From fur to feather and scales to shell, there’s no shortage of variety in the animal kingdom. It’s a blessing and a curse for the artist – with an almost limitless supply of inspiration, the checklist of techniques and skills you need to master in order to do justice to your subject seems endless. In Paint & Draw: Animals, take a crash course in painting animals, from understanding the technicalities of texture, to breathing life into your final works. Whether you want to capture a snapshot of true wilderness or you’re looking for inspiration a little closer to home, our in-depth guides reveal the best ways to depict all walks of life. We’ve also got a 16-page special step-by-step tutorial on perfecting your pet portraits, so you can get to work painting your very own companions today!
Welcome to Paint & Draw ANIMALS
Paint & Draw: Animals
The basics • Whether you have half an hour or an afternoon to spare, follow these quick, simple and fun tips and start experimenting with your art today!
Create lush, dense fur in pastels • Following on from her eyes tutorial, Jill Tisbury explains how to create accurate and realistic fur
Capture bird feathers • Drawing feathers requires a different technique, as explored by Ivan Jones
Build up texture in animal horns • Eugenia Hauss reveals the techniques you need to perfect textures
Map out face shapes • Break down complex faces into simple to digest shapes, explains Jill Tisbury
Use proportional dividers • Jill Tisbury explains how to make the most of this handy tool
Approaching Indian ink • Don’t be afraid of Indian ink, says Steven Hughes, as the creative potential is unlimited
Master textures • Lancelot Richardson shows you how to render naturalistic textures for a variety of animals in different media
Improve your pencil shading • Discover how Melanie Phillips uses a selection of pencils to draw a pencil portrait that captures a pet’s unique personality on paper
Build organic textures • Eugenia Hauss guides you through her process of creating beautiful and realistic natural textures using ink liners and a brush pen
Creative colour with ink • Use Brusho ink pigments to experiment with colour, says Jill Tisbury
Make spontaneous bees and butterflies • Kate Osborne reveals the secret to creating unique art with wet-in-wet watercolour, gouache and unusual printing techniques
Tips to paint a mischievous hare! • Hannah Dale is known globally for her beautiful wildlife illustrations. Here she shares her process for bringing a hare on the run to life
Capture movement with loose brushstrokes • Alex Egan uses her watercolours with the lightest of touches, as she gives depth to a scene featuring koi carp
Produce striking contrast with pastels • Kaz Turner shares her techniques for creating a vibrant tiger that leaps off the paper
Create character and texture • Rebecca de Mendonça captures the energy of a beautiful Arabian horse in pastels
Create a striking image on velour • Using some fascinating techniques, Jill Tisbury takes you through the process of creating depth on this material
Draw a fox using pastels • Rebecca de Mendonça shows how she creates a cunning fox with a combination of soft pastels, Conté crayons and pastel pencils
Add dramatic light to your wildlife paintings • Wildlife artist Tony Forrest shows you how to paint warm sunlight to give your animal paintings depth and colour
Paint a pet portrait • Learn how to paint your pet in this multi-step tutorial, as Kate Oleska explains in detail how to achieve a realistic final effect
Use thin layers to get vibrant colours • Marjolein Kruijt shows how to paint bright colours in oil using thin layers, work from...