Sketching moving animals from life is a unique challenge, but is there a way to help prepare yourself for it? In this post I share how I prepped for a sketching trip at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and a simple exercise to do at home that helps bridge the gap of drawing animals from reference images and animals from life. I also talk about how I choose my art supplies for the travel kit, and how preparing my creative mindset is integral to my self-studying practice.

After a surprise visit to the Ruskin Collection in Sheffield, and taking my sketchbook out to draw there, I ponder the benefits of observational sketching, developing and artists eye, and creating our own collections of oddities and curiosities for still life studies.