Learn how to draw animals of all shapes and sizes with Abbie Cameron and Nicola Davies. From tiny ladybirds to huge elephants, this book gives you step by step instructions on how to draw your favourite animals from the popular children's book Animal Surprises by zoologist, poet and top children's book author Nicola Davies.

The first in a series of books teaching children how to draw animals from Nicola Davies' rhyming book series, including Animal Surprises, Into the Blue and The Word Bird.

Learn more about the series and keep up to date with new How to Draw videos from the series by heading to our How to Draw page here.

Books in the series:

• Animal Surprises: How to Draw
• Into the Blue: How to Draw
• The Word Bird: How to Draw

Nicola Davies is an award-winning author whose many books for children include A First Book of Nature, Ice Bear, Big Blue Whale and the Silver Street Farm series. She graduated in zoology, studied whales and bats then worked in the BBC Nature History Unit. Underlying all Nicola's writing is the belief that a relationship with nature is essential to every human being, and that now, more than ever, we need to renew that relationship.

Abbie Cameron was raised on the farmlands of the West Country. Surrounded by nature, she developed a love and appreciation for all creatures great and small. Abbie studied Illustration at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, where she first met Nicola Davies. Her style is playful and inventive, sharing some of the tongue-in-cheek attitude and doodle-like style of other contemporary British illustrators. She employs the use of bright colours and texture, whilst playing with scale, composition and open space. The Word Bird, Animal Surprises and Into the Blue are Abbie’s first published books but she hopes to continue a career in picture book illustration. Other notable achievements include being Highly Commended in the Penguin Random House Design Awards 2014.

'Awesome book for learning to draw lots of animals- an Xmas gift for our 7 year old daughter who likes drawing, but even I managed to draw a giraffe, and I can’t draw anything! Beautifully laid out, easy to follow and lots of fun. Love it.' Sarah Perrot, Amazon.co.uk customer

'I would give this 109 stars out of 5! It helps me to draw animals really good. All other kids would love this. It is easy to copy. I like the lion the most. My cousin and I drawed all of the animals yesterday right after I got it and I did draw more up to the frog today. It's really good. I will never, ever give this book away or throw it arrive so that the pages get damaged.' Teddy, aged 6, via Toppsta

'My son is 5 and getting to the age where he wants to draw animals accurately. And this book helps him do just that. This book provides a step by step guide on how to draw popular animals - it is fab and i know we will use it for years to come.' Tanya, via Toppsta

'This is a delightful book that my daughter has really enjoyed using.  It's a great book that gives very clear step by step instructions of how to draw various animals, for example a tree frog, an elephant and a giraffe.  Each animal is very well broken down in to easy to understand stages, and there is a little bit of information about each animal that my daughter enjoyed learning about.  My daughter had a lot of fun with this book, especially over the three days it took her to draw the various animals.  At the back there is drawing paper to use, which makes it an ideal book to take out and about to use.  I was very impressed and would recommend it for 5-9 year olds.' via Toppsta

'Would you or your child love to be able to draw? Sometimes, all we need is something to get us started, and this straightforward book from Graffeg does just that. [...] The pictures include colour, which isn't always the case with this type of book, but which makes for superb finished results. Blank squared pages at the end of the book match the backgrounds to the drawings, giving a little extra help. The book is beautifully produced and the pictures are a delight.' Parents in Touch