Lessons

How to paint a horse with watercolors

Supplies:
pan watercolors (I used Aqua-mini Sennelier)
watercolor pencils (I used Art Grip Aquarelle, pink, light brown, dark brown, black)
cup of water
watercolor brushes
paper towels
watercolor paper
hairdryer

***Note - my watercolors are professional grade.  You can make beautiful paintings with student grade also - the main difference is that there is more pigment present in professional grade.  I used student grade watercolor paper.

First find a good photo (photo by Vallory Moss)

Next use a pencil to lightly draw your horse.  Do a water wash along the background and add a small amount of background color. Use your black and dark brown watercolor pencils to draw in the darkest parts of your painting.

Now use lighter color watercolor pencils to put in more colors.  

Now use water on a brush to blend areas - start with the areas that are furthest away.  I also used water in some of the darkest areas.  Then I used a hairdryer to dry everything.

Notice inside the ear - a spot had a lot of water and didn't want to dry.

Not a problem - just blot it off!  I will darken it later when I use pan colors.

Now I use water and blend the remaining watercolor pencil.  Time for the hairdryer again!  If in doubt, always dry everything before going on to the next step.

Now dig into those pan watercolors!  Start with darks again - add in shadows on the body, shadows on the head.  Don't be afraid to be a bit splotchy.  Notice under the eye here - it is very blotchy with rough edges - do not try to be perfect!  See the ears?  Dark blotches where the shadows are - don't worry, they'll look fine in the end.

Now we are starting to deal with the mane.  This horse has a light mane - there are several ways to deal with this.  I chose here to use darker brown highlighted with yellow.  Remember to balance your colors.  If I use yellow in the mane, it nees to be elsewhere also, so choose some places to highlight on the rest of the horse.

I used a fine brush to add the mane.

Add in shadows along the neck and behind the head to bring that head forward.  Add in more mane.  Don't overwork - you'll get a muddy painting.  Also ***dry your painting in between steps!  I painted in the black shadows, dried the painting, then added the remainder of the mane.