Painting Horses

[alcal]

Hi

I`m sure this has been coverd many times but for those of you who struggle/dislike painting horses and havnt seen any relevant posts, here is a well known method for horse painting. I`ll do a few pictures as i go over the next few weeks.

I paint horses with oil paint and i use the term paint very very loosely as in fact all i do is undercoat the horse with a light tan /orange (Humbrol Enamels Matt) in various shades  and leave it at least a day as it is a strong tough finish and you do need this.I dont use white undercoat anymore, the coloured undercoats give a much richer finish and no matter how fast you take the oil off or how close to the undercoat you get you cant make it look wrong.
Next job get a large brush and oil paint the whole horse dont worry about the mess you make but make sure you cover the horse head to foot ,no need to be too carefull but leave the saddle area clear as you paint this in a more coventional manner.

Oil paint i use is either Windsor and Newton or Daler Rowney
Colour i use :

Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Vandyke Brown*
Crimson
Yellow Ochre
Black
White

*Used on horse in picture straight from the tube
Now go fetch some toilet roll and wipe the paint back off the horse,you will need to fold it over to keep wiping with fresh areas of roll this is the result (be carefull if you thin the oil down for lighter shades when finished, as the white spirit you thin with can soften the undercoat so,if you do thin the paint do one at a time and wipe off excess straight away).  






This can now be put to one side while you paint the cavalry figure as it needs days to dry befor you can carry on,you can speed this up by baking but i dare not let you near the oven if you cant even paint a horse !!

[Mason]

Nice result!
Anything that speeds up the painting process and still gives good results is great.

Thanks for the tip, much appreciated!