The lion roars tonight …

Baby Joe received a new lion book recently, which started us off on a lion drawing afternoon. We hunted down (excuse the pun) all our lion books:

‘Library lion’ by Michelle Knudsen
‘The lion who wanted to love’ by Giles Andreae
‘Tawny scrawny lion’ by Kathryn Jackson
‘The happy lion’ by Louise Fatio
‘How to draw a lion’ by Adam Wallace

The wonderful thing about drawing animals is that there are so many different poses. So it’s easy to find a simple picture which a young artist can attempt. It’s all about having a go. So I wasn’t offended at all when Tom told me my version of a lion looked more like a sheepdog!

With a big heap of books on lions in front of you, it’s an ideal way for kids to see the many possibilities there are to create the same object. One lion book published in 1954 used mainly black and white, with an occasional splash of yellow and red. Another used soft, muted acrylics. One book was illustrated with bright acrylics.

The stories themselves are as much a contrast as the illustrations. Lions in jungles, zoos, cities. Fierce lions, kind lions, hungry lions, helpful lions. Lions who roar and lions who politely say, “Bonjour!” Lions who interact with other animals, lions who engage with people.

Drawing lions was a fabulous wet afternoon activity. I’m also thinking of making lion manes and cakes, and I’ll review some of these lion books later too.