Purple horse, all in my brain … Jimi Horsedrix, the guitar-shredding steed from day 21. Photograph: Andy Field View image in fullscreen Purple horse, all in my brain … Jimi Horsedrix, the guitar-shredding steed from day 21. Photograph: Andy Field Art and design Interview ‘Jimi Horsedrix brought me so much joy’: the comic drawing a horse a day – and day 69’s is unsuitable for children Tim Jonze On day 58, he did a boxing Ali horse. On day 67, he did a howling horse. So what made Andy Field suddenly decide to draw 100 equines? And what made day 48’s so phallic?
Wed 4 Nov 2026 17.01 CET Last modified on Wed 4 Nov 2026 17.54 CET Share Prefer the Guardian on Google A ndy Field was midway through his standup run at this year’s Edinburgh fringe when he was struck by an unusual urge – the urge to draw a horse. “I hadn’t sat down to draw anything since I was at school,” says the 34-year-old comedian. “Drawing was a skill I didn’t have.”
He’s not lying. The subsequent horse Field posted to TikTok and Instagram was rather naive, with its four identical straight legs and cartoon eyeball. But the project he announced alongside it – Drawing a Horse Every Day Until I’m Really Good at Drawing Horses – immediately captured people’s hearts. Over a million people watched the minute-long video of him drawing that first horse with a four-colour ballpoint pen. By day three – an undeniably terrible effort in which the horse appeared to have sprouted a platypus’s bill – more than two million, by his estimation, had tuned in. “People were willing the series to continue,” says Field. And so he did.
View image in fullscreen Field and a friend at the Edinburgh fringe. Photograph: Jennifer Forward-Hayter Field is now approaching day 80 of his horse drawing series and it’s been quite a journey. We’ve had howling horses (day 67), an Ali-style boxing horse knocking out an equine Sonny Liston (day 58), a skateboarding horse (day 29), a horse turning the tables and drawing a portrait of Field (day 24), and a horse on its knees playing a guitar solo (day 21). If some commentators were hoping Field was going to draw the same horse every day and gradually work on his understanding of proportion and perspective then they were left disappointed. Because Field’s project is really a joyful celebration of drawing for fun – of following a daft idea and seeing where it takes you.
View image in fullscreen Day 48’s Gentle Brian in his glory. Photograph: Andy Field Sometimes, that’s not a place anyone intended. On day 48, Field decided to focus in on a horse’s face, but ended up sketching something that – to his evident horror – became increasingly phallic. “I was picturing those shots in a Ren & Stimpy cartoon, where it’s so grotesquely zoomed in and you’re getting all the warts and sweat and veins. But I didn’t draw a great shape of head, and, well …”
As part of his droll commentary on each day’s effort, Field likes to name each horse. The one resembling male genitalia was given the moniker Gentle Brian. The guitar-shredding horse was Jimi Horsedrix. Often, the less traditional Field’s horses are, the more impressive they turn out. He might have visited the National Gallery (day 19) to take tips from the master of horse drawing, George Stubbs, but he’s more at home doing horses wearing shades (day 64) or horses infused with the spirit of his new kitten, Toast (day 56).
“I get dozens of comments every day with tips on how to draw horses – but if I sat down and felt as if I ha…