Tales of an Equine Artist From Doodles to Digital Art By Emilie Goddard
As a horse-obsessed youngster, I spent hours upon hours pouring through every book I could find (when I wasn’t physically at the barn), learning about horse care, different breeds, and various disciplines. Like just about every kid my age, I had a family who thought I’d grow out of it; because after all, “it’s just a phase.” Well, it wasn’t just a phase. I think they finally figured that out when I decided to make a career of being at the barn. But besides riding, I always had art. If I wasn’t at the barn, and I wasn’t home reading, I was usually drawing. I filled notebook after notebook with doodles of ponies I could only wish to have, and experimented with pastels, watercolors, oils, and acrylics. I devoured all I could about art. And those ponies I dreamed about? At long last, I got one of my own – a gelding named Abercrombie of Deer Haven (I call him Crumble). It wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally tried 38 Summer 2017 • Haflinger Horse
my hand at digital art, after seeing it so often online. Having spent a childhood filled with Disney movies, I wanted to achieve a similar feel in my own art, and knew that going digital would be a great way to help me reach that goal. Digital art can encompass anything from “fingerpainting” using an art app on an iPad, to using Adobe Photoshop to combine parts of various photos to create something completely new (called photomanipulation). For my art, I use a tablet specifically designed for drawing. It plugs in to my laptop via USB, and I use a special pen (like a stylus) to draw directly onto the tablet. On my laptop, I open my art software, and whatever I draw on the tablet shows up on my computer. After playing around with this new (to me) medium, I had an idea: why not combine my two passions and create a picture book featuring my Haflinger? Google was – still is – one of my best friends when it comes to this project. I searched for information
