[For Seniors] Next Year is the Year of the Horse! Handcraft a Heartfelt New Year’s Card with a Horse Motif
How about making handmade New Year’s cards as you get ready to welcome the new year? Horse motifs drawn with brushes or colored pencils have a nostalgic warmth that makes you feel cozy.
Even if you’re not confident in drawing, don’t worry—we’ve gathered ideas for horse-themed New Year’s cards you can enjoy with various techniques, from simple illustrations you can finish in three minutes to origami, stamps, and printmaking.
Spending time crafting while putting your wishes for the new year into each piece will become a special moment where nostalgia and freshness mingle.
Create a heartfelt card together with your family or friends.
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[For Seniors] Next Year Is the Year of the Horse! Handcraft Heartfelt New Year’s Cards with Horse Motifs (1–10)
New Year’s stamp with a horse
The horse motif is an animal that symbolizes moving forward, momentum, and strength, but the horses expressed with stamps also conveyed a sense of cuteness and gentleness within that power.
Even when using store-bought stamps, simply varying how you press them and how you arrange them creates so much individuality and warmth.
By combining New Year-esque colors like red, gold, and black in a well-balanced way, the result feels both festive and refined, making it a perfect piece for New Year’s greetings.
I thought it was an idea for making New Year’s cards that anyone can enjoy with ease.
Draw the character 'horse' (馬) in brush calligraphy.
The impression of brush-drawn letters and illustrations changes with line thickness and variations in pressure.
When drawing the section from the neck through the rump to the torso, add motion to your brushstrokes to bring out the horse’s strength.
For the tail, lightly press as if it’s fluttering in the wind; this can give the lines a lively energy.
If you want a rough, dry-brush look, reduce the amount of water on the brush.
Keep an eye on the negative space and overall balance as you continue.
Try expressing the horse’s movement through your lines as you draw.
Horse-themed illustrated postcard, Year of the Horse
This illustration perfectly captures a horse’s expressions and movements—just right for the New Year.
Let’s paint the horse using a thick brush with color.
Start by drawing the face with the brush in a shape like the kanji “八.” Next, draw the chest, hindquarters, and belly; for the belly, curve it downward.
For the legs, it’s best to start from the front legs and draw toward the base.
Draw the thigh of the hind leg in a triangular shape.
Once it’s dry, switch to a fine brush and add black lines for the mane, tail, and nose.
Finish by writing a New Year’s greeting.
When adding the greeting, it’s recommended to consider the overall balance and leave some blank space as you write.
[For Seniors] Next Year Is the Year of the Horse! Handcraft Heartfelt New Year’s Cards with Horse Motifs (11–20)
Stylish horse New Year’s cards: Easy for anyone! Three cute horse designs
When you actually try to draw an illustration, it often doesn’t turn out well, doesn’t it? That’s especially true for animals you don’t usually see.
So this time, I’ll show you how to draw horses! From cute, stylized designs to scenes with running horses as a background, and even designs that cleverly use hoof shapes.
Each method is explained step by step, so even beginners will find it easy to follow.
Be sure to incorporate your favorite illustration into your New Year’s card design.
Year of the Horse origami: how to fold a horse
The step-by-step instructions for folding a horse out of origami are very thorough, making it enjoyable for beginners to try.
The process of creating a three-dimensional horse from a single sheet of paper is simple yet conveys a lifelike sense of motion, and it seems like it would be very satisfying once completed.
I thought the idea of attaching this origami to a New Year’s card was wonderful.
By placing the three-dimensional horse directly onto the postcard, you add playfulness and warmth to a flat New Year’s greeting, bringing delight and surprise to the recipient.
It’s an idea that lets you enjoy both the fun of folding and the fun of decorating, and it’s something anyone can easily try.
New Year’s woodblock print: horse’s face
Speaking of printmaking, you probably picture carving wood to make a block, applying ink, and so on.
But with “Tack-Color Paper Printmaking,” you can create a printing plate just by cutting tack paper with scissors and sticking it on! You don’t even need ink—simply rub off the ink from the tack paper to transfer the image onto another sheet.
The tack paper works like a sticker, so you don’t need glue; just peel off the release paper and use it.
Just like traditional printmaking, the image will be reversed when transferred, so be mindful of that as you work.
Horses Painted in Ink Wash: Vertical Orientation
Here’s an easy way to draw a horse, even if you’re new to ink wash painting.
This idea uses the “three-ink method,” a sumi-e technique where you load your brush with inks of different concentrations to create a gradient in a single stroke.
First, draw a round circle for the horse’s rump.
Then, imagine a fishhook and draw the tail.
From there, continue with the head, neck, and mane.
Once the whole horse is sketched, use darker ink to add shadows and refine the coat, finishing it into a striking, dimensional horse.