Bird Anatomy for Artists

ISBN 9780987337306
Bird Anatomy for Artists, art book written and illustrated by Dr Natalia Balo, foreword by Dr Penny Olsen.  Signed by the Artist to you or your friend, on request.

Dr. Natalia Balo (BFA, MFA, PhD) is a contemporary Australian figurative artist. She had achieved her Doctoral degree completing an innovative research on Drawing Birds and Bird Anatomy for Artists at The University of Newcastle, to which she dedicated six years (1999-2005). This research became the basis of Natalia’s recently published artbook Bird Anatomy for Artists, which is now a university textbook for Fine Art students. The book is also very popular among the bird watches, artists and bird lovers.

How to purchase “Bird Anatomy for Artists”

The book is created in consultation with prominent ornithologists from Australian Museum, Sydney, and opens with a foreword by the famous Australian writer and ornithologist Dr. Penny Olsen.

Foreword by Dr Penny Olsen

Birds have long been popular subjects for artists, from scientific illustrators to great masters, whether working on cave walls, watercolour paper, large canvases or sculptures. Bird art can be realistic or conceptual, innovative or conventional, detailed or sketchy, or somewhere in between. Its purpose might be practical, aesthetic, symbolic, humorous, joyful, spiritual, political, scientific or ecological. As well as the skills to depict feathers, an understanding of bird anatomy is essential for the specialist bird artist. Yet, even the most abstract depictions benefit from a knowledge of the way a bird works and its proportions – how else can a bird’s jizz (the overall impression characteristic of a particular bird species, based on any combination of shape, behaviour, colours, movements, etc.) be captured? Birds’ ability to fly (which a few species have lost) means that they are assembled differently to more earthbound creatures. The configuration of their skeleton and musculature is unique, their movements are complex, their feathers and therefore their body shape are changeable, perhaps more so than any other vertebrates. Natalia Balo’s classical training at the prestigious Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, supervised by the Russian Academy of Arts, taught her that in bird portraiture, as in human or any other portraiture, an understanding of anatomy is paramount. In awareness of the limited amount of information on bird anatomy available for art students, she completed a doctorate on the subject at the University of Newcastle. This delightfully illustrated book makes her knowledge accessible to all artists, whether drawing birds

Dr Penny Olsen is a visiting Fellow at ANU Research School of Biology, and a former Editor of the Birds Australia (now BirdLife Australia) magazine, Wingspan.  She has written many books on Australian natural history, natural historians and illustrators.  In 1997, she was awarded the D.L. Serventy Medal for services to ornithology by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union.  In 2011, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “service to the conservation sciences through the study and documentation of Australian bird species and their history”.

Bird Anatomy for Artists” by Dr Natalia Balo – review by Dr Trevor Weekes, The University of Newcastle, Australia

For many years bird artists have been searching for an informative textbook on Bird Anatomy. Until now there have been very few books focusing on Bird Anatomy and drawing birds available, but now the search is over. Bird Anatomy for Artists has arrived! Bird Anatomy for Artists is a beautifully presented comprehensive survey of the complete bird from head to tail. The book is full of masterly illustrations that are clear and easy to understand, including black and white working drawings, examples of the artist’s field studies and exquisite colour illustrations. Every part of the bird’s body is outlined in detail with informative text and helpful drawing instructions. Bird Anatomy for Artists is perhaps the most complete textbook available on this subject. I highly recommend this reference book not only for Artists, but for anyone interested in Birds.

Dr. Trevor Weekes Senior Lecturer/Convenor, Natural History Illustration School of Design, Communication and Information Technology The University of Newcastle

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
About the Artist – Dr Natalia Balo

Introduction

Chapter 1
Sketching Birds
The Importance of Sketching

Chapter 2
Bird Body – A Structural Analysis
Structural Approach to Drawing
Three Dimensional System in Scientific Anatomy
Artists’ Vocabulary of Graphic Construction
Analysis of Proportions
What Makes a Bird – General Construction
Bird Topography
Feathers

Chapter 3
Construction of the Head
Construction of the Skull
Types of Beaks – Form and Function
Construction of the Eye
Topography of the Head

Chapter 4
Construction of the Neck and Trunk
Skeleton of the Neck and Trunk
Musculature of the Neck and Trunk

Chapter 5
Construction of the Wings
Skeleton of the Wing
Musculature and Movements
Movements of the Wing
Topography of the Wing
Feather Configurations of Open and Closed Wings
Wing Shapes – Form and Function

Chapter 6
Construction of the Tail
Architecture of the Tail
Tail Feathers
Tail Shapes

Chapter 7
Construction of the Legs and Feet
General Characteristics of the Leg
Skeleton of the Leg
Muscles and Tendons
Construction of the Feet
Types of Feet – Form and Function
Surface Structures of the Feet

Chapter 8
Drawing the Complete Bird
Methodology of Drawing Birds Structurally
Drawing Birds in Flight

Select Bibliography