Cute Animals to Draw Easy Cute Drawings

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· 21 ratings · 19 reviews

Start your review of Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals: Learn to draw animals! Start with basic shapes, then make them cute!

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

Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals is a really informative book for beginners starting out drawing Animals. The book starts out with lots of information about differences in animals bodies, face shapes, head shapes, eyes, legs, feet etc and then moves on to explain how different types of animals have eyes positioned in different places compared to say domestic animals - predatory animals are shown to have eyes at the sides of their heads which I didn't really notice until reading this.
The book then moves on to show you how to draw animals starting with dogs and moving on to other categories such as farm animals, cats, wild animals,zoo animals etc.
This book is great for children and adults and I'm going to have a go at drawing some of these with my own child.

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Dec 23, 2021 Holly rated it really liked it

This is the third volume in Akikusa's drawing books. The first book is Drawing Cute Birds in Colored Pencil and is followed up by Drawing Cute Animals in Colored Pencil. Book #3 —Drawing Lessons for Beginners - Cute Animals — provides the steps in order to draw particular animals and shows the finished animal in colored pencil and in a variety of poses.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners - Cute Animals begins with an illustration of the animal body with the various parts labeled. Akikusa shows the dif

Drawing Lessons for Beginners - Cute Animals begins with an illustration of the animal body with the various parts labeled. Akikusa shows the different kinds of animal paws/hoofs as well as heels. Then it's on to drawing animal faces and specifically, the position of the eyes (front versus side) and upper face shapes (curved versus straight). Finally, Akikusa discusses the idea of a balanced body, which includes the three sections - the head, body and legs. By way of geometric shapes, Akikusa shows the balanced bodies of 7 different dog breeds in both front and side view perspectives. I found this section extremely helpful as it visually explained how to start these drawings and how to think in terms of geometric shapes.

What follows next are the step by step instructions for approximately 48 animals and for about five of them, she includes colored drawings of different members of their family (think dogs, cats, cows, deer, etc). Some unusual animals are included in this collection, such as tamandua, tapir, ring-tailed lemur, and capybara.

For some animals, there are the steps to draw a front and a side view. And sometimes there are colored drawings of other angle(s) or poses. As an example, for the bunny there is an additional page of 8 colored different poses that are just adorable. The number of drawing steps ranges from 4 (mole, standing red panda) to 13 (lion, giraffe). For each animal, Akikusa shows a completed colored animal, which i found to be a useful guide when I pulled out my colored pencils.

I really enjoyed trying my hand at drawing some of these animals and found the steps easy to follow. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing - Quarry Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Nov 23, 2021 Alicia Bayer rated it it was amazing

This fun little book delivers exactly what it promises. It takes you through step-by-step how to draw a large variety of animals with simple outlines and then finish them off with colors and simple details. I really appreciated the beginning section where they had you really study the differences in animals' eyes, heads, body shapes, legs, feet, etc. For instance, they show that predators tend to have eyes in the front and show you those, and then show some common prey animals with eyes on the s This fun little book delivers exactly what it promises. It takes you through step-by-step how to draw a large variety of animals with simple outlines and then finish them off with colors and simple details. I really appreciated the beginning section where they had you really study the differences in animals' eyes, heads, body shapes, legs, feet, etc. For instance, they show that predators tend to have eyes in the front and show you those, and then show some common prey animals with eyes on the sides of their heads. Of course I always knew that, but seeing them illustrated all in a row really emphasized the point and reminded me to draw my eyes in the right place for animals. It does the same with close ups on the feet and ankles and you can see how simple lines really show that this animal is what it represents.

I also appreciate that the animals are shown step-by-step with just drawing, not that annoying "draw a circle, then four rectangles for legs, then smooth them out, then erase all the early lines...." way that so many beginner drawing books do. Here you just draw the simple lines, starting with the eyes or ears perhaps and then adding this curve and so on. They are easy for adults or kids to copy and actually get good at showing what each animal really looks like with a very simple sketch.

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

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Nov 24, 2021 Fern Adams rated it really liked it

This was a fun book! Ai Akikusa teaches you how to draw a variety of animals (including but not limited to domestic, farmland, woodland and aquatic animals to the safari big five, monkeys and Austrian marsupials). I should straight away admit I am not a good at drawing though I love giving it a go. Akikusa's step by step guides were easy to follow and I found the information given to think about shapes while drawing helpful. While I think this book will suit people with a good basic artistic abi This was a fun book! Ai Akikusa teaches you how to draw a variety of animals (including but not limited to domestic, farmland, woodland and aquatic animals to the safari big five, monkeys and Austrian marsupials). I should straight away admit I am not a good at drawing though I love giving it a go. Akikusa's step by step guides were easy to follow and I found the information given to think about shapes while drawing helpful. While I think this book will suit people with a good basic artistic ability it really is fun for anyone to give it a go.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Beginning artists of all ages will enjoy this title. The book begins with some general observations and directions before going on to feature lots and lots of animals to draw. Just some of the critters found in these pages include the Shiba Inu (a new pup has moved across the way from me), the polar bear, a horse, a cat, a giraffe, a kangaroo a kdoala and many more.

I never consider myself to be a person with artistic prowess. Howver, I feel that I can follow these instructions and will enjoy pra

I never consider myself to be a person with artistic prowess. Howver, I feel that I can follow these instructions and will enjoy practicing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Nov 26, 2021 (a)lyss(a) rated it really liked it

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a thorough book!

Akikusa starts with basic shapes of animals and shows step-by-step how to draw them. I haven't seen different dog breeds broken down by shape in blocks before and it was a really helpful exercise to see. There's a lot of animals included in this book and little facts about each. The step-by-step guide is helpful, but still requires some basic skills to be there to follow along.

Overall a grea

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a thorough book!

Overall a great find!

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Jan 11, 2022 Mechthild rated it it was amazing

For those who love to draw animals
Japanese artist, illustrator, and picture book author Ai Akikusa presents her book "Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals. Learn to draw animals! Start with basic shapes, then make them cute!", published by Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry. In her introduction Akikusa states: "Animals are built differently from one another—some can run faster, some can eat more easily, and some can swim better. It can be interesting to draw animals when you look closely at For those who love to draw animals
Japanese artist, illustrator, and picture book author Ai Akikusa presents her book "Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals. Learn to draw animals! Start with basic shapes, then make them cute!", published by Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry. In her introduction Akikusa states: "Animals are built differently from one another—some can run faster, some can eat more easily, and some can swim better. It can be interesting to draw animals when you look closely at these kinds of characteristics (p. 6). She challenges the readers: "I'd like you to enjoy observing the characteristics of these animals rather than copying the examples. Then, you'll eventually notice the unique aspects of each animal. As you get used to drawing animals, you can try drawing different motions or positions such as running or sleeping, or you can even try drawing the animal upright (p. 6)."
Afterwards she gives some basic information (animal bodies, animal faces, drawing balanced bodies, and facial balance) before presenting the drawing of a wide range of animals from well-known ones (e.g., fox, hedgehog, field mouse, ...) To more exotic ones (e.g. Japanese Macque, Okapi, Ring-tailed Lemur, ...) in various steps. Occasionally Akikusa even includes additional information such as the winter coat and summer coat of weasels or the foot print of a camel.
I highly recommend this book for beginners who want to draw animals since Akikusa starts with the basic shapes and builds up on them which is really helpful. The index at the end of the book is really helpful to find a particular animal very fast. One important note: Akikusa gives the outlines of the animals, step-by-step, but she does not give instruction how to color the animals.
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.
#DrawingLessonsForBeginnersCuteAnimals #NetGalley ...more

Dec 26, 2021 Annie rated it really liked it

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals is a beginner drawing tutorial book by Ai Akikusa. Released 30th Nov 2021 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 128 pages and available in paperback format.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

This is an appealing book filled with simple tutorials for drawing animals. The tutorials and techniques are suited to beginning artists. There are step by step tutorials for more than 60 different animals (including some similar to one another grouped into families). The introduction includes some very basic drawing instruction for making a balanced drawing and some simple line drawn comparison pages to show the differences between different animal limbs, faces, bodies, and other features.

The pages which follow include simple single page line drawn tutorials for each animal in a couple poses with step by step progression illustrations. They're very simple and will be easy to reproduce for even beginning artists.

This would make a great gift for would-be artists of all ages. The included tutorials are varied and eclectic. There is a complete table of contents, so locating individual ones shouldn't be problematic. They're slanted toward line drawings, though colored pens, crayons, and watercolors could certainly be used to enhance the drawings.

Cute book, accessible for everyone.

Four stars. This would be a nice choice, bundled with some drawing supples, for a young artist. It would also do well for school or public library acquisition, home library, and even for adults/childminders/caregivers/teachers who want to up their "draw with me" game with their young family members.

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

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Dec 13, 2021 Sharon rated it really liked it

Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals starts with basic lessons in drawing bodies and faces, then starts in on the animals. From dogs to cats, and horses to seals, this book gives budding artists instruction on drawing many of their favorites from land and sea. The instructions are step by step and presented in a way that look hand drawn by a beginning artist. I appreciate that the drawings look more like what I, myself a beginner, can accomplish.

Some animals are a little more challenging,

Some animals are a little more challenging, but the step by step instruction definitely helps. The coloration of the creatures makes it better to visualize without looking at other sources.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals was meant as a starting off point and I found it very fun and engaging. I was honestly surprised that the drawings I attempted resembled their real-life counterparts. This book would be a perfect gift for any age group or skill level. I liked the little facts and notes located throughout, giving little lessons where needed for success. For the reasons listed, I would recommend Drawing Lessons for Beginners: Cute Animals to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of this drawing book by NetGalley and the publisher, Quarry Books. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.

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Dec 04, 2021 Flora rated it it was amazing

I'm drawn (pun not intended!) to step by step drawing books, especially if they involve cute animals! This book really does feature nothing but cuteness overload. I tried following some of them and they didn't turn out too bad though I am somewhat rusty. Practice like everything else can only result in at least better.. Each animal is completed in mostly 7 to 8 steps and a completed drawing in colour is useful as a guide too.

Nice book. Great to give as a gift bundled with some art supplies. Good

Nice book. Great to give as a gift bundled with some art supplies. Good too to work through together with a child who likes art. A good addition to a reference collection for someone who likes to decorate their journals.

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May 23, 2022 Josephine rated it it was amazing

Talk about cute! This book is adorable! I have the author's previous book on drawing cute animals, and I really love that one, so wanted to see what this book was like. If you have that previous book, then this new one doesn't have a lot of overlap, and in fact, it gives a lot more step-by-step instructions. Plus, it has some cool "panorama" type drawings where it combines animals into a nature scene. I'm definitely going to get a lot out of this one especially since the author's first book real Talk about cute! This book is adorable! I have the author's previous book on drawing cute animals, and I really love that one, so wanted to see what this book was like. If you have that previous book, then this new one doesn't have a lot of overlap, and in fact, it gives a lot more step-by-step instructions. Plus, it has some cool "panorama" type drawings where it combines animals into a nature scene. I'm definitely going to get a lot out of this one especially since the author's first book really got me to love my colored pencils.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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My daughter and I read through this book together, and we loved it a lot! She is quite the little artist, so she was really excited about it, and she drew five cats by using the instructions in the book.

The book is very detailed, yet it is easy to read, and the little graphics are really cute. It explains how to draw lots of different animals, in an easy way. Some of the drawings are in black and white, and some are in colour, with more detail.

This is a fantastic book, which I highly recommend!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Jan 17, 2022 Jeanne rated it it was amazing

I have taken drawing classes and have been unsuccessful. With this book, I've been able to draw some cute animals. I still need practice, but people can recognize what I've drawn. This book gives step-by-step instructions for quite a few different animals. The book starts out talking about faces and bodies and then gets into specifics. My favorite is the cats and how it shows examples of different colorings.

I recommend this book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the Advanced

I recommend this book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

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Dec 14, 2021 Alfi rated it really liked it

Cute animals inside!! For young readers, this will be a good opportunity to learn what kind of animals are out there and also learn to draw them. There are many movements for the animals that you can learn how to draw it. If you are a beginner and like animals, and you want to learn to doodle them, I recommend this book. It's simple to book, and the instructions are very easy to follow. Cute animals inside!! For young readers, this will be a good opportunity to learn what kind of animals are out there and also learn to draw them. There are many movements for the animals that you can learn how to draw it. If you are a beginner and like animals, and you want to learn to doodle them, I recommend this book. It's simple to book, and the instructions are very easy to follow. ...more

Mar 25, 2022 Leyla Johnson rated it really liked it

Lovely book with easy to follow instructions on drawing cute animals. It is a book that can be used by a very young child as the step by step instructions are illustrated in very simple style. Once having mastered the cutie they can be added to and draw into various backgrounds to make a picture.
Great concept

A big thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group/Quarry Books for the ARC. I am NOT an artist at all. But i would love to be able to draw some cute animals. This is supposed to be a beginners book=but sadly it failed. LOL I don't think that there was enough detail. I think us beginners basically need a trace. I mean a step by step. Cute but not basic enough for me. 3 stars. A big thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group/Quarry Books for the ARC. I am NOT an artist at all. But i would love to be able to draw some cute animals. This is supposed to be a beginners book=but sadly it failed. LOL I don't think that there was enough detail. I think us beginners basically need a trace. I mean a step by step. Cute but not basic enough for me. 3 stars. ...more

Dec 10, 2021 Samantha Hehr rated it it was amazing

Contains helpful diagrams on how to proceed with drawing all sorts of animals in many different poses. Perfect for beginners and shy artists. A handy guide for all sorts of artists, from those dabbling in water-colors to embroidery, and everything else in between.

Apr 13, 2022 Sue rated it it was amazing

This is perfect for my animal obsessed learners. Drawing is a wonderful thing to teach & learn.

Dec 06, 2021 Alicia rated it it was amazing

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I honestly really enjoyed this book.

It's not a gripping novel, of course: it's a how-to book on how to draw cute animals. It's a "how-to" that teaches how to draw through the examination of the shape of different animals before we try to draw them. It breaks down the shapes of dogs, cats, horses, foxes, wolves, etc. into their component parts: heads, faces, bodies, ears, etc. And it's an effective method of teachi

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I honestly really enjoyed this book.

The aim of the book is a modest one: to teach you how to draw cute animals and it does a very good job. It won't teach you how to add color to the animals, but with colored pencils, it's not hard to do.

Highly recommended: 5 of out 5 stars. I want to practice drawing, so I got this book when it came out.

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