12 Easy Steps to Drawing Your Breyer Horse

It’s seems so simple: pull out your favorite Breyer model horse and draw them. But there’s a reason why horses often look so fake in cartoons – they’re not easy to draw! Fear not: here is a foolproof way to draw the head of a horse, and it starts with a witch’s hat. No, really, it does! Follow along and see.

Step One

Select a Breyer horse that’s easy to draw. Keep it simple and stay away from models with flaring nostrils or flying manes until you get the hang of things. For this drawing, our inspiration will be a Traditional scale Quarter Horse.

Step Two

This is where things get interesting (and where the witch's hat comes in!) Draw the brim of the witch's hat first, then draw a line that’s four inches long. Be sure to angle it across the page. 

Step Three

Mark the halfway spot. This is an important step, so don't miss doing it!

Step Four

Draw the cone of the witch's hat. Remember that halfway point your marked?  Make sure the tip of the cone is directly above your halfway point. Your line should be about 4.5 inches long.

Step Five

Draw a circle: half on one side of the brim, and half on the other. It’s okay if your circle is more of an oval – just work the edge of the circle until it’s as good as you can get.

Step Six

Next, square off the hat as shown. You might want to round off the short end of your square – that’s going to be your muzzle.

Are you getting the picture now? Can you tell what it’s going to be?

Step Seven

At the top of the circle, right where the brim of the hat sticks out, draw an ear.  They look a bit like a leaf!

Step Eight

Next, draw the neck. It should follow the curve of your circle.

Step Nine

Now, draw the eye. It’s very important to draw it where the jawbone circle meets the sloped edge of the witch’s hat. If you follow that guide you can never go wrong with your eye placement, because that’s where Mother Nature places it, too.

Step Ten

Draw the nostril. It goes between the tip of your witch’s hat and the square, as shown below.

Step Eleven

Now it's time to start erasing some lines – but hold on! Don’t erase everything. Some of the lines you’ve drawn are very important. Some will become the jawbone (the line up the middle of your witch’s hat) and the cheekbone (the bottom half of your circle)...

When you're done erasing, your horse should look like the one below.

Step Twelve

Now we can start shading! Don’t forget to draw a line for the mouth and the line for the neck (bottom part of the witch’s hat.)  You can use your finger to smudge the pencil lead and "feather" your shading, or you can also use lines to shade, too. Don’t be afraid to shift the eye and/or the jawbone lines a bit to make everything look more natural.

And there you have it – a finished horse!