Horse in Pastel Pencil and Soft Pastel

Horse in Pastel on Pastelmat

With Pastel Pencils and Soft Pastel

All material © Kay Witt. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written permission of the author. 11 x 14 Pastelmat in Sand CO- CarbOthello NP – NuPastel General White Pastel Pencil Transfer the line drawing of the horse to a 11 x 14 or 9 x 12 sheet of Sand Pastelmat using white Saral transfer paper or graphite transfer paper. After transferring your image, reinforce your drawing with a white pastel pencil or a light brown. I used CO 642 (Caput Mortem Violet Light).

Basecoat

Use Unison Red Earth (RE) 5 to basecoat the horse’s face avoiding the eyes. Use Unison Brown Earth (BE) 10 to add the light areas. Blend well with a blending stump.

Eyes

Outline right eye with CO 750 (Black). Shade around the eye socket with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet). Shade this area further with Derwent P360 (Indigo). Use the Conte 1 (Bistre) to shade the area of the lid (above and beneath the eye) with dark brown. Use Pitt 160 (Manganese Violet) to add violet tones to the area and use Conte 26 (Red Violet) to add the highlight on the lid. Add a touch of General White Pastel Pencil to brighten the highlight. Use CO 430 (Ultramarine Blue Middle) to add a highlight to the lower lid.

Right Iris Basecoat the iris with Conte 7 (Red Brown). Use General White Pastel Pencil for the highlight in the eye near the top and on the outside edge. Use CO 430 (Ultramarine Blue Middle) for the blue highlight to the left of the white one. Use CO750 (Black) to add the pupil under the highlights and use Conte 17 (Yellow Ochre) for the bright secondary light at the base of the iris. Use CO 635 (Bister) to darken the inside edge of the iris and outline the right outside edge with General White Pastel Pencil.

Left Iris This eye is more in shadow so we will use different colors than in the right eye. Outline eye with CO 750 (Black) and darken with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet) and CO 635 (Bister). Use Pitt 160 (Manganese Violet) to add purple tones in the tear duct areas of the eye and Derwent P360 (Indigo) to add dark blue. Use CO 642 (Caput Mortem Violet Light) to highlight the upper lid with Conte 26 (Red Violet) for the highlight on the upper lid. Use Conte 31 (Bordeaux) and Conte 7 (Red Brown) to add browns around the eye socket. Darken the area with Derwent P360 (Indigo) and CO 750 (Black).

Color the iris with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet) for a rich red brown color and add Conte 7 (Red Brown) for the lighter value at the bottom left side of the iris. Use CO 750 (Black) to add the pupil. Use The Conte 26 (Red Violet) to add the highlight in the eye.

Continue to adjust the darks by adding more color as needed with CO 635 (Bister), CO640 (Caput Mortem Violet), Conte 7 (Red Brown) (for the red areas of the horse as you move closer to the center of his forehead and the Pitt 160 (Manganese Violet) and the Derwent P360 (Indigo).

Forehead Use Pitt 160 (Red Violet) and CO 640(Caput 6

Mortem Violet) to darken the shadows on the forehead that are cast by the mane. Use the Conte 7 (Red Brown) to add more red to the coat and Conte 1 (Bistre) to add darker brown. Use the General White Pastel Pencil to add the white blaze, using strokes that radiate outward on the forehead from a central point. Use a Conte 47 (Naples Yellow) to add the light hairs on the top of the eye socket on both eyes where the light strikes. Use the Pitt 160 (Red Violet) to add the violet shadows down the center of the face.

Continue down the center of the face using the Pitt 160 (Red Violet) and CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet) to darken that area in the center of the face.

Add more darks as needed with Conte 1 (Bistre), Conte 31 (Bordeaux), CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet), Pitt 160 (Red Violet) and Conte 7 (Red Brown) to increase the red in the horse’s coat. Add light hairs on the side of the face in the light with CO 685 (Sienna) or NP 233 (Raw Sienna) and Conte 47 (Naples Yellow) Note: NP 305 (Spruce Blue) and NP224 (Violet) may also be used in shadow areas. 7

Nose Basecoat the nose with Unison RE 5 and add the highlight with Unison BE 10. Blend well. Add darker hairs with Conte 1 (Bistre), 31 (Bordeaux) and 7 (Red Brown) as needed. Add light hairs on the side of the face in the light with CO 685 (Sienna) or NP 233 (Raw Sienna) and Conte 47 (Naples Yellow).

Nostrils Darken nostrils with NP 229 (Black). Add grey around the nostrils moving outward to the edge of the nose and also inward with CO 708 (Grey 5). Use a little CO750 (Black) as needed to darken the area. At the bottom edge of the nose add red brown with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet). Blend these colors together with a stump. Darken the nostrils again with NP 229 (Black). Add highlights on the rim with Conte 26 (Red Violet) and CO 430 (Ultramarine Blue Middle). Use the General White Pastel Pencil to add a white edge around the nose and add the bottom lip with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet).

Ear Basecoat the right ear with Unison RE 5 and add light area with Unison BE 10. Blend well. Add darks in the ear with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet), Conte 7 (Red Brown) (for red) and Conte 31 (Bordeaux). Add lights hairs with Conte 47 (Naples Yellow). Outline the upper edge with General White Pastel Pencil.

Place more light hairs on the side of the right face with CO 685 (Sienna) and Conte 47 (Naples Yellow). Add some dark hairs to intertwine with the light hairs using CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet), and Conte 1(Bistre), 31 (Bordeaux) and 7 (Red Brown). Blend gently with finger.

Left Ear

Basecoat in Unison RE 5. Blend well. Add the darks in the ear with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet), Conte 1 (Bistre), 31 (Bordeaux), 7 (Red Brown). Use Conte 17 (Yellow Ochre) for the brightest orange area on the ear and use CO 700 (Gray 1) to add some grey to the tip. Add a white edge with General White Pastel Pencil.

Mane Complete the mane in sections. Start with the forelock over the face. Use NP 305 (Spruce Blue) and NP 353 (Cordovan) as basecoats and blend. 10

Use NP 229 (Black) for darkest areas and pencils CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet), CO 750 (Black), Conte 1 (Bistre), 31 (Bordeaux), 47 (Naples Yellow) and CO 430 (Ultramarine Blue Middle).

Darken the forehead shadows with CO 640 (Caput Mortem Violet) and CO 750 (Black). Darken the shadows on the wild hairs on the forehead.

Use the Conte 7 (Red Brown) to add more red to the coat as needed. Add more basecoats with NP 305 (Spruce Blue) and NP 353 (Cordovan) and blend. 11

Base coat the very top of the mane with NP 305 (Spruce Blue), NP 353 (Cordovan) and NP 229 (Black). Wait to add the highlights and the wild fly away hairs until the background is added. Blend. Darken the ear with NP 353 (Cordovan) and NP 229 (Black).

Basecoat the mane on the left side of the face with NP 305 (Spruce Blue), NP 353 (Cordovan) and NP 229 (Black). Blend. 12

Basecoat the body with Unison RE 5 and blend. Shadow the neck with NP 353 (Cordovan), Conte 7 (Red Brown) and Pitt 160 (Manganese Violet).

Background

Add a background with soft pastel around the horse. I used Unison BGE 7, G6, BG 5, BG 12 and G33. I applied the darker colors at the top working down the page adding the greens and ending with the lighter blue. Use any soft pastels you may have if you don’t have these specific colors. Blend well with your fingers and a stump. Add a little to the corner of the eyes and use the CO 700 (Gray 1) to add the highlight in the corner of the left eye.

Final Highlights on the Mane

Use these colors to add the final light hairs to the mane. I decided to add lots of color. It really adds to the painting. Here’s what I used:

General White Pastel Pencil, CO 430 (Ultramarine Blue Middle), CO 642 (Caput Mortem Violet Light), Conte 26 (Red Violet), Conte 7 (Red Brown), Conte 47 (Naples Yellow), CO 700 (Gray 1), NP 305 (Spruce Blue), NP 211 (White), NP 214 (Persian Rose) and NP 224 (Violet). Use the edges of the NuPastels to draw nice sharp lines in the mane. The Persian Rose, NP 214 is especially nice.

Final Touches

At the end of a painting it is a good idea to look over your work and see if you need to add something. Add the white hairs around the right ear with General White Pastel Pencil. Use this pencil also to add back the white rim of hair around the nose. Use the Conte 47 (Naples Yellow) to add more light hair on the right side of the face. Add more NP 305 (Spruce Blue) to the corners of the eyes if they need darkening and maybe a touch of NP 224 (Violet). Add the eyelashes on the left with CO 750 (Black) and use the white on the right eye.

Darken under the chin on the neck of the horse with Pitt 160 (Manganese Violet) and NP 224 (Violet). Darken the forehead with the NP 224 (Violet) as well. 16

Add some middle value hairs on the face with NP 233 (Raw Sienna). Add NP 224 (Violet) on the left side of the face for a little more shadowing. For a final touch, use the Conte 17(Yellow Ochre) to add a touch more light to the bottom of the each eye.