One of the best Drawing books I have read in my life! I am so in love with the book that I bought a physical copy to keep in my own library and do all the drawing exercises. They are very easy to follow! Will be on the lookout for more books by the author!

I received the book from netgalley for my honest review. This book is step to step drawing of many different types of birds, butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, and insects. It teaches a little about shading. Fun book for those interested in drawing.

This book was really interesting to flip through and learn from - even though the subjects aren't what I usually draw. It helped me see these insects in a different perspective and got my creative tingles going!

Let's draw some more
"Draw Like an Artist: 100 Birds, Butterflies and Other Insects. Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing. A Sourcebook for Aspiring Artists and Designers" by Melissa Washburn was published by Quarto Publishing Group - Quarry. The book is part of the five-book series "Draw Like an Artist... " Washburn gives a brief introduction into line drawing with plenty of tips for the budding artist. In her introduction she states: "The best teacher for drawing birds and insects is nature itself. Observing different birds and insects in their natural habitats will help you understand how they move and behave. Some of these creatures move very quickly and constantly, making observation difficult, so visiting places like natural history museums and zoos can help you get a better look... Drawing any kind of animal can seem very
complex at first (it is!), so I suggest first getting a feel for proportions and for the basic shapes that make up the body. Beginning with the underlying shapes, rather than with the exact outer contour of the animal, will give a more solid feeling to your drawing. Once you’re happy with the basic shape, you can refine the outline and add legs, wings, and so on. The final step is to add things such as hair or feathers, markings, and other details. You don’t need to draw every individual strand of hair or feather—just a few lines to indicate length and direction will often convey enough information (p. 6)." The book contains six chapters: 1) Birds, 2) Butterflies, 3) Moths, 4) Bees and Wasps, 5) Beetles, and 6) Other Insects.
This is the second book by Melissa Washburn which I read. I have to confess that I am an absolute amateur when it comes to drawing and I have been impressed by the book. The step-by-step designs are really inspirational and the number of them is absolutely inspiring. Every bird, butterfly, or insect is presented with six to eight sketches which will be really a help for the aspiring artist. Furthermore, there are additional drawings for feathers, wings, and claws. I highly can recommend this book for beginners and advanced artists who like to engage in line drawing. Although the artist suggests graphite pencils, felt tip pens, or brush pens, but colored pens, crayons or similar media could also be used.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#DrawLikeAnArtist100BirdsButterfliesAndOtherInsects #NetGalley

Another good drawing guide in the "Draw like an Artist" series. I was excited to see this one, I had a pet bird for many years as a kid (cockatiel) and while this bird wasn't included some of his very close relations were! A highlight of these books for me is the very quick intro/tools/instructions and then it jumps right in to drawings. Each page is dedicated to a bird or insect and the guides show you how to block the basic shapes and how to detail in usually 8 steps. Bonus: pages dedicated to drawing these guys feet! Always tricky
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC to review.

Note: I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book gives basics of drawing various birds, butterflies and insects. It breaks each down into shapes and step by step instructions. It's great for beginners, those who are getting into sketching or those who want to draw general shapes of these creatures for painting. Would recommend.

Far more adult and detailed that the usual drawing books I download, I found this to be a breath of fresh air. The first section which has your basic shapes of birds and insects, drawing them from one angle and, although the last step is always flat drawing to 3D masterpiece, the steps were easy enough to follow.
What I really liked was that in the last half of the book, it resists the birds and insects and shows you how to draw them from different angles. That was unique and very useful for those who want more than a side view of animals.
In addition, the birds were many and varied and had ones that I had never even heard of, so you could go in depth with whatever bird or insect you were drawing.
My favourites were the different varieties of owl and sea birds.
I would highly recommend this as a reference for anyone who draws wildlife and birds.

This book is a visual reference for drawing a variety of 100 realistic birds, butterflies, and insects. At the beginning, drawing tips are provided followed by step-by-step instructions for each creature. The drawings are fantastic and very realistic. This book would be great for children and adults wanting to learn to draw different creatures.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

I’m taking the last part of 2020/the winter of early 2021 to try my hand at drawing, just for fun. I need more ways to unwind and occupy my mind on things that aren’t work, especially as we go into the hermit season. I’ve taken on a book of straight up doodling, one on cute animals that’s a step up from doodling, and this book is alla about life-like birds, butterflies, and insects.

I like that this volume is super detailed and that the result looks like the real thing. Ultimately, I want to be able to draw cutesy comics, but there is great merit in mastering the basics and learning how to do more than just one thing. I don’t think I’ll ever be great, but the detailed steps in these drawings make me think that I won’t lose patience and give up, that as long as I take it one step at a time, I can actually draw something that looks like, well, something. Haha!

If you’re looking to expand your hobbies as we head into the holidays, or just want to brush up on your drawing skills, this book is out now, so no wait to get started.

I very direct book on the steps to drawing bird, butterflies and insects. It is hard with anything that moves quickly to get even a rough drawing of your sitter. This book shows one, in step by step directions, how to draw the configuration of birds, feathers, feet, butterflies and bugs.
Really good book, easy to follow and to the point.

The steps are easy to follow with each focused on one page. It produces great-looking birds and insects. I love the variety and how simple it looks.

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Birds, Butterflies, and Other Insects by Melissa Washburn details step by step how to draw different insects and birds.

The designs in this book seem easy to follow and I am especially excited to draw bumblebees, mockingbird, and all the butterflies. I would recommend this book for beginner artists.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Draw like an artist - 100 birds, butterflies and other insects is a step by step guide book to learning to draw birds, butterflies and insects. Each page has one animal/insect on it and shows you in six steps how to create this animal/insect. There are no verbal instructions throughout this book except at the very beginning, so each page just has step by step guides in the form of sketches only.
I love this series of books and this is the second one I have read in this series. I look forward to having a go at some of the creatures drawn in this book.

I really liked Washburn's flower and plant book in this series, but this one was less successful for me. It's black and white pencil illustrations for a lot of different birds and then some butterflies and insects. They are done in the standard style of showing you "draw a circle and an arc and then a bunch of little circles, and then a big x and draw eyes where the x meets, and then erase this part and fill that part in..." and that's probably the best way to make technically precise birds and insects but it's not the way I prefer to draw them. I found myself wishing there were colors in many of them since I didn't know what the authentic colors would be. I also wished that different poses were given. It will be a great guide for anyone who wants to know exactly how to draw something like a leaf hopper or kingfisher, perhaps less helpful for those who want to draw these types of creatures just for sweet and simple illustrations.

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

I am not really a fan of uncommented step-by-step tutorials like the 100 in this books, but I think if you buy this book, you know what you get. I much more like if the artist tells me why they do things instead of just showing the steps. The steps are easy to follow, though, it does not look like too much magic happening, and the resulting drawings are beautiful. I liked especially the insect drawings.

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Birds, Butterflies, and Other Insects is a tutorial and style guide in the Draw Like an Artist series - this volume is by Melissa Washburn. Released 3rd Nov 2020 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 112 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

These books all follow the same format. A very short introduction (10% of the content) gives some basic tips and very (very) brief overview of recommended materials. The following chapters contain short step-by step progress illustrations for line drawing 100 animals by category: birds, butterflies, moths, bees & wasps, beetles, and other insects.

These are very simple single page 5-8 step illustrations. The finished drawings are not part of a composition, and there is no written direction involved. All of them are simple enough to not really require directions. None of them are beyond the ability of keen amateur level. Correspondingly, there is little here which will challenge advanced artists but the drawings are clear and have a high degree of detail.

This would make a superlative choice for young artists or adult learners, especially bundled with drawing supplies. There are several other companion volumes available also (flowers, faces, animals, and a couple others). I would also recommend them for graphic design applications.

Four stars (given the limitations).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I have to say a big thank you to Netgalley uk and Quarry books for sending me an arc copy of this book.
I'm about to embark on the world of bullet journaling, mainly to keep track of my reading stats and set myself targets etc. I thought it would be a good opportunity to start doing something artistic at the same time.
This book contains everything you need to get into drawing. All the instructions are in stages for you to follow and the end results are really nice especially the butterflies.
I'm definitely going to check out the rest of the series!