Wild Mustangs.

Illustration. Motion Design. Photography.

Onaqui Herd, West Desert, Utah

Problem.

The wild horses of our country are iconic symbols in our history. While they are supposed to be federally protected like the Bald Eagle, every year the Bureau of Land Management rounds up thousands of wild horses from public lands through violent helicopter stampeding, not truly "free" to roam our country. This comes down to politics, wealth, and the deep pockets of cattle ranchers grazing their livestock on 155 million acres of BLM lands, leaving the wild horses with only 17% of the land to live and graze, according to The American Wild Horse Campaign. The way these revered beauties are round-up is inhumane and abusive. Many are separated from their families, severely injured, or die. They are under severe amounts of stress and often spend their lives in government-holding facilities once captured or sent to slaughter under tax-payers dollars, not to mention the costs cut to control fertility in ways that are inhumane to these herds.

These symbolic beauties deserve to live free and honored while being humanely managed, and there are ways to achieve all of these things while preserving their valuable existence. To help and learn more visit americanwildhorsecampaign.com.

Objective.

This project’s objective was to animate a full run cycle on the subject matter of our choosing. I was fortunate to photograph the Onaqui, a herd of wild mustangs in the West Desert of Utah. With a lineage dating back to the Pony Express, and spirits as giant as their history, I chose these beautiful animals as my subject. How might I use photography, illustration, and animation to bring awareness to a social cause I am deeply passionate about — further protecting these sacred animals our nation was built on?

Process.

Inspiration.

Photographed with a Nikon DSLR, a dream of mine for years. I used these images as the source of inspiration for the animation piece.
Illustration.

Drawing one horse at a time totaling 16 — making a complete walk/run cycle — I then layered them in photoshop to add detail.

Color.

Adding muted colors of dusk, bodily details, background and foreground elements for depth, this run-cycle begins to come to life! Each hair of the mane and tail were drawn stroke by stroke on all 16 horses to accentuate the flow during the run.
Run Cycle.

All horses were then placed in Photoshop’s timeline to test the frame-by-frame accuracy and fluidity of the horse’s gate.