Taming Wildlife with Pastel Pencils

Lucy Swinburne

This guide to painting wildlife will simply take your breath away. Using pencils is understandable because of the opportunity for working with fine detail. Pastel ones add a further dimension and, although Lucy discusses their care and use, it is perhaps a shame that she doesn’t tell us why she has chosen them. Her work, however, speaks eloquently for their abilities and the quality of the reproduction is superb.

The book’s tour de force is undoubtedly the demonstration of a black leopard. The amount of detail captured is almost unbelievable, but Lucy’s clear explanations and stage illustrations will give you a good idea of how to proceed. As well as complete animals, which include a wolf, a chimpanzee, a lion and a panda, there are smaller exercises that concentrate on eyes, ears or paws, offering further variety. Very helpfully, Lucy has also added videos that are available through her website.

Lucy Swinburne £22.95, 159 pages (P/B) ISBN 9781527282452

Available from www.tamingwildlife.com or via Amazon