Sunday, August 7, 2011

Horse Torso

Here’s a helpful analysis of the main forms in a horse’s body. The basic shapes to remember: “Wedge, barrel, saddle.”


An even simpler analysis was used for one of the model sheets on the “Spirit” animated movie. The shapes are “wedge, ball, and block.”


Courtesy The Famous Artist’s Course and Disney Animation.

16 comments:

  1. This post has special interest for me. I enjoy drawing and painting horses, but as much as I've done, it's immeasurably helpful to be reminded of these basics. Thanks so much, James!

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  2. Thanks for sharing this! Lately I have been drawing a lot of basic anatomy, to get better at drawing in general!

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  3. Jack Hamm's animal drawing book is pretty helpful too.

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  4. That was incredibly helpful! Thanks :)

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  5. Famous Artists definitely knew their stuff. That school constituted some of the best illustrators of the 20th century.

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  6. Really interesting, never realized how different a horses spine is different than ours: ours bending longitudinally and theirs laterally, found this http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/DingosBreakfastClub/BioMech/BioMechbend2.html specifically referring to pivotpoints of the horse's spine

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  7. This is great, I have just been devoting more time to drawing animals. I was drawing horses the other day, and this is the exact reminder I needed, very helpful. Your blog is a FANTASTIC resource for the aspiring artist.

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  8. Ken Hultgren, in "the art of animal drawing", draws some "forbidden arching" in the horse spine, and the result is excellent ("better than life"). Just to say that, when you know perfectly your subject (he did), you can modify or enhance reality.
    He's one of the best draughtsmen I know.

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  9. Man, you post some cool stuff on here.

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  10. Hey James, do you know any fundamental books that can help me render 3d objects from my imagination?

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  11. Johnny, I'd second My Pen's suggestion of the Jack Hamm books, as well as Marvel way to Draw comics (if you're into comics) and any books by Bridgman and Loomis. As Mario said, Hultgren's book on animal drawing is good, too. Basically, they all have simplified mannikins that you memorize so you can draw the figure or animal in any pose.

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  12. Ethan said: never realized how different a horses spine is different than ours: ours bending longitudinally and theirs laterally,

    Aside from it's orientation I think they're remarkably similar: the lumbar vertebra capable of of bending but not twisting, the thorax capable of twisting but not bending and the cervical capable of both twisting and bending.

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  13. very helpful! please more posts like these!

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  14. This is so helpful for me to animate Horse for my new Animation project. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

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  15. Do you have the full image of the Spirit Construction Notes for the Torso/body? I am working on a project where we are animating a horse but we only have notes 1, 3 and 4! We have only been able to find your screenshot from the notes. Please help!

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