ANIMAL DRAWING: ANATOMY AND ACTION FOR ARTISTS

This book was written and illustrated by Charles R. Knight (1874&;1953) the acknowledged master of animal drawing and the man who American Biographies agrees was generally recognized as the most distinguished painter of animal life. Those who have seen his murals paintings and bronzes of both prehistoric and modern animals in the New York Museum of Natural History or any one of a dozen other major zoological museums know why his work is so highly regarded. His animal portrayals are startlingly alive with beauty virility charm power and expression. He seems to have caught animals in the very act of feeding stalking resting or in any one of the thousands of completely natural attitudes that animals assume. In this book which is an extensive course in animal drawing Knight offers an almost incredible wealth of practical instruction to commercial and fine artists painters sculptors book illustrators designers decorators and art students. He discusses animal musculature bone structure animal psychology movements habits and habitats. He provides innumerable tips on animal proportions the play of light and shadow coloring hair formation feather arrangements of birds scales of fish how animals lie down animal expressions how a lioness bends back her ears when angry and many others. Scores of animal categories are covered: great apes tigers lions dogs bears cattle horses antelopes sheep goats camels swine seals rodents young animals exotic animals crocodiles snakes fish and birds. This work should help both practicing artists and art students achieve more natural and lifelike drawings. Especially valuable will be the many pointers on how to avoid stiffness and gracelessness in drawings of horses deer and other quick-footed animals; how to introduce the proper sense of bulk and power in sketches of such heavier animals as elephants and bears; and how to put into drawings of the cat family from the household pet to the African lion the superb lithe grace and wealth of subtle expression that we marvel at in the originals.