The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds

I would much rather look at someone's sketchbook than their finished drawings or paintings because it offers a glimpse of their process. ( Composition, gesture, construction, anatomy, technique, materials ... ) It is much easier to draw something if you know what your looking at. The author teaches you what to look for. From general things like posture and proportions and feather groupings down to individual feathers and patterns of markings and the small specific details to look for that separate one bird from another. From field sketch to rendered illustration, this book takes you through the process. There are chapters on color theory,color mixing,colored pencils and watercolor. What colors to choose for your palette and why. And then the author takes us through a couple of step by step mixed media drawings that show what can be done with a very simple but well thought out sketch kit and a plan of action. I am an over the road truck driver that takes a sketchbook a few fountain pens and a watercolor travel kit with me wherever I go. I don't usually stay in one place very long. Neither do birds. I've been to a lot of places, seen a lot of things. When I draw them, I remember them better and appreciate them more. Using a constructive approach to drawing where you build one step on top of another, step by step like the author lays out in this book - well you don't have to finish-you can see where it is going. Some of my favorite sketches are unfinished. A drawing should look like a drawing. It shows a dialogue between the observer and the observed. Much better than a photo. I have at least a hundred books on drawing and painting. Both general and specific. Even though this book is specifically about birds, the no nonsense, grab a pencil and follow along approach makes it one of my favorites. Many give an overview and touch on many subjects,techniques,and materials and show what can be done but skip many of the steps on how to do it. This is a "How-to" book. One of the best.

I purchased this book to see how the author approaches drawing birds, and I am finding it very inspirational and full of excellent details and tips for the beginner or experienced artist. I studied drawing and painting at a major art school and have spent hundreds of hours drawing from life, yet I have never given any serious artistic study to birds in spite of my fascination with birds and considerable knowledge of them. Perhaps I was "chicken" because birds do not hold still and pose for you and are usually only possible to draw in bits and pieces unless you are in a nature lab which has stuffed birds. They are useful too, but you can't capture the energy and spirit of living birds this way. With John Muir Law's book I can benefit from the knowledge that he has acquired from observing and drawing birds for many years. The author offers an outstanding analysis of the form, anatomy and movement of birds in colorful and clear drawings accompanied by concise but detailed explanation. Key drawing basics are covered in the book for beginning artists to get them into the drawing process without worrying about results. In fact, this book focuses on the process of drawing with birds as the specific subject. The importance of direct observation and field sketching is stressed in the book, and the author has included techniques for addressing the challenges of capturing these unpredictable subjects. As true with any subject, you will learn and understand more about birds by drawing them as you observe them even if you do not aspire to skilled work. The book is well organized, thoughtful, and really a lot of fun! Highly recommend for the bird watcher, naturalist, artist, or all of these in the same person.

A beautiful, informative, and intuitive book bound to help birders, artists, and those of us who live somewhere in between. Buy it from a bookstore if you can. I very much regret that my Amazon order came damaged.

An excellent guide for anyone passionate about birds and art—clear instructions and beautiful illustrations make it a joy to follow.

This book is great in that it teaches the important as anatomical information that an artist needs in order to draw most birds correctly

Wonderfully inspiring book. It encourages the reader to take a more detailed view of the subject, and appreciate the sheer beauty and diversity of birds. There are step by step guides, details of birds skeletons and anatomy. The detailed description of the feathers i found very helpful. There are also guides for paper, paints, field sketching. A very inspiring book, that had i read as a child, might have made me think twice about my career choice, and taken a much more serious interest in art and painting. Hopefully it is not too late for me now to re-discover this skill using John Muir Laws helpful book.

Ótimo livro para iniciantes na arte dos pássaros.

J'avais déjà ce livre en numérique, prêté par un ami, mais dès que j'ai pu, je me le suis offert en papier et je ne regrette vraiment pas (idem pour le Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling du même auteur) Pour moi, c'est LE livre à posséder si on veut dessiner des oiseaux. Il mérite 6 étoiles. Il y a des pas à pas très bien détaillés pour les débutants, aussi bien que des croquis anatomiques très pointus pour les plus confirmés. Des pages entières sont consacrées aux pattes, yeux, ailes, plumage etc. L'approche est claire et pédagogique. Évidemment, le livre n'est pas exhaustif concernant toutes les espèces d'oiseaux, et c'est mon seul regret. Ce n'est pas un livre pour apprendre à copier une multitude de variétés d'oiseaux, mais plutôt un livre qui nous donne les clefs pour dessiner n'importe quel oiseau, à terme et avec de l'entraînement. N'empêche que j'aurais aimé un chapitre consacré aux oiseaux marins, par exemple (il y en a de tellement originaux) et aux vautours, notamment, qui sont les mal aimés et qu'on ne trouve nulle part dans les livres de dessin ou peinture, et qui ont des spécificités qui leur sont propres. Ce n'est pas parce qu'on sait dessiner un cardinal, un aigle ou un canard qu'on sait dessiner un vautour ou un fou à pieds bleus. Attention, livre en anglais.

fabulous book

なかなか、鳥を描く時のコツについて言及している本がなかったのでこちらを購入しました。骨格や立体的につかむ時のヒントになりそうです（ただし、作者の住んでいる北米の鳥さんがほとんどでしたので、アジア・日本の鳥を描くときはまた別に資料や取材が必要です）