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Published: 2008-05-18 03:20:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 2036; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 17
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Description
An Essential Expressions exercise, using the template adjusted by . This is my manga character, Dream Spirit, who has opinions and expresses them quite clearly, both verbally and with body language. Dream Spirit appears in the manga "A Visit to the Iron Kingdoms", posted in my gallery at fairly regular intervals. 50-odd pages and growing.Dream Spirit is my own original character. She is based on my old Half-Arabian Half-Saddlebred mare, Key to My Dreams.
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Comments: 41
katsesama [2008-05-18 21:19:35 +0000 UTC]
Hey, this is wonderful! What a challenge, to capture so many expressions on a horse! Hard to pick a favorite...bored cracked me up, and silly is a joy. I think laughing is my favorite, though -- just because you know how often horses are secretly laughing at us. Good to see one having an open guffaw!
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Murasaki99 In reply to katsesama [2008-05-19 01:56:33 +0000 UTC]
Thank you much! Horses definitely do laugh at us -- some not so secretly.
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FlareAndIcicle [2008-05-18 12:30:47 +0000 UTC]
Really cool! The shocked one is great! I might actually do this one someday if that's alright
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Murasaki99 In reply to FlareAndIcicle [2008-05-18 14:44:21 +0000 UTC]
Thank you, the shocked expression came in a moment of inspiration. Feel free to give it a try, I'm just building on all the different stuff I have seen over the years from other animal cartoons, and my own horses.
There was a wonderful British cartoonist called Norman Thelwell, who drew the most incredible horse and rider cartoons mostly featuring little fat evil ponies and their bemused child riders. Some of his stuff is out there on the Web and may still be available in collected books. I highly recommend looking at those cartoons, since he could get expression on a horse's face like nobody else.
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VampireGoddess20 In reply to Murasaki99 [2009-06-22 02:15:09 +0000 UTC]
His stuff looks like some of the comics in Horse Illustrated I think XD One of the bigger Horse magazines a least. I have a giant stack of old horse magazines I got off some woman who had an antique/thrift shop that was going out of business, she gave me 4-5 stacks of atleast 20 mags in each stack XD
HI is my fav though, and I'm pretty sure that one has the comics, if not its Horse & Rider. X3
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FlareAndIcicle In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 20:48:08 +0000 UTC]
Never heard of him, though I'll try lookin' 'm up if I find the time
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Murasaki99 In reply to FlareAndIcicle [2008-05-19 01:42:07 +0000 UTC]
I just found out they have a website up for him here: [link] Yay! With some of his best cartoons of the kids and horses.
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FlareAndIcicle In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-20 15:16:08 +0000 UTC]
Those fat ponies really are funny
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Murasaki99 In reply to FlareAndIcicle [2008-05-21 02:35:38 +0000 UTC]
Aren't they cool? His eebil ponies are the best!
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-19 02:31:09 +0000 UTC]
Bookmarkedβthanks! "Thelwell's Riding Academy" was the book I had.
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-19 02:44:12 +0000 UTC]
I'm missing all the Penelope ones. Gotta see if they are still available.
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 15:42:56 +0000 UTC]
Thelwell's a great resource. I had his books as a kid and I love his fat, evil ponies.
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-19 02:44:49 +0000 UTC]
The ponies are the best! And I have known a few of them in real life.
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-19 03:12:15 +0000 UTC]
Even as a kid with full grown horses, I recognized a few.
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-19 04:32:21 +0000 UTC]
Some ponies are just Evil. Chaotic evil, too.
And some are Neutral Lazy.
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DeviantPersonality [2008-05-18 08:47:57 +0000 UTC]
Nice ^^ great job on getting those expressions rigth : )Im having trouble getting it right on humans, but Im guessing it isnt excactly easier with a horse ?
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-18 14:39:07 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! Human expressions are relatively easy since they have such mobile faces. Horses have long faces and while they do have a full range of expression some of them can be rather subtle. Other expressions -- such as anger -- are not subtle at all.
My old horse was very expressive and so I have built up a mental library of her moods and the expressions on her face. She had a "total warfare frown" that was most impressive.
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 15:00:12 +0000 UTC]
Haha, Id like to see that.. Or perhaps not.. at least from a safe distance..?
But yeah, I once tried drawing a horse, and it went awkward and I gave up and since have never drawn an animal for riding
So kudos to you for managing to draw those horses : P
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-18 15:40:22 +0000 UTC]
The angry horse-stuff is best viewed from a distance.
They've got good horse-tutorials here on DA if you want to try your hand at horses again.
Do give it a try, you already know how to correctly create shape and form, the horse is just a variation of the basic structures you already know.
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 15:55:12 +0000 UTC]
Yeh,I think my mother once tried to teach me to draw horses and such
Might try it out sometime.. : P
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-18 16:01:48 +0000 UTC]
Try it, you'll like it! Shall I do a quick and easy tutorial?
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 16:07:11 +0000 UTC]
Migth be a good idea, you could then post it so its just not me benefitting from it ; P
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-19 06:54:52 +0000 UTC]
Got one done for ye! Got it posted here: [link]
Hope it is helpful to you.
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-19 11:57:52 +0000 UTC]
Ill check it out
Though I will take no responsibility for the consequences
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-19 14:33:33 +0000 UTC]
I know you'll do better than Jack Kirby, the famous comic artist -- he loved horses, but he always gave them extra joints in his drawings.
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-19 15:12:55 +0000 UTC]
Really? : P Never noticed
Always thought he was to awesome to do anything wrong xP
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Murasaki99 In reply to DeviantPersonality [2008-05-20 00:39:21 +0000 UTC]
Master Kirby was so awesome, I didn't much care how he drew his horses... but I did notice the funky joints, heh-heh.
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DeviantPersonality In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-20 11:42:20 +0000 UTC]
Ill try looking for that ^^ funny thing I never noticed
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Murasaki99 In reply to NewPlanComics [2008-05-18 06:00:54 +0000 UTC]
Thankies! It was fun.
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Diinzumo [2008-05-18 04:23:14 +0000 UTC]
Very nice! I love the last three, "silly" through "tired." And "bored" is hilariousβis she licking the page border?
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-18 06:03:10 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! Took me forever to do, but a worthy exercise.
In "bored" she's running her tongue out and could indeed be licking the border. Horses play with their tongues when really bored - the equivalent of drumming your fingers. She's probably listening to a lecture on "care of your warjack".
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 13:45:48 +0000 UTC]
That I didn't know, having never been exposed to bored horses (regrettably, my experience has been limited to hiring them out and/or trying not to get bitten by my aunt's "pets").
I could see a sequence where she's contemplating her tongue while the latest instructor drones on. Too silly!
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-18 14:36:00 +0000 UTC]
I've met a few horses that were bored quite a bit -- those who race or show a lot and are confined to stalls tend to really suffer from it.
My instructor's Irish sport horse got lots of stimulation at her place, but his boredom threshold was really low and as a consequence he would think of all sorts of things to keep himself "entertained" -- these involved hanging his head over the top bar of his stall (which made him look as if he were in danger of strangling), strumming his teeth on the stall bars, and standing in his water trough.
I could definitely see Spirit doing all sorts of subtly annoying things if she was forced to attend a boring lecture.
Horses are really good at pretending to cooperate while making you pay for it.
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 15:37:58 +0000 UTC]
I can see how strumming teeth on stall bars could get really unnerving. Didn't he have any toys?
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-18 15:59:50 +0000 UTC]
!! Toys he had plenty, but as far as Dublin was concerned, all the world was a toy.
He would much rather drag his water trough around and put his hooves through the stall bars, or grate his teeth on the steel bars to hear us howl in anguish. He was a Thelwell pony writ large. He was trained to do circus tricks just to give him a repertoire of "safer" tricks we could praise him for.
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 16:24:15 +0000 UTC]
Oh, I bet he was fun to watch, grating teeth notwithstanding.
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-18 18:38:36 +0000 UTC]
He was a one-horse improv comedy show, I kid you not. He loved laughter and attention, and so he would just try things and look for people's reactions. He adored little kids, too, which was good, because he is 17 hands and about 1400 pounds of sport horse. His sire is a famous Irish Draught stallion named Grey Mara and even though his dam is a Thoroughbred, Dublin was huge.
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Diinzumo In reply to Murasaki99 [2008-05-18 19:06:48 +0000 UTC]
Oh too funny. He sounds like a sweetie.
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Murasaki99 In reply to Diinzumo [2008-05-19 01:54:24 +0000 UTC]
He became one. When our friend first got him he was a handful. Like a spoiled kid, only BIG.
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