Really interesting article. I love animals but rarely draw them, unless it’s part of a job (Sengi, Fruit Bats, Polar Bears and a few others). I only draw plants but you have got me thinking with all your good examples.
thank you for sharing! Animal' s are always my favourite! I love to see your lines changing in movement ,thickness,even colour! And listen to you while you explain your approaches ,some struggle or fun anecdote , I can see how dear this is to you. Congrats to this 2023 path made.
Thanks so much Chris! I was in two minds about whether I continue with 'Animals only' sketchbooks, but I enjoyed this so much that I think I will. So glad you enjoyed it! There will be more, I am sure!
Love this! I recently have been getting back into drawing and I did some drawings of my sister’s new cat… I didn’t realize how hard it would be for me! I kept falling back into my old perfectionist realism ways and the sweet cats face was just always looking quite creepy. I am motivated by your animal sketchbook to start one too! I want to keep it fun and illustrative … I did not realize just getting basic animal shapes down can be so challenging for me.
I totally get it - when I started drawing cats they were AWFUL - the bodies made no sense to me and I just gave up for a while. Then I found that working in a smaller scale, with one material helped to focus on understanding the basic shapes. My cats all look miserable, never sweet! But I decided to run with that - I'll never be able to sketch sweet cats! Please DO start an animals sketchbook, I found that it was so much fun to have that theme, and I let myself be playful with it. There are plenty of dodgy sketches in there! Thats the fun part - but at some point you do find a flow. Maybe start with a thin, small sketchbook so you can fill it quickly. That might be really motivating!
Really interesting article. I love animals but rarely draw them, unless it’s part of a job (Sengi, Fruit Bats, Polar Bears and a few others). I only draw plants but you have got me thinking with all your good examples.
Happy to hear it got you thinking!
thank you for sharing! Animal' s are always my favourite! I love to see your lines changing in movement ,thickness,even colour! And listen to you while you explain your approaches ,some struggle or fun anecdote , I can see how dear this is to you. Congrats to this 2023 path made.
waiting for more☺️
Thanks so much Chris! I was in two minds about whether I continue with 'Animals only' sketchbooks, but I enjoyed this so much that I think I will. So glad you enjoyed it! There will be more, I am sure!
Love this! I recently have been getting back into drawing and I did some drawings of my sister’s new cat… I didn’t realize how hard it would be for me! I kept falling back into my old perfectionist realism ways and the sweet cats face was just always looking quite creepy. I am motivated by your animal sketchbook to start one too! I want to keep it fun and illustrative … I did not realize just getting basic animal shapes down can be so challenging for me.
I totally get it - when I started drawing cats they were AWFUL - the bodies made no sense to me and I just gave up for a while. Then I found that working in a smaller scale, with one material helped to focus on understanding the basic shapes. My cats all look miserable, never sweet! But I decided to run with that - I'll never be able to sketch sweet cats! Please DO start an animals sketchbook, I found that it was so much fun to have that theme, and I let myself be playful with it. There are plenty of dodgy sketches in there! Thats the fun part - but at some point you do find a flow. Maybe start with a thin, small sketchbook so you can fill it quickly. That might be really motivating!
Thank you for the motivating words. I’ll do it :)
What a delight to see yhis sketchbook Raj! I already told you, but I really love your cats ❤️
Thank you Teresa! I actually have a 'cats only' book now🤣
Loved all of the foxes!
Thank you! I was DETERMINED to get the foxes right, they were much tricker to nail than I expected!
Thank you for sharing this Raj, peeping into other people's sketchbooks is my favourite ❤
Me too! Thanks for taking the time to look!