Andy Field was midway through his standup run at this year’s Edinburgh fringe when he was struck by an unusual urge – the urge to draw a horse. The subsequent horse Field posted to TikTok and Instagram was rather naive, with its four identical straight legs and cartoon eyeball. But the project he announced alongside it – Drawing a Horse Every Day Until I’m Really Good at Drawing Horses – immediately captured people’s hearts.
Over a million people watched the minute-long video of him drawing that first horse with a four-colour ballpoint pen. By day three – an undeniably terrible effort in which the horse appeared to have sprouted a platypus’s bill – more than two million, by his estimation, had tuned in. Field is now approaching day 80 of his horse drawing series and it’s been quite a journey.
We’ve had howling horses (day 67), an Ali-style boxing horse knocking out an equine Sonny Liston (day 58), a skateboarding horse (day 29), a horse turning the tables and drawing a portrait of Field (day 24), and a horse on its knees playing a guitar solo (day 21). If some commentators were hoping Field was going to draw the same horse every day and gradually work on his understanding of proportion and perspective then they were left disappointed. Because Field’s project is really a joyful celebration of drawing for fun – of following a daft idea and seeing where it takes you.
Sometimes, that’s not a place anyone intended. On day 48, Field decided to focus in on a horse’s face, but ended up sketching something that – to his evident horror – became increasingly phallic. But I didn’t draw a great shape of head, and, well …” As part of his droll commentary on each day’s effort, Field likes to name each horse.
The one resembling male genitalia was given the moniker Gentle Brian. The guitar-shredding horse was Jimi Horsedrix. Often, the less traditional Field’s horses are, the more impressive they turn out.
He might have visited the National Gallery (day 19) to take tips from the master of horse drawing, George Stubbs, but he’s more at home doing horses wearing shades (day 64) or horses infused with the spirit of his new kitten, Toast (day 56). How many horse pictures did he receive? The series has inspired some viewers to pick up a pen and draw their own horses, whereas some have said they watch each day with their children.
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