Drawing Wildlife

[speckled wood]

Just slightly surprised that a question elsewhere on the forum from rainbowmumregarding drawing birds did not raise any proper response, surely there must be one or two people on the forum with experience of drawing birds and other wildlife or are we all now hooked on photography. Drawing does have its advantages in helping to develop powers of observation and an eye for detail .... perhaps there are a few people somewhere still doing it the hard way?

[carlj]

Ironically, drawing through me into photography. Problem with wildlife is it doesn't sit still. So I bought a camera to provide reference material for the art side, and got hooked. Do have a sketchbook somewhere around

[speckled wood]

Originally Posted by carlj

Ironically, drawing through me into photography. Problem with wildlife is it doesn't sit still. So I bought a camera to provide reference material for the art side, and got hooked. Do have a sketchbook somewhere around

My thoughts are that drawing is still useful for those without cameras and as a means for teaching youngsters a better appreciation of wildlife.

[Tinkerbell]

When drawing on a computer I found it a good idea to start on a magnified sheet and then reduce down. Cheating I know - but when your eyesight starts diminishing and your hand isn't as steady as it used to be it helps, and ultimately your confidence grows.

Tinkerbell

[Alan]

If the thread referred to was the one about book recommendations for drawing: http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...html#post66235 , I don’t recall it appearing here on the regular thread column, so maybe it only appears for a certain time period – a bit like posts in the ‘Technical issues’ forum?

The thing about drawing is that it’s difficult to explain things without copious examples. With photography, you can cover many areas through explaining things in a more technical manner.

Yes drawing is a good way of improving observation skills, and can be thought of as a kind of visual note-taking. It doesn’t have to be a full blown detailed drawing to be of use, a few scribbles in the margin of your notebook is all that maybe needed to capture an interesting event, or at least to remind you of it, and can be done far more quickly than a long-winded explanation by writing it.

“They wont keep still” is a remark you often hear, but there are many types of drawing/sketching for different circumstances. In general, a moving animal is either sketched without looking at the paper (sometimes referred to as contour or gesture drawing), which takes practice, or you have to time the movements as certain postures are returned to. You can even have several sketches on the go at the same time, and you skip from one to the other as the animal returns too a particular posture.

It’s worth pointing out that the aim of sketching moving animals is not to capture a likeness immediately, but to build-up a reference for more detailed drawings or paintings. It may take many years to build up enough reference on a particular species through sketching alone before this can be done. You may have a page consisting of heads or leg positions for a certain animal for example, so you’re continually adding not only to your collection, but also to your knowledge through observation.

Of course you can use photography for reference for future artworks, but you have to bear in mind how photography can distort the subject depending on what lens you’re using. In my experience it’s best used for details or ideas, and shouldn’t really be blatantly copied from, otherwise you might as well just stick to photography and not bother creating what can only be termed as a painted photograph.

Nothing wrong with computer drawing, it’s still drawing, and I regularly make use of a Graphics Tablet and Photoshop – it certainly saves on paper, but must admit there’s nothing like ‘proper’ paper and pencil.

As far as learning goes, the difficulty comes when someone is too scared to make mistakes, or rather more to the point, mistakes that others may see (try it in a crowded hide!) - something we didn’t have as children, but gain increasingly as teenagers. Some of us pass through this period and still draw, others don’t.

“A great master teacher once said, ‘in order to learn how to draw you have to make two thousand mistakes. Get busy and start making them.’ I’ve always thought that was a good principle”. Robert Bateman – The Art of Robert Bateman.

Try this site for some tips and tutorials, as well as superb drawings (though it’s mainly pet based):

Graphite Pencil Drawings - Dog Art Prints and Pictures - Drawing Tutorials

Of course all this only scratches the surface, but hope it helps in some way.

Alan

ps: maybe this thread can be moved to the ‘Arts…’ forum, and possibly made more visible?

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by Alan

“A great master teacher once said, ‘in order to learn how to draw you have to make two thousand mistakes. Get busy and start making them.’ I’ve always thought that was a good principle”. Robert Bateman – The Art of Robert Bateman.

Alan, You make some very good points here. The above quote is also very good. I tried my hand at painting one time and found it so stressful trying to get it right, that I gave up. I guess I should have kept trying!

BTW, you used to have web site with some of your work on it. What happened to it? When are we going to see more of your work again?

Jenny

[Alan]

Originally Posted by jennyb

Alan, You make some very good points here. The above quote is also very good. I tried my hand at painting one time and found it so stressful trying to get it right, that I gave up. I guess I should have kept trying!

BTW, you used to have web site with some of your work on it. What happened to it? When are we going to see more of your work again?

Jenny

The site needs an update badly Jenny (about a year out of date! ), I'll let you know when it's done. Thanks for asking

Alan

ps: keep drawing..

[eeyore]

this book might be worth a look http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/re...hp?product=405 I stress that i am no expert on art and cant draw to save my life , but it looks quite good to a complete amateur like me. Perhaps one of our more experience artists might be able to review it ?

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by Alan

ps: keep drawing..

Another thing to add to my retirement list!

Jenny

[Wolfhill]

I've been doing photography for around 6 years now(started when I was eight) and love it. Whereas I have only been drawing and painting for around a year now and I'm really starting to enjoy it, and I've produce a couple of things i'm pleased with If I can work out how to use it, i'll scan a couple of drawings in and post them on here.
Fergus

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by Wolfhill

I've been doing photography for around 6 years now(started when I was eight) and love it. Whereas I have only been drawing and painting for around a year now and I'm really starting to enjoy it, and I've produce a couple of things i'm pleased with If I can work out how to use it, i'll scan a couple of drawings in and post them on here.
Fergus

If they are anything like your photos, Fergus, we'd love to see them.

Jenny

[Wolfhill]

Ok well here's one I did quite recently, I saw a painting of this in a book and decided to try to draw it myself lol

[Alan]

Nothing wrong with that Fergus. Looking for inspiration in books is how I started. I believe the book you've taken it from maybe Keith Brockie's Mountain Reflections?

[Wolfhill]

The very book, the place where he drew the Ptarmigan pics is where I take all of my Ptarmigan photographs lol eg.

[Alan]

That'll be the Glen Clunie area of the Cairngorms then? .... among other places!

If you haven't already got them, and since you like Brockie's work, his other books: Wildlife Sketchbook and One Man's Island (Isle of May), are both superb books. You can learn a lot from his style and application.

[jennyb]

Fergus,

The drawing is great, you really should keep at it...

... and now we know where you got your avatar!

Jenny

[Wolfhill]

Originally Posted by jennyb

Fergus,

... and now we know where you got your avatar!

Jenny

lol the pic in my avatar was from the same series of shots, but when the male came a bit closer.
Fergus

[Wolfhill]

Originally Posted by Alan

That'll be the Glen Clunie area of the Cairngorms then? .... among other places!

If you haven't already got them, and since you like Brockie's work, his other books: Wildlife Sketchbook and One Man's Island (Isle of May), are both superb books. You can learn a lot from his style and application.

Yep, Glen Clunie and Glenshee, these are my local hills(about 40 mins away) this is where I spent practically every saturday between January and April. My Dad has known Kieth for may years so thats how I first saw his work, which is fantastic. Last Christmas I was fortunate to get copies of One Mans Island and Kieth Brockies wildlife sketchbook from santa lol. And we already had One Mans River(The silvery Tay) and Mountain Reflections.
Fergus