About drawing wild animals
Introduction
Having grown up living with animals in the home and seeing the wildlife in local parks and on regular family outings, artist Hil Scott has naturally been interested in animals since she was a child. Animals, birds and plants were part of her every-day life.
Her interest grew with her as she explored the areas around her, walking in the early mornings with her father, and later on her own, sometimes travelling for miles to spend time in large parks.
The family was large with lots of boys and Hil was quite a tom-boy, being the only girl.
During her childhood there were many family pets and recovering wild creatures they found injured nearby. Her brothers would rescue injured creatures. Most of them were birds and together with the youngest bother, she nursed them back to health until they could be freed.
She once told me that a wild duck that could not fly remained with the family for the rest of its life and became a pet.
Hil was very fond of the many pets at home but was intrigued by the wild animals and their behaviour. She admired their resilience and their stubborn determination to survive their injuries and was attracted by their independent way of life.
When they were in London, her father would take her on foot to the local Zoo. They would leave very early, before the rest of family was awake, to be there when the zoo opened.
Her interest increased as she learned more about the creatures from her father's huge knowledge and from the zoo keepers who would answer their occasional questions as they went about their tasks.
As an adult student, Hil Scott found an outlet for her childhood experience and made a series of drawings of wild animals and birds. She drew some of these on steel plates to make original prints.
Drawing directly on a steel plate
Hil's drawings on steel have an immediate quality and retain their freshness in the print.
She takes little credit for the result, saying it is useful that when you push a hard point over the surface of steel the shards that curl remain upstanding and do not easily deteriorate under the pressure of printing. The tiny lines that can be made on steel are not easily removed and appear as delicate marks in the final print.
Delicate lines can be seen in her original print 'Leopard'
Shards of steel make the hair spikey in her original print 'Warthog'
The owl house
There was a bird enclosure at the local zoo Hil visited with her father and she was delighted when she was permitted to spend early mornings and late evenings in the Owl House at Chessington. Owls are nocturnal and Hill is patient so evening time was a great opportunity to wait and watch to see them alert and wakeful. Her patience was rewarded when she was able to photograph an owl learning to fly there.
She later made a drypoint of the first flight of the young owl.
Note: Bird enclosures are also known as Bird Houses or Aviaries. The Owl House is a large enclosure with much vegetation and an open view of the sky. The abundant vegetation provides shelter from the weather just as it does in the wild.
Enclosures for all the animals are made to suit the needs of each type of zoo animal. Zoos in Europe (LINK ?) are constructed in this way as are most zoos around the world.
Monkey Antics
One could sit for hours in the monkey cage watching the monkeys. There was always something happening there. The enclosure was large and several species lived in the space; smaller monkeys swinging in the trees, baboons stalking about and showing off while an orang utang sat in the same place for long periods, gazing about. The enclosure was full of colourful fruit and large trees and, hidden by bushes, Hil felt safe sitting quietly near the big monkey to watch them all from a distance, no-one messes with an orang-utang!
The Orang Utang holding a branch while he sits
Natural Habitat
Trees and bushes were plentiful in the zoo which made it easy to draw vegetation in the backgrounds of the animal portraits, although it sometimes stretched patience to the limit. Sometimes it appeared void of animal life as the animals took full advantage of the cover.
Timid or shy animals
Abundant vegetation is essential for zoo animals providing shade, shelter from the weather and hiding places for those who prefer to keep out of sight. The armadillo was perhaps the most invisible among the animals. They forage by night and sleep for much of the day. All rolled up in a tight ball they are hard to discern, even in the open. Drawing wild animals can be Challenging!
A wary glance around as it feeds
Endangered species
The African Elephant at Chessington was huge and could appear frightenting. The long tusks and strong trunk waved about alarmingly when the elephant was feeding and were capable of removing every leaf from a tall shrub. Hil was sometimes quite scared when drawing wild animals.
The zoos of Britain and Europe have done much to help restore numbers of several endangered animals with breeding programs and a policy of accepting animals that need a home. At Chessington there were all sorts of endangered species from big cats to tiny fish and they sometimes arrived needing the attention of a vet.
Hil is primarily drawn to animals that have something visually interesting for her, such as the way they move or the texture of their skin, fur, feathers - and tusks and she draws all sorts of animals, endangered or not.
Hil's original print of the Elephant
Chessington Zoo
Animals from Africa, Australia South America and from around the world and locally native species are represented at the zoo. Hill has been able to watch and learn about animals she would never have seen. She has experienced their movements, the sounds they make and their smells (and some are really smelly) in way that is not possible in pictures
This kangaroo mother smelt of milk
Kindly Zookeeper
Zoos encouraged people to linger on site and animals were popular subjects for artists practicing drawing. Chessington zoo was near Hil's home when the family lived in London but was always busy and you had to be on a list to stay and draw. When she applied, Hil was refused but she rang them and asked to speak to someone in charge. She want to know why they refused her and the keeper said the priveledge was reserved for 'real' artists and that there was limited space.
Indignant, Hill told them she IS a real artist and added
'I'm only small!'. Impressed by her persistence the keeper in charge said she could come for a trial visit.
'Give me 20 minutes, I'll be there' said Hil, and she ran with her kit to the bus-stop. The keeper was at the gate to meet her when she arrived.
She and the Chief keeper became friends over the next few weeks as they watched the animals and he enjoyed seeing her drawing wild animals.
All
illustrations are Original prints of wild animals
by Hil Scott and are available as
limited edition prints right here in Outlines Gallery.
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