Take your time

Earlier this month, Melanie Miller posted a link to this video on the NaMoPaiMo/International Model Horse Painting Party Facebook page. 

She writes: A common question for newer artists is, "how do I make it look "x" where "x" is live show quality or high end or like *insert artist whose work they admire*. Practice is the obvious answer, but here is a great illustration of another important element: time. 

photos by Charlene Flitsch

In the video - which you absolutely should watch! - an artist paints the same picture in one hour, ten hours and one hundred hours. Assuming that you're performing a skill you already know how to do, you can get a lot done in an hour. In this case, the artist was able to lay down the colors and composition. The details were, well, sketchy, but it was an hour. What do you expect?

My 2019 NaMoPaiMo horse with about an hour's worth of paint

The ten hour painting was better, but the differences were less than expected. 

My 2019 NaMoPaiMo horse, one hour vs several hours more than one hour

The same could not be said for the one hundred hour painting. That one was light years ahead of the others in pretty much every way. I can not possibly illustrate the difference with a picture of one of my horses so here's Mel's 2021 NaMoPaiMo masterpiece, who was not actually finished within the twenty eight days of February.

I can not tell you how many times I've seen an artist working on a horse, and thought, "Wow, that's really going to be awesome." Then, almost immediately, there's a "Yay! I'm done post!" and I'm left thinking, "No, you're really not." The piece, while promising, still needs a lot of work to get it to that next level.

Still needs so much work

Depending on what you're trying to accomplish this might be totally fine. If your goal is simply to be part of the Party, it's fine to splash some paint on a stablemate and call it good. However, if you're serious about painting realistic model horses, watch this video and take Mel's parting words to heart: If you're looking to up your skills game, consider just... spending more time. It sounds stupidly simple, but it's very effective!