Bring
your animal portraits to vibrant life with this book of tips.
Whatever your medium, there are ways to add more character
and realism, and this book is full of ideas. It is not for
the beginner but for those who are either artists who want
to start depicting animals, or for those who want to add that
extra spark. The book starts with an overview of what materials
are around and hints on what to buy and why, then moves on
to where you are going to work. This section weighs up the
pros and cons of working outdoors, from live animals, stuffed,
or photographs. The rest of the book deals with a variety
of animals and how best to depict what makes them special
and unique. There is a chapter each for cats and dogs, then
a third covering zoo and wild animals and birds. Most of each
chapter is filled with inspiring paintings and drawings, each
with a caption explaining what has been done to achieve the
look. This is followed by a piece on backgrounds, drawing
fur, feathers and anatomy, and how to capture characteristics
when sketching. The final chapter contains demonstrations,
which are staged projects showing how to bring together what
you have learned. Each has a number of good sized captioned
photographs so you can build up your work bit by bit, plus
a list of what you need. Instead of giving the exact colors,
there is a looser list elsewhere in the book to refer back
to. There are six projects done in a variety of media depicting
three dogs, two cats and a rabbit. This is a handsomely produced
book that will appeal to the intermediate and up artist, yet
falls down in one area; it has truly tiny print.
If you cannot find a good range of art materials locally
try www.searchpress.com
for a list of suppliers.
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