Book Review: Drawing Cute with Katie Cook: 200+ Lessons for Drawing Super Adorable Stuff by Katie Cook

Drawing Cute with Katie Cook: 200+ Lessons for Drawing Super Adorable Stuff by Katie Cook

teaches readers how to draw everything adorable in her first tutorial book. These are quick, easy-to-follow step-by-step lessons with some silliness on the side. All you need is a pencil and paper, or a napkin or a wall depending on how confident you are in your drawing ability. Readers will be shown how to turn curvy blobs, shapes, and squiggles into more than 200 different things. Some subject included are fuzzy animals, cute food, and inanimate objects like yarns balls, luggage and a toaster. Add details like nubbins, floof, and smiley faces to anything and everything to transform it into something really, really cute.

Drawing Cute with Katie Cook: 200+ Lessons for Drawing Super Adorable Stuff is a fun read, even if you are not terribly interested in becoming better at drawing adorable critters and such. Cook includes plenty of cuteness and humor along side the drawing tutorials. I love that she simplifies each of the drawings into things like basic shapes, but often in terms of produce, i.e. eggplant, potatoes, and seeds.  I think this is the perfect instruction book for those that want to draw and doodle adorable things, but do not have a ton of faith in their own artistic skills. The instructions are well written, in a relaxed and fun way, that should set even the most trepidatious sketcher's heart at ease and allow them to have some fun with the process.   As a bonus, fans of puns, fun facts, and Doctor Who will find little references and jokes to make the read even more fun.

Book Review: Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure by Billy Attinge

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure by Billy Attinger is an "artventure" around the world that can help readers learn to draw stick animals in the jungle, the Arctic, the rainforest, the Outback, underwater, and more! You'll even learn how to draw extinct animals and fantasy animals in stick form. Each spread features a grid to show the reader how to draw the lines, how to add movement, expression, and more. Ideal for the visual learner and accompanied by tips and tricks from stick artist Billy Attinger, the book shows how to make your stick animals personal, recognizable, and unique!

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure offers the instructions to draw a variety of cute animals from around the world, and from mythology or the past. I liked the little stories that go along with each set of instructions, they add an extra layer and fun and interest to the book. There are ten chapters, dividing the animals up by type; such as furry, scaly, helpful, birds, slimy, dangerous, extinct, or fantasy (among others). As someone that has always been a doodler, but lacking serious art skills or methods, this book was a fun and entertaining way to increase some of my abilities. I like the spaces that were included for practicing and testing the new skills. Also,  while the book is accessible to all ages, there are little jokes sprinkled through it that are clearly aimed at adults- like the mention of the Wheel of Morality from Animaniacs. You get everything you might hope for based on the cover and title, and some extra fun for the trouble.