Raymond Sheppard - Drawing Farm and Zoo Animals

INTRODUCTION

The Common Boar is, of all other domestic quadrupeds, the most filthy and impure. Its form is clumsy and disgusting and its appetite gluttonous and excessive. Thus wrote Thomas Bewick in his History of Quadrupeds, below his excellent wood-cut of the despised beast. But that was nearly one hundred and fifty years ago and since Bewicks time many changes have occurred in the breeding and in the appearance of our domestic animals. Gone is his Black Horse, his Long Horned or Lancashire breed of cattle (except for a few remnants) and his old Tees-water breed of sheep. To-day, if you were to ask a farmer where you could find a Common Boar he would probably look perplexed and might reply I dunno about Common but I cantell you where there is a Large White or a Wessex Saddleback or a Tamworth boar. And there you have it: the great majority of our modern domestic animals are of definite breeds which are the result of many years of trial and type selection in the endeavour to evolve an animal which will fulfil a particular purpose, with the result that there are fewer and fewer nondescript beasts to be seen on our farms to-day, their place being taken by animals of specialised breeds.

To-day the farms in Britain are being cultivated more intensively than ever before, and the animals of the farm are inseparable from this great activity.

The Horse is still a useful and valued helper in spite of the great increase in mechanical cultivation, while cattle, sheep, and pigs are all very important members of the farming economy, and their importance will probably increase as farming becomes more balanced and passes from this emergency period of strenuous ploughing and crop-raising to one of stock raising.

It seems then that the grandeur of the Shire Horse, the impressive shape of the Shorthorn Bull and the delicate beauty of the Jersey Cow will, for many years to come, be part of the farming scene, not only for the profit of the Farmer but for the delight of the Artist also.

As you persevere with your drawing of the animals you will inevitably gain some knowledge of farming ways and procedure, and this will be a good thing, for it will increase your understanding of your models.