Johanne Mangi: The Fine Art of Painting Horse Portraits

What you’ll discover in this video:

• See more, paint less — you don’t need every detail for it to be good!
• Not confident with your drawing skills? Johanne is here to help
• Simple color mixtures - just what every artist needs!
• Move past fear and uncertainty — draw and paint with new confidence!
• Thought painting horses were too challenging? Don’t give up, now you’ll know how!
• Capturing the genuine spirit of an animal in your portraits
• Big brush ideas — fun and wonderful!
• White is really not so white after all.
• Avoid the little details that usually make you crazy!
• What a smartphone can reveal about your painting!
• Fit your painting time into your busy lifestyle (more painting = more fun!)
• Full painting demonstration of “White Lightning” — you’ll see it all!

Let’s face it, very few animals are going to sit for a portrait! But you don’t want paintings that look like a lifeless photograph either.

Is it really even possible to capture your favorite animal on canvas and have it not only look like the animal, but also show off its personality?

The answer is an enthusiastic YES!!

Paint with Passion!

Professional artist, instructor, animal lover, and an owner and trainer of horses, Johanne Mangi is the perfect teacher to show you how to capture your favorite animals in paint.

Get ready, because Johanne is going to help you take the first steps with your painting. She’ll show you everything you need in order to dive right in with high energy and enthusiasm!

You’re going to really benefit from Johanne’s approach. She’ll help you focus on the fun and enjoyment of bringing your favorite animal friends to life in a portrait. And not just the animal’s features … she’ll demonstrate how to bring its unique characteristics and personality in, too!

This video even includes a lively adventure to a horse ranch where Johanne shows you some amazing and important details about horse anatomy.

Soul Searching

Before you ever begin to paint, Johanne directs you to look deeply into the soul and spirit of the animal … to really see what amazes you about this creature you’re going to paint!

Doing this will inspire you to bring those feelings to the painting. You’ll be able to let your intuition guide you, allowing you to move beyond technical accuracy.

You’ll be portraying the energy, gestures, and movement of the animal … exactly what you’re aiming for!

This is how Johanne’s own love for animals is reflected in her paintings and now, she’s going to show you how to do the same in your work.

Loose and Lively

One thing Johanne won’t do is bog you down with lots of rules and systems — that is definitely not her style!

She’ll show you a much better way by encouraging you to first look into the soul and spirit of the animal and then proceed with painting in a direct, ‘get-to-the-point’ technique. This means you’ll be using that coveted “painterly” style — loose & lively!

Especially important in animal portraiture, Johanne goes in depth on what you should focus on, what you definitely need to include, and what’s best to leave out. This means you won’t be sweating the small stuff!

You’ll enjoy painting with more confidence because you’ll have these new skills:

• Gridding techniques to keep proportions correct
• Simple color mixing
• Identifying major landmarks on your subject
• Johanne’s proven “get-to-the-point” method!

Discover the fun and excitement that comes from plunging right into your paintings with confidence, energy, and enthusiasm!

Chapter Breakdown

CH 1: Introduction

CH 2: Materials: go over the brushes, surface, and mediums

CH 3: Prepare Your Palette: lay out colors and briefly discuss why used

CH 4: Prepare Yourself to Paint: tips on how to make painting a part of your every day.

CH 5: Anatomy & Form: go outdoors with some horses to look at the basic anatomy of their heads and necks in a simple way that will help you see the underlying shapes that will be your guide as you paint your horse portrait

CH 6: Demo Step 1: Grid & Draw - its ok to use a grid or whatever helps you to create an accurate, proportional drawing of your subject.

CH 7: Demo Step 2: The Underpainting - look for form and typography and use values to create the form. Use and changes in temperature within the values to create the subtle shifts. tips on not getting into the white too soon and how to mix grays. Tips on How to save your paint and not waste it, so you can use more :) Tips on playing with color.

CH 8: Demo Step 3: Block In Part 1: developing the color and form with temperature and slight value shifts. Painting the mane.

CH 9: Demo Step 4: Block In Part 2: lots of work on white--what white paints to use and how to mix a variety of whites to show form, capturing the structure and form of the horse’s head and neck. Painting eyes and ears to show form. Some discussion on edges

CH 10: Demo Step 5: The Rest of the Story: develop subtleties on the face. Develop the horse’s body. Paint the background. Use warm and cools to tell the story, versus using too many values. Learn how it is ok to redo something in order to get it right--taking that risk will make you a better painter (as we see when she wipes out the background and starts over to better integrate it with the mane)

CH 11: Demo Step 6: The Finish: more discussion on warm and cool and how that works in light versus in shadow to either bring something forward or make it recede.

CH 12: Conclusion Summation

BONUS LESSON: A Horse of a Different Color

BONUS LESSON: Anatomy of a Horse