Zoo Books!

Here are just about the bulk of my zoo drawings. Every week I go to the Detroit Public Zoo to draw the animals. It is a great way to get in some memory practice and it's great for learning more about how animals move and what's going on in their bodies. These go from earliest to latest on the way down. In other words the top one is from my first week and the last one is from the last time I went. Enjoy!

Her is a peacock at the top who was intimidating another male. Fascinating! And at the bottom of this page was a seal that was swimming in the stream of a jet underwater! They are truly adorable and very childish.

Above is a drawing of the vultures which are my favorite animals to draw. Their movements are so interesting and how they look is extremely fascinating. A movie that really illustrates and animates these creatures well is the Jungle Book.

On this day I was drawing a tiger while she was sleeping. Their bodies are very flat when they lay down so it was kinda awkward trying to draw them.

When I came across the flamingos I had to draw them. I love the color and how the joints in their legs are opposite to just about every other animal out there.

Upon close inspection Zebras are very odd looking animals. Their stripes are very intricate but easily readable and they really add to the shape which is also very odd. They are very stocky animals.

I loved drawing the penguins! they remind me of men in the army always standing at attention and they just have a great shape that is easy to get drawn down so you can focus more on the details.

Giraffes are possibly the most difficult animals to draw because of their extremely long necks. But when you actually get them drawn well you have a great sense of achievement.

I still have a long way to go until I can be where I want to be in animal illustration. One person that does this great is David Coleman. You should visit his site and look at his portfolio and perhaps even purchase his great book! My friend just got his and inside David drew him an ostrich and an autograph.

Here is his site:

http://www.davidsdoodles.com/