Have you ever seen an Equisaur? An Equisaur is a dinosaur horse! This horse is the most complex customized model horse I've ever created.I designed this fantasy horse for the Peter Stone "MasterHorse" model painting contest. The object of the contest was to paint a fantasy horse using the plastic "Ideal Stock Horse" model manufactured by the Stone Company. My entry, Equisaurus Idealus, the ideal dinosaur horse, was a runner up! The prize was a special run gray pony model from the Stone Company. All entries were showcased at the Stone model horse fair in Kentucky, and the winning entries were featured in the model horse magazine, "Equilith."
The picture below (left) is an example of what an Ideal Stock Horse looks like when it leaves the Stone factory in Indiana. Model horses are hand-painted, shaded, and detailed to look as realistic as possible. This horse is Traditional size, approximately 11" by 9".
This is what a prepped horse looks like (below, right). In order to get to this stage, I had to sand the horse's seams down, carve out its ears and hooves, and remove the plastic mane and tail. After sanding down the mane, I built up a spike mane out of epoxy, then I cut off the horse's tail and designed a dinosaur tail of epoxy built around a curved wooden base. I prepped the horse with several coats of white gesso. Sounds easy, but the steps in between involved mixing up small batches of epoxy, waiting for the epoxy to harden, and sanding to ensure that the horse's body was smooth and bump-free.
The next stage involved blocking out areas where the final color would go. This was basically another prepping stage to ensure that the final paint job would look solid, not transparent or sloppy. (I always choose a color that is close to what the final coat color will be, then paint it directly onto the horse without any special shading. I find that two or three layers of acrylic paint covers the gesso pretty well.)I started painting the green areas first, then the brown. I mixed up special batches of dino-green metallic paints and proceeded to paint and shade as necessary. The brown color is basically a metallic chestnut mixture I use for "normal" colored horses. I work with a base color and two other colors that serve as the highlight (lighter paint) and the shading (darker paint). This gives the horse a 3-D effect that enhances the natural muscling.
The final stage consisted of detail work. I blended a nice line along the horse's green/brown border and gave him detailed eyes and hooves. He didn't look complete, so I painted a diamond pattern down his back, from head to tail. The pattern is snake-like and adds interest to his overall form. I sealed him with matte spray paint to protect the finish.
I like to play music while I paint. I listened to *many* Enya albums while I worked on this horse; it took me about ten days to complete him. When people seen him in person, they gasp and can't believe it! He has a certain magical quality about him. . .
Photos and text Copyright 2003 by Keri Krause. Please do not use this material without my permission. Thank you!Last updated: 10/19/03
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