Sometimes lead horses get shortchanged when it comes to their paint- job. Maybe it is too easy to save time by taking some basic color and dabbing it on the model in a few strokes and leave it at that. I do not have any real gripe with this: any painted army however quickly painted is one more potential opponent and that has to be a good thing. However I offer the following tips for those who would like to do just a little better job painting horses without requiring a lot of extra talent.

Most painters will be familiar with the technique of washing, i.e. going over a base color with a thinned out and darker coat to create the impression of shadows. The following method it is an attempt to improve on this impression or illusion by approaching it in an opposite manner.

First - base coat the entire horse black.

Second - Take white paint and paint those parts of the sculpture which are raised e.g. muscles, flanks, ears, etc. Leave all recessed areas black (the more definition in the sculpture the better the final effect will be). Also leave black all those areas where light would not usually reach, e.g. the belly, underside of the head, between legs etc. Also leave a thin band of black between any white areas and any piece of horse furniture such as saddles and harness. The tail, mane and hooves will also be left black for now.

Third - take the color you are going to paint the horse and mix it with about an equal amount of water. This will be a wash you are going to spread over the horse's body. The proper mix will cover the white areas of the undercoat in a brighter shade, but the wash will not cover those areas which were left black as completely, leaving them appear darker. This will exaggerate the impression of shadow. It may take some trial and error to get the proper mix of paint/water, all brands are different in their opaqueness. You want just the right mix. Too much paint will simply cover the black areas as completely as the white and your efforts will be wasted. Too much water and you will not get sufficient coverage and your horses will look like diseased pintos. Do not be discouraged, as once you get the technique down, you should be able to whip out the rest of your horses rather quickly.

Fourth - take the color you want to use for the tail and mane (many times this will be the same as the color of the horse's coat or some slightly darker shade) and drybrush it on. This highlights the sculpted hair but leaves the recesses black.

Finally -- add finishing touches like stars, socks, eyeballs as desired.