Animal zoo far away.

[Valerij V.]

Hallo. I wanted to go to zoo for animal drawing but i realized, that there is no zoo in my Town. There is one but is is far away in other city. I just don't know where can i find real animals. Drawing only from book is't the best idea at all. Any advise?

One more question? Is really good detailed books about animal drawing? I found a lot of books at amazon where is plenty of animals in one place(book) but the information about each is at poor level. It would be good to see books about only one animal.

[Stoat]

Have you got a dog or a cat? Perhaps a mouse? A bird feeder? Is there a farm nearby? Domestic animals are great to draw. They're calm and still.

[Valerij V.]

No, there is no animals in my house:( And any farm nearby either. Only city houces all over the place.

[Stoat]

Pigeons! Everybody's got pigeons...those breathtaking and beautiful rats of the sky!

[Valerij V.]

Yeah, but this is not enough. Well, i will try to find some horses maybe.

[reneeisorym]

Take a day trip to the zoo and bring your camera and sketch pad. You can have reference material for months!
Go to a bookstore and look through the books there. I have one that has 1,000 pages of just photographs of animals. I looked for it online and it must be out of print or I would suggest it.
Or maybe take up pet sitting!

[Black Spot]

Pet shop or local animal rescue centres? It never hurts to ask.

[Stoat]

I should have thought of that, Black Spot, since I draw at both!

[Toxdel]

gah! zoos are a terrible place to draw in public! Find a place to draw animals in more privacy, Like a park with a pond and ducks perhaps? I dunno

[Gerulaitis]

A good alternative to drawing from life is drawing from video. Usually there's enought movement to offer enought hints about what the thing looks in 3d, offers some feel of volumes, etc.
(Loop it, don't pause unless you're doing motion studies.)

http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com

It may be just me, but i learned more by drawing from books, pictures and memory/imagination than i did at the zoo. May be just that i'm horribly short-sighted...

[Valerij V.]

Yeah, i think video is good idea. Maybe i should try animal planet. Thanks for replyes. Insect666, thanks for link:)