Art of Drawing: Wild Animals

Since the first examples of prehistoric cave art, we can see that animals have been a subject of great fascination for the artist. Every civilisation through history has sought to depict animal forms – an obsession which persists in art today.Giovanni Civardi shares his expert advice on observing animal anatomy, form and structure and employing perspective to capture a variety of wild animals with lifelike detail.This inspirational and easy-to-follow guide will suit beginners as well as more expert artists providing a comprehensive overview of the techniques including advice and suggestions for the practical aspects of drawing from life.

Dec 2016 Is there no end to the talent and versatility of Giovanni Civardi? I'll admit that the first drawing here of a hippopotamus, didn't fill me with confidence. It's the only blip in what is an excellent work that covers a wide variety of subjects, looking at them from almost every angle. As ever, Giovanni deals briskly but efficiently with anatomy, telling you everything you need to know and nothing that would only trouble a veterinary student. He works by illustration rather than explaination and his drawings are so clear that the captions are only needed to guide you to what you should be looking for. What you're looking at is always abundantly clear., There is, it seems, no end to the talents of this popular and capable artist and author. Best known for his books on the human figure, this isn’t his first foray into the animal world, but it continues his tradition of sensitive pencil work combined with simple, concise captions that explain exactly what he’s doing. There really is nothing not to like! The book covers exactly what you’d expect, as is confirmed by the subtitle “How to draw elephants, tigers, lions and other animals”. Each of these is given its own section and there is also a very handy introduction that explains the basic techniques you’ll need in this particular field. The results are lifelike and characterful and definitely encourage by example. Compared to Giovanni’s other books, there is perhaps broader coverage, meaning that each section goes into slightly less detail, which in turn means that you, the reader, have to do more of the analysis and deconstruction than is otherwise the case. For this reason, it’s a book perhaps better suited to someone with a little more experience than is usual with this author. It’s a delight and a triumph for all that, though.  

Giovanni Civardi was born in Milan in 1947. While training to become a sculptor, portrait artist and illustrator at the Free Life-Study School of the Accademia di Brera, he also studied medicine and surgery. For over a decade, he worked as an illustrator, producing commissions for newspapers, magazines and book covers. During frequent trips to France and Denmark, Civardi put on one-man exhibitions of this work and pursued his interest in studying the relationship between medical anatomy and the human form as depicted by the artist. His experience gained from teaching anatomy, life drawing and portraiture in schools and institutions over many years has led to the publication of numerous books in which Civardi's experiences are brought into focus.