Creating a Portrait Model: Part One

As the school year draws to a close, the annual Feather Fund auction in July draws closer and its time for me to start on some portrait models for donations. In this series I'll show you how I create a portrait model of Soul Surfer, a 2014 foal and son of the late Surfer Dude. Now on to the tutorial!

What you will need for this part

• Lots of reference pictures
• a body or a selection of body models

One of the most important parts of this process is having several different reference photos from different angles. This will help you recreate the horse in the most realistic way possible. Here are some of the reference pictures I'm using to recreate Soul Surfer. 

The next thing you want to do is find a body model to use. This model should have the same body type as the horse you want to recreate (pony, draft, light, stock, ect). Now you have to consider the breed you are recreating. If the model you chose does not have some of the well known traits of the breed (dished face for the Arabian and the curved ears for the Mawari) don't worry! That's where sculpting comes in.

I prefer to use Magic Sculpt as it easily smooths into the plastic and cuts down on prepping time. Add the specific breed traits in with the clay (see the category Sculpting and Prepping for how I do this). Let the clay dry for at least 24 hours and begin prepping. Here is the model I chose for Soul Surfer.

In this picture he is not prepped yet

 Once your horse is prepped and has his final coat of primer on, you're ready to add color. In the next post I'll cover pros and cons of the techniques I've used over the years.

~If you are the owner of any of the pictures in this post let me know and I will give you full credit~