Horse Life 21

I recently happened upon a very old copy of The Ladies Home Journal in a used bookstore I know. It seems that in 1913 there was still a rather heated debate going on about whether or not it was healthful and proper for women to ride astride in “men’s” saddles.

This debate made me consider the changes in riding apparel over the subsequent years – from side-saddle “habits” to the baggy-thighed breeches of the 1920’s, all the way up to the modern paraphernalia we’ve developed for riders today.

It’s to this long progression of equestrienne fashions that I dedicate Horse Life 21– we’ve come a long way baby!

Click here to see Horse Life 21 on my website.

As unbelivable as this sounds...

I've just posted a Horse Life comic for the first time in MONTHS!! Horse Life 19 is now live on my website.

I had no idea that this was going to happen today, at all! I had put together my first gouache palette to experiment with and decided to do a pony drawing and there, well, there we are...Horse Life 19!

You can go to the new page here: HORSE LIFE 19
or just find it at www.flyingponystudios.com.

Happy (early) Holidays to all!

Horse Life 18

Horse Life 18 is here! Finally. Yay!

This cartoon is part of an on-going series I’m calling “Rules of the Road,”  the full title of which is “Rules of the Road: A Standard Guide to Riding.”  I’m having a lot of fun with these. The text is all traditional, straight out of riding manuals from the 1970’s and before. The advice given is all good and proper BUT making it work for you as a rider is another thing entirely. It all looks good on paper but when you’re out there with your pony or horse, all bets are usually off! After more than 40 years as a rider, I know what I’m talking about. Believe me! All the same, the fun is in the joke of it. We all want to be Velvet Brown from “National Velvet” and we all end up being characters from Thelwell cartoons instead. Although it wasn’t always true, at this point I’ve learned to see the humor in it and appreciate the not-so-subtle joke. ;-)

Click HERE to see Horse Life 18 on my website.

Equestrienne Portrait of Mistress Cynthia de La Matchstick

Equestrienne Portrait of Mistress Cynthia de La Matchstick

When I sat down to draw yesterday I was contemplating my next Horse Life comic. When I put down my pens, I found that I’d drawn a rather wonderful cartoon version of a Diego Velazquez equestrian portrait. What a magical surprise! Proving once again that Art comes from the higher powers manifesting through the heart and hands of the artist. Had I had plans to draw this, I’m sure I would have botched it up. :-P

I’m thinking of selling prints of this one in my long, lost Etsy shop in case it strikes anyone’s fancy.

Ciao for today!

Horse Life 17 and the Triple Crown

Crushing news came this morning that I’ll Have Another, the chestnut colt who ran to victory in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes was retired today after a tendon injury in his left front leg. I'll Have Another was truly a distance horse and the longer Belmont Stakes was made for him. Scuttlebutt on the track was that this colt had a really good shot at winning the Triple Crown. If he’d been able to do it he would have been the first horse in 34 years to win it! (The last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978.) It’s a huge shame really. I think the American people could really use something like this right now. Something to get excited about.

For myself, I was so inspired by the thought of a new Triple Crown winner that this week’s “Horse Life” is dedicated to it.

I’d like to say, “I hope you enjoy the comic,” but just like my little heroine Cynthia, I can’t help but being pretty sad over the whole thing. :-(

Click here to read this week's Horse Life. 

Learning to Draw Cartoons

Although I have been a cartoonist since I was a little girl, I have always been a “shy” cartoonist, keeping most of my cartoons to myself. That is until recently when I decided to risk showing off my cartooning skills in an arena that I knew pretty darn well – horses and ponies. Thus “Horse Life” was born.

Today, I thought I’d give you a backstage look at the development of some of my “Horse Life” characters. My sketchbooks are full of drawings like these, although many are less finished. Some characters seem quite chatty as sketches and always have something to say to me (usually in the margins!) When I was drawing “Privateer Princess” I had dialogs with my characters all the time, with various chatty characters frequently complaining about how I was drawing their hair, or about their lack of stage time, etc.. 

I think a lot of illustrators do this. It’s a great way of developing your ideas while staying in your characters' heads. It’s also pretty darn fun! 

The following sketches are from my most current sketchbook.

Horse and rider sizes and shapes.
Image copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2012

Horse and rider sizes and shapes.
Image copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2012.

Bucking sketches.
Image copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2012

Artists never stop drawing. Our fingers get too itchy if we try. It's a great thing when you can draw something near and dear to your heart, which is how I feel about drawing horses and riders. Perhaps one day I'll be famous for my cartoons, one never knows...but in the meantime, I can happily report that I improve with every sketch and am totally thrilled with the journey!

Horse Life 16

Horse Life 16 is now up on my website!

This one was fun. Who knows what horses dream about after a long day at the horse show. Do they wonder what might have been? Do they relive their classes and/or their previous successes?

I guess only they know…

Click here to go to the comic on my website.

Horse Life 15

Somehow it seems significant to be putting up Horse Life #15 on May 15^th. Funny! Hopefully it’ll be a good one and worth the wait.

Today’s comic features the introduction of my heroine, Cynthia, and her pony, Basil. Although Cynthia isn’t introduced in this comic by name, she is the little girl I always intended to use as my main storyteller. Horse Life #1 also features Cynthia and Basil, but I wasn’t yet feeling confident enough to claim them as more than just generic “folks.” In the future, I will build up a cast of characters to support Cynthia and Basil’s world. I’m not sure who they will all be yet but it’ll be fun figuring that out. (Although Terrence and his owner are in the running - See Horse Life #12) I hope you'll all stick around long enough to discover it with me. Cheers! :-)

 Click here to go to Horse Life 15 on my website.

Horse Life 14 is up on my website!

Looking through my old horse books recently, I made an interesting discovery. They are full of blank phrases and riding directions that would be really fun to illustrate in “Horse Life.” This week is the first of these. Who among us has not been in this spot, I ask you?

Here is the link to the full-size comic on my website – Horse Life 14.

Delay in Horse Life leads to doodling

"It's been a long week!"

For the past week I having been working hard to finish up some commissioned illustrations. Of course, this required me to put all non-paid art on temporary hold. Hence the lack of appearance of Horse Life this week. It will be back, and soon, but not for a few more days.

Last night, in a late night stupor of being awake but not able to do any more “official” artwork,” I started doodling notes for future Horse Life comics. Truly, it’s a case of too much information! I have anecdotes that could keep me busy for years! *chuckle* I am also working on finding my stride as far as the characterizations for the comic. Studying established and popular cartoonists like Norman Thelwell and Charles M. Schulz, (creator of “Peanuts”) is both enlightening and helpful. As I sketch, I learn and process. Eventually, I will find my own stride, just as they did.

In that spirit, here are three of my pony sketches from last night when everything seemed “up in the air!.” ;-)

"Reaching new heights"

"The Star Player"

"Putting on Airs"

Barn Gossips - Horse Life 12

Barn Gossips

Horse people are notorious gossips. Like it or not, that’s just one of the rules of the horse world.

Horse Life 12 is all about barn gossip and some of the repercussions. Click this link to see the comic full size on my website.

Today's comic is the finished version of the sketch that I posted last time. Do you recognize it?

Sketching Out a Comic

Horse Life 12 - rough sketch

Everyone has their own way of jotting down ideas. Around here, napkins are popular surfaces, as are random scraps of paper. Sometimes, I might even jot down an idea in an actual sketch book. But I don’t do this too often. Instead, I keep my sketchbooks for more finished ideas and keep a folder on my desk filled with low-quality sketching paper and soon-to-be-recycled printer paper. This paper is used for notes, ink tests, doodles, ideas, etc. I like having this paper really close at hand so I never need to go hunting for paper when I’m thinking/doodling.

I’d been contemplating several ideas for this week's “Horse Life,” but until today, none of them were really doing it for me.  While I was out at Starbucks tonight I suddenly had my idea! I thought I’d post my concept page here to give you an idea of how rough my initial ideas look. After this roughest stage, I'll re-draw the page at least once before inking it. 

This seems a remarkably simple process compared to “Privateer Princess” (our old webcomic).

As I wanted “Privateer Princess” to look more like real manga comic, each page went through four or five distinct stages of creation before posting. First, Matt did the initial rough. Then I re-drew it (at least once). After which I inked it and added tone on the computer. Then we added the dialog together. After this we re-sized the page for the web and then posted it. Phew! It was a lot of work to post weekly. 

“Horse Life” is much easier. Perhaps I’ve learned a few things since the “Privateer Princess” days. Perhaps I’ve just gotten a bit more laid back about it all. Either way, I’m finding “Horse Life” to be a delight. I hope you are too!

If you’d like to take a look at “Horse Life” you can see it here.

If you’d like to see “Privateer Princess” you can see it here.

Horse Life 11

Horse Life 11 is up on my website today horse shoppers!
Click here to see it!

Horse Life 10

There has always been “the newest thing” in tack. I was a teen in the 1980’s in Maryland and spent many days in tack stores looking at all the cool gear available. Even though the prices were much lower back then, there was always a new brand of something coming out, a new type of saddle pad, a new color of bridle. “Keyhole” or “Riser Pads” were new in the 1980’s and really hot items. If your saddle sat too low in the cantle (the back end) or needed stuffing it would boost it up just enough (hopefully) to become level on your horse’s back.

Frequently though, what happened was that the saddle ended up jacked too high in the back and tilted forward onto the horse’s withers. (Thus protective pommel pads were developed but that’s a story for another time.) I wondered what would happen if we took that notion a step farther and so this comic was born.

Welcome to the saddle pad of the future – The Perfect 2-Point Riser Pad^TM with Bounce Technology!

Click here to see the entire comic on my website.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day everyone!

Horse Life 9

Horse people love new things. The newest is always the most cool and hip and therefore a “must have.” Over the years I have seen a lot of these must - haves come and go…and some of them have been whoppers! For example, does anyone know if “Saddle Tite” is still in existence? In high school we used to joke about gluing yourself to the saddle and voila! they invented saddle glue! *chuckle*

My other day job is as a massage therapist and I’ve been an equine therapist for 28 years now. Let me tell you, the amount of massage contraptions I have seen over the years is quite astounding. This Horse Life is dedicated to those contraptions – the newest things for horse health!

Click here to see a larger version of this comic.