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Summary: A must for all equine artists
Review: This book approaches the art of equine painting from the point of view of an artist not just a copiest. Combining useful information on anatomical featues with directions on how to handel the subjects in a background.Ms. Oelke has produced a complete at-home course in equine painting and anatomy.All aspects of equine drawing and painting are coverd,anatomy,characteristic movement and suggestions on how to capture them in landscape.
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Summary: Drawing & Painting Horses by Barbara Oelke
Review: This book is a must have for any equine artist. Not your typical step by step book, Ms Oelke covers many things that make the diffenence between a horse painting and sporting art. Beginning with a brief history of the horse in art and the impact of photography she gets down to the nitty gritty of skeletal and musculature formation, comparative measurements, views from different angles, materials and the various elements that make up a well planned piece of art. Posing, preliminary drawing, various methods, developing a horseman's eye and working as a professional artist are also covered, unlike any other how to book. All this is illustrated with exceptional work by some of the finest equine artists which each serve as a lesson in themselves and an inspiration to anyone painting the horse. The lessons learned here apply to any subject matter which place this book at the top of the list.
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Summary: The worse book I have seen on the subject.
Review: This has to be the worst book on the subject I have ever seen. Yes it is filled with beautiful color illustrations, but it does nothing to discuss actually painting the horse. It is more of history and anthology of equine art than it is a book of art instruction. It is vastly overprices and simply not worth the money. I found this book a huge disappointment and could see nothing of merit in it. The title is totally misleading.If you plan to paint horses, you want to know how to paint a dapple gray, what colors are best for a liver chestnut or a bay. What colors do you need to use to paint a palomino. What colors for the shadows and what colors for the highlights. Nothing like this is discussed in this book. In fact only one demonstration is given and that is a pretty poor one at that - nothing about the colors used etc. The single demonstration is of a dapple gray painted in the standard side view with an insipid background. There is absolutely no discussion of the best colors to have on your palette for various breeds and colors. Also there is no information on the pony or the foal in that section where the author fleetingly mentions drawing and the proportions. All in all if you want to learn to paint and draw horses this is not the book for you. If you want to look at pretty pictures, and quite a few pages on equine anatomy, then buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Avoid this book like the plague
Review: This is a terrible book and is definitely NOT worth the money being asked. The author does NOT teach you how to paint or draw horses. She does quite a bit with equine anatomy and a history of the art form and the actual supplies needed to paint or draw in various mediums. On drawing the horses she has about 4 pages of information and there is absolutely nothing on the painting. No discussions of the colors needed for chestnuts, bays, palaminos etc. No discussion of the best way to produce a dapple grey, or the colors needed for the hoof or eye. Walter Foster library has a better book on painting horses which actually contains some painting demonstrations. This book contains only ONE painting demonstration and that is a pretty poor one at that. If you want to learn to draw horses go and get used books by Walter Foster or Sam Savitt -- you will never learn to draw from this book.END
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