How to draw a unicorn: step by step instructions

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A mythical creature with a horse's body and a long, twisted horn has captured the imagination of artists for centuries. The first images are over four thousand years old. Unicorns were drawn as bulls, donkeys, goats or undersized ponies with an amazing and formidable decoration on their foreheads. Like all ancient chimeras, the unicorn has the features of many animals: the power of a horse and the grace of a deer, a long narwhal horn, sharp goat hooves, a lion's tail, huge wings like a swan's. Now, thanks to the fantasy genre, a simplified image is popular with the graceful and strong body of a racehorse, long, to the ground, mane and tail.

How to draw a unicorn with a horse's body step by step with a pencil

To create a fabulous creature on paper, you have to use fantasy and analogies from life. With the help of reference figures, you can draw a unicorn in stages, like a horse.

Two circles are needed for the torso. Depending on the posture, one of them will be larger, the other smaller. This is cereal andrib cage. Smoothly curved lines unite them into a common outline. The unicorn, according to legend, has a slender, elegant body, lighter and more graceful than any trotter. No flared sides. The abdomen is taut, the widest part of the body is the ribs.

For the neck you need an elongated triangle. A unicorn's pelvis is thinner and more muscular than a real horse's. Nobility and become a mythical animal are emphasized by gracefully curved contour lines.

The contour of the head, like the body, is created from two circles of different sizes. The structure of the skull of a horse and a unicorn suggests several differences. The muzzle of a fabulous creature is slightly smaller than a horse's, slightly pointed. The superciliary ridges and zygomatic ridges are smoothed, not as prominent as in a live horse. The eyes and nostrils are about the same size. The ears of a unicorn are neat, but not quite petite. Of course, the most important feature is the horn growing from the middle of the forehead. From the base it is directed forward.

Down from the circles, straight lines of legs are drawn with kinks at the folds. The hock joint on the hind legs is arched back, the front - forward. Knots of joints and hooves are outlined in small circles. At this stage, it is necessary to determine the center of gravity so that the pose is stable. The limbs are also unnaturally thin for a horse. By drawing their contour on the axial lines, it is possible to make the metacarpus more elongated than that of riding breeds. Some disproportion of thin and long legs will give the appearance of the creature a fabulous lightness, sublimity. According to some myths, the unicorn is just an incorporeal spirit that takes the form of a horse with a horn, andnot a flesh and blood animal.

How to draw a unicorn's mane and tail so that they emphasize the dynamics of the pose?

Loose hanging - for a calm, noble pose. In any other position, they repeat the movement of the creature along the intended trajectory. Waves and curls of horsehair blowing in the wind and flowing behind a running animal look different.

When the overall silhouette is ready, special details are added to it, turning an ordinary horse into a magical creature.

Magic Horn

The main distinguishing feature! How to draw a unicorn horn? This is a long twisted cone. The elongated triangle is divided at regular intervals by parallel S-shaped curves that decrease towards the pointed end. By stretching them in various ways, changing the periodicity, it is easy to get many twisted surface options.

The sharp end can be depicted bent back, like an antelope. The horn itself can also be curved. But in relation to the plane of the forehead, it is perpendicular or inclined forward. The base is hidden by a bang, or the horn protrudes from the thick wool on the skin.

Unicorn tail

You can draw a regular horsehair. It is better to make it phenomenally long and lush. On the other hand, a traditional lion tail with a tassel at the end will more effectively emphasize the difference between a unicorn and a horse. The mystical nature of the chimera allows for many experiments. For example, something between a ponytail and a lion's tail.

Graceful Hooves

Wide horse hooves are not for a unicorn. Forked, graceful, dangerously sharp, a bit reminiscent of a goat, but much larger, are more suitable for him. They should give the impression that the animal is moving on tiptoe to emphasize the lightness of the creature. In many myths, the unicorn leaves no footprints.

The fringe of silky hair on the brushes will decorate even more of the beast.

Variable Distinctive Features

Sometimes the image of a unicorn is complemented by a small pointed beard, as a tribute to the legend of the one-horned goat. He is often depicted with wings like a Pegasus. This is what a unicorn looked like in ancient Babylon. The wingspan corresponds to the growth of the animal and harmoniously complements the pose without disturbing its balance. Each wing must be twice as long as the back to have sufficient lift.

After the unicorn is drawn with a pencil, it needs to be colored. The traditional color of the unicorn is white, although in some ancient sources there is a black beast with a red head.

Many legends form a contradictory image. How to draw a unicorn?

On the one hand, the unicorn is a symbol of inner harmony, awakened consciousness and inspiration, love and compassion. A majestic messenger of happiness or a meek companion of virgin goddesses.

On the other hand, it is a formidable creator and destroyer, the personification of the supreme power of Being, frightening in its power.

With the help of the main elements - a wonderful horn,an exquisite figure, a fantastic tail - you can create on paper any character that matches the artist's imagination. Credibility is given by the features of real animals, a delightful fairy-tale aura - their unusual combination.