Horses

[papa 695]

Practicing painting a couple of horses, later I’m going to try and do a small section of the charge of the light bridge ( mainly the 13th Hussars )

Honestly what do you think of them.

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Ian. Horses aren’t easy, and you’ve certainly nailed the basics. However, as constructive criticism i would say the chestnut could do with a couple of socks and a face blaze to give him a bit of character. It’s rare to see a horse without any of these markings at all. The grey would also really pop with dark colouration around the muzzle, ears, mane, tail, and lower legs. These features are common to greys.
Have a look at pictures of real horses to see what I mean.

[papa 695]

Looking good Ian. Horses aren’t easy, and you’ve certainly nailed the basics. However, as constructive criticism i would say the chestnut could do with a couple of socks and a face blaze to give him a bit of character. It’s rare to see a horse without any of these markings at all. The grey would also really pop with dark colouration around the muzzle, ears, mane, tail, and lower legs. These features are common to greys.
Have a look at pictures of real horses to see what I mean.

Thanks Tim, this is the kind of criticism I’m looking for.

[Tim Marlow]

No worries Ian, I’ve painted a few in my time, along with other types of animals . Best advice is don’t make anything up. Find pictures of real horses that you like and copy them………the variety is quite amazing…..and there are lots of good sites out there.

[Mickc1440]

what scale are they, 28mm?

[PaulinKendal]

No worries Ian, I’ve painted a few in my time, along with other types of animals . Best advice is don’t make anything up. Find pictures of real horses that you like and copy them………the variety is quite amazing…..and there are lots of good sites out there.

In the past I think you've posted an excellent pictorial resource on different horse breeds, Tim. Time for a repost, perhaps? (I keep thinking I must try horses sometime).

[papa 695]

what scale are they, 28mm?

Hi Mick there 1/72, so it says on the box.

[Mickc1440]

Hi Mick there 1/72, so it says on the box.

Tiny horses then

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Mick there 1/72, so it says on the box.

Excellent sculpts for the size though, great stuff.
in line with Paul’s request, here are a couple of helpful sites that I’ve used before….it’s a fascinating subject…..

https://equineworld.co.uk/about-horses/horse-colours-and-markings

https://www.horsefactbook.com/guides/horse-colors/

https://horseracingsense.com/12-common-horse-colors-patterns-pictures/

There are many sites and YouTube vids about painting them, so I’ll leave you to trawl them to find one that suits you :thumb2: I would say though, I find they take as long to paint as the rider, so don’t hurry them…..

[papa 695]

Excellent sculpts for the size though, great stuff.
in line with Paul’s request, here are a couple of helpful sites that I’ve used before….it’s a fascinating subject…..

https://equineworld.co.uk/about-horses/horse-colours-and-markings

https://www.horsefactbook.com/guides/horse-colors/

https://horseracingsense.com/12-common-horse-colors-patterns-pictures/

There are many sites and YouTube vids about painting them, so I’ll leave you to trawl them to find one that suits you :thumb2: I would say though, I find they take as long to paint as the rider, so don’t hurry them…..

That’s great, many thanks Tim.

[Windy]

Hi Ian. Best advice is to experiment with varying shades of brown and black with the odd white blaze and sock thrown in. Troop horses were generally bays and chestnuts so that's your start point. The links Tim posted were invaluable when I was doing my Salamanca dio -

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/the-start-of-the-charge-4th-queens-own-dragoons-at-salamanca-perry-28mm.41861/

Trumpeters were traditionally mounted on greys, though I think that had been phased out by the Crimea.

[Tim Marlow]

I remember reading somewhere that six out of ten horses are Bays, three out of ten are Chestnuts, and the remaining one is everything else…..and that by balaclava a significant proportion of the British cavalry were mounted on local ponies because the highly strung British horses that went out to the Crimea couldn’t cope with the conditions.

[andy55]

Ian, only just picked this up. Can only agree with all that's been said. Having had horses for the last 30 odd years though, the only thing I would say is don't make things symmetrical. IE. a blase or flash is not symmetrical. Because a horse has white sock on one rear leg doesn't mean it has one on the other.
Happy painting.