Grain, Grain, Go Away...

So if you have ever done a horse in pastels or pigments, unless you have been extremely lucky, you have had grain on your horse. Grain is usually caused by very small divots in your horse's primer or sealer. It can also be caused by going using a color a couple shades darker than the color you have already laid down or not allowing enough time for your sealer or primer to dry.

Grain from going to a shade of light yellow to a medium brown

One of the things you can do to counteract grain is to buff the horse with a clean (I can not emphasize how important the clean part is) white sock, this is often called socking. Once your primer is completely dry, I usually give it a day or if I'm impatient at least twelve hours, you rub your horse with the sock until it has a shine. This process is essentially the same as sanding with a high grit sand paper, without running the risk of sanding off primer. The sheen comes from knocking down the divots that create grain. 

The shine of a socked horse

Even with the sheen pastels or pigments should still stick to the horse. If they aren't, hit the horse with a coat of Krylon Matte Sealer (or something similar). Wait for the sealer to cure and buff, after buffing try applying the pastels or pigments again.

Another cause for grain is missing a part of your horse with the sealer. If you don't notice this and you lay down another layer of color, the parts that aren't sealed in will not get any darker. So my cure for that is looking your horse over after you seal it. If you see a lighter color then what you had just sealed in, hit that part of the horse with another layer of sealer.

My advice for you is if you are doing a lighter color, buff, buff, buff, and buff again! You should buff every time your layer of sealer cures. When you're doing a darker color you have a bit more leeway, but I still recommend buffing in between every layer.

If you have any questions, please ask! Also if you want to see any type of tutorials, just ask, I'm very easily swayed :-).