Archive for category Subject: Animals
Drawing & Painting Horses || Eva Dutton
Posted by henry in Author: Eva Dutton, Medium: Acrylic, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Animals, Subject: Horses on January 25, 2012
I’ve been writing about art books for more than thirty years (yes, it seems longer to me too) and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books I’ve seen dedicated to drawing and painting horses. Some of this has to do with the fact that it’s quite a specialised subject and partly because they’re one of the most difficult animals to get right. Just getting all four legs in proportion seems to be beyond most artists. Stick to guinea pigs, they’re just adorable little lumps.
However, all those problems mean that pretty much anyone who does want to paint horses is going to need a really good guide and Eva Dutton is not going to let you down. Her thorough work is beautifully and generously illustrated and deals with all the practicalities such as conformation (basically, what makes a horse look horsey) as well as the techniques you need to capture hair, manes, eyes, hooves and everything else, both static and in motion.
Starting from basics and using simple block diagrams, Eva will show you how to get the shapes and structures right; this section is excellent on the practical, rather than the anatomical approach. From here, she moves on to things like motion and proportion and it’s in these sections that you start to learn how to give your work the character that makes for life and reality. Further chapters deal with backgrounds, colours and markings, as well as a handy selection of brushwork techniques.
The final section of the book is a series of five demonstrations that give you a chance to put what you’ve learned into practice. These are worth following as they give you a chance to work from a pre-planned image, rather than trying to get to grips with a moving creature before you’re ready.
This is a nicely thought-out and well-structured book from an author who is clearly comfortable with her subject.
Draw Animals with expression and personality || Anja Dahl
Posted by henry in Author: Anja Dahl, Medium: Drawing, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Animals on December 5, 2011
Any book that sets out to teach you how to draw animals in just 64 pages is being wildly optimistic. The variety of species alone makes the task virtually impossible. However, Anja Dahl manages to make a pretty good fist of it and certainly won’t leave you disappointed.
The introductory section on materials and techniques also looks at how to capture fur and feather, but it is quite short and this is an area you may feel you want to supplement. The rest of the book is devoted to a series of short lessons covering dogs, cats, birds and horses. Each section is necessarily quite short and works from a photograph to the finished drawing in only two or three pages. If you’re looking for extensive demonstrations, you won’t find them here.
Overall, as a basic introduction, this is fine, but I can’t help thinking you’re going to need to do quite a lot more reading if you really want to develop your skills.
Lee Hammond’s Big Book of Acrylic Painting
Posted by henry in Author: Lee Hammond, Medium: Acrylic, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Animals, Subject: Children, Subject: Landscape, Subject: People on December 5, 2011
The above-the-title billing gives you a clue to Lee Hammond’s popularity in the US and, if the title suggests a bind-up, you’d be correct. The material has previously appeared in four other titles, but the selection here provides an excellent introduction to the medium. More substantial than many similar books, this one covers still lifes, landscapes, animals and people as well as the basic techniques. Each section is admirably thorough – the one on people includes exercises covering all the main facial elements as well as demonstrations that deal with both male and female subjects as well as babies and toddlers. Overall, there’s a good sense of your money’s worth here.
Painting Wildlife step by step || Rod Lawrence
Posted by henry in Author: Rod Lawrence, Medium: Acrylic, Medium: Oil, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Animals, Subject: Birds, Subject: Wildlife on March 22, 2011
I think it’s fair to say that you need a fair degree of skill under your belt before you tackle this book. However, that’s not unreasonable, because birds and animals are a difficult subject and anything that proclaims itself a beginner’s guide is inevitably going to trivialise and simply annoy the more serious practitioner.
That said, for those who aren’t daunted by the author’s highly detailed approach, it does start somewhere near the beginning, with main chapter heads devoted to fur, feathers, eyes and ears, feet and tails, etc. In other words, short demonstrations covering basic structure rather than full-blown and perhaps rather off-putting projects covering a whole creature.
Doing things this way allows you to build up your skills and techniques progressively and also to pick out whatever it is you need at any particular time. If there’s a criticism, it’s that there aren’t any complete projects, so you never get that “pulling it all together” section that most books like to include. Although, as the book is already 144 pages long, extending it in this way could double the length or significantly reduce the admirable attention to detail that characterises the author’s approach. Forewarned, you shouldn’t feel short-changed when you come to the end.
The overall approach is painstaking and Rod does well to break a complex and difficult subject down into manageable chunks that don’t become overwhelming.
Artist’s Complete Problem Solver || Trudy Friend
Posted by henry in Author: Trudy Friend, Publisher: David & Charles, Subject: Animals, Subject: Flowers, Subject: Landscape on February 1, 2010
This is clearly a book the publisher expects you to keep by your side and probably get dirty in use. How do I know this? Well, they give you a plastic sleeve for the paperback cover and that’s an additional production expense and publishers HATE those.
OK, so we’ve deduced that it’s something you’ll be referring to as you paint, but does it live up to the implied claim of its title? Well, the subtitle limits its coverage to Landscapes, Flowers and Animals, but that’s still a wide scope. The basic layout is: problem on the left-hand page, solution on the right, so it does follow the by now conventional pattern of the made-up problem, a painting done deliberately badly to illustrate a particular point. I’ve always had reservations about those because I can’t help wondering whether anyone finds them recognisable. That said, if you’re going to say, “most beginners do it like this”, there’s no other way round it really. A score draw on that one, I think.
In terms of coverage, there’s a good balance of both detail and more general work, especially in the landscape section. When we get to flowers and animals, things are a bit more specific and get down to species quite quickly so that you might find your particular bugbear [not a species, ed] doesn’t get covered. If the book has a weakness, this is it. Nevertheless, Trudy is an old hand at the problem/solution approach and she does it well. On balance, I’d say you’ll get much more from this than you’ll miss, which is perhaps faint praise, but it’s very much one you’ll need to make up your own mind about.
Chinese Animal Painting Made Easy || Rebecca Yue
Posted by henry in Author: Rebecca Yue, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Batsford, Subject: Animals, Subject: Chinese painting on July 21, 2009
Rebecca Yue has written several previous books that adapt traditional Chinese painting methods for the Western eye and palette. Her approach does not so much dilute the pure form as adopt its methods and provide a simplification of line and form that is easy to follow and which produces attractive results using materials and methods with which her readers will be largely familiar.
The looseness of this approach is perfectly suited to creating animal paintings that have a sinuousness and a sense of movement that perfectly captures the character of her subjects and also, almost coincidentally, makes for a simplified form of animal painting that will appeal to those who find this a difficult subject. This give the book a double appeal and it also fulfils a long-felt need.
From basic techniques, Rebecca moves on to demonstrations featuring both domestic and more exotic animals, giving a variety that should cover just about all her readers’ requirements.
The Magic of Drawing || Cliff Wright
Posted by henry in Author: Cliff Wright, Medium: Drawing, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: Impact Books, Subject: Animals, Subject: Fantasy art, Subject: Figure, Subject: Nature on November 25, 2008
This is a rare treat, because it’s not often you get a book on drawing by someone who is themselves a successful published illustrator.
Cliff Wright’s biggest claim to fame is a couple of Harry Potter covers (and you can bet the competition for those is pretty stiff), but he has also written some delightful children’s books himself such as Bear and Kite and The Star That Fell that are characterised by beautiful and sensitive watercolours that stop well short of being cutesy.
What this almost modest-looking paperback offers is a positive masterclass in drawing animals, people and natural history subjects, albeit slightly dressed-up as fantasy art. Cliff conveys more in a few words and drawings than many books don’t even manage in a whole chapter and this is a thoroughly practical guide as well as an absolute eye-opener to the many possibilities available to you. There’s also a good degree of humour – I just love the drawing of a Hippogriff wrapped in a blanket against the snow – and the spread where a self portrait turns into a horse eating a cake (yes, really) is in fact a masterpiece of character development and the use of line.
If you’re an aspiring illustrator, this has to be compulsory reading, but there’s so much more to it as well. It’ll show you how to develop characters, how to draw with absolute economy and how to work from life to art.
Painting Unicorns In Watercolour || Rebecca Balchin
Posted by henry in Author: Rebecca Balchin, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Fantasy Art, Subject: Animals, Subject: Horses, Subject: Unicorns on August 7, 2007
This site normally has a policy of avoiding fantasy art. It’s not that I have anything against it, I simply don’t understand it and I find it difficult to be objective and to know whether the results are any good or not.
So why would I touch a book on unicorns? They’re the stuff of fairly tale, they don’t exist, missed the last bus to Noah Central and failed to make it to the Ark. Up there with the Dodo, except that the Dodo was real, so what kind of analogy is that?
Well, a very clever one, actually, because unicorns do have a sort of existence. Artistically speaking, they’re just a horse with a broom handle stuck on its head. Take the pole away and you’re left, plus or minus the odd cloven hoof, with a horse. And what this book is, above all else, is one of the very best books on painting horses you could wish for. Horses are a tricky subject and the proportions are hard to get just right, so full marks to Rebecca for some superb, sensitive drawings and paintings which get to the very heart of her subject.
If you want a book on unicorns, this is pretty much the only one but, if you want a book on horses, it remains the one you should buy. Of course it’s a bit fairytale, but that doesn’t get in the way if you don’t want it to.
Painting Animals || Christophe Drochon
Posted by henry in Author: Christophe Drochon, Medium: Various, Publisher: New Holland, Subject: Animals on June 27, 2006
Christophe Drochon’s animal paintings are stunning and are meant to stun. Close-up, highly detailed and against backgrounds that make them stand out, they’ll make you take a step back, even off the printed page. In this form, they’re not a style for everyone and, indeed, you might even find them a little difficult to live with when hung on a wall, but you can’t help admiring them.
However, we’re starting at the back here, in the gallery section of the book. It’s worth doing, because it helps to know where this is all going and that it isn’t watercolour cats asleep on a cushion in the window. I just thought you ought to know. The cover picture should give you an idea.
However, rewind a bit, start at the beginning, where Christophe does just that. Anyone who paints in this detail is sure as heck going to be able to draw and the book begins with some beautifully sensitive and subtle pencil sketches, moving on to watercolour and then to studio techniques in acrylics, oils and gouache. This is one of the most structured books I’ve come across and it progresses logically and with reasonable despatch, building up towards various details: eyes, fur, plumage and then to several demonstration paintings. All of this is perfectly accessible and very well organised. The hyper-realism of the gallery section doesn’t come into it until the very last minute so that you aren’t forced to emulate Christophe’s style, you can stop at any point that suits you and complete some perfectly acceptable animal paintings of your own.
The credit for this approach has to go to the writer, Françoise Coffrant. The blurbs are sadly silent about who she is, but I feel she must have some sort of close association with the artist as the text is utterly sympathetic as well as economical. Each time a new creature is introduced, Françoise gives is a brief characterisation. This is sometimes a bit philosophical for English taste, but the translator is right to retain the feel and character of the original and the book reads well in English. New Holland have published a number of art books that started life in French and they have found a thoroughly sympathetic translator who does a lot more then just move text from one language to another.
Not many people are going to want, or be able, to paint like Christophe Drochon but the real achievement of the book is to create something which can be used as much as a primer as a masterclass without short-changing anyone.
Year published 2006
List price: £14.99
