Inking Animals: A modern, interactive drawing guide to traditional illustration techniques (Illustration Studio)

by Sova Huova

Inking Animals demonstrates how to use traditional inking techniques to create whimsical, original illustrations of your favorite animals. This dynamic guide is ideal for beginners, as well as traditional artists who want to explore pen and ink on a more playful level.

Talented artist Sova Huova instructs art enthusiasts in drawing, inking, and coloring techniques; explores abstraction for expressive artwork; and gives tips for digital touches—all with easy-to-follow instruction. Beginning with an introduction to tools and materials, artists will find helpful tips for working with inks, pens, and watercolor. Inking Animals features a wide range of creative and fun inking techniques and unique projects that are simple and engaging. Huova’s valuable tips and tricks, creative prompts, and exercises will encourage artists to experiment and play as they learn.

Huova will teach you to illustrate a vast menagerie of animals from the woodland, home, farm, wilderness, and imagination. Among them are a bear, fox, hedgehog, dog, guinea pig, donkey, owl, raven, and even a unicorn. 

Featuring a variety of creative tips, techniques, exercises, and step-by-step projects, Inking Animals is the perfect resource for pen and ink illustrators of all levels.

• ISBN13: 9781633225763
• Publish Date: 27 September 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 February 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Walter Foster Publishing
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 144
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Illustration Studio: Inking Animals is a new tutorial guide for visual artists by Sova Huova. Released 25th Sept 2018 by Quarto's Walter Foster imprint, it's 144 pages and available in paperback format.

I think there are many would-be artists who believe that they're not capable of 'real' art because they've spent their non-childhood lives in a negative feedback cycle. Children (as regards art) are mostly fearless. As Picasso said, “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” Anyhow, though I often feel the desire to be visually creative, to paint and draw... my efforts generally don't live up to my expectations and I get discouraged.

This book does a very good job of trying to counteract that negative feedback loop. The author is encouraging and positive, always upbeat.

For a relatively short book, there is a lot of content and many techniques. I especially loved the tutorial guide for collage. There how-to sections include prepping paper for collage, lino cutting, some digital work, drawing, drybrushing, wet inking and more.

The author spends about 25% of the book's content introducing and showing the materials and methods used in the book. The next chapters show different types of animals and in different media. There's even a chapter on imaginary/fantastic creatures which has a nifty mix-and-match creativity exercise included.

There is a fair bit of 'note' space and doodle space included in the page count which could have been given over to more content, since most readers will not be marking up the physical book. Otherwise, it was a really encouraging, fun, and very useful book.

Four stars! I had a lot of fun with this one; in fact, enough fun that I am encouraged to continue.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.