Introduction
In our art form, realistic equine art, we seek to accurately capture the equine in miniature, down to the smallest detail. As such, most of the pieces created can be thought of as representational art, much like those technical illustrations found in old books and magazines, or the bajillions of portraits that have been created throughout history. It’s a “this is a horse,” sort of thing. This is fine, of course, nothing wrong with that! Representational art has a strong and highly respected foothold in the art scene.
But the truth is, is that all there is? Is that the extent of our potential? Is that really the only point to all this? Maybe not. Because we can’t deny that it’s those pieces that transcend representational art that hit us harder. Why? They’re simply more provocative, having far more impact, meaning, and chutzpah. In short, they have far more to “say” than simply “this is a horse.” But how does this happen? What’s the magic ingredient here?
Narrative.
It’s through narrative that we can elevate our work past representational art, imbuing it with far more emotive meaning. With that then, it’ll inspire the audience more profoundly, speaking directly to their sensibilities to maximize our creative efforts and the lasting impression of our work.
We cannot forget that all art is a form of expression, no matter how cursory. Even a simple five minute watercolor painting of a flower is a human yearning to be recognized and heard. A child’s drawing of a smiley-faced sun is a statement of individuality and expression. This is because in that expression lies an essential truth: Art is really about communication and connection. It’s one soul speaking to another through a visual language. In turn, it’s narrative that taps into all that to focus the language into a cohesive storyline, and that’s what’s going to intrigue the audience and pull them into our visual story.
Besides, while skill, talent, color, shape, and all the other elements of our art are critical for representational art, just as the mastery of any art is, once that skillset is developed, don't we have to do something with it? So like every song, movie, poem, play, dance, and novel has a story, a scenario, can't our equines tell a story, too? Truly, the intangible quality that separates the competent work from the great work is a deep ethos that guides every toolstrike or brushstroke.
So what is a “narrative” and how can we inject it into our work to lend it more weight? What kinds of narratives are there for our scope of work? What does it mean to have something to “say”? Well, let’s discuss it!…
The Power of Narrative
So what is a “narrative” anyway? And why is it so effective? Well, when your imagination creates stories and expresses them in clay or pigment, that’s narrative art. Quite simply, narrative tells a visual story, compelling the audience to ask questions, to want to know more, igniting their imaginations. Think of it this way: You’re capturing one moment in a lifetime or one frame in a full-length movie, using clay and paint to convey the story of that moment. This approach also allows the audience to add their own interpretation to the prequel and the sequel, capturing their attention and inspiring their own creativity, making your piece hit all the harder. All the technical finesse in the world aside, it’s the really great pieces that leave the audience wanting to know more about the depicted story, giving them something to think about and imagine beyond the moment captured. In this way then, really good narrative art doesn’t have to present conclusions, but leaves things open to individual interpretation, literally allowing the audience to custom-fit your piece into their own life story.
More specifically then, narrative is essentially the driving message, idea, or feeling — the core communication — you wish to convey through our piece. It’s the purposeful intent inspiring the creation of the piece, the backstory behind it. It’s the thread that will connect you to the audience, the foundation idea that sets the tone for a provocative reaction. Quite literally, the narrative transforms you into a storyteller, a director of you own movie of sorts, and therein lies a lot more potential. As such, you don’t seek a “this is a horse” piece, instead you’re trying to drive home some communication to make a connection, using the horse as the vehicle. And the audience doesn’t even have to know the full extent of the narrative to have such a piece hit them harder — it just does. Why? Because the creation of the piece was driven by weightier inspirations than simply “this is a horse” and that affects every aspect of its composition and execution. For instance, Stormwatch was created based on a solid backstory, an extensive narrative, that drove every aspect of his creation — and he hits hard. Really hard. Breyer’s Croi Damsha was also created based on a strong narrative, a core meaning, and she hits pretty hard, too. Breyer’s Cosimo is also supported by a core inspirational feeling, a founding sensibility, and he definitely grabs your imagination quickly. In Dreams was loaded with backstory that fueled her creation, and she certainly teleports you to her imagined moment pretty easily. And Bram was inspired by a very specific moment in time that seeped into every curve and line of his composition, and he certainly has a big impact. So infusing a narrative makes a big difference!
In this way, equine art can still be a “this is a horse” piece to satisfy our baseline focus, but all the while transcending that by employing a narrative to become a conduit for conveying meaning, to focus attention, to present a question, to raise awareness, and to inject weight and emotion to the visual message. Absolutely, used with intent, a narrative will direct the piece’s creation to add depth and consequence to the audience's interaction.
How To Infuse Narrative
So how do we actually apply a narrative in practice? Well, there are a few handy tricks! One is to think like a movie director insofar as your piece literally depicts a single frame in an ongoing movie, speaking to a specific moment in time. In this though, the most effective narrative pieces hint at preceding events and those still to come, so think how can you convey all that in your design.
Another trick is to consider how does your composition make you feel? What sense of place and moment and expression does it generate? Every toolstrike and brushstroke should then support that narrative. Indeed, what we do with our work is to use a visual means to convey information so chose the best composition and point of view to forward your story. For our brand of work then, we use pose, expression, gesture, posture, movement, line, curve, tone, shade, effect, even gender, age, and breed, and any number of other touches to communicate our message and imbue our work with personality and that elusive touch of soul. So is it dramatic, serene, dynamic, cute, lovely, workmanlike, or frightening, or whatever else? What is the driving impression behind your particular inspiration, behind your story?
This brings us to, third, create context. In this, both the emotional and situational context give a sense of space and time for your story, setting a specific tone and creating mood and atmosphere. This being so, we can even play with time. For instance, we can depict either a climatic event or, on the flip side, we can imply it by either portraying the moment before or after instead. In practice, this happens to be one tactic for building tension and depth to your narrative. Like what visual hints can you build into your moment that speak to your storyline? In this, try to immerse yourself in your own story. Imagine as though you were right there with that animal, experiencing the sounds, scents, sensations of that moment so you can better clarify and focus it all for your audience.
Then fourth, compel the audience to ask questions. Not beg questions — ask them, because they’re imaginatively curious about how your story started or continues. So we give the audience enough information to get their imaginations to work on extrapolating their own interpretations but not so much as to stop the story there. Again, what hints can we give them to continue it in their own minds?
Fifth, understand some useful elements of storytelling. Like what is the inciting incident that destabilizes the moment depicted in your story? Is it for good or ill? In response, how does your subject respond? Through a series of actions or expressions or postures? Is there a critical moment depicted in your narrative? How is your central figure reacting to that critical moment? Is there a resolution to your storyline? What events lead up to it? What happens afterward? How is your equine communicating this?
Sixth, query your inspiration with these ponderings to flesh out a storyline:
- What universe is this piece living in? What’s its reality?
- Posit the hypothetical, “Once upon a time…”
- What specific story are you telling through this sculpture or paintjob?
- What happens before and after the depicted moment?
- What’s your focal point? The place you want the viewer to focus on at first glance and how does that forward your story?
- What is the purpose of the storyline? The message? What’s the core theme, the driving impression? What do you wish to communicate?
- How will I use traveling eye principles and composition to guide the audience’s eye and emphasize key dramatic features or components?
- How will I focus on action and emotion? What expressions, gestures, posture, body language and whatnot can I employ to forward my story, to flesh out my moment in time?
- Can I incorporate symbolic elements to add more layers of meaning and insinuation?
- What compositional elements can I incorporate to create relational tension to beef up my narrative such as the rapport between figures, colors, effects, objects, opposing forces or line, curves, and contours?
- How can I leverage color, effect, pattern, line, shape, contour and curve to guide the audience’s attention and forward the atmosphere of my story?
- What will be the emotional landscape of my subject in my depicted moment? What is the story from my subject’s point of view? What is my equine thinking and feeling at that moment? What will be their next move? What is their motivation?
- How do I want my audience to feel when interacting with my piece? What components can I engineer to forward that?
Then once you know your storyline, try to leave it open-ended a bit, allowing the audience to continue it with their own imaginations. In other words, try not to put a period at the end of that sentence but an ellipsis. We want their imagination to kick in, drawing them into our piece to provoke their curiosity and to build more onto our story in their own way. In turn, they can make your story their own story so your piece then becomes unforgettable in their mind, part of their own life experience. And that’s how we build a more impactful impression, by making your story their story, too, and now we’ve made that essential connection so intrinsic to great art.
Conclusion
If you want your work to “pop,” it’s not just the skill, talent, and workmanship that will do that for you — those are givens we need to have in our work anyway. Nope. The bottom line is this: You’ve simply got to have your work move people, to remind them why they love equines in the first place. And what helps to do that for you are the narratives you inject into your work. Do that, and you’re going to grab people’s souls with each piece and touch their hearts and captivate their minds, and that’s the equine art that sticks with people the longest. We love equines so very much, they’re magic to us, and it’s through our narratives then that we tap into that magic to compel folks to cherish that love all the more.
Injecting narratives into our work is also a lot of fun. Truly, when we focus our communication onto backstories, messages, awarenesses, questions, and whatnot, somehow our creative excursions become all the richer and more compelling. In turn, this is how infusing narratives adds a ton of more meaning to our creativity, punching up our Voice and making our work far more unique, compelling, and authentic. In turn, narratives can also fire up our inspirations all the more only because we’ll be tapping into what our creative drives actually have to say other than “bay rabicano PAM.” And yes, we can inject narrative into even a paintjob by using tone, effect, and expression to lend mood, moment, and charisma to the piece. So narrative works on every level of our work, making it infinitely versatile and adaptive.
So create your story, be expressive and show action and moment in your work. Your equines have a story to tell so set them up in the best way to tell it. But allow them to leave it open-ended so the audience can imagine more of that imaginary world on their own. So dig deep and dare to explore your own imagination and what you have to say through your art — then say it, using the glorious horse as your Muse. Or going even a step further, you can depict the world from the equine's point of view, delving into the essence of horsedom to advocate for and affirm the agency of the animal.
Now all this isn't to say to anthropomorphize your subjects. In equine realism, we have to stick to natural equine nature and coordination. Instead, it's to suggest that speaking from the animal's point of view or telling a story of the equine has a lot more power than just "bay rabicano PAM." That imbuing a living, soulful personality and storied moment into our piece can project it beyond simply what it is, capturing the audience's sensibilities so much more effectively. Indeed, all the brilliant technical achievement in the world still falls short of its potential if it can't also capture our hearts in a meaningful way.
So consider creating your work based on narratives rather than a representational focus all the time. Indeed, if narrative can help our art grab more people more effectively, why not? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! In fact, even the very best portraiture work seeks to be more than “this is Jane Doe” by capturing the personality, moment, impact, and weight of the individual in life, right? Put another way, it seeks to grab the essence of the individual than simply their likeness, and we can do that with our equine realism, too. So give it a whirl and see what your inspirations concoct in response! It could be that you strike a hidden well of creative magic inside you that will bump up your work to unforeseen heights of meaning! And what better way to connect through your art than that?
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way—things I had no words for.”
— Georgia O’Keeffe
