Hands down, this has been my favourite project to date, I really enjoyed getting into researching stagecoaches.
I used a variety of internet sources, the most interesting of which were the Wells Fargo Making Of videos and The Stagecoach Journey, and learned that the Sheridan Library, surprisingly, contained four books on the subject of Carts and Carriages. I took out both All Drawn by Horses by James Arnold and Western Wagon Wheels by Lambert Florin. All Drawn by Horses, though it contained great simplified illustrations of carriages and diagrams of self-lubricating axles, turned out to be specifically about British carriages. Western Wagon Wheels, however, was an invaluable reference that I kept constantly open next to me while working. It featured great close-up shots of wheels, stories of stagecoach traveling, and photographs of the period and by the author.
I used a variety of internet sources, the most interesting of which were the Wells Fargo Making Of videos and The Stagecoach Journey, and learned that the Sheridan Library, surprisingly, contained four books on the subject of Carts and Carriages. I took out both All Drawn by Horses by James Arnold and Western Wagon Wheels by Lambert Florin. All Drawn by Horses, though it contained great simplified illustrations of carriages and diagrams of self-lubricating axles, turned out to be specifically about British carriages. Western Wagon Wheels, however, was an invaluable reference that I kept constantly open next to me while working. It featured great close-up shots of wheels, stories of stagecoach traveling, and photographs of the period and by the author.
My stagecoach is based on photographs of both the 1865 and 1875 Concord stagecoaches found within Western Wagon Wheels. I had anticipated having a lot of trouble with the horses, but they turned out to take less time than the coach and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Probably my most successfully drawn horses yet.