Riders:stage1:advice please!

[capone]

I am trying to illustrate a fight while the characters are riding on horses. At the moment everythings very sketchy, look at the picture as a whole and tell me if what I am doing is going to work. The guy on the left was supposed to be hanging off the buckle, is this working or does it look too much like he is backflipping off it?, and what about the other guy is that pose working? Lastly how should I illustrate the gunshots (Never done gunshots before) and the speed of the horses?

Any advice would be appreaciated!

capone,

http://www.caponeart.com/horsefight1.jpg

[remedial]

nice. lots of action in this pic- it has some great potential. as for the guy hanging off his horse, i dont think he needs to be changed too much. but i do think yout i do think you should emphasize the fact that he is in fact hanging not falling. Maybe make the buckle wrapped clearly around his foot or add something like a rope tied further up his leg, just so it is visible and a bit more obvious.i donno.:) Also some exaggeration in flying fabric/horse hair will help to show the high speeds. not sure this helps a whole lot but anyway, you gotta great start goin!

[amphex]

Its lookin good man, the one thing I see that angers me is that the guy on the right is about to get crushed by his shot up horse (i mean, it cant keep running can it?).

lol, ill give a real critique later, im real tired right now..i just wanted to say (for now) keep working at this piece, its looking to turn out real well.

[capone]

Thanks remedial, some really good advice there.

amphex, not quite sure what you mean about the crushed thing, lol, do you mean the right horse is going off page?, if so thats not a problem as the full image is A3 and what you see here is not the full image.

When I do the proper scan I will have to do 2 scans and stick them together, just curious if thats normal?

Thanks for any advice, think I will wait a day or 2 to see if I get any more before I carry on.

[DragonGX]

Yeah, the big problem with this pic is that the fight scene (2 guys fighting with guns on horses) wouldnt work. They jsut haev to shoot the other guys horse and it goes down. It just doesnt make alot of sense, and i think most people would see that and think that..

Maybe if they were knife fighting or something?

[amphex]

Capone, I was referring to the fact that the horse is getting shot, and is therefore most likely going to fall over, crushing the guy hanging on..it was just a dumb observation though..make what you will of it =)

[capone]

the big problem with this pic is that the fight scene wouldnt work. They jsut haev to shoot the other guys horse and it goes down. It just doesnt make alot of sense, and i think most people would see that and think that..

True, after much thought I have 3 solutions,

1)Horses could have armour
2)Horse on right is drawn as getting hit and falling
3)Leave it as it is, its fantasy afterall0742

Whats the best solution?, thanks

[William b. Hand]

I am unaware of early American settlers utilizing armour, but there is certainly historical precedent in Europe and Asia. I suppose horse armour appears where you find human armour.
Although your duelers are not decked out in said gear, it could well be argued that their horses need to be for such close quarters battle.
And since these guys are both doing such fancy manouvers, it stands to reason that this form of fighting is somewhat routine or well-practiced. Armour on the horses makes sense.
You might also throw a variety of hand-holds, ropes, and runners on the armour/saddles to help the riders perform the more flambouyant stunts that you're illustrating here...
Just a thought.:)