ARC Review: Expressive Little Animals by Amarylis Henderson

Synopsis:

In this follow-up to Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces, author, artist, and popular Skillshare instructor Amarylis Henderson presents her practical and creative techniques for drawing and painting animals in a variety of mediums and styles, from realistic to cartoon.

Basic Supplies. Learn about the sketching and painting mediums you’ll use in your work, including watercolor, inks, markers, colored pencils, and cut paper.

Essential Elements. Discover the scope of sizes and shapes of animal features from nose to tail.

Emotions and Expressions. Learn to adjust basic shapes, postures, and poses to convey a range of animal emotions and expressions, from sly and sneaky to angry to curious.

Themes and Styles. Draw and paint more than 30 animals–from dogs, cats, and horses to cheetah, bison, and platypus–and investigate 18 different styles and treatments, including using color in unique ways, enhancing cuteness, and combining watercolor with other mediums.
As you explore your creative options, you’ll find that working small is an easy way to relieve pressure and open yourself to play as well as to learning the techniques and approaches that Amarilys shares in this book.

Find your favorite way to portray a variety of animals, from cute little critters to big, strong beasts, in Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Animals!

My Review:

I’ve always struggle with drawing and painting animals and this book made it seem so easy! It offered some truly mind-blowing techniques — instead of focusing on details, draw the basic shapes first! and in watercolor! — and I can’t wait to try them.

I’ve always found watercolor to be a very intimidating medium, partly because I thought you had to perfect your sketch before ever touching paint to paper. But now I desperately want to try making the basic shape sketch with watercolor – it really feels like it’s going to be a gamechanger.

There are clear step-by-step instructions for painting several animals, with further tips to adapt those instructions to fit other animals by noticing similarities and differences. I’m feeling so inspired after reading it.

If you’ve ever wished you could draw or paint animals with more accuracy or more whimsy, this is the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry Books for providing an e-arc for review.