Hazel Soan - Learn to Paint Wildlife Quickly

King of the Kalahari
Watercolour on Khadi paper (35.5 x 51cm/14 x 20in)

CHAPTER 1
How to Paint Wildlife

CHAPTER 2
Techniques for Speed

CHAPTER 3
Pose and Proportion

CHAPTER 4
Surface Detail: Fur, Feathers, Hair and Markings

CHAPTER 5
Light and Colouring

CHAPTER 6
Background and Setting

CHAPTER 7
Back in the Studio

Epilogue:
The Thrill of the Chase

Painting wildlife has been a passion of mine ever since I first set foot on African soil, and I am delighted to share my experience with you in this book. It is thrilling to paint wildlife in situ, where, as for cheetah, speed is of the essence!

The animals shown here are the ones I have encountered, and hail therefore from Africa, Europe and North America, but the painting advice applies universally.

Wild animals offer less familiar subjects than those we regularly encounter, so one tends to look quite carefully at the shapes, forms and colours and, as these are the elements that make up all paintings, wildlife presents an excellent subject to choose in order to develop your painting skills. The aim of this book is to show you how to paint wildlife, but it will also enable you to paint anything else.

Prairie Dog
Watercolour (20 x 12.5cm/8 x 5in)
Seeing animals in the wild is a privilege, and sketching makes it even more memorable.

Sleeping Lions
Watercolour (56 x 76cm/22 x 30in)
In Africa an abundance of wildlife still lives in its natural habitat and, as this is where most of my wildlife encounters have taken place, I make no apology that there is a predominance of African wildlife roaming the pages of this book!

You may think that painting animals in the wild must be difficult because animals are always on the move, but it is more achievable than you might expect. The animals are alert, this is true, watching and listening and ready for action, but they also stand still for prolonged periods and many, especially the big cats, sit or lie down in the shade for hours at a time, offering plenty of opportunity for study, sketching and painting. It is also perfectly possible to paint wild animals on the move.

Kalahari sketches
Watercolour
Meerkats are renowned for their still, sentry-like stance, turning only their head to check for danger, but even when they scamper about it is possible to paint them (and a ground squirrel nearby!).

Approaching the Waterhole
Watercolour (20 x 28cm/8 x 11in)
Animals in a herd offer repeat poses throughout the group if the one you are painting moves on, another close by will take up the pose for you to continue.

As your subject may alter its pose or disappear from view at any moment, there is, understandably, a need for speedy application. To sketch the shape of an animal, a pencil or pen can do the trick, but painting includes colour, and even background, and for these, watercolour is ideal. Being practical and efficient for painting at speed, most of the paintings in this book are painted with watercolour.

Elk in Yellowstone Park
2B pencil (14 x 28cm/5 x 11in)
The shapes of the elk are outlined in pencil and the form indicated by hatch-shading.

Impala Alert
Watercolour (20 x 25.5cm/8 x 10in)
With a brush and watercolour the shape can be quickly rendered, with the form and colouring brought in simultaneously.

On your first foray, start small. Fill the pages of your sketchbook with countless marks, good and bad, to familiarize yourself with the shapes of the wildlife you encounter. Many animals have shapes in common but their own is always unique; try to sketch with your eye on the animal more than the paper so that your marks follow what you are observing rather than presuming.

Start simply by outlining just the head, or even just the horns in the case of this buffalo, and then continue around the body There is no shame in a page of incomplete animal sketches the aim is to gain familiarity.

To manage difficult outlines, see the animals head and body as joined-up geometric shapes.

All the parts of an animal head, torso, limbs, horns are rounded in some way, and their form is shown by introducing light and shade into the shape by means of different tones. In general, topsides will be lighter than undersides. It is easier to represent recognizable animals from a side profile, rather than a front or foreshortened view, so choose animals walking across your line of sight rather than towards you.

The lines made with a water-soluble pen are shifted with a wet brush. The diluted ink is dragged over the shaded areas on the bodies of wildebeest and buffalo.

Shade is scribbled within the outline of the buffalo with hatching.