Pro Tips & Techniques for Drawing Animals: Make Lifelike Drawings of 63 Different Animals

Artist and art anatomy professor Miyanaga (Tokyo Univ. of the Arts), who also has a doctorate in medicine, focuses on the fine points of animal anatomy in this instructive volume that features 57 species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and insects in more than 60 projects. While several pages are devoted to basic drawing principles such as negative space, shading, and highlighting, the bulk centers on anatomical structures of the body. The author highlights evolutionary divergences between humans and other animals and the consequent effects on appearance and behavior. For each animal, the book includes a skeletal overview as well as a completed drawing that indicates key physical features. Additional sketches by multiple artists illustrate animals in different poses as well. Readers may find these drawings more helpful than the steps in the “Drawing Procedure” sections, which contain vague instructions and sketches too light and small to see or carefully study. That makes it far less ideal for beginners. Along with dogs, cats, horses, and squirrels, this book includes more unusual animals, such as the capybara, chameleon, and pangolin.