From Spirit style to your own style

From Spirit style to your own style. Why I choose Spirit is because most people on here that draw cartoony horses started out by drawing him. He is an idol to many and unfortunately to many as "correct" anatomy for a horse.

This journal is for those trying to learn their own style and trying to pull themselves out from the style seen in the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. These are the basic steps that I went through to crawl out from the Spirity world XD.

As I said in my other journal “Horse Drawing Quirks.” You would need to start referencing real horses or photography. There is nothing wrong with this and it is very important to use reference. Even though I say I hardly copy any poses like I used to and pretty much attempt to draw from memory. From time to time I always go back to looking over a real horse's anatomy and seeing what my art is overlooking. I didn't get the way I am from studying absolutely nothing. It's impossible. It's like drawing zebra when you don't even know what one looks like. You are bound to get it wrong and it will show. In some of those Disney and other animation company flicks you can tell if they even studied the animal they animated. Take Balto for instance. You can see that they studied the dogs and sledding methods in the first film. In the sequels..well it was obvious from the poor Balto and Jenna's carriage, anatomy and so forth that they did not bother to study the breeds and probably little on anatomy.
Brother Bear is another great one. I enjoyed the fact that Disney took the time to observe and study bears for animating. It really showed in the mother bear the best. She looked and moved in so many ways like a real bear. I was impressed.

Since I am a visual person and artists naturally are I will show you the differences between real horses and Spirit style to show you how you can develop your own styles by teaching yourself how to create your own “lines.” Remember that you don't necessarily have to draw your horses exactly like you see in real life but they will help you open your eyes to horse anatomy you don't see in the movie.

Naturally I will start with the head as it is the most distinguishable part of the style.

Here is Spirit's head at a few angles.

i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

Here is a real horse's head.

side
www.foxwoodehuntclub.com/image….

angled
www.bnbcarriage.com/wht_horse_…

angled front
www.teakacreekstables.com/stal…

Notice the differences. It is probably best to view both types of links next to each other to see better. In Spirit his eyes are more angled towards the front like that of a carnivorous animal. The horse's eyes point outwards. Spirit's eye ridges are also very well-developed compared to a real horse's. This was exaggerated to help with Spirit's expressions.
On to his nostrils notice the shape is different from the real horse's as well. They are triangle-shaped angled inwards and downwards.
Spirit's nose bridge from his eyes to his muzzle is also drawn very flat and wide. If you notice on a real horse it is not that way but fairly well-rounded and narrowish.
They also give Spirit a very flat forehead compared to a real horse. His eyes are greatly enlarged as well and I notice in may shots they shorten his face dramatically.
His jowls(cheeks) are also not very clearly defined. In a lot of scenes his cheeks seem to take up the entire length of his head lol. Compare his cheeks to a real horse.
Also for the head. It depends on the breed your horse is. Does it have a roman nose? Flat nose? Dished? Overall Spirit's head has little detail, which is okay as it is more convenient for animating. But remember..you are doing a drawing.

Spirit's lips.
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

a real horse's lips
gallery.photo.net/photo/360735…
horsecomedy.com/wp-content/upl…

On Spirit they draw the lips very thin and very pointed. On a real horse they are thicker, especially at the tip of the top lip. Also remember the horse's lips is like a hand to them. They reach out to things by stretching out their lips to try and feel/pull/fiddle/grab with an object.

Spirit's torso..

Pics of his chest area.

i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

a horse's chest

www.bxps.com/images/SABEZ-Ling…
www.geocities.com/lhthayne/dre…
www.wildivyfarm.com/Lilly_fron…

Notice the differences especially in how the forearms come out from the chest area. In Spirit's they just jut out from the body when viewed from the front. They almost seem like they were screwed in lol.

Now on to the front legs. Spirit has very oddly shaped knees.

spirit's knees
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

horse's knees
www.spanishhorses.co.nz/studs/…
www.crossedsabers.com/images/h…

Spirit's knees seem to bulge out like from the front like an old arthritic horse's.

Now onto Spirit's ass. I guess since putting details on his cheeks is probably taboo for children's films it doesn't have to be for your style.

Spirit's booty
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

not a real horse's but a very accurate anatomy drawing

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…

Notice the huge differences. In spirit they typically give him the "broom-tail" that sticks out like you see on a toy horse. Other than that, there is little definition. Of course it's up to you if you are daring to put an anus on your horse haha. But as I said on the other journal. It's a tail covered in hair and not just hair sticking out from it's butt.

Spirit's hooves and fetlocks.

The underneath of Spirit's hooves, in most scenes, have hardly if any definition.

i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

A real horse's hoof.

homeofthebarefoothorse.com/yah…

Spirit's fetlocks/pasterns
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

horse's fetlocks/pasterns

www.lexhorseshoeing.com/client…

In a lot of the scenes they make Spirit's hooves appear very clubfooted/box-footed

If you don't know what a clubfoot is in a horse here is a picture and compare. Notice how on a normal horse hoof the angle of the hoof falls downward from the pastern to the hoof tip at a straight angle.. Notice how in a clubfoot they do not do this.

www.nanric.com/images/clubdgm.…

I used to draw mine like this haha.

rain's feet as well

i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

Notice how her hooves seem to be disconnected from the pasterns. This is where the word "lego-hoof" derived from. If you ever played with legos you'd see what I mean. I noticed in a lot of people's art they draw the hooves extremely disconnected from the rest of the feet. Again, relate to a real horse's hooves and see the difference.

The teeth.

i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…
Remember newborn horses do not have teeth.
Also horses are aged by their teeth. As they age the gums around the incisors recede making the horse's teeth appear really long. Although this isn't really that important for your style it is worth noting.

www.upperegypt.com/Vet_Service…

Notice the difference between a young horse's teeth and an old horse's.

young
cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0…

old
www.dkimages.com/discover/prev…

Spirit's eyes..
i160.photobucket.com/albums/t1…

horse's eyes
uh.edu/engines/horseeyereflect…

Of course for the movie his eyes were changed to being more human so we could relate better to him and to help his expressions. This depends on your styling and how realistic you want your horse's eyes to be. I usually make mine more typically human myself.  His eyes are also much bigger then a normal horses. This again, depends on your style on how big you want your eyes to be.

This is reaaaaaaaaaaaaally long sorry haha.