Any good books on animal anatomy for artists that aren't only about mammals?

Ruflse · Mar 2017

I'm trying to get a superficial understanding of the anatomy of the most known species except maybe insects and mollusks, but the majority of books I find treat only mammals. Is there any book focused on artists that goes a bit on common reptiles, birds and fishes and from where I could get a general reference?

Ruflse · Mar 2017

Yeah I guess veterinary books are the only solution. It's really weird not finding literally anything for other types of animal though. I've only found two about birds and one of them it's more centered on painting than anatomy and the other would be a huge pain or waste of money to get.

Thanks for the help!

Joebewon · Mar 2017

Brynn Metheney does some awesome creature illustrations and has a gumroad breaking down muscles, bones, and how she lays down her structure. From the thumbnail it looks like just mammals, but her process looks pretty helpful! And it's not a book exactly, but there are 25 pages of pdf explaining everything.

https://gumroad.com/l/QAcmT

Hope it helps and good luck on the hunt!

JordanN · Mar 2017

Even better than books, plan a trip one day to the zoo and bring a camera or sketchbook and make tons of references.

GhostDetector · Mar 2017

You can try searching the archive for some old books.

For example the "Illustrations of Zoology and Outlines of Zoology

Ruflse · Mar 2017

Joebewon said:

Brynn Metheney does some awesome creature illustrations and has a gumroad breaking down muscles, bones, and how she lays down her structure. From the thumbnail it looks like just mammals, but her process looks pretty helpful! And it's not a book exactly, but there are 25 pages of pdf explaining everything.

https://gumroad.com/l/QAcmT

Hope it helps and good luck on the hunt!

Seems useful, maybe I'll give it a go. Thanks!

JordanN said:

Even better than books, plan a trip one day to the zoo and bring a camera or sketchbook and make tons of references.

Sadly there isn't a zoo nearly where I live, but that's another nice option.

GhostDetector said:

You can try searching the archive for some old books.

For example the "Illustrations of Zoology and Outlines of Zoology

That first book has some pretty useful references and info, exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

Any good books on animal anatomy for artists that aren't only about mammals?

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