Create beautiful studies of a variety of subjects in a range of media, and learn techniques for drawing feathers, scales and shells. With step-by-step tutorials and galleries of art, this is an essential guide for the amateur or professional artist.

Birds are much admired, revered and envied. They have featured in art for many thousands of years and our fascination with them continues. They do though pose a challenge to paint and are not always the most cooperative of models. This practical book explains in detail how to go about drawing and painting birds. By understanding their anatomy and recognising their type, the artist can learn a shorthand way to capture movement and attitude. With technique and colour mastered, style develops and a special scene can be captured uniquely forever. In this book, Tim Wootton explains bird types and how identifying specific similarities can help the artist; advises on painting in the field, using photographs and working in the studio; describes how to paint plumage and birds in flight; demonstrates how to compose a painting with emphasis on the birds' habitat; and gives insights into painting birds from 30 leading artists, as well as illustrations of their work, including John Busby, Robert Bateman and Charles Tuncliffe. Beautifully illustrated with 423 colour illustrations.

The perfect reference for painters! Brighten your paintings with colorful birds and butterflies. Inside you'll find more than 40 step-by-step demonstrations to help you accurately render beautiful butterflies and a wide variety of songbirds, water birds and exotic birds including goldfinches, hummingbirds, cardinals, mallards and peacocks. You'll also learn how to embellish your paintings with individual feathers, eggs and a nest. This special guide features painting instruction and advice from 11 professional artists working in acrylics, watercolors, oils and colored pencils. Each demonstration includes a detailed materials list to make it even easier for you follow along. This invaluable combination of in-depth painting demonstrations and inspiring ideas is guaranteed to bring you success in all your work.

This is a fully revised and updated new version of a popular RSPB handbook to the art and joy of drawing birds.John Busby beautifully conveys his own remarkable ability to capturethe grace and motion of living birds, illustrating his ideas andsuggestions with many examples of his own work. He also uses illustrations from over 45 other talented bird artists todemonstrate a variety of principles and techniques. The text covers awealth of topics, including choice of media, sketching from life,composition and different ways of interpreting the subject matter. Thisis a beautiful and inspiring book which will appeal to aspiring artistsand anyone who has ever been entranced by the beauty of birds.