HIGHLIGHTS Many great horse paintings or illustrations showcase specular highlights with idealized, glossy coats. More often we see horses dusty, and a little dull. In the wild, winter coats are shaggy and unkempt. Usually, I might idealize a character with a bit of a gloss, but there is a place and time for everything. Idealizing can, in this case, flatten the rich, layered story Rosanne Parry writes. In a HNS, not only was it crucial that the horses were recognizable from page to page, but they also needed to “fit in,” in every environment they set their hoof in. So when it rains in the book… The horses appear darker and shiny. What’s happening here is that the water smooths the surface (on a molecular level) which creates the ideal situation for bright, specular highlights. Highlights may be easier to see on very dark coats, very light coats, or wet coats. On these types of coats, the edges of the highlight may be harder or have specular characteristics. These ways light changes on the surface of the horse is a tool to tell our story. Sometimes we must hold back on the glossy stuff and wait for our moment. SHADOWS AND MORE ON HIGHLIGHTS In my studies and throughout illustrating HNS, I’ve noticed a pattern of landmarks where light and shadow seem to show up consistently. While this is great info to keep in my head, I’d never rely on it solely. You’d never, ever, ever see all these shapes in the same setting at the same time. As you witness the range of shapes in your studies you’ll too see how they will fall within the boundaries of these locations (roughly.) Please notice the pink square here, as many horses’ bodies do fit neatly in a square. Keep this in mind when drawing horses with different poses and eye levels. It’s a great way to quickly find the “center” of a horse’s body. MUSCULAR AND BONY LANDMARKS People discuss all the time, do I really need to know the muscles? While it’s not important to know their names, it’s a huge leg up to understand the landscape of the muscles. And I mean the word “landscape” as the planes and valleys of the figure and flesh. Even more important to know, is how the muscle works. How it contracts and extends. With the figure (though we all get it wrong from time to time) we do naturally get the limits of our joints. When we witness a shadow or highlight, we can often connect it to a muscle system.