Introduction

Basically, there is only one difference between drawing a real animal and seeing one. The difference is that when drawing a creature you give it shape by putting down shades and highlights with a pencil (applying different kinds of pressure and using different types of pencils). In other words, you attempt to recreate the lights and darks cast upon a shape by the sun.
And yes, that's the reason a human being can't make out much shape in the dark. Light (sunlight, artificial light, moonlight) creates shape, without light, everything would be a black blob of sheer massiveness.

To put it simply: drawing realistically is actually using shadows and highlights on a piece of paper as effectively as humanly possible. In order to do that you simply need to learn how to shade.
I know this makes it sound rather easy to do but I can assure you shading is one of the hardest things for artists to learn properly.
Why is it so hard? Well, you try to put down on paper something as masterful as the sun throwing shadows and highlights on a magnificent creation of God, such as a horse! It's beginning to sound a bit more complicated now, isn't it?
Ah, don't let my words scare you away. I once was awful at shading. I for one however, am not a person seeking perfection in the sense of realism. I'm not trying to ww or draw my animals as realistically as possible. There's no fun or art in that, only incredible patience and technique.

You know, the moment I had decided I wanted to learn how to draw, I begun perceiving the world differently. Upon seeing an animal, beautiful scenery, a person… I tried to make out the composition, the shape of the creature, its structure and the way the muscles and skin was highlighted by the sun.
So I wondered… why do shadows look the way they do? Why does colour look he way it does? Why does it all seem to blend in so easily into one beautiful view?
It's kind of similar to how I look at housing and buildings. I have studied architecture for three years at university and can assure you I never look at a building like any normal person ever again. I look at material, construction, shape and design. I even try to figure out in what time-period the building was created.
Same goes for artists. People that are in the visual arts (whether drawing, painting or photography) look at a scenery in a very different way than anyone else. They see different things, notice what others don't. How the sun blends in shadow and highlight so gracefully that it actually compliments the hand of God. It's utterly fantastic to witness such sublimity over and over again.

So, if you want to draw something realistically, you need to learn how to blend colors subtly. Otherwise, it will just not look realistic, it'll look fake. Creating three dimensions on a two dimensional piece of paper is all about shading.

On to the next lesson?

Learning How To Shade

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