How to Draw Dogs, Cats and Horses

Easy to read and easy to follow instructions .
Would be great for children .

I requested this book from Netgalley and am happy to provide a review. It seemed like such a retro title and then I saw the original publication date was actually in 1959. So my instincts were correct. Apparently the author was a well-known illustrator-educator, now deceased for 24 years. As I first read through the book, it seemed so thin, that I wondered what I would say about it. Then I realized that I needed to get the materials the author mentions and start doing the exercises, as he suggests. Luckily, the materials are those easily found at home, even in homes not known for their great amounts of art supplies. I was certain that after a few poor attempts, I would give up and be done with the book. Well, that's not what happened. I admit I've always wanted to be better at drawing household pets and before I knew it, two hours had passed. My drawings had become remarkably better; surprisingly improved in such a short period of time with only a book as guide. And I only worked on dogs, who knows what latent talent I may have with horses. I can't imagine how to improve the book with more text because really the pictures provide the important material. This book is very helpful. I recommend it for anyone wishing to draw dogs, cats or horses.

Very basic but good

Encouragement to take your pencils and get creative. Basic shapes for dogs, cats, and horses are explained and samples shown. A caveat: some of the animals in action may be difficult for beginning artists and may take many hours of attempts before becoming proficient. Nevertheless, for those who are ready to stick with this, this is an excellent resource.

A fantastically simple book. Clear and direct, providing easy to follow directions. A beginner's delight. Very happy to have discovered it, it will be dog eared in my collection.

How to draw dogs, cats and horses by Arthur Zaidenberg is an advanced drawing book. The horse is broken down into easy to follow instructions also it gives more detail than the cat and dog portion. The cat and dog just have the middle portions and the head in circles and explanations, but the author does not talk about how to find tune your drawings. He gives a lot of his drawings to follow, and they are very good. I would however like an explanation of how to draw them, as the books title promises.

I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest opinion

How to Draw Dogs, Cats and Horses is a quick, easy to follow, beginner guide to drawing those animals. Originally published in 1959, the information is just as useful today as it was back then. At under 30 pages, and few text with a lot of sketch examples, this is a great book for young learners as well. I chose this for my 11 year old and she found it very useful.

The book is designed to give quick sketches, not detailed illustrations. So fur, anatomy, shading, etc. are not a part of this easy-to-follow 30 page book. Each section gives a small paragraph about the challenges of that animal and then shows how to build the framework. It is understood that since there are so many breeds/varieties, you'll add those details in later. E.g., the book notes in the dog section, "Every shape, size, shade, and character is to be found among dogs. But - and this is why you can learn to draw them all - the general, basic, structure is the same in all dogs" The author then adds several different positions, from standing to sitting, all using that basic structure. And indeed, different breeds from poodles to mastiffs.

For cats, the author focuses on the fluidity and moods of the animal. Although cats have the same barrel shape as a dog, mood is what differentiates them. Artists are encourage to really watch a cat to understand how to draw those moods - from alert and ready to pounce to relaxed and drowsy.

Horses take a different shape to draw, mostly emphasizing their streamlined, economical anatomy. Again, a lot of different poses are given and various stages of sketching are included - from shapes to more detail. Even polo players/riders are featured.

Dover is very good about giving us precise, very focused subjects for its books. How to Draw Dogs, Cats and Horses is definitely a very general, sketching outline which I found particularly useful for my 11 year old. It wasn't so large that it was daunting and had few text with many examples. As such, it is an ideal book for the beginner drawer.

Reviewed from an ARC.

Good basic drawing help.

√ Few Things in Nature which can Compare to the Horse in Beauty of Design

This is a re-publication of a work originally published in 1959. It is a brief introduction to sketching cats, dogs, and horses. Some of the information, such as the "drawing materials" sections is a little dated, but the sketches are still useful.

► WHY YOU SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK ◄
The artist behind this book really takes his art seriously. For example, when discussing cat drawings: "If you can capture the various moods of cats, you will have won half the battle in drawings them..." "Combine your understanding of moods and forms, and you will draw cats beautifully."

► TOP THINGS I LIKED ◄
♦ The horse drawings are the best. See, for example, the author's discussion of horses' legs. Notice the articulated joints of the horse's leg.
♦ Also see the "bounding" horse a few sketches later.

► RATING OF KEY FEATURES ◄
♦ Readability: Well-written, concise, clear.
♦ Quality of Artwork: Very good--especially of the horses!
♦ Quality of Table of Contents: Very brief--just 3 sections: "Cats," "Dogs," and "Horses."
♦ Quality of Editing: Good writing style. I don't see any blunders.
♦ Thoroughness of Index: n/a
♦ Usefulness: Very useful, but just for the beginning artist.

√ All in all, a brief, decent introduction to sketching of these animals.

♫ A Review by Chris Lawson

Note: I do not know the author of this book, and no one requested I write this review.

This book would be better suited for around 6th grade on up. The dog and cat portion don't really explain much. Horse section has a little better description but still a little vague for a beginner trying this on your own. At a short 16 pages though I guess you can't expect too much description.

This very short book made drawing cats, dogs and horses very simple and easy. I can't wait to try drawing my own pets.

A good basic sketching book, perfect for beginners.

Seeing this book in the ARC queue at Netgalley really brought back some great memories for me.  As a middle schooler, bent on a career in art, I would wander in to the one craft store in town and head first to the spinner rack where thin "How To Draw ..." books were displayed, and thumb through them, trying to glean as much as possible because I never had the money to buy the book.  Then I'd get a gum eraser and a couple of new nibs for my ink pens, and head home to try to draw what was in the books.  I swear that I remember this particular book.  And given that it was first published in 1959, it's possible that I did look through this back in the early 1970's.

The book is only a few pages thick, with a little bit of writing explaining the process, and then a number of sketches.  I tried making a few sketches myelf, based on what I read and what I saw with the printed drawings.  I tend to sketch pretty lightly, so it may be difficult, even with these photographs, to see what I managed to do.

DOG SKETCHES
As you might be able to see, there's a reason I am not making a living as a professional artist!

Although titled "How to Draw..." the book is really more a primer.  It's to be used to get some essential constants, a base, for drawing these animals.  A couple of well-placed circles of varying sizes are mostly all that is needed to get the basic animal shape.

One of those most interesting aspects of Zaidenberg's approach is his comment on how important it is to get to know the subjects.  He advises the budding artist to spend time with the animals and to get to know them in order to capture their character.  This is actually quite brilliant advice, and not typically one you'd find in a 'how to' book of this sort.

CAT SKETCHES

While dogs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, cats are generally much the same.  Here Zaidenberg focuses on the mood of the animal and the slinky, fluid movement of cats.  Observing cats is most important to capture a cat's mood.

While it might be more difficult to observe horses for the average artist, it's still important to do what one can.  The samples given here are quite attractive and exciting, but Zaidenberg falls a little in his advice on how to draw these.  We still start with the circles -- two large ones for the body and a smaller one for the face -- and then some curved lines connecting the circles to complete the body, the neck, and the nose, but he doesn't give us any advice on the legs.  We're left with observing what he's already done.

HORSE SKETCHES

It was fun to revisit this book -- to look at drawing from a very basic, early premise once again.  I recall relishing this and books like it when I was an early-teen, budding artist, and I suspect it will capture the passion of budding artists still today.

Looking for a good book?  Hopeful artists will very much enjoy these lessons in how to draw dogs, cats, and horses.

HOW TO DRAW DOGS, CATS AND HORSES by Arthur Zaidenberg is a re-publication of a work originally published in 1959.

This book imparts instructions on drawing our favorite animals by lightly drawing shapes such as circles and other shapes for forming an outline of the animal. Then... the student fills in and around that outline to finish their drawings. The book does not have a contemporary feel to it but the basic concept remains the same no matter the time. Living in central Florida, we often visit Disney's Animation Studios at Disney Studios for their brief drawing classes and this book does the very same thing using the same approach just without the humorous interaction.

The author described various characteristics of each animal and encourages the student to differentiate their drawings by imparting the animal's personality into their drawing. The author has sketches of the animals in different positions from standing, sitting, running, etc. The dogs' section is the most comprehensive as the author gives ideas for drawing each group of dogs in different ways.

I would recommend this for the beginning artist who needs decent basic instructions on drawing these animals.

I was really pleased with this book. The illustrations are very simple and clear. They won't be intimidating to kids, but they are complicated enough that the kids won't feel like it's a baby book. Plus I have always been pleased with Dover books. This is on my to-buy list.