Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Animals by Amarilys Henderson

Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Animals
by Amarilys Henderson

ISBN-13: 9781464214905
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Quarry Books
Released: July 6th 2021

Source: review copy from the publisher through Amazon.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Author, artist, and popular Skillshare instructor Amarylis Henderson presents her practical and creative techniques for drawing and painting animals in a variety of mediums and styles, from realistic to cartoon. Learn about the sketching and painting mediums you’ll use in your work, including watercolor, inks, and markers. Discover the scope of sizes and shapes of animal features from nose to tail. Basic shapes, postures, and poses to convey a range of animal emotions and expressions, from sly and sneaky to angry to curious. Draw and paint more than 30 animals--from dogs, cats, and horses to cheetah, bison, and platypus--and investigate 18 different styles and treatments, including using color in unique ways, enhancing cuteness, and combining watercolor with other mediums.

As you explore your creative options, you’ll find that working small is an easy way to relieve pressure and open yourself to play as well as to learning the techniques and approaches that Amarilys shares in this book.


My Review:
Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Animals shows how the author draws and watercolor paints 33 different animals, including some birds, marine animals, and reptiles. She started with a few pages providing tips about observing how different animals have different legs, eyes, etc. The "expressive" part seemed to be two pages pointing out how sloths and dogs appear happy while snakes and foxes look sly.

She then provided step-by-step instructions for drawing and painting an animal, with illustrations (about 8-10 steps per animal) along with some very basic text instructions like "add the front legs." Some of the painting illustrations were taken at an angle (showing her working), so the example we're supposed to mimic is not quite in correct proportion. The author assumed that you already knew how to draw and watercolor paint as she'd tell you to do certain techniques but never explained how to do them. She did point out some tips when painting animals, like make the spots random.

Contrary to most art instructors, she had you start with drawing the animals face (including eyes and mouth) before adding the neck, body, legs, and tail. For painting, she skipped sketching the basic proportions and just painted the body shape in step one. I used to do this, but my animals never were in proportion. I finally realized why most instructors have you start with basic body shapes (in proportion) for the entire animal before refining the details. So her instructions don't really work for me.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.