What If Seeing The Horse Differently Could Transform Your Drawing?
I'm sure many of you have felt that frustration between what you draw and the reference photo you're using.
Here's an important shift: don't look at the photo — look at the horse.
A photo is an interpretation — it captures a moment, a light, a certain energy.
But what we, as artists, want to capture is the living horse behind that image.
A photo is an interpretation — it captures a moment, a light, a certain energy.
But what we, as artists, want to capture is the living horse behind that image.
Try to imagine what it was doing before, what it will do after. Does it feel the warmth of the sun, the breeze in its mane? Dive into its body, its movement, let a story emerge.
It doesn't matter if your imagination is “true”: this intention will guide your line and bring life to your drawing. And most importantly, you make this horse your own, rather than copying the photo.
It doesn't matter if your imagination is “true”: this intention will guide your line and bring life to your drawing. And most importantly, you make this horse your own, rather than copying the photo.
Much of this happens unconsciously, because your hand will never exactly reproduce what your mind has imagined.
Staying open to what emerges on the page is key: the intention to see the horse differently opens a field of possibilities and enriches your practice.
Staying open to what emerges on the page is key: the intention to see the horse differently opens a field of possibilities and enriches your practice.
How to Observe a Horse When Drawing or Painting
When drawing a horse, the challenge is not only to reproduce a photograph. Learning how to observe the horse itself — its structure, movement and presence — allows the drawing to become more expressive and alive.
Small exercise:
- Choose a horse photo you like.
- Observe it for a few minutes, focusing on the horse, not the image — its body, its gaze, its energy.
- Draw it from this observation.
- For comparison, do it again with another photo, but without this immersion in the horse.
Notice the differences in your perception, in your drawing, in your line…
These small exercises are the real engine of exploration and creativity.
Looking Beyond the Photograph
Sometimes, when working from a photograph, it is easy to focus only on reproducing what we see.
But a photograph captures only a brief moment.
In this short video, I share a simple exercise that can help shift your way of looking — moving beyond the image to observe the horse itself: its masses, its lines, and the quiet presence that gives life to a drawing.
If you would like to explore this approach further and develop a more sensitive and expressive way of drawing horses, you can discover the complete course here: