Practicing with a Difficult Drawing

In this article, we are going to draw something that, at least initially, might be quite challenging: a mounted knight! Obviously, the idea is that you need to have at least basic skills in drawing both the horse and its rider. No matter what style you adopt, you must have a good foundation in constructing both.

In addition to designing these two elements independently, we will also need to mesh them together. Your knight must not be too small, or too large, and must neither float 40 centimeters above the animal nor sink into its ribs... So do not worry if your first attempts are not the most successful, this is normal.

I will try to give you the basics here to perform this rather difficult exercise.

So, a horse rider first of all needs... a horse! You can see where I'm going with this... We will quickly return to the topic of the horse. Note that Camille Rakjah already wrote an article on how to draw a horse, so do not hesitate to (re)consult it!

I'll just give you a brief overview to review the basics. We will review the animal from the front, in profile, and in a ¾ view from the front and back.

 

OBSERVATION OF THE HORSE AND RIDER TO SUCCEED IN A DIFFICULT DRAWING

Profile view.

First of all, an important element, the horse has a robust and powerful neck AND it ends quite far down the back (red arrow). The neck finishes at the level of the shoulder. This is important because our rider will "sit" after the neck, so after this "end of neck/shoulder" bump.

Then, we can see that the horse's body is structured between the two volumes of its limbs, front and rear (dark blue and light blue areas). Horses have powerful limbs and their shoulders and rear muscles are well developed.

Also note that the joints on the legs are at the same level (purple dotted line).

Finally, if we exclude the neck and the head, the body forms a square (in pink). The area between the belly and the ground (hatched in blue) forms a rectangle, and the leg joints are placed at half of the height (red line).

¾ front view

With this angle, we can observe a new element: the muscles shaped like an "upside-down heart" between the front legs (highlighted in gray in the dark blue area of the shoulders).

Also note that the neck (in red) extends well into the shoulder area.

Front view

We see the neck (in red) descending into the shoulders and the muscles located between the two front legs (blue arrow). From this angle or the previous one, consider that the sides of the belly are slightly rounded.

¾ rear view

The elements mentioned earlier are present, as is the neck, which ends far up in the upper back (red arrow), the well-developed rump, and the leg joints, which are located halfway between the belly underside and the ground (purple marking).

Okay, having done our quick horse review, let's move on to a quick observation of the animal with the rider.

And again, I invite you to (re)read other articles by Camille Rakjah that might be useful to you, such as the one for learning how to draw a man's body, for example.

Side view

In red, I have placed a line that you will find in the following drawings. This red line follows the spine, all along the animal, in the neck, and also places the axis of symmetry found in the construction of the head.

Here, the most important element is the position of the knight: the character is seated behind the shoulder muscles (blue hatches) and after the junction of the neck with the back (blue arrow).

¾ front view

Here we mainly see the position of the leg. The leg is slightly bent and rests on the flanks of the horse. So the leg will be slightly open outward.

Note that depending on the riding style, the leg will be more or less "stretched." I will leave it up to you to choose between a classic European riding style and the American version known as "western."

¾ rear view

With this angle, we can observe a new element that may help us. In the "basic" position, if there is no need to lean, we can align the vertical axis of the character's spine (in purple) with the line of the horse's spine (in red).

Also note that the buttocks of my character do not rest exactly on the back of the horse; do not forget to leave a little thickness for the saddle (hatched in blue and blue arrow).

 

DRAWING A HORSE AND RIDER STEP BY STEP

Managing to correctly draw the horse and rider is already a small challenge in itself the first time, so I won't add any difficulties and we will choose a classic profile view.

Steps 1 to 6:

We want to shape the horse, broadly speaking. Don't dwell on the details at this stage, just outline the volumes.

Shown in [1] is the front line, I then shape the mass of the cheeks and form the mouth in [2]. Then I draw the neck [3], which is wide, and in [4] I don't forget the small "bump" where the top of the neck meets the top of the shoulders (green arrow).

Then I shape the mass of the muscles of the front legs in [5] and draw the back [6]. After the neck/shoulder hump, I create a small hollow (1), carry on up to the hips (2), and curve the back to finish the rump (3).

Steps 7 and 8:

I shape the muscles of the hind legs [7] and draw the belly line [8], making sure to continue the line from the muscles of the forelimbs (blue arrow).

Steps 9 and 10:

From there, form the legs [9]&[10] by aligning the joints properly and positioning them halfway between the body and the ground (blue markers).

Step 11:

And we finish with the legs on the side that we don't see (blue hatching).

In summary, this gives us:

Now we will place the knight! At this point, you need to be comfortable enough with building your character.

Steps 12 and 13:

Well, everyone has their own technique, but I personally find that the easiest way to start is by positioning the pelvis.

So first I form the character's buttocks [12]. I place them behind the neck/shoulder bump, in the small of the back, halfway before the "high bump" of the hips. And from there I shape the rider's thigh [13].

Steps 14 and 15:

From the back of the buttock, I draw the back line [14] (which is also the character's spine from this point of view). You'll notice that I slightly angle the spine backwards.

In [15], I shape the torso and roughly position the arm on the side that is not visible, and starting from the thigh, I trace the rest of the leg.

Step 16:

I draw the head, the foot, and the arm on our side. Just like with the horse, at this stage we only draw the volumes, trace the masses and the lines of the skeleton (if necessary), but dont' add any details.

In summary, this gives us:

Now, we move on to the final layout.

Step A:

I define the horse and choose to turn its head slightly towards the side we cannot see, to lend a touch of naturalness to the scene.

Step B:

I'm drawing the knight, but just the silhouette for now.

Step C:

Now an element we haven't yet addressed: the harness and saddle. We will opt for simple leather straps, a fairly standard saddle, and a simple halter for the head. Feel free to do some research on this topic.

It is especially important that your horse is equipped with a realistic-looking harness, so do not forget the bits and the reins.

For the saddle, don't forget the straps that keep it stable on the horse. At a minimum, there should be two straps: one strap that goes from the saddle and under the neck (1) and one that goes under the belly behind the front legs (2).

Also, don't forget that the stirrups are connected to the saddle by a strap.

Step D:

I am outlining the elements of the saddle and harness. Make sure to bring the visible reins into the rider's hand (in red) and don't forget the reins on the other side (in blue).

I also added a cover under the saddle (in green).

Step E:

I'm just reducing the opacity of the animal's outline so you can see the rider better. I dress the character and give them a small cape that rests on the horse's back.

Our sketch is complete, I'm adding the ground with some grass to anchor our drawing.

And a quick colorization to give you an idea of the finished drawing.

 

I hope this article will help you with this rather tricky exercise. As always, practice will be your best ally. And don't rush into it, first make some sketches of the horse alone and of the character you will turn into a rider.

 

Illustration and Writing: Elo Illus