Here you will see images from start to finish on the Making of a Horse Model.

The photographs in this series illustrate the steps we took in making a horse model for display at the Western Development Museum, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The display was to depict a native horse race event at a fair in the 1930’s. Many hours were spent gathering reference of horses in action. A small scale sculpture was created to work out the pose. From this prototype, a full scale model was generated in Styrofoam over a metal support armature . Modelling clay was applied over this and all the musculature sculpted in. To insure accuracy, we enlisted the help of one of our live horses. A small stall was constructed in the studio where one of our horses would reside for the duration of the sculpting. This allowed us the best possible reference by having a live model right in front of the work. Once the clay model was complete, a fiberglass mold was made. From this a fiberglass cast was made. Glass eyes were installed and the whole model given a realistic paint finish. Once installed in the exhibit, ground work simulating a race track was installed, and a native rider mannequin was mounted on its back.

Click on an image to view the sampling of work in a larger scale.