Over the years, Andreas Deja has animated quite a few iconic animals. There was the devious Scar, the lovable Tigger and the irrepressible Roger Rabbit. Oh, and who can forget the lower half of King Triton? More recently, Deja has been busily working on a new animal character - Mushka the tiger - for a feature film that he is personally writing, directing and animating.
According to Deja, there is ONE BOOK that made all of these characters possible: The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren.
At a 2010 lecture at Van Eaton Galleries, Deja praised Hultgren’s book saying:
“[Ken Hultgren] worked on Bambi. [In 1950,] he published the book, The Art of Animal Drawing. This book, to me, was a key to understanding animals. I wouldn’t say that he is the best animal draftsman ever, and from what I understand, he wasn’t even the best animator ever. But he was a fantastic teacher. This book was really helpful to me to understand what you’re looking at when you look at animals. He has this fantastic way of explaining the torso of a four-legged animal. He divides it up into three parts. And once you understand this, you know a bit more of what you’re looking at and it’s not so scary and hard to get started.”
That’s not the only time Deja has credited Hultgren’s book with sharpening his skills as an animator. In 2013, on his website, Deja had this to say about The Art of Animal Drawing:
“When I got my hands on a copy of this book and flipped through the pages, several light bulbs went off. For the first time I saw realistic drawings of animals in motion with an animator’s point of view. The way he divides the body into three parts, then twists and turns those parts to get rhythm and motion was a revelation to me. It really helped to get a logical understanding of animal anatomy in motion. I highly recommend it.”
Shown below are a few pics of Hultgren’s masterpiece. Honestly, if this book is good enough for Andreas-freaking-Deja, don’t you think it might a hold a tip or two for you?
Click here to purchase The Art of Animal Drawing for $4 on Amazon
