Seeing spots part 2 - Dapples

When I first started painting model horses, I tried painting the dapples as I saw them: lighter spots on top of the darker base color. They always looked more like polka dots. The secret to dapples, I later learned, is not to think in terms of light spots on a dark background, but dark circles on a light background. Later still, I learned that dapples are not round at all, nor are they symmetrical.

Here is how we will do our dapples. Take your airbrush and load it with burnt sienna. (I'm using Golden brand. It's unrivaled for smooth flow.) Using a very fine line, we are going to draw flowers, dozens and dozens of little flower outlines tucked into one another. I've tried to show in my rainbow colored graphic the basic shape that you're looking for. Also notice the one freestanding flower on Scarlett's side, placed there just for you. Please don't feel any obligation to make these neat, line them up, or draw them all the same size. Be a little chaotic with them, just like in nature.



Cover the entire main body of the horse, anywhere that dapples might possibly appear. I realize that this looks hideous and is waaaaay too many dapples. Trust me, most of them will be covered up, but this way you will have dapples where you need them because you really can't add more later and have them look as good. So here we have Scarlett in her floral garden stage:



Now you are going to switch to a broader line and outline all of those little flowers - only the outer edges. Reshape any of them that are too perfect. Now they should look like this:





Scary looking, isn't she? Don't worry, there really is a method to my madness. Next step: Shading.