I love arts and crafts books, but I am kind of terrible at drawing. "Creating Celtic Animal Designs" is a book that actually made me feel like I might be able to draw. The instructions are so clear, and accompanied by step-by-step pictures to help with the descriptions, that I immediately got out some paper and started trying to draw. I'll be honest.. my pictures were not as fantastic as the ones in the book, but they were so much better than I can normally draw. While I might end up taking the techniques outlined in this book and sticking to non-animal Celtic designs, this book is one I found so artistically inspirational!

Create your own unique, personal or brand motifs!

What I liked most about the book is that it does not try to repeat well-known traditional designs, but rather provides the knowledge to create new ones. It begins by giving instructions on the fundamental rules for drawing Celtic knots. Later, it is about observing and styling representative animal features and adding Celtic-style loops. The exercises are increasing in their degree of complexity, which becomes more attractive for those who enjoy experiencing this artistic proposal.

I believe that these exercises stimulate imagination and creativity capacities, complement the development of unique personalized motifs with different uses, whether for gifting or illustrating brand business patterns, and can even be self-help as a relaxing anti-stress therapy.

Throughout history, Celtic knot designs have been aesthetically beautiful, symbols of intricate elegant patterns, symbols that represent deep concepts about life (cycle of life, forces of nature, the 5 elements, the 7 creations, Love) and on spirituality (eternal nature of the soul, the Trinity, harmony of the Cosmos). It was an important medieval art form that developed for around 5 centuries, which influenced Byzantine and European architecture, Coptic art, Islamic art, in Ethiopia and Russia. And again it is a trend, we find it in clothing prints, jewelry, wall art decor, Zentangle designs, in blogs they are one of the most viewed posts. There is no doubt that they are liked by many people around the world.

My sincere appreciation to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book

This is an amazing book, but probably not for the beginner. I attempted some transformations, but I haven't yet created anything that I want to memorialize in embroidery. I'll keep trying, though!

Creating Celtic Animal Designs is a book all about tangled knot work.  There are birds, hounds, lions, hares, horses, snakes, fish, foxes, bears... While these all look super amazing I fear they are a bit too advanced for my skills.  The book includes techniques and materials needed for making your own, but I am not sure that this is a project I'll be adding to my ever growing to try list any time soon.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

This book covers nine types of animals, and teaches the skills needed to turn these and whatever animal you like into a Celtic inspired design by mixing and matching different elements and details. Each animal starts with a basic design, covering the characteristic elements found in their design, then shows ways to expand on the idea to create your own design. There are also tips on how to incorporate knotwork into your illustrations. A fun addition to any artist's or crafter's library.

#CreatingCelticAnimalDesigns #NetGalley

I have always admired Celtic designs but have had trouble incorporating it with more modern styles, this book shows how the Celtic designs can be brought into the 21st century, abet with a nod to the past. I can just see a horse in the form of "my little pony" fetch up in these knots and whorls. All the animals can be adapted to modern look not just medieval dragon and such. There are instruction on how to transform birds, lions, horses, pigs, lions, dogs, rabbits and a few more into new creation of Celtic splendour.
A well explained book with great instructions and diagrams. Beautiful colours

Beautiful book with inspiring illustrations throughout. The instructions are very clear and accessible even to a beginner. It is a very specific art but could the designs could be used in many different areas (e.g. mandala design, tapestry, woodwork). The book itself is perfectly structured with just the right amount of information. A very inspiring book.

Creating Celtic Animal Designs is a new tutorial and design work for animal knotwork designs by Cari Buziak. Due out 15th Jan from Dover, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

I liked the layout of this book. It progresses from very general basic freehand knotwork shapes through specific example tutorials. The author's method doesn't use set dot grids to draw designs and instead uses a 'ribbon' method which allows for a lot more freeform design and a more flowing, organic finish. The author then builds up this basic freehand method further to incorporate specific animals in later chapters. The same method would work very well to incorporate whatever other designs the student/artist wished besides the animal designs.

The animal designs are all ones which can be found in period examples in manuscripts, stonework, wood and metalwork, etc. There are 9 different chapters with multiple animal tutorials, plus the basic knotwork chapter, a general chapter on tools and supplies, and a short author biography.

Dover has, throughout the years, published a number of good books for Celtic drawing and art. This is a somewhat niche one, but solid nonetheless. This would make a great selection for woodworkers, carvers, metal artists, jewelers, calligraphers, graphic artists and the like.

This is a useful and well presented book full of appealing material.

Five stars.

I loved absolutely every page of the entire book. I plan on doing all the drawings and Iam fascinated by every tutorial.

This celtic drawing guide didn't disappoint.
The celtic inspired animals are simply gorgeous! The designs are fairly complex but the instructions are very good. However, they do include some very tiny detail work. I believe that even beginners with enough determination and practice can get the hang of it but this is probably geared towards more advanced artists.

To the artist/author Cari Buziak, I absolutely love this book. The artwork and attention to detail is amazing and I have found your work inspirational. I am already happily looking at some of your other books.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves Celtic art. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review and I am blown away.