Customer Reviews

The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals

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Joe Weatherly stresses from the beginning that knowing your subject, knowing the anatomy is the only way to accurately draw. If you know the animal, you can draw him from any angle or position with or without a live example. This is true even in quick gestures. As a result he offers no shortcuts and no formulae, just a sound, understandable method by which you can construct anything.

Weatherly backs up what he says with hundreds of beautiful, lively examples using many different mediums and in many different styles. The idea is not to copy his drawings, but to see the possibilities.

I also enjoyed Jack Hamm's book, but I will say that this one wins easily. Hamm's is more of a formulae book, showing you exactly how to draw this or that animal in a particular pose. This may be comforting for early beginners, but it won't lead you close to true mastery. Also, the difference in method between Hamm and Weatherly clearly produces different finished products. Weatherly's animals are enfused with life and action, while Hamm's seem more static in comparision. This is the result of Weatherly's laying down action lines before constructing the figure.

A definite must for drawing animals or any form of life

I needed a book that would cover all my needs on developing my skills in drawing animals and creatures...and this book helped so much in just the first day of looking through it. It uses all the lingo of life drawing and isnt hard at all for those who are beginners who need to understand terms used. There are so many images for reference and sections that cover a number of animals individually. I seriously recommend this book, it isnt just a picture book, its a guide book to animal drawing with pictures.

The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals is the best animal drawing book I've ever seen. There are very few books out there that show the nitty gritty side of sketching and drawing animals. I love how the writing is thorough and to the point. This book gives you the barebones on how to approach drawing animals from direct observation and from your imagination. It covers other topics like how to simplify muscle shapes and how to spot boney landmarks, which are very important in drawing any living creature. I highly recommend this book for those who always wanted to learn how to draw animals, but never knew where to begin.

I've used the Weatherly Guide to Animals for quite some time now and I have to say it is the best approach to drawing animals, as well as anything else on the market today. There's lots of books on how to draw, but this one teaches solid principles of construction that can be applied to any object, not just animals. The construction, anatomy, and gesture techniques that are taught in this book are unparalleled by any other book I've seen. If you're ready to take a step towards becoming a skilled draftsman, this is the book. I would recommend this book with confidence to anyone.

If your serious about improving your ability to draw this book is a must buy for one reason -- It demonstrates, explains and teaches you the key to any good drawing -- KNOWLEDGE of form and how to convey it. Excellent drawing is NOT created by skill -- but by KNOWLEDGE. Your next drawing is already going to turn out good or bad before your pencil/charcoal ever hits the paper -- because the results are totally based on YOUR KNOWLEDGE and PRINCIPALS which are cleverly and clearly presented in this book. Unlike the majority of other Art books that teach in one drawing style/level (which is usually with highly detailed drawings) this book teaches from the very basic/simple skill level of basic forms and builds up to detail -- which can frequently confuse and get in the way of learning and understanding the key elements of excellent drawing. Although this book focuses on animals the techniques and knowledge taught by this author can be used on any subject matter including the human figure, cars, etc. Your ability as an artist is only as good as your ability to see -- AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU SEE -- as this book so powerfully explains. If you study and practice these easy-to-learn techniques your drawings will dramatically improve. It now sits in my top 5 out of my 60+ Art instruction book library.

This book is light on text and large on illustrations. But the text that exists is meant to be read, not just skimmed!

This is NOT a book for beginners. You really need to already have fundamental drawing skills mastered before tackling the exercises in this book.

One thing Joe Weatherly stresses is that there is no 'magic wand' or short cuts. You get better at drawing by drawing! Always carry a sketchbook with you and draw from life. If you don't have animals handy, draw people. If you don't have people or animals handy, draw landscapes. They are all built from similar organic shapes.

Include multiple sketches per page. And sketch in ink, rather than pencil. If you use pencil, you will spend half of your time erasing and redrawing! Sketching in ink forces you to really look at what you're drawing before you put a line to paper. Because of this, your drawings will be more accurate. (They will look like crap when you first start, but after a week or so, you will see a definite improvement as you adjust to working in ink.)

I have been carrying a sketchbook around with me for 2 months now and I always have a couple of pens on me. I sketch people in restaurants, malls, parks, on street corners, in WalMart, wherever I can sit and sketch. Because I'm dealing with people in motion, I focus on gesture drawings that are done in 30 to 60 seconds. These gesture drawings capture a pose, clothing style, or hair style.

After all, even at the zoo, animals are usually in motion and they don't stop and pose. You will fill a page or two with gesture drawings, do a few studies of feet and paws and faces and distinctive fur or feather features, and base your finished drawing off of these gesture drawings and pictorial notes.

Mr. Weatherly stresses drawing from life, NOT photos. Photos will result in flat drawings and paintings. Drawing from life gives depth to your drawings and paintings. Photos are good a reference for animal marking patterns or a basic pose, but not to draw from.

Since Mr. Weatherly is the guy Dreamworks and Disney hires to train their artists how to draw animals, he knows his stuff. He guides you through approaches to gesture drawings, how to observe animals, common shapes used in most animals, using contour lines to create depth, basics of anatomy, and much much more. Joe Weatherly has spent over 25 years walking the path ahead of you. His animal drawings and paintings are known around the world. And this book is the map he has created so you can follow in his footsteps.

You will spend several months mastering the exercises and skills in the first half of the book before moving on to the second half of the book. Again, there is no magic wand, just the pen in your hand and the paper in your sketchbook. If you want to learn to draw animals, draw, draw, draw, and draw some more!

Depending on your skill level, expect to spend six months to a year (maybe more) working through this book. Expect to draw daily. Expect a museum trip or two to draw animal skeletons and create your own library of anatomy reference sketches. Visit stables, dairies, kennels and zoos. Drawing people helps you draw animals and vice versa. Draw from life. Draw from your imagination. Draw from your gesture drawings and reference sketches. Draw, draw, draw, draw, draw!

Did you think this was going to be easy??? There is no magic wand!

What can I say, this is the best animal drawing book I've ever used.

I just started doing comic book art about two years ago and I have never been able to draw horses. I have only owned this book for about a month and a half now and I can already draw the four legged mammals pretty well. I guess I just needed the construction and the understanding of the form to get to that point. Which this book absolutely taught me.

The book is not just filled with many drawings of various animals like most of the other animal drawing books, but it is also filled with well written drawing techniques and pages of great instruction.

If you are an animator, conceptual artist, comic book artist, or anyone who is interested in drawing animals, you MUST have this book. It is the best.

Thanks

This is a much needed book for anyone that is interested in drawing animals. Great descriptions, great examples.
The great thing about it is that Mr. Weatherly shows the skeleton structure of some of the animals which helps in drawing them.
This book is easy reading and very informative!!

After much searching to find a solid approach to a sometimes difficult subject, I have found it in The Weatherly Guide. The book is wonderful because it gives so much underlying structure and breakdown of just about any animal you would encounter at the zoo. The drawings are superb and I found that the material was easy to understand. I am interested in drawing for animation and this book definitely has helped in my ability and confidence when I draw animals from life or imagination.

The approach to drawing has many complicated rules that are all important. However, Joe has simplified an approach whether human or animal. It is a mammal. The steps seem simple and yet requires repeated training. This can be examplified as an art of martial arts, as an actor or actress or even as a business man. It requires nuturing and a step by step approach. Joe Weatherly has taken pains taking steps to cover each detail that requires individual attention. Simplicitity and fluidity is important and Mr. Joe Weatherly has conveyed as simple as approach to drawing a mammal in general that anyone can gain information. He brings movement, structure, and life to their drawing. I have been blessed to find an author as Joe Weatherly. Congradulations, Joe