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 Location:  Home » Figure Drawing » General » How to Draw AnimalsNovember 23, 2008  
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How to Draw Animals
How to Draw Animals
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Author: Jack Hamm
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Category: Book

List Price: $11.95
Buy New: $5.00
You Save: $6.95 (58%)
Buy New/Used from $4.29

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(34 reviews)
Sales Rank: 10573

Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 120
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 8 x 0.4

ISBN: 0399508023
Dewey Decimal Number: 743.6
EAN: 9780399508028
ASIN: 0399508023

Publication Date: January 15, 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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  • The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature (Dover Books on Art Instruction, Anatomy)
  • Perspective Made Easy

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Simple, clear instructions for drawing animals with more than 1,000 step-by-step illustrations. Basic fundamentals for the beginner, new principles and techniques for the professional. A detailed guide for everyone who enjoys--or wants to enjoy--drawing.


Customer Reviews:   Read 29 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars Traced from photo references   November 14, 2008
I bought this book thinking I would gain some understanding with animal anatomy but in reality all the figures are stiff and the author only encourages copying how an animal looks and not really learn and understand how an animal looks and moves.

Later i've found out (after an fellow artist did some digging around) that all of these images in this book are tracings from photographs! Thats why the lion on this cover looks so damn stiff! It was copied. Nothing wrong with learning from copying from a photograph, but don't try to make money off of basically cheating and dooping people into thinking they're going to learn anything. Do your homework fellow artists and try your best to look at a real reference, and if you can't do that, get some photo books of your subject!



5 out of 5 stars Professional artist recommends this book!   July 2, 2008
This is one of the, if not THE most solid animal book there is. Packed with drawings (as all of Jack Hamm's books are)...very clear. It's the book I'd recommend first for someone who wants to learn to draw animals. I'm a professional working in animation and this is a book that all of my coworkers own.


3 out of 5 stars Decent, but there are better alternatives   May 22, 2008
  3 out of 3 found this review helpful

While Jack Hamm is quite well-respected, I have to recommend The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature (Dover Books on Art Instruction, Anatomy) for anyone considering this book. While this book does have a lot of useful information (like demonstrating the position of the ankle in different animals), some of Hamm's drawings are lifeless, stiff, and sometimes downright awkward-looking. This is most likely due to the use of taxidermy models (in some cases photos of taxidermy models) as the base for his drawings. This is most evident in some of his more exotic animals where the faces look malformed.

Even by looking at the images provided here, there is a bit of a difference in the feel his sketch images when compared to his finished ones. This is more pronounced in the book itself when you see the book in its entirety. The poses for the finished animals are routinely a little bit unnatural looking, just like how the lion on the front is, if you look at him long enough.

Hamm's instruction itself is valuable, but the images he presents with them are not always the best. I have personally found copying the images in a drawing book to be a good study to understand an animal and get an idea of what it is and how it moves, and that is where this book falls short. Basically you end up copying a copy.

I would not hesitate to recommend this to someone looking for a couple of animal drawing books, but if you're only going to buy one, Hultgren is the way to go. I speak as someone who owns both. This book has some useful information in it, but Hultgren is the one I carry around with me. In conclusion, it's a good book, but not the best.



3 out of 5 stars fair shape   May 15, 2008
  0 out of 2 found this review helpful

The book was in fair shape. A little disappointed because it was less than advertised condition. But not enough to make an issue of it. It was OK.


4 out of 5 stars Good Basic Guide   April 25, 2008
Helpful when you must insert animals into a painting or drawing; well put together and a good variety of animals.