How to draw a horse's head

Horses are another very popular subject for artists. It is one of the first wild animals to be tamed and domesticated by man. It is also an animal that is very useful to man .The horse has been used for a very wide range of jobs such as ploughing (in the west) pulling heavy loads, in the battle field, to carry knights in armour, for racing and hunting for many centuries.

The most difficult part of a horse to draw is the head because the skull is a complex shape. It has many small bumps, hollows, ridges and curves on it. A horse's head from the side (profile) is wedge shaped. Notice the way it has been drawn in Figure 1. I have drawn the bone structure by using very fine dot stipple.

A horse's cheeks are prominent and they have a bony ridge down to the nostrils , surrounded by soft skin. Observe the large sharp eyes and the ears which are jutting out. An outline sketch has been done in Figure 1to give the correct dimension, before drawing the complete side profile.

Figure 2 is a sketch of the head from the front. The head has the shape of a coffin. First do an outline with a HB pencil with a sharp point and finally complete the sketch with pen and ink. Try to remember these shapes because then you will be able to draw a horse's head correctly by memory. See that construction lines are accurate before adding the details. After this add the dark patches. They are best shown by using tiny dots.