Beverley Courtney

As the drawing develops I learn more and more about them. I work with Artists' Coloured Pencils because they're such a sensitive medium, now increasingly used by animal artists for their ability to render fine detail - especially fur and feathers - and depth of colour. There's a palette of over 250 hues to choose from - that's why the colouring is so subtle. By building up the colour on the page, you can get all the shades and flecking that make up an animal's coat.

And these drawings are remarkable in that they show almost every hair and whisker. The breeze lifts the soft hairs on a spaniel's ears, the sun glows through the creamy fur of an exotic cat. Water drips from the mane of a collie in a stream. You feel you can reach out and touch the animals, and they each have their own individual character.