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

I just purchased this book and it arrived last week. Three years ago I started drawing birds. I purchased Drawing Birds with Colored Pencils by Kaaren Poole. This was a very good start for me with zero art training. Taught me the basics. I also purchased Colored Pencil Painting Bible by Alyona Nickelsen. This was also helpful. I have been experimenting with Odorless Paint Thinner, which really can give you some great results when using colored pencils. However, I have tried some of her lessons, and my fruits do not turn out looking exactly like hers. I am sure it is because of my skill level and the fact that I have never had any art training. This book has very easy instructions. I started with drawing the cardinal and the warbler. I had been drawing from pictures and photographs only. Using a compass to get my proportions. With Laws technique, 1) posture 2) proportions and 3) angles I was able to draw these birds without using a compass and they turned out decent. Not perfect, but decent. I am going to try to draw a bird a day like he suggests. Already, just into a few pages of this book, I have experienced some of the mistakes he refers to, like making a bird's eye too big can make it too cute. Fine is you are doing a cartoon looking bird for a card, but I want my birds to look realistic. I just feel like if this book is helping me, it could really help someone that has some skills. I appreciate the fact that he states in his introduction that you are not born with this skill of being an artist, but it takes work and practice. Really if you have a desire to do something and the passion to do it, I guess you can do just about anything. It gives me hope that one day my pictures may look as good as his, maybe? Also, looking forward to trying to draw birds as I am watching them. I didn't think I could do that, but now with this explanation, it may be possible for me. I am thrilled that my pictures are improving and they are beyond stick figure drawing. Looking forward to completing this book and I am sure it is something I am going to refer to over and over again. Highly recommend this book. I would love to take a class from him.

I have other art books on painting birds, so I was expecting more of the same. My instant first impression was there were no large color photos of the subjects to study. But I decided to forge ahead and have a good look at the content. Much to my delight I found this book is excellent. A real keeper for any person who wants to really know and render birds well. There are several sections that isolate and focus on body parts from the inside out. It's like a menu. You can pick up anywhere along the line for what you need. If I were to change things about this book, I would: (1) Include an index of birds individually as well as by class. (2) Take the emphasis off of field sketching and put it solely on art. (I'm a studio painter and don't enjoy plein aire. I am prone to sun poisoning.) (3) I would have included different owls. (Owls are very popular and could probably sustain a whole chapter on them alone. Maybe this has to do with Harry Potter's Hedvig?) (4) Add a portrait of each bird large enough for students to copy and practice with a swatch list of colors used and in what medium (watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, watercolor pencils, acrylics, oils). (5) I would continue to keep all the materials information at the back of the book. It's tedious to begin every book this way. I hope this book is the first in a series of more art books. They say horses are the most difficult to capture, so I can only imagine it would be the same for deer, moose, elk, goats, etc.. There are mountain, forest, jungle, and ocean animals. All of which would make a keeper book, like this one, in an art series.

I have been a bird watcher for several years, and have wanted to improve my observational skills beyond simple identification. This book has a wealth of anatomical information along with remarkably helpful drawing lessons for an absolute beginner, and progresses to tips that even a moderately experienced artist would benefit from. I am finding that thinking about how to draw a bird in the field is helpful in crystallizing its details in my mind. There is even a section on sketching tools that is great for a beginner. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for the birder who wants to be able to take their observations to the next level.

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）

I have trawled the Internet asking, "Can you learn to draw or is it a natural talent?" I love birds and like to draw but am quite hopeless. I spent hours drawing a pigeon and felt semi proud of my efforts until someone said, "Oh, is it a duck?" !!! and, "I didn't know ducks have eyelashes"!!! Spoilt my day and dented my ego I can tell you! LOL. Anyway, the Internet says drawing is practice and knowing the basics - which I obviously had no idea of....until I got this fabulous book. Now I have hope of learning how to really 'see' what I am looking at and am being shown the concepts behind capturing what I am actually looking at...a pigeon and not a duck!!!! Its so well written for the adult beginner -and I am not a young beginner! it's a beautiful book. It's well written and beautifully illustrated and will be a boon to me - talentless person as I am but with a hope to become a decent "artist" one day. I love, love, love this book. It will become my favorite reference tool and my teacher and I absolutely do recommend it to the beginner...and those, like me, who are trying really hard to grasp the art of drawing. Great purchase!