Drawing is "the very essence of all pictorial art," and this book approaches the challenging art of animal painting from the point of view of accurate representation of animal subjects on canvas. Combining useful information on important anatomical features with direction on how to handle the subjects and how to express their forms and postures, the author has produced a complete, inexpensive, at-home course in animal painting and anatomy.

All aspects of animal drawing and painting are covered: drawing from life; anatomy in relation to drawing (not surgical anatomy, but a precise knowledge of the visible structure and movements of animals); characteristic movements of animals and suggestions on how to capture them in your picture; composition (design, restraint, rhythm, balance of light and shade, relative scale of animals and landscape, foregrounds); painting and color. 36 illustrations, mostly sketches by the author, depict horses, pigs, cows, dogs, and other animals in various life positions and movements. A long, detailed discussion of the anatomy of animals completes the book. Here Mr. Calderon describes all the structures of animals that are of significance to the artist: the vertebral skeleton, the bones and muscles of the head, the muscles of the vertebral skeleton, the fore-limb and its muscles, the muscles attaching the shoulder blade to the trunk, and the bones and muscles of the hind limb. 208 drawings accompany these discussions and show you how anatomy is related to surface contours and techniques of shading.