This is a lovely drawing book that helps you draw 60 plants and animals from different regions like coast, meadow and forest. It uses the popular style of drawing shapes with pencils and then going over the finished design with ink and erasing the pencil lines, which I'm not a big fan of usually but which helps beginners get great results with rather complicated designs.

Each illustration takes a double page spread to illustrate, showing every step with pencil and then showing suggested colors in the final image. The illustrations are delightful and realistic. Examples are violets, a barn owl, hawthorn berries, a dolphin, a hermit crab, juniper berries, a dandelion in seed, toadstools, acorns and oak leaves, a deer and a (European) robin. This book falls squarely between the very elaborate guides that take hours to execute and the simple doodle drawing books, giving the reader the tools to make lovely and realistic drawings but without the intense amount of time that professionals undertake. It would be a little tricky for younger children, but would work well with older children who are doing nature study. It really inspired me to want to get out my pens and sketch pad and try some out, though I must admit that I'll probably skip at least some of the penciled in shape steps. Either way, I feel confident in creating lovely sketches with this book.

Well recommended.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation,  superspeed readers like me can read 250+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today. And it is way too hot to go outside, so why not sit in from of the blasting a/c and read and review books??  BTW - stay home and save lives!!!!!!!! No tan is worth dying for.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

Featuring illustrated tutorials for drawing 60 different animals, plants, and insects, Ten-Step Drawing: Nature breaks down each subject into ten simple steps. All you need to get started is a pen or pencil and a piece of paper!

With Ten-Step Drawing: Nature, learn to create an array of animals, insects, and plants, step by easy step. From dragonflies and birds to flowers, feathers, and shells, nature lovers will delight in the varied selection of subjects; as well as how easy it is to recreate them in ten simple drawing steps. Handy prompts help encourage artistic individuality and include helpful tips for drawing other subjects not featured in the book. Approachable text and step-by-step drawings make learning to draw fun and easy, and the portable format allows for spontaneous drawing wherever you may be.

Designed especially for aspiring illustrators, doodlers, and art hobbyists, the fun and approachable books in the Ten-Step Drawing series encourage new artists to get acquainted with the basic principles of drawing so they can learn to create art with confidence. Ten-Step Drawing: Nature is sure to encourage even the most reluctant artist to break out a sketchbook and doodle to their heart's content. So grab a pencil, get out in nature, and start drawing!

Also available in the Ten-Step Drawing series: Flowers, Animals, and People.

I am a painter but not a good drawer but I am slowly teaching myself this summer the ins and outs of drawing and different mediums to do with --- so far I am loving the coloured pencils and #Sharpies! #sharpiesaddict his book gives me hope that I can draw nature - the steps are clear and concise and easy to follow. The book is decidedly for teens on up but the instructions could be used as a teaching tool for your kids if you read the book and draw them the examples.  Trust me, if I can "draw" as a result of this book, anyone can ... even people like me with a #TBI

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I love emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube  Millionaires/etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it  ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒

p.s. there are two links to books on Goodreads as they seem to the same book but updated during the year/publication process.

This is one of those book that illustrate how to build up from simple forms thru easy steps a bit more complicated objects. It is well presented and easy to follow. It gives an instant satisfaction to beginners. Unfortunately it leads to nowhere, as you don't learn actually how to draw. For realistic drawing you need to know about perspective, light source, shading techniques, color theory and so on. A lot of non-attractive but necessary know-how. No pain no gain. Simply put: you may draw the subjects in the book succesfully but you won't be able to draw any other subject, yet less from imagination.

My kids and I love this book! It's a great resource for anyone who would like to learn more about drawing. There are great tutorials and tips. I highly recommend it!

I requested an e-copy of this because my husband has taken up drawing comics in his retirement, despite no experience or tuition in drawing, and wants to learn more about drawing wildlife.    
This book gives step by step outline drawings of 60 different creatures and plants from meadow, forest and coast, one to a page.  
The last image on each page has the finished illustration with suggested colours for completing your own illustration.  
I thought the illustrations were charming and made me want to pick up a pencil..  I haven't drawn since school, so I tried out 3 of the illustrations in the interests of completeness. 
The instructions were simple to follow, even reading on my phone.  
My feather looked a bit like a tree, my hare was recognisable if clumsy, but I was very happy with my hedgehog.  

I think this book is suitable for those beginning to draw the natural world and those who want to improve.  It seems there are other titles in the Ten Step Drawing series, so I'll be having a look for those.

I enjoyed the way the artist noted how to notice larger shapes within a subject and work from the outside in. It was especially helpful with the plant subjects - breaking down the complicated, tendril like structures into larger shapes before creating the final form. Overall, the book provided some useful tips for creating a quick sketch while out in nature sketching. I could see myself getting a more efficient sketch down when outside sketching with using some of the methods in this book. However, for some of the more complicated animal sketches, I felt like there were larger leaps in between steps that might make it harder for beginners. This might be the concept of 10 steps max, but it was a little jarring.

I love the breadth of subjects covered here - there are some beautiful and uncommon choices presented and I really appreciate that it wasn't a guide to drawing the same 15 flowers we see in every illustration book (don't both looking for a generic rose or tulip, and thank goodness for that!). And, I like that it was organized by natural area - that was a nice change of format. The guide colors for each finished illustration are also a lovely touch, makes it feel a bit more personal/sketchbook-like.

Overall, I love the idea of this guide - but I'm not sold that it accomplishes its aims. The thing is - steps 1 through 8 are yeah, the most important - you gotta start from the ground up, right? - but it is those final touches that make most drawings something that we'd want to sign our name to/look at on a wall. And this book gives you 3-4 very basic steps and then each 'step' becomes more and more complex, but with less guidance, so if you're a novice it is just darn hard to keep up/interpret. 

I appreciated when the author took the time to point out the geometry or the shapes behind the drawings - that was really helpful. On the other hand I really struggled with the buds or background leaves that are shown only very small in the later steps and without much individual instruction. 

Ultimately, I don't think I was able to learn as much from this as I'd hoped, but to each aspiring artist their own, so maybe it'll serve others better. 

My thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the arc to review.

Cute, concise, easy to follow. Would be a great option for aspiring child artists, or adult patrons that want to find a new hobby. Enjoyable tutorials.