Painting Animals [Hardcover]

Christophe Drochon (Author), FranCoise Coffrant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2006

Enter the extraordinary world of painter Christophe Drochon, who, for the first time, opens up his studio and allows us a privileged glimpse into his art. Frequently focusing on animals, his strikingly realistic yet dreamlike images reveal nature’s beauty and fragility, as well as Drochon’s profound concern over its destruction. As he creates, we watch the progression from initial sketches done outdoors ‘from life’ to painstaking studio work. Examples in a range of media showcase the different ways he captures a big cat’s baleful gaze, a macaw’s luminous plumage, and the ominous peace of a slumbering polar bear. Françoise Coffrant supplies illuminating, authoritative commentary.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christophe Drochon's beautiful paintings demonstrate the mastery of a hyper-realistic technique that will delight and fascinate fans of nature. In his paintings, the animal and the scenery are often used as symbols to express ideas, and to illustrate emotional events in his personal life. Through his painting, Drochon hopes to inspire an awareness of the fragility of the world. Many of his paintings focus on the eyes of the animal, and with these astonishingly intimate portraits, he allows us to glimpse the soul of the natural world, and in the process, brings us closer to an understanding of ourselves.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: New Holland (October 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845375459
• ISBN-13: 978-1845375454
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting > Still Life

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful work, best for oil or acrylic artists, July 10, 2007

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Painting Animals (Hardcover)

If you aim to paint ultra-real, exciting wildlife art, Christophe Drochon's work can't help but inspire you. His rendering of lambent cat eyes, fur glowing in the sun and dramatic scenes are some of the best.

This book is aimed to the oil and acrylic artist or anyone working in opaque mediums as opposed to the more expressive and loose styles of watercolor and pastel. You can get ideas for colored pencil and sharpened pastel as well as gouache but this is really primarily for oil painters.

There are sufficient demos to give good instruction for the more advanced artist, but you need some grounding in your medium before you attempt work such as this. In other words, not for beginners except as inspiration and simply to admire an exceptional artist's work.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Painting Animals by Christophe Drochon, January 19, 2008

By 

Ronald Dotson "wildlife artist" (Jamul, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painting Animals (Hardcover)

This is not a book for the beginning artist but perhaps another reference for wildlife artists, especially acrylic and oil painters. Full of lovely paintings by Christophe Drochon but I found the instructive aspect to be somewhat thin on specific detail. Discussions of technique and composition were very general and although I agree with the author's comments, I felt that a lot more could have been said that would have made this a more instructive book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly Amazing Artwork - Vague Instructions, February 14, 2008

By 

Scribbler. (Ct, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting Animals (Hardcover)

This is an exceptional wildlife artist, however I bought this book specifically for the purpose of learning to paint animals in detail. There's not a whole lot here to explain how to get certain effects. One thing that bothered me was how it was written. Not that it was poorly written, but that it was from the viewpoint of someone other than the artist. I want to read what the artist thinks, how they came up with the idea & how they acheived their results. Not from the viewpoint of someone who interviewed them.