Customer Reviews

Animals: 1,419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects, etc (Dover Pictorial Archive)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is an awesome resource/refernece book for drawing almost any animal you wish to draw. It includes many images of animals in action, which helps as a reference when you don't have the option to see the animal in the flesh. Some images include the native scenery of more exotic creatures. I use it to help an idea in my head come to life on paper, for pen & ink, colored pencil, or printmaking designs. This book is my first source to draw an animal (if the option of a live model is not possible!) The illustrations have more depth and interest than a straight forward encyclopedia of animals, adding to a more creative treatment of subjects. Easily my most often used resource book.

Every art teacher I've ever had seems to have had this book, and for good reason! If you want great realistic black-and-white illustrations of animals to model a picture or sculpture on, this is a wonderful reference. Each page is full of animals in many different poses and environments, grouped by species and variety. From birds to horses to fish to insects, this book has a great many excellent illustrations to copy or just look at and admire. Most are labeled, and are for the most part are very realistic and well-proportioned. My one annoyance is the title, so bland and forgettable for such a memorable book! A great book for someone looking for a large collection of animal art.

I've had this bok since I was 8 believe it or not and now as a college Graphic Design student it's really come in handy when incorperating clip art or designing animal schemes and motifs for my work. I've been using this book for at the very least 3-4 projects a year for 13 years now and it's still good.

Wow - the enormous numbers of animal life is astounding and the book clearly shows this. Unfortunately the images are quite dark and the book is very thick (you get your money's worth - image-wise), so scanning them for use in various artistic media is difficult. Therefore, I bought two of the books and plan to cut one of them up (that hurts to say for I treasure books of all types). This way I can control the scanning and modification using software to bring out details and highlight an image to my satisfaction. And finally, the classic images are impressive and I applaud the author for his selection of animals from all realms of life on earth.

I believe this is the largest selection of animal prints that Dover has to offer. It has a wide variety of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, shellfish, insects, etc., but because they are old etchings, the conformation, proportions, and other characteristics are not always accurate. The illustration details are amazing. Most images have some type of reference as to breed, gender, type, etc. This book is great for design/advertising (limited in copyright free), any art projects, or use as models for sketching practice as long as you are aware of the artistic liberties taken on some portrayals of animals.

I use this book as a reference as I sculpt. It has at least one picture of almost every animal that I need with only a few exeptions. It has fish, mamals, reptiles, birds... even a FEW dinosoars. I recomend it for any artist looking for a general animal reference.

This is it- this is the book you need. It is so commonly used that when an animal from this book appears in a painting or piece of graphic art artists immediately recognize it and chuckle to themselves. I remember a friend used an illustration from this book for the cover of a self-published book, he showed the book to a group of artists and every single artist immediately recognized the image. Pretty much every artist has a tattered copy in their studio, it is the book you need, if you do not have it get it.

I loved this Book! I first saw it at the library and checked it out. But when I got it home and started looking at it, I knew I had to have it for my library. Great graphic drawings of animals in different poses.

This book is perfect if you are interested in Ink Art. I have not seen a book that had so many ink drawings and so fine in detail. It's a must for anyone that loves art or is an artist. The price is ridiculously too low, this book is a bargain no doubt about that. Buy it worth it worth it and you wont regret it. There are some many animals from land, air, and water. The way these artist make everything look so realistic is amazing.

This book has the most awesome animal drawings I have ever seen. The fact that they are wood engravings is more than remarkable!