How to Paint and Draw Animals
David Astin
Intercontinental Book Productions
Nonfiction, Art
***
DESCRIPTION: The artist describes the basics of drawing such animals as dogs, cats, horses, and birds. Also included are demonstration drawings of several subjects in different media, as well as notes on colors, composition, and the value of sketching from life.
REVIEW: On the surface, this makes a decent primer for animal drawing. Astin's methods of breaking down the structures of various subjects almost go too primitive, to the point of being unhelpful. I also wasn't sure about the demonstration projects. But he has some decent stuff here, presented in a relatively unintimidating format. Astin also touches (briefly) on birds, which several animal drawing books I own ignore completely. If you wanted to start drawing animals realistically, you could do worse than to start here, but other artists have covered similar material in other works, with more interesting methods and results.
You might also enjoy:
Illustrating Nature: How to Paint and Draw Plants and Animals (Dorothea and Sy Barlowe, Art - A broad variety of subjects are covered)
How to Draw Animals (Jack Hamm, Art - Drawing a variety of mammals)
Animal Drawing - Anatomy and Action for Artists (Charles R. Knight, Art - How to draw a variety of creatures)
Artist's Photo Reference: Wildlife (Bart Rulon, Nonfiction - A collection of reference photos covering many animals)
Anatomy of Animals (Ernest E. Thompson, Art - Detailed studies of various animals)
The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals (Joe Weatherly, Art - Using form and gesture to draw lifelike animals)
Return to Top of Page - Return to Book Review List
Return to Brightdreamer Books Home
Brightdreamer Books is created and maintained by TBW, a.k.a. "Brightdreamer."
E-mail: tbweber AT comcast DOT net. (Remove spaces, replace AT with "@" and DOT with "." - please put "Brightdreamer Books" in the subject line, or your e-mail may be deleted as
spam! Thank you!