The horse looks okay and proportionate... but I think the composition and pose is a bit frigid. May I suggest that you put in more 'weight' to the characters and try a different perspective? =)

I tried rain effect with photoshop long ago. I failed so hard lol.

I goofed up with the rain a bit as well... It seems that if I had turned the layer to "screen" it would've faded most of the black colour making the rain look brighter. Oh well. Not a biggie.

I've doodled many pictures of people riding horses, but they all end up looking a bit rigid. I guess it's because I'm always feeling a bit uncertain when drawing them. ^^;; However, I'd love to be able to draw a picture that would have a real horsey-galloping feel to it. Just gotta try more.

Good luck then. =x

Thanks, dear! Eventually I will succeed. Or die trying. Yes. I will die in a fatal drawing accident. What a way to go.

Joints are right right and anatomy too (if horse is ment to run racing galop?) however, right hindleg is a bit too high, but thats np :) anatomy, the pic itself and the coloring looks great ^^

Many thanks for commenting, Ziba! To tell you the truth I had no idea how the legs were supposed to go, so I'm very glad if I got it even halfway right... I wish I could ride a horse myself one day. They're nice animals, but I can't say I have much experience on them. =)

On google you can find countless of pics with horses, Im sure there should be some in between of full body horses running :p and awwws, hope you will some day :) riding on a horse is a nice experience ^^ except of the very first time =p your ass is gonna be sore like shit for atleast one day after =p

Who knows, maybe someday I will get a chance to ride a real horsie. I have a feeling my arse can take it.

...Um. That sounded pretty dirty. <_<

Mreeow! n.n

wow. anatomy wise this is as good as perfect.
the rain ish not bad, tthough it seems like they are a bit too dense, at least to still be able to see the subjects that well. if ya want ya might wanna check this out: http://neondragonart.com/dp/tutorials/rain.htm
maybe a bit of dirt and splashes would work well, since as you said this is in a forest, and in such heavy rain, the ground would probably be just very soggy with lots of murky puddle, which would give nice sprays with each impact of the hooves.
if riding in a galop the rider might also be a bit more leaned forward *shrugs*
but don't mind me ^^; this is still very excelent *faves* =)

Your comment was most fruitful - what you said about rain and mud is absolutely right. I didn't have a clear plan as I started to colour the pic... At first I thought that the rain ought to be just a light little spring shower, so I didn't even come to think about the mud splotch and such... Now that the rain ended up looking that heavy there ought to be a lot more dirt. And indeed, now that you pointed it out, I see I definitely should've made the guy lean forward. Now they look like they're more like floating through the forest! Boing! ^^

But no worries. I think I just learned quite a few new things. Thank you very much for the fave and the tutorial as well! I will check it out right away! *huggies*

glad I can be of help ^^
'sides, what's the point of faving something if you don't have anything to say about why you like it so much that it deserves a fave.

I see not any glaring direpancies.

I have driving around under rain on motorcycle several time, I got to say that, at fifty kilometers per hour, raindrop can be quite painful.

Horses might be slower though.

Hmmm... I wonder if fur softens the fall of raindrops at all. Guess it depends on how thick it is. *ponders*

I think you did a great job without a ref. ;3 Horsey! <3

Whee, many thanks! Horsey horsey! ^^

Anatomy looks fine to me! I like the whole concept of this, it has a very dreamlike feel. Out of curiosity, what species is the rider? Squirrel? I like his design.

Just an idea: for a better sense of the unicorn's weight and speed, might I suggest a ground-level perspective? Sort of head-on, looking up at the unicorn from below, to give a better sense of its mass and force? It might work, if you were thinking of redrawing this anytime. Even so, it's lovely as it is, I think you know more about equine anatomy than you think you do. :)

The rider belongs to a species of my own invention. I call them "wolflings" in English for the lack of a better translation. The species started out as werewolves of sorts, but it has gone a long way since then. These people are also said to be related to the elves of my fantasy world - although the proud elves harshly deny this "ridiculous theory".

Thank you kindly for your suggestion. I'm still feeling kinda inspired so I will probably try out a few different approaches. Don't tell anyone, but yesterday I bought these two detailed little toy horses so that I could study them for reference... ^^ (That's the official explanation, but I must admit that I was feeling childish in general and got this great urge to visit a toy store).

Firstly, excellent work with the equine anatomy. I've never been able to make sense of drawing horses (non-anthro, anyways) and I even own one that I could potentially draw.. So congratulations of capturing the muscle weight and movement, because reference free, that's pretty stunning.

I think I can put my finger on what it is about the rain that you think you messed up, because while it does look very convincingly like the driving rain you wanted to portray, it's not actually affecting the figures at all.

When rain hits something, there's usually a sort of halo effect as the water droplets fly off in different directions. Also, having droplets of water streaming over the arms, legs, and faces of the figures would help. Having a few droplets seen flying off of them would help too, since they're moving so quickly.

But really, that aside, this is a gorgeous concept. I especially love the little clumps of kicked up turf you added in by the unicorn's back legs, it really gives it a sense of movement.

Many thanks for taking the time to comment! I'm really overjoyed to hear that you think I did a good job with the horsey's anatomy. I'm pretty puzzled by their muscles and bones and every now and then I use reference when trying to figure out just how their parts go together. I still have a feeling that somehow the more I learn the less I know. Depicting their movement is the hardest part.

I thought about adding some droplets of rain, but I didn't really know what kind of tools to use for that purpose, so I just added some sort of a white glow around them and some glow in the grass. But anyhow, thank you kindly for your nice words and advice! I think I know now what things to take in consideration the next time I draw a rainy picture. =)

perhaps taper the neck down as it nears the head & pep up his gaskins (http://z.about.com/d/horses/1/0/Q/4.....perhindleg.jpg *the bulge below #3) a bit for a nicely muscled unicorn :}~

otherwise, it looks pretty darn good to me, esp considering you claim to not know your equine anatomy well.

Oh, many thanks for the advice! I noticed you had many unicorn- and horse-related pictures in your gallery. I've always respected people who are familiar with the anatomy of equine creatures. =)

To me horses seem like very big and lumpy creatures. And I never remember where the lumps are supposed to be... ^^;;