Drawing Animals Shape By Shape Book Review

I was always into art and drawing when I attended school (a long time ago now!) so it was nice to see my daughters also quite enthusiastic about putting pencil to paper. It's a brilliant way for them to show what's going on in their imaginations. But of course there comes a point where they start wanting to make things like animals look a bit more realistic and I will admit I'm not the best teacher. Christopher Hart's book Drawing Animals Shape by Shape is a handy reference which makes the drawing of animals very simple in a clever way.

What I love immediately is that this book isn't just about drawing, there are things to be learnt as you turn the pages. Each animal is drawn using simple shapes such as a square or a rectangle for instance so straight away it's a great way to test your child's knowledge of shapes!

All you need to make use of this book is a pencil and a piece of paper, as soon as you have those basic tools you can begin.

Near the beginning of the book there are two pages filled with shap templates. You can trace these and cut out your own templates if you struggle to draw the shapes needed for each animal. I like that these have been included as it makes the book suitable for a much wider age range. The templates allow your child to attempt the drawing independently without the help of an adult.

Broken down into sections there are a wide range of animals to choose from including farm animals, reptiles and bugs and even dinosaurs. Again this gives an added element to the book as you get to discover all of these birds, creatures etc, some your kids will know others they are being introduced to for the first time.

And of course the fun doesn't end once you've completed drawing your chosen animal because of then you get to add in backgrounds and of course you have to add a splash of colour too.

Once you've mastered the basics the possibilities are endless, you can then change and adapt your animals to how you want them to look. giving them different facial features, or even changing the shape of their body parts. You can see my attempts below.

Priced at £12.99 this is a book that is fun and inventive. Suitable for kids and adults, it gives you the skills to really make your animal drawings come to life!