How to Draw a Horse Head

Posted on by Allie Lynn

Horses are notorious for being hard to draw. Artists shy away from the complexly muscled heads, legs, and bodies, saying that it’s “too hard, too complex”.

But in this upcoming article series, I’ll show you not only how to draw a horse’s head, but a standing horse, a jumping horse, a pegasus, and many more!

Today, however, we’ll just start with the horse head.

Things You’ll Need

  • Paper
  • Pencils (A regular No. 2 is fine, but if you’ve got good drawing pencils, I recommend H, HB, 2B, and 6B)
  • Eraser
  • Clipboard (optional)
  • Blending stump (optional) (can be substituted with wadded up tissue paper or toilet paper)

The Drawing Process

Get a photo of a horse head that you want to draw. Look for clear muscling and frame of the horse’s head. This will serve as your drawing’s guide.

I used this picture from my May calendar. Notice the prominent muscle and clear-cut lines. This is what you should look for.

Think of a horse as a collection of shapes and lines. These shapes and lines will help you draw the horse.

The head is mainly two circles, connected by lines. Try to find the basic shapes in your horse photo, then draw them out on paper. (Use the H pencil for this, if you have it)

The head is one circle, the muzzle is a smaller circle, and the nose bridge and jawline are lines. The ears are triangles. Use light pressure in case you need to erase the lines later.

Look at the lines of the horse’s head, and use that as a guide to draw the outline. Draw a light circle where the nostril and eye will be. It’s okay if you have to erase it over and over again. The muzzle and lips on this horse took me seven retries to perfect. Remember that the horse isn’t a solid block– it has lines and curves. Erase and redraw until the outline is how you like it, but don’t give up! (Use an HB pencil if you have it)

You can see where I outlined the mane, eye, nostril, and lips. You can also see the eraser bits in the bottom right corner!

Next you draw the muscling. This is fine work, so go slow and take your time! Look at the drawing and focus on the muscles in the horse’s head. Looking at a picture of the musculoskeletal system of a horse head can really help! This is also when you draw the eye, the nostril and ears. Use a 2B pencil if you have it, and don’t be afraid to erase and start again– just don’t give up.

The eye is almond shaped with a circle in the center. The pupil is a rounded rectangle. I will do a more in-depth how-to on drawing a horse eye later, but for now feel free to zoom in and use the horse eye here as a guide.

Now it’s time for shading! You can just use a regular pencil (or a 6B if you have one), or you can use colored pencils. Since my horse is a gray, I’ll be using my 6B. (Note: if you use regular pencil, you don’t have to erase your first shape lines. But if you’re using another medium, you’ll have to erase them so they don’t show up underneath. This is best to do after the solid outline stage, before you start the muscling)

Look at your picture and try to follow the grain of the hair. It will give your horse a more lifelike feel. When you’re done, a good way to give it a softer, less harsh tone is to take your blending stump (or wadded up tissue/toilet paper) and gently rub it all over the picture, going along the grain of the “hair”. You may have to darken certain areas again, or use an eraser to lighten it, but the end product is really amazing!

The finished product! I used the eraser and rerubbed the paper to make dapples.

And then you’re done! I hope this article helped you to learn how to draw a horse head. If you try this for yourself, send me your finished project at eotmlistmanager@gmail.com, with the subject line “Artwork”. I’d love to see it!