How To Draw Ponies

by Norman Thelwell

"This admirable boook provides the answer for anyone who has wanted to draw ponies and has not known where to start. Norman Thelwell writes, and draws, in his highly entertaining way and seasons his advice with sound common sense. He starts with the anatomy of the horse, comparing it with man, and discusses the way it moves and stands. He emphasises the importance of real observation and of drawing from life and counsels the would-be-artist to take a sketchbook everywhere."

56 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 1986

About the author

Norman Thelwell was an English cartoonist well-known for his humorous illustrations of ponies and horses. A promising young student from Liverpool College of Art, he soon became a contributor to the satirical magazine Punch in the 1950s, and earned many lasting devotees by illustrating Chicko in the British boys' comic Eagle.

Known to many only as Thelwell, he found his true comic niche with Pony Club girls and ponies refusing fences, a subject for which he became best-known. His cartoons and drawings delighted millions.

For the last quarter of a century of his life he lived in the Test Valley at Timsbury, near Romsey, gradually restoring a farm house and landscaping the grounds which gave rise to his first factual book, A Plank Bridge by a Pool, which detailed the first two lakes he dug there. A third lake was later featured on the BBC’s South Today programme. Written much earlier, but published three years later, A Millstone Round My Neck described his experiences in re-building a Cornish water mill (Addicroft Mill at Liskeard, which he called Penruin), that was sold before the book was published. He always loved old buildings, and in his auto-biography, Wrestling with a Pencil wrote about his joy in the beauty of old cottages.

Reviews

[Lisa Frankfort]

My edition is actually called "Drawing Ponies", published in 1966.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the 1987 reprint, which I found on the Internet Archive, in those rare moments when it was working. This was originally called Drawing Ponies, which was first published in 1966 (I think.)

If you don't know who Norman Thelwell is, I pity you. I really do. He was an absolutely brilliant English cartoonist. He covered a wide variety of topics in his long career, but was best known for his more Shetland than Shetland ponies. What's really startling is that there actually ARE Shetlands that have such large bellies and short legs.

Anyway, the thing about Thelwell was that he was a serious artist. Some of his work is amazingly detailed. His composition is usually excellent, and his cartoons seem to be alive. He was just as good at backgrounds as he was with figures. There is a cartoon of the infamous horses drawn on the caves in France ... only this time, replaced (subtly) with a Thelwell Shetland pony.

This book is a humorous look at how to draw pony cartoons, but does contain some seriously excellent advice. He points out that the best way to learn to draw ... is by drawing. No short cuts there. He also urges you to try and relax, and have fun.

Most "how to draw horses" books rely on a series of basic circles and lines for the body, and a triangle for the head. Thelwell uses a kidney bean shape for the body, straight lines for legs, and two circles with lines for the head. This is a basic puppet figure to help you get started. Move it around to find a good composition before bothering with a lot of detail.

There are original drawings done for this book, but there are also many cartoons from previous books like Angels on Horseback.

I minored in Studio Art. I don't know how many art classes I had in college. At one time, I had wanted to be an artist, before my Mom threatened to kick me out of the house if I did so. She wound up throwing out all of my artwork, except for one drawing of a cat. Anyway, if I had read this book before I went to college, I might've had a happier life. Not necessarily a more successful one, but a happier one.