Review: The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds

When I was a kid, I was very fond of sketching. Now looking back on old drawings, I couldn't believe how good some of the stuff is that I had produced at such a young age. I had a knack for it, but it was a talent that went unnutured for most of my life. Once I got into birding, and after following the blog posts of Kelly Riccetti and Julie Zickefoose, the hankering for sketching was reawakened in my soul. I've tried a few sketches of birds out in the field. They were terrible. I tried drawing from my own photographs and they were all right, but never having had any art instruction I have just felt utterly inept. The birds I drew were so out of proportion one might mistake them for alien species. So, over the last several years I have casually searched for a book about how to draw birds. I've found some sketch instruction books that dedicate a page or two to birds, but they didn't provide what I was after.

Then a couple of months ago I got a press release that nature artist John Muir Laws was releasing a book about drawing birds. I quickly and enthusiastically responded to the email begging for a chance to be on the reviewer list for this book. I was confident is was exactly the book I had been searching for.

I have now had a couple of weeks to read most of the book and peruse its pages. I've recently starting practicing using the steps and tips so excellently related by John Muir Laws. This instruction book on drawings birds is everything I had wanted and so much more. Laws really focuses on teaching about the anatomy of the bird, even diagraming skeletal structures and showing how the bones and beak work behind the feathers and skin. It never gets boring and doesn't speak over the level of beginners like me. I'll spare you the full table of contents, but this book really has it all as it pertains to teaching one how to draw birds well. The detailed drawing instructions cover all the major types of birds and even breaks it down to how to draw the various feather types.

David Allen Sibley provided a very nice forward to the book and his endorsement should be good enough for everyone. He said. "I wish this book had been available to me when I was starting out, because it is filled with tips and tricks that took me decades to learn."

The really wonderful attribute of artists is their ability to "look" at things and "study" them in order to draw or paint their subject. I have learned more about bird anatomy by reading this book and practicing some sketches than I have in all my review and study of field guides. I've certainly learned a lot more about sketching and proportions and angles than I have ever known before too. I find a deep satisfaction in it. The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds will be my bird drawing bible for the rest of my life as I seek to hone and develope this latent talent waiting to bust outta me.

The list price is $24.95 but is available online for as little as $16.21. Amazon also gives you an excellent preview of the book.

This book is published by Heyday and is officially endorsed by the Audubon Society.

Samples of my practice sketches from photos: