images so ly on you.
you can follow along with the
upcoming steps.
Can you already whip out a freehand layout accurately?

(Congrats! You’re a rare bird if you can. Of course, just free-

handing an outline accurately won’t achieve a drawing with

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 5 of 34
 “realism.” So, you’re welcome to go on and discover more on
how to do that starting in step 2.)

For the rest of us...

I am a firm believer that drawing a “layout” (the light out-

lines that define the edges of the shapes we plan to draw)
is not the best place for most folks to start—even though it
needs to be the first thing you put on your paper.

As a very quick side-note, once It is, quite simply, a really easy place to get bogged down.
you’re ready to “dive in” and And that can defeat the entire purpose of “having fun draw-
start learning how to see the
ing!”
shapes and angles that make up
a drawing, my favorite assist-
ed layout method is called the That’s why I always teach my students to work on mastering
straightedge & divider method. this step later.
You can see this article if you
want to learn more. So how do we proceed without freehanding?

We still create a layout, of course, but I encourage you to use

the approach that feels most comfortable to you for now.

In fact, you might even consider using one of these two

methods to create your outlines:

• Lightbox-Style Tracing Guide

• Graphite Transfer Method Guide

This is just so you can quickly get started and move on to

the “fun” part, where you can see some results. You’ll have
plenty of time later to master the unique skill of construct-
ing, or even freehanding your layout.

(Hey, if you really prefer, and own the equipment for, anoth-
er method—such as the grid method or using a projector—
that is certainly fine for now. Let’s just get something on the
paper!)

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 6 of 34
 The important points to remember while drawing a layout,
no matter the method, are:

• Use your 4H pencil so the lines are very light. This

helps you avoid the heavy “coloring book outlines”.
• Make sure overall relationships between features and
shapes are accurate.
• Be deliberate and precise with the lines.
• Draw lightly enough that any stroke could be erased.
• Don’t leave any unnecessary lines to confuse you later
in the process.

Your paper should look about like this when you’ve finished
this step…

Want to jump-start your layout?

Get a printable version of this
layout emailed to you now

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 7 of 34
 Step 2: Create smooth “contour
patches” in the darkest areas.
Since a horse is mostly hair and fur, we’re going to begin
this drawing a little bit differently than I normally would.

After creating your initial layout and overall sketch with the
4H pencil, we are going to begin using the HB pencil.

The HB pencil is a softer, darker pencil, which means that

it will put more graphite down on the paper. This will be
useful in an upcoming step.

What types of pencils work the best? Here’s a review.

Now, the first major visual rule is this: Everything that is left
the same value in any one area, will appear flat. So, to create
contour, depth, and dimension, the value must increase as
it goes to where there is less light, or decrease as it goes to
where there is more light.

Take the horse’s curved, dimensional face, for example. As

the light source strikes the face, that area that reflects the
light the most will be the brightest, demonstrated by a light-
er value. But, as the contours of the face gradually curve
away from the light, the values will reflect that by becoming
progressively darker.

So, in other words, because the face is contoured (or gently

rounded), and more and more light is blocked as that con-
A gradation looks like this... tour curves farther away from where the light is shining.

Since a horse is anything but flat, values will be constant-

ly shifting, getting darker or lighter, as the light confronts
changes in contour. A fancy term for this is “gradation.”

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 8 of 34
 So, at every step along the way, we want to create and main-
tain “gradation,” or contour, in our drawings. Otherwise,
they will become flat and lifeless!

Take a look at these reference images and see if you can spot
all of the “contour” in them...

NOTE: Get a printable ver-

sion of the horse reference
images emailed to you so
you can follow along with
the upcoming steps.

Since you’re working with white paper, the first pencil

marks (even though they are lightly drawn) will appear
much darker and will contrast with the paper right away.
So, in order to accomplish this constant gradation, we need
to start adding the first pencil strokes in the darkest places.
10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 9 of 34
 This allows you to maintain the correct balance between
light and dark from the start.

In other words…

If you were to start by adding value in a brightly lit, high-

lighted area, that value would be darker than the white of
the paper. You’d have dark in a light place, and the darker
places would all still be white (the paper color.)

In other words, your drawing would start with the values

out of balance. It would set up all kinds of optical illusions
that create conflicts and contradictions that make it much
harder to end up with a great result.

Did you get all of that?

I know that’s a bit of a brain teaser, so let’s put it another

way, too...

Since value (darkness and lightness) is relative to its sur-

roundings, any value that you put down first is going to
appear to be the darkest place in your drawing!

That means that it’s much easier (and safer on your draw-
ing) to start adding your first value (even though it’s a light
value) in the dark areas and then progressively work toward
and into the lighter areas of your drawing.

It’s a process of building up the layers to “stay in balance.”

As you add each layer in the following steps, you will con-
tinue to increase the value in these dark areas first to main-
tain the balance.

So here’s the first thing to do with your HB pencil...

After locating one of the darkest portions of the drawing

within your layout, start laying down your pencil strokes in
the same direction as a portion of the outline you created in
step 1, repeating and blending strokes until the layout line
becomes a part of this gradient “patch” you’re drawing.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 10 of 34
 Take note of how I’ve started my strokes in the darkest place
under the lip and moved over the contour on the lip, getting
lighter (reducing the pressure on my pencil) as I move out
See the pencil in action... of the shadow.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 11 of 34
 You will need to repeat this process in each of the dark-
est portions of your drawing. It’s a lot easier to see exactly
where the darkest places are if you look at the lightest ver-
sion of the reference images that I provided. By lifting the
exposure, you can see that any place that still retains its
shadow has to be dark!

In the ears, you can see that I’m not necessarily sticking
with my traditional stroke. I want to build up the value, but
the short, mix-matched hairs are going in all directions. For
this, I used more of a crosshatching technique to overlap
strokes and create a nicely textured dark value.

Remember, you are moving from dark to light in stages.

Lighten the pressure of your pencil on the paper as you
move away from your initial strokes and closer to the high-
lights. This is where my mantra of “lighter, lighter, lighter”
comes into play.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 12 of 34
Repeat this step in all of the darkest portions of Fill in the gaps to make sure that each patch
your drawing. stays as smooth as possible.

Only extend the value out from the shadow Here’s where the saying that “professionals
as far as the value goes for that contour. are just those who have mastered the basics”
really rings true. None of this is really that
Always use a light touch so that your pen- hard.
cil lines can still be erased. (You’ll see more
about why coming up.) And yet...you can perfect your drawing game
for years to come just by improving your
Blend the edges of each “patch” together. skills on this one basic exercise.
Because the patches are made up of the
tapered strokes, they naturally have a lighter And don’t let that discourage you!
and softer edge, which allows them to blend
together when they are overlapped one next Because even if you feel you can do this only
to the other. at a very basic level, this technique can give
you surprisingly great results even at those
basic levels.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 13 of 34
 Step 3: Begin drawing the fur using
this trick.
Here’s the one thing most people don’t know that messes
them up when drawing fur (and also hair and grass.)

The secret is that you don’t draw the hairs; you draw the
spaces between the hairs!

If each pencil stroke represented a hair, you’d have a huge

mess of dark lines with light spaces between them which
creates a negative. Using those lighter gaps between the
pencil strokes, you can replace them with a darker value
suggesting deeper spaces through the hair between those
original pencil strokes, which now become the color of the
hair.

But, if you look at the hair as a whole, you will start to see
“groupings” or “clusters” of light hair, divided by those dark-
er gaps you can see in the reference.

Your job is to draw those gaps, which in turn will create the
groupings of hair and create the illusion of volume!

The strands of hair are the LIGHT parts, and it’s the spaces
between the hairs that are DARK. Read that again. It’s really
important!

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 14 of 34
 Even in the first layer of strokes, we are already seeing a
pattern that resembles fur because the dark lines (the pencil
strokes) are in a shape that feels like they could be between
hairs.

It will even get a lot more impressive in the next steps!

Fun facts:

• There are occasions when individual light hairs will ac-

tually be drawn (erased, really), such as when you have
stray hairs falling over the horse’s face or a dark back-
ground with light hair in front of it. (We’ll cover this in
a bit.)
• It is also true that a hair will be darker if it’s over a
lighter background, such as stray hairs sticking out over
a light background or where part of a scalp is showing
through or a dark hair overlaps a patch of light hairs,
for instance.

So what does this mean for drawing fur?

Well, let’s just logically think about what kind of shape

would be created between groups of hairs that start next to
each other and go out in different directions. (Remember,
the dark part is between the hairs.)

Can you visualize that shape? (Hint: you can look at that
last image.)

This space is a sort of upside down “V” shape, isn’t it? And
with the fairly short fur hair that covers a horse’s face, can
See the “V” stroke you imagine how this would create quite a lot of small, up-
in action... side down “V” shapes throughout the fur?

Now, remember in step 2 where we talked about contour

and how that creates the “shape” of an object?

Well, another technique for creating the shape of the horse

(which is an illusion, of course, since it’s all done on a flat

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 15 of 34
 sheet of paper) is the direction and length of the hairs with-
in the coat of fur.
Take a good look at how the hairs change direction as the
shape of this horse’s head changes…

Notice how the hairs get shorter and change direction as

we look toward the side of the face—as part of the face
moves farther away from our view—rather than looking at
it straight on.

Can you imagine how the apparent direction of those hairs

would change as we looked at this horse’s head from differ-
ent positions?

For now, you can just remember to pay attention to the di-
rection, length, and shape of the fur patterns you see in the
reference photos and follow those in your drawing.

The exciting thing that will happen for you is that the more
you notice these things and apply them in your drawings,
the more you will build up a “library” in your head so you’ll
have a strong grasp of how the visual world works and how
to naturally create these illusions in any of your drawings.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 16 of 34
 Step 4: “Cast a tone” to add di-
mension to the fur.
We now get to the reason for using the HB pencil in our
previous steps.

But first…if you’re like most of my new students, you prob-

ably feel that drawing a realistic, 3-dimensional object on
a flat sheet of paper could be done by simply scrubbing in
graphite quickly with the side of your pencil, then adjust-
ing your pencil pressure to go lighter or darker until the
drawing is all “filled” up. Then, with a tortillion (blending
stump), you could smooth out and blend all of that graphite
as you see fit.

(Some folks do draw this way, but I find it messy and prone
to error and that it never creates the realistic textures that
artists can achieve by drawing in layers. Also, using a tor-
tillion mashes down the tooth [the tiny ridges in the paper
that hold graphite] of the paper changing the paper’s tex-
ture, creating inconsistent tones, values, gradations, and
limiting the range of value and details you want to achieve
later on in your drawing. Adjustments and alterations can
become difficult if not impossible, because the graphite be-
comes imbedded in the paper.)

The HB pencil is dark and soft enough that we can use a

very soft, natural-hair brush (I like a 2” inch camel-hair) to
lightly smooth over the hair textures created in graphite in
order to “cast a tone.”

Get a free 2” camel-hair brush This works because the brush picks up a very small amount
mailed to you (limited-time of the graphite from the darker areas and evenly covers the
offer). Click for details. surrounding paper with a very even, light layer of graphite.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 17 of 34
 So what has learning how to “cast a tone” done for us? As
we said in step 3, hair comes in groups. Those groups are
made up of many hairs lying on top of each other.

That means that you can see…

...the second layer of hair under the top layer...

...and the third layer under the second layer…

...and the fourth layer under the third layer…

...until there are enough layers of hair that you can’t see
down any further.

Now think of this first layer of fur we just drew on the paper
as that last visible layer—the one on the bottom.

When we brushed this layer to “cast a tone,” it caused the

hairs to become softer and have less contrast. This same
thing happens to the appearance of hairs in a layer of fur
that have several more layers of hair on top, which are
blocking the light.

So we are now ready to create a beautifully realistic fur tex-

ture in the next steps.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 18 of 34
 Step 5: Create highlights in fur us-
ing an eraser.
The beauty of always using a light-enough touch with your
pencil is that you can easily “draw white” with an eraser.

For this you’ll need an eraser that is thin enough and stiff
enough to remove hairs. (Remember that the hairs are the
lighter part!)

There are a couple of different ways to do this.

See an animation of how
to form a teardrop with A large kneaded eraser is one option. This is a must-have
a “blade” tool for drawing in graphite. I form it into a “tear drop,”
which allows it to be used for a variety of situations.

I’ve also used an electric eraser for “reversing out” the very
fine lines.

However, in the last couple of years I’ve switched to an

eraser called the Tombow Mono Zero®. I’ve found that it
has some big advantages. One of the biggest is that it’s much
closer to the size of a pencil. Plus, it’s a rather inexpensive
tool compared to an electric eraser, which costs $100 or more.

Of course, most of the time we won’t try to take out the

width of a single hair with this eraser. Drawing every indi-
vidual hair would be crazy!

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 19 of 34
 Rather, we will emphasize light groupings of hair like this…

Now we do want to show a few individual hairs within the

texture of our horse’s fur coat. This is one of those “magic
tricks” that makes the mind think it sees more than what’s
really there.

As you can see below, by showing some of the hairs (in this
case extending outside the bottom edge of the mouth), it
feels like we can see all of the individual hairs, even though we
are really just using light and shadow to create “groups” of hair.

Step 6: Continue adding layers of “fur”.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 20 of 34
 Back in step 4, we talked about how fur is a complex struc-
ture because the hairs all lie on top of other hairs.

To create this illusion, we are going to continue repeating

steps 3, 4, and 5 several times on top of each other to build
up the complexity of the fur. You won’t draw entirely new
layers of hair on top.

But as you add more graphite into the darker areas, brush
that graphite out over the lighter areas you’ve made with
your eraser, then add in new highlights. You’ll start to see a
sort of magical “depth” appear within the coat of fur.

This happens because the light “hairs” that you created with
your eraser are getting just a smidge darker when you “cast
a tone” with your brush. The new light hairs then stand out
and appear to be in the forefront of your drawing.

Of course, as you continue adding layers, your drawing will

also get darker overall—or “increase in value,” to put it into
drawing terms.

As this happens, you must pay special attention in order to

not only create a “dark and light” pattern within the fur, but
also to build a general contour over the entire fur texture. In
other words, portions of the fur that are within the shadows
will all be darker, and portions in the highlights will all be
lighter.

Of course, it’s possible that a light hair in the shadows could

be darker than a shadow between hairs within a highlight.

But it might not look like it...

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 21 of 34
 Notice in the illustration below that although the two values
within the small squares appear to be nearly identical when
viewed within the circle, the background at the top is actu-
ally much lighter than the line on the bottom when they are
isolated in the squares.

That’s another one of those clever visual rules that helps you
master the skill of drawing as you learn how to use it.

Now as you continue to add layers of graphite between the

hairs, gently brush the entire area with your soft-bristled
brush. Then, as you add in the highlights with your eraser,
you’ll see the fur texture gain a complexity that would have
made your head spin if you’d had to draw it outright.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 22 of 34
 Yet, using this simple technique, an incredible fur texture is
actually fairly easy to create.

This is how far I’ve built up the fur texture at this stage in
my drawing…

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 23 of 34
 Step 7: Draw the mane.
Here’s where the similarities to drawing straight human hair
are almost uncanny!

This is awesome, because any time one skill can help you
draw not only the project at hand, but also future works of
art, you’re maximizing your learning!

Of course, since the mane is hair, we’re going to follow

many of the same principles and practices that I just laid
out for drawing the fur. Those light portions are the actual
groups of hair, and the dark gaps you see are the shadow
areas between the hairs (or groups of hair, depending on the
shape, contrast, and contour of the shadow).

This is very important to keep in mind as you think of what

shapes you’re drawing.

The dark gaps you’ll draw with your 2B pencil need to be

the “static” shapes that would be created between hairs and
locks of hair. The light portions will be the “flowing,” lifelike
locks of hair that you’ll draw with a loose, graceful stroke.

This is true of blonde hair, black hair, and every color in

between. The main thing that will change for different hair
colors is the contrast between the dark and the light areas.

Another important thing to keep in mind as you draw the

mane is that the hair is not plastered to the face and fur!

You know this to be true from experience. Your hair doesn’t

grow out out of your scalp and meld seamlessly to your
forehead and face; there is space between the two. This “di-
mension” between head and hair is a powerful opportunity
to create 3D realism in your work.

So, as you draw the mane, be sure to show that the hair is
above the surface of the face or forehead, blocking the light

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 24 of 34
 and casting a shadow on the fur below. This can be achieved
simply by increasing the value of the texture beneath the hair.

Here’s an example of what it looks like:

As you draw the mane, keep returning to your soft brush as

you build each layer in order to create depth the same way
you did with the fur.

Here’s the mane after completing this stage in my drawing:

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 25 of 34
 Step 8: Add “character” and bal-
ance.
With the mane drawn, you have an incredibly fun and excit-
ing opportunity to make some BIG improvements with just
a few small adjustments!

Let’s start by picking up your eraser:

• Kneaded
• Elastic-polymer
• Tombow Mono Zero
• Electric

Any one will do; the important thing is to create a sharp,

precision edge.

Now, we’re going to emphasize a few highlights in the hair

by “drawing” them with the eraser.

Locate a grouping of hair (the light parts from the earlier

steps) and carefully run your eraser along the length of that
grouping to pick out and emphasize a bright strand of hair.
You’ll need to angle your eraser so you’ll have the sharpest
edge and greatest control to ensure that your line is thin and
subtle.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 26 of 34
Watch an animation of the eraser Now you can see why it’s so important to use your brush to
stroke creating wispy flyaway hairs spread extra graphite into the light areas!

Repeat this process to continue increasing the dimension

in the hair; but remember, this is meant to enhance—not
distract—from the mane. By adding too many highlights,
you will start to lose the subtle contrast and dimension that
you’ve been working so hard to achieve.

This same procedure is how you can make those great-look-

ing strands of stray hair that fall across the face and add a
whole new level of depth!

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 27 of 34
 To create those, simply start your eraser stroke at the end of
the current mane and run downward along the face.

Have fun with these strokes!

You can see that those stray hairs aren’t just straight and
rigid. They are windblown and fancy-free, so lighten up on
your eraser and “go with the flow.”

Again, you aren’t trying to draw every single stray hair; just
add a few for emphasis!

Here are some places I chose to add some “character” with

the whiskers. Have fun and play around with what you
think looks best!

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 28 of 34
When you’re done adding There’s one final place where ally seeing the gleam in this
your eraser strokes, you can a small adjustment with horse’s eye.
use your brush once again your eraser can make a huge
to spread graphite back into difference... That’s an important detail
the white space that you to capture in your drawing.
just created. That may seem The eyes! It’s going to make the eyes
counterproductive, but the stand out and “pop off ” of
bright white of the newly re- The eyes in this reference are the page, while also helping
vealed paper can be glaring- pretty heavily concealed by you to show that they are
ly bright compared to your the mane, so you aren’t re- contoured.
other highlights. It will also
give you the opportunity to
pick out the brighter part of
the strand of hair, suggest-
ing that it is curved.

So, in order to keep a proper

balance, you’ll want to tone
down the white just a bit.
But don’t worry; this won’t
destroy the effect you’ve
created.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 29 of 34
 Step 9: Emphasize and refine your
highlights and shadows for the
“POP.”
Sure, those “character” elements and balance that you just
worked on really pumped your drawing up in a big way. But
here’s where things can really come alive!

This step comes down to one simple idea: contrast.

Why?

Because contrast is how the effects of light are indicated in

an image. And lighting effects are one of the largest contrib-
utors to creating mood.

All throughout the drawing process, you have been pay-

ing attention to where the darkest (and lightest) parts of
the image are as a whole. We talked about that back in
step 6.

Now you should analyze your drawing and locate the value
“extremes”!

By extremes, I’m simply suggesting that you find the abso-

lute darkest and lightest places on your drawing and en-
hance them for emphasis.

In most cases, the pupils in the eyes will be at least as dark as

any part of your drawing. Conversely, the highlight or glisten
in the eye that you created in step 8 is typically the brightest.

Any guess what that does?

You got it! It creates the most contrast. By putting the brightest
value next to the darkest, you’ve made the eyes a strong focal
point because high contrast demands a viewer’s attention.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 30 of 34
 For the other dark “extremes,” see if you can spot the “shad-
ows within the shadows,” or those deepest, darkest reaches
of the reference where the shadows are strongest.

In the case of this horse, perhaps it would be within the

dark gaps between the hairs, which also happen to appear
where the darkest shadows are being cast.

Think about all of the spaces that light would have the hard-
est time shining into and illuminating.

Now, for the highlights, look at where the light is hitting the
horse and find those few spots reflecting it the strongest.
Those are your light “extremes.”

Remember to be precise and deliberate. We’re not just scrib-

bling anything in willy-nilly! These adjustments, though
meant to enhance, can quickly and easily become distrac-
tions. Don’t forget to keep the contour, dark-to-light effect
going even at this stage.

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 31 of 34
 Step 10: Sign your name and seal it
with fixative.
Now that you’ve put so much work into your drawing, you
certainly don’t want to ruin it with a signature that throws
things out of balance!

That’s why I suggest that you sign your name on a piece of

scrap paper, cut it out, and move your signature around
your drawing to find the spot where it best compliments
your overall composition.

Once you’ve added your John Hancock and are sure there
aren’t any more refinements that you can make, it’s time to
seal the graphite with workable fixative.

You might be asking, “What is workable fixative”? Good

question…

Workable fixative is a clear, liquid enamel that comes in an

aerosol can. When sprayed on your drawing, it dries and
Claim a FREE 2" Langnickel creates a protective barrier that keeps graphite on the paper
Camel-Hair Brush and dirt, dust, and smudges off.
Get a head start on trying
these hair and fur drawing This protection is hugely helpful, but also fairly permanent,
techniques out with your
free 2" Langnickel camel-hair
so you’ll want to be sure that you are completely satisfied
brush if you’ll just cover a with your work before applying.
little shipping. Limited-time
offer. First, you’ll want to do a quick test spray away from your
Learn more... paper so you can rule out any defects or blockage in the

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 32 of 34
10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 33 of 34
 spray nozzle. Make sure that the spray is a fine mist and isn’t
going to spit on your drawing.

Then, hold the can about 12 inches away from your paper
and in a quick, smooth, side-to-side motion, mist the entire
paper with a light coat of fixative.

Now, stop and let the first layer dry, so as not to create any
puddles or bleeds. When the first coat feels dry, repeat the
process, allowing the fixative to dry between each coat.

Dab your drawing in one of the darkest areas with a clean

tissue after each coat to see if any graphite comes off. When
the tissue reveals no new graphite, you know that you have
thorough coverage.

“Finished drawing

And that’s it!

You’re now ready to frame and hang your masterpiece!

About Darrel Tank

Darrel Tank is a professional artist and educator with over
45 years of experience. His greatest strength lies in his
ability to demystify and declutter the art of drawing, mak-
ing it fun, formative, and completely accessible to anyone!

His drawings and illustrations have been featured in over

400 publications and his unique 5-Pencil Method drawing
DVDs and online classes have inspired countless artists
from around the globe.

Darrel invites you to pick up a pencil, grab your paper, and

discover the joy of drawing for the first time or all over
again!

10 Steps to Draw a Realistic Horse • © 2016 Happy Brain, Inc. and Darrel Tank Graphic Productions, Inc. • 5pmgo.com/burdock — page 34 of 34