The Creature Garden Review & GIVEAWAY

The fantastic cover drew my attention. Inside is just as wonderful. WOW! Enter the world of Zanna and Harry Goldhawk, wife and husband. The Creature Garden: An Illustrator's Guide to Beautiful Beasts & Fictional Fauna. In several pages of introduction the authors open up about their artistic journey from students through starting their own business Papio Press. It includes discussion and valuable advice on topics such as drawing animals, tools, materials, progress, sketchbooks, tutorials and patterns. The bulk of their book features over 50 stunning tutorials showing how to draw and paint mammals, ocean life, birds, insects, mythical creatures and botanicals. I have included a sample below. Each lesson is similar in format. All begin with the armature - which I've learned is the use of basic shapes to draw the animal (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles). You will find plenty of illustration instruction, inspiration galore and tons of art bursting with life. Rock Point Publishing released this 160 page hardcover on May 29, 2018. Get your copy below!

Contents

ABOUT DRAWING ANIMALS

TOOLS

MATERIALS

PROGRESS

SKETCHBOOKS

TUTORIALS

PATTERNS

MAMMALS

OCEAN LIFE

BIRDS

INSECTS

MYTHICAL CREATURES

BOTANICALS

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

H A R E S

WHITE HARE (Lepus Timidus)

Though some people think hares are rodents, they're not - hares and rabbits have their own genus, Leporidae. Although they may be considered common, hares are extraordinary animals. Their back legs can power them to speeds of up to 45 mph when they're in danger.

STEP 1. Create the hare's armature (see page 22), focusing on the haunches, where it stores the ability to quickly run and jump. A hare in motion is stretched and elongated, so make the rest of the body long and thin.

STEP 2. Using your base color, outline the hare. In a dark color fill i the hares tiny, dark eyes, whiskers, inner ear, and background limbs. Erase or paint over the shapes.

STEP 3 AND 4. Fill in the hare's body with the base color, using long, even brushstrokes. Once filled in, add a few simple accents with a darker color to the belly, limbs, and head.

Whenever I draw hares and rabbits, I always over-exaggerate the ears because they're such recognizable features, but you should also pay close attention to the back legs. Even though they appear to be similar to the shape of many mammals' back legs, a hare's back feet are longer.

Here we've drawn our hare in motion, with its ears and legs in play. As seen above, we used lighter strokes to outline the hare, and applied patterns that appear to fly backward on the body - all of which conveys the speed of a hare as it bounds off a the first sight of the family dog!

Page 90 & 91.

Back cover of my copy.

The Creature Garden is available worldwide at Rock Point Gift & Stationery. Check our their unique catalog at Rock Point Gift & Stationery. Rock Point Gift & Stationery is a division of the Quarto Publishing Group USA. Quarto has generously offered to giveaway a copy! One winner will be selected at random. Open until October 11, 2018. Canadian and USA addresses only. Good luck!

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