Drawing Animals Made Amazingly Easy (Made Amazingly Easy Series) - Softcover

Hart, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0823013901 ISBN 13: 9780823013906

Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications Inc.,U.S., 2007

Synopsis

Christopher Hart, America's best-selling author of art instruction books, tosses all that aside to make drawing animals amazingly easy, by simplifying animal anatomy so artists can get the poses they really want. What does that animal look like as it moves, bends, twists, jumps, runs? Simplified skeletons and an innovative new approach show how to look at an animal. Hart's step-by-step instructions and clear text mean true-to-life results every time, whether the subjects are dogs, cats, horses, lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys, bears, birds, pigs, giraffes or kangaroos.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Hart is an award-winning author whose books have set the standard for art instruction, both nationally and internationally, with more than two million copies in print in seventeen languages.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Believe it or not, but animals do not walk on the soles of their feet! They only walk on their toes. Let's go in for a close-up of this concept.

When relaxed, a dog's paws are always floppy. That's one of the main distinctions i've noticed between animals and humans: Humans use their hands in a very precise manner, whereas animals use their "hands" in a loose and imprecise way. 
The idea of relaxed front and rear paws is especially important when dogs-- or any other animals with similar "hands" and "feet"-- walk. Take a look at the Great Dane to the right. This relaxed-paw quality is something that animators use and know well. It's a principle known as drag, and you can see it if you watch any wildlife special on TV. When animals walk, the paws drag behind in a floppy, relaxed manner. This is very different from the way humans walk. Yes, the joints in human hands are often loose during walking, but they never "drag" behind to quite the extent that you see on animals.

Edition details

• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications Inc.,U.S.
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823013901
• ISBN 13: 9780823013906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160