Introduction to Part III
Welcome again to this six-part series exploring some special effects in paintwork for beginners! So far we’ve covered a lot of ground from hoof striping to painting eyes, but we’ve got a ways to go still. There’s a lot to cover!
It’s important to help out our beginners in this art form. Why? Well, it’s good for our community and it’s good for you. When we have more brains working problems, we find more diverse solutions and that just spells innovation for everyone. We also encourage the painting of all those full shelves of nekkid resins and that spells good things for our shows and engagement. What’s more, who knows where the next superstar will come from, the next one to lead us into the step in our evolution? From the beginner pool, that’s where! Plus, one of the best ways to learn is to teach because you really have to know your stuff. That’s to say, when you teach beginners your methods, you’re actually learning more about your own conventions and techniques, too, since having to explain something warrants introspection and reflection. Wrap it all up then, if we don’t encourage beginners, we’re actually stunting our own growth in so many ways, on a personal level and as a community. So consider ways to help a beginner you know. It’s the right thing to do and it sure feels good! The thing is that no matter how long you’ve been at this, there is always—always—something more to learn. Something new, novel, innovative, fresh, always! So in essence, if you're doing it right, you're always a beginner, aren’t you? Really, that newb energy is far better for you than you think!
So with that close to heart, let’s continue our adventure into tricky painted effects and novel little touches for our paintwork to kick our art up a notch or two….let’s go!…
Dun Factors
Dun factors can be found on some duns and grullas, but their hue depends on their base color as not all dun factors are black based. For example, an apricot dun can have rust colored factors or a dunalino can have golden brown factors. So pay attention to their color and don’t just assume they’re black-based across the board.
So what are dun factors? Well, they’re also called “primitive marks” or “zebra markings,” and all the factors may be present or just a couple, it all depends on individual variation. However, the dorsal stripe is the most common while leg barring and ear tipping are the second most common. And you know the mantra by now: Always work from good references, especially when doing dun factors, and follow them religiously. It’s also a good idea to study lots of dun factors to develop a mental library to work from because you’ll see that there’s quite an array of factors that can show up. So, all said, really lean into your references and try not to exercise too much artistic license. So these factors are:
- Dorsal stripe: This can vary from thin to broad and can vary in intensity as well.
- Barbs off the dorsal stripe or “fish bones”: Perpendicular striations that emanate from the dorsal strip and head down towards the ribcage, even as extensively as to run down onto the ribcage. They’re sometimes accompanied by “shadow dorsals” that run parallel to the dorsal stripe for a length down the spine, usually ending at the lumbar span or sacrum.
- Shoulder barring: This also varies from thin to broad to sparse to extensive, even going up the neck and onto the wither and back. It can also vary in intensity.
- Hip barring: This is usually more conservative than shoulder barring, but can have the same variations in intensity and barring.
- Leg barring: Very obvious on the cannons, gaskins, and forearms, it’s zebra-ish in character not just straight lines across these areas. However, leg barring can extend up the hindquarter and lower neck but end up more as a “shadow” of color than a zebra-like stripe in these extensive areas.
- Tipped ears: The top third-ish to one-half of the ear can be colored with dark color. The ear rims are typically dark colored as well. (Ear fuzz is most often pale.)
- Ear barring: This can often be seen as a band of dark color around the flute of the ear below the tipping, or nearly around the flute that can vary in intensity between horses.
- Cobwebbing: Cobwebbing occurs on the forehead as zebra-like faint striping emanating from the center of the head. It can also have a “now you see them, now you don’t” quality to them at times, too.
- Mottling: These patches of splotchy dark color are like tiny mottled dapples that can occur on the chest, shoulder, forearm, triceps, and elbow area, stifle, rear and gaskin areas, even up on the jowl.
- Smudge marks: These can occur around the elbow, stifle, rear, and gaskin although they can also crop up at the base of the ear, the curved boney “wing” of the Atlas bone (the first cervical vertebra), the point of hip and croup, and along the shoulder.
- Face mask: Here we’ll find a coloring of the nasal bone when minimally expressed to a coloring of the whole face to that of the entire head and down the neck, depending on individual variation.
- Neck Shadow: When dark color clings along the top of the neck, sometimes even creating some downwards running barbs or streaks.
- Chest barring: Rather rare, it tends to show up somewhat small and with a “now you see it, now you don’t” effect like cobwebbing.
- Guard hairs or “frosting": Both the mane and tail often have pale hairs growing along crest or dock that can vary in intensity, but are often quite stark in color.
- Dark points: Factoring typically causes dark points on the legs, mane, and tail, and often the nasal bone, teardrop bone, and zygomatics.
Now if you note, some of these effects can have a “now you see them, now you don’t” quality to them or they can be really intense, it all depends on individual variation. So stay open to how they vary between individuals to choose the right effect for your paint job. To that end, it’s a good idea to pick a reference that has the types of primitive marks you want to paint to avoid creating something that doesn’t read correctly. In other words, try to find good one-to-one comparative images to work from so you don’t have to re-interpret things or have to apply too much artistic license.
So as for painting primitive marks, there are many ways to do it from using color pencils, pastel pencils, pastels, paint, and airbrushing. I recommend using pastel pencils when first starting out because they give you the control you need with a smudge-factor to blend them easily. For that, you can use a pointed Q-tip to gently smudge strategic areas of your primitive marks to blend and soften them. For extra points, you can augment the pastel pencil work with color pencils to amplify them strategically if you wish (keep them sharp).
You want to avoid six things with dun factors. First, you don’t want a streaky, artificial look to your factors, but an organic look. So keep them opaque, blended, smudged, and muted a snidge so they “sit back.” Second, on the other hand, you don’t want them to be pastel-powder puffy in color either but good solid factors. Practice on a junker model first to get a feel for the process as it’s a delicate balance. However, also note on your reference how some factors can be quite stark, so pay attention to their intensities, too. On that note, third, don’t assume they’re the same intensity over the entire body so look for how they may be less intense in strategic areas. For example, they can be softer sometimes inside the legs so study your references for those qualities if they’re there. Similarly, fourth, don’t assume all dun factors are the same tone so look for how their hue may vary over the different areas of the body. Indeed, the tones you use for the dun factors are really important, so play close attention to that in your references. Then five, avoid regimentation and work to mimic the look of organic randomness in the intensities, structure, and nature of your painted dun factors. And sixth, it’s really important to mimic the zebra-like quality of the leg barring rather than doing just straight-across lines of pigment. So really focus on their zebra-stripy qualities and you’ll nail it.
Reverse Dappling
Reverse Dappling is a curious effect on some colors from chestnuts, roans, duns, some palominos and champagnes. It can also happen with some clipping circumstances, so look for that as well. It appears on donkeys and mules, too. So what’s a reverse dapple? Well, normal dapples are like a pale spot in a dark honeycomb, right? Well, reverse dapples are dark dappled smudges of color that mimic the look of a normal dapple. On roans, in particular, there’s also often an extensive amount of “frosting” of lighter color surrounding and accompanying the reverse dapples, making them even more pronounced. And on champagnes, reverse dappling can be remarkably extensive. For this reason, you’ll need a good reference photo to work from to reproduce them accurately, and stick to it faithfully. And do a lot of study to develop a mental library to learn its variability because you’ll see they can be intense or subtle, discreet or very extensive, like all over the body, depending on the individual.
As for painting reverse dappling, again, a pastel pencil and a pointed Q-Tip are a handy means to get them on there. Color pencils can also be very useful here as well (be sure to keep them sharp). And some media just lend themselves well to painting them on such as pastels and oils. Acrylics are probably the most difficult to use subtly so think about using dry brushing or a drying retardant. Overall though, be very mindful of tone to “sit them back into the coat” so they don’t look painted on.
You want to avoid three things with reverse dappling. First, you don’t want a harsh, abrupt look to them, so keep them muted and smudgey, and be careful to diffuse the edges a bit. Second, avoid regimentation and regularity in their size and spacing and shapes. They aren’t polka dots! So again, use a reference photo faithfully to recreate them accurately. Indeed, when it comes to reverse dappling, that dappling pattern is its own thing, so really lean into your references. And third, don’t go off-tone with your reverse dappling as that can bust apart your illusion pretty quickly. So remain very mindful of tone so your reverse dappling looks convincing and realistic. (Recommended reading: The Dapple Dilemma: Different Strokes for Different Coats)
Scarring
Scarring is a fact of horse-life and can be a realistic touch to wild horses, rough stock, and working horses. However, many horses will have some sort of scar of some kind on their body, right? Hey, we do, too, so why not them as well? Horses don’t live in a reality vacuum. Indeed, perhaps one way our genre will evolve is to infuse more of real life into our pieces without penalty rather than this “perfection bubble” of contrived reality. Because the truth is any horse will often sustain a minimal level of "living wear" that's a neat realistic and provocative touch to add by suggesting a history, a narrative behind your piece. Wabi-sabi, baby!
Now scars come in two forms: Bare skin or discolored hair. Bare skin happens when the hair follicles have been so damaged that hair no longer grows back, exposing the skin underneath. This means we also need to consider whether that skin is dark or unpigmented pink before we paint. As for discolored hair, that happens when the hair follicles have been so damaged as to produce either white hair or dark hair in response to a damage event. For instance, many solid colors can develop “rub marks” from ill-fitting tack that manifests as small white patches or streaks of white while, on the other hand, roan is a very sensitive color that will develop dark spots or streaks in response to damage. This is why roan wild stallions have so many dark patches of color on their bodies—from all their battles, all that damage shows up as dark patches, splotches, and streaks. So do a lot of field study and study references to develop a mental library and sensitivity to finding them. When you do, you’ll find that scars are more common than you think, often occurring on the lower legs, or fight or play contact points. Either which way, they indicate a past event so keep your narrative in mind.
As for painting them, they’re easily added with a small round with a good point (and longer bristles to hold a good well of paint). When it comes to the bare skin type, sometimes they're flat and shiny, flat and matte, or slightly raised as they do vary so work from a good reference photo. However, avoid creating "proud flesh” which is granular raised scar tissue which can be a problematic condition unless it marries with your narrative. As for the discolored hair type, they show up as either unpigmented white hair or a darkened patch of hair.
Now for a skin color, use charcoals for dark skin and flesh for unpigmented skin (like under markings). To that end then, be mindful of tone to achieve a skin-like, muted, “grown” effect so they don’t look too harsh. So to paint a scar, think about this approach:
- Soften your chosen black with greys or taupes for bare skin, or create muted flesh tones for unpigmented skin.
- Use a quality pointed small round brush (with longer bristles to hold a good reservoir of paint) and thin your paint to about 2% milk consistency, then dip and dab out the excess, and apply. ”Subtle" is the key idea here to keep the effect soft and fleshy looking.
- Extra points: Apply them at a hair texture angle to recreate that effect on their borders because remember there’s hair overgrowing along the perimeter.
- Note: Or you can use pastel pencils or color pencils instead, if you wish.
When painting scars, you want to avoid four things. First, avoid producing brush strokes of harsh color on your piece. Keep your scarring flesh-like and soft by working carefully with properly thinned paint. Second, don’t make your scarring streaky and patchy. Remember, it’s bare skin so work to mimic that effect by making your scar even and opaque. Third, be mindful of tone so it doesn’t appear as harshly painted on but organic and fleshy. And fourth, avoid sloppiness. This is because you want a high degree of control and “crispness” to them because they are abrupt, so don’t diffuse them too much into the coat, don't make them too smudge or blendy. Remember, they indicate an injury rather than being naturally grown from the coat so try to mimic that best you can.
Brands
There are two basic types of brands: Freeze marks and hot branding. The former uses intense cold while the latter uses intense heat to mark the hide. They produce different effects so it's important to know the difference.
Don't confuse scars with freeze branding since this procedure damages the hair follicle itself and not the skin. On solid color animals then, freeze marking changes the hair color permanently to white by permanently damaging the hair follicle. However, that’s not true for grey horses in which white hairs eventually wouldn’t show up. On grey horses then, the freeze brand is left on longer to destroy the follicles completely, leaving the bare black skin to show the brand. Now hot brands, on the other hand, actually burn the hair and skin to permanently leave a raised scar.
As for when branding happens, some breeds can be branded in specific ways like the Arabian, Iberian, Trakehner, and Pega donkey, as well as many warmbloods, while some ranch horses are branded to identify their owners. So be sure to research the specifics before adding a brand to your paintjob to stay correct.
To do a dark-skin brand then, simply use the scar technique. However, be more mindful of the overlaying hair along the perimeter which can obscure the exposed skin quite a bit, making for more of a raised up effect more than anything else. Then for a white-haired brand, simply use thinned down white paint to about 1% milk and go in softened layers, following the hair growth pattern, much like the mapping technique. Again, use good reference photos to guide you. (Ranch horses and warmbloods are often hot branded and Arabians are often freeze branded to find those references.) Extra points: Actually have your brand mean something, like maybe an actual breed brand, or even your initials or studio logo.
There are two things you want to avoid. First, try not to make clean harsh lines, but mimic the hair growth patterns to denote the hair overlaying the brand's borders. And second, avoid a painted-on effect by staying mindful of tone and technique so the brand “sits back” into the paintjob rather than looking like it “sits on top," artificial-looking rather than organic-looking.
Conclusion to Part III
Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles for beginners isn’t a skill set per se, it’s confidence. But here’s the thing: Our confidence can only grow when we feel empowered, when we feel equipped to take the challenge on. So it’s this Catch-22 situation. This is another reason why empowering beginners with knowledge is so important. By helping them build their skillset, we empower them which, in turn, builds their confidence so they stretch farther, and so it goes in a positive feedback loop. So just a little bit of a leg up can actually have a tremendous pay off. This is a big reason why the new innovation of Zoom classes in our community is so amazing insofar as we now have a burgeoning system of empowerment to kickstart this cycle en masse. And that only spells great things comin' down the pike in every corner of our geekdom! Indeed, when we have more people behind the studio door, a lot of positives come out of that new awareness. (Recommended reading: Moving Forwards With Fear and Priming the Pump: Inspiring Your Inspiration and A New View: Transforming Intimidation Into Inspiration) How so? Well, for instance, we can have a better regard for the arts once we've done it ourselves because we'll have lived the arting experience, too. More still, we may solidify our bonds and networks by engaging in such a social aspect as group learning such as through workshops and classes and NaMoPaiMo. And there’s this, too, it’s just fun! Learning is just so fun! And when more folks are having fun with their arting, it reminds them why they’re doing all this in the first place. It’s a great emotional palette cleanser, let’s say. So consider taking a Zoom class or a workshop! Jump into NaMoPaiMo! It'll put you back in a beginner state of mind, which is always a good idea, and you get to interact with new people, which is often a big positive, plus it’s just plain ol’ fun! Win win win! Because the written word with images can only go so far. Sometimes a classroom is just the ticket! So consider it seriously. It’s a blast!
“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
— Sylvia Plath
