Just Draw It! begins with a short note, explaining the aim of the book, which serves as a beautiful insight into the background, as well as the dreams and aspirations, of the authors. In creating Just Draw It! Authors Sam Piyasena and Beverly Philip planned to help people revisit their childhood, and to rediscover and nurture their dormant creativity. They explain that they both loved drawing from a young age - "Both of us spent most of our childhoods bent over a sheet of paper with a pencil in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other" - and that, for them, time spent with a pencil and paper served as a form of escape, as well as a way of making sense of the world around them. This, they suggest, is common in many children, but is often lost as a child gets older and the focus in school shifts towards reproducing the realistic, rather than exploring creativity. At this point, that which once provided joy and freedom can be lost, and many people go through their adult lives thinking that they cannot draw. In writing Just Draw It! the aim was clear - to provide a way of allowing people to reconnect with the simple, unadulterated pleasures of childhood, and learn to enjoy the simple act of making marks on paper.
Just Draw It! begins with the basics, exploring simple line and mark making, the `very heart of drawing itself'. A series of tasks explore making lines through different mediums, focusing on how the simple action feels. The artist is encouraged to draw using ink and sticks, make marks in the sand, draw on windows and create simple line images.
As the book progresses, light and dark, dimensions, form, movement and texture are all explored, allowing the artist to rebuild their knowledge of art by beginning with the very basics, and working up. The focus is never on the realistic - but on the process itself.
The final chapter is perhaps the most exciting, as it is completely dedicated to creativity. There are some amazing activities to be found nestled in the back of the book, graffiti, drawing from dreams, overlapping, sketching with your eyes closes, combining textures - there is so much to explore.
I had an amazing time using this book - it was so much fun to discover so many methods of creation that I'd never tried before, even as a child. I was also able to involve my friends in some of the activities, which was a definite hit during social occasions. I'm not the most artistic person in the world, but I do really enjoy getting creative when the opportunity arises. I can be quite shy, but if this book has taught me anything is that it is that it really doesn't matter what my drawings etc look like.
For the full review and images: http://jadetheobscure.com/2016/01/10/just-draw-it-sam-piyasena-and-beverly-philip/
* JadetheObscure *
Feb 13
Have pen and paper, will draw is the philosophy of this book. It's aimed at anyone who wants to draw. Learn the basics or develop new drawing skills with this book. The book is organized as a set of exercises from quick sketches to detailed observation. The authors reckon they have a foolproof way of making sure you let go of your inhibitions and start to draw. I like the 'Look Up' hints that get you to connect with art. Discover the artist in you, working your way through this inventive book and improve your skills along the way. It's fun.
* Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts *
Sept 13
Can't draw but always wanted to? Grab a pencil, some paper and a copy of this book, and there might well be nothing stopping you... When is a course not a course? When it is designed to be like anything but, with a strong sense of fun and a feel for the many situations of everyday life that can be enhanced with a spot of art. Divided into six chapters, this book goes from making marks through tone, composition, patterns, observation and beyond. Start simply by getting back to basics (what you lost when that first teacher told you that you were no good at art) and drawing like a child again. Listen to music and make marks to it, go outside and draw what you see on paper or in the sand, make a picture out of a piece of string to show where a line can take you. Each double page has a task on it illustrated with examples and often with things to look up or artists to go and take a look at. Some good web links might come in handy here, but I guess that might be lazy. There are pictures to make from dots a la Seurat, pictures from torn paper, making drawings of objects like stones and chocolates, watching a strawberry decay and recording each stage and more. I like the way it involves the reader with ordinary things that anybody can find, and the parallels it draws between each task and the art that you see in galleries. This is not the way I learned, but it is perhaps a good way to teach an adult bite-sized lessons that can be fitted into an average day. If you have always wanted to draw but feel daunted by the more traditional approach in many art primers, this might be for you.
* Myshelf.com *
June 14
While many of us loved to draw as a child, it often ends up a long-forgotten hobby. Just Draw it! is the perfect guide to rebuild childhood confidence: after a reintroduction to line and mark making, it explores techniques for introducing light and shade, how to create movement and texture, and - perhaps most importantly - how to express your emotions through illustration.
* Woman's Weekly Craft *
Oct 13
Concealed behind the rather unpromising cover of this book is a cornucopia of intriguing ideas. The first impression is of a collection of random and seemingly confusing images. However, it doesn't take long to make you look and get you thinking. Subtitled The Dynamic Drawing Course for Anyone with a Pencil, the authors' aim is to teach by stimulation and example rather than through words. There are words, but they're only there to explain what you're looking at and what you should be doing to achieve it. Sometimes its a bit kooky but not deliberately and, crucially, not archly so. Its aim is to teach anyone drawing just by stimulating the imagination. Personally, I love the idea. It's eclectic, unconventional, unpredictable, maybe even a bit controversial in a good way. It's also been written by a couple of illustrators who have a nicely fresh slant on the whole thing.
* Artist, The *
Mar 13
Picking up a pencil and drawing can be a daunting prospect for many people. All too often people are told at school that they are useless at art, and feel inadequate when they compare their efforts to those of practicing artists. Yet most people can achieve reasonable success with just a little practice. Not everyone will be good at drawing perfect representations of scenes, flowers or lifelike portraits but you can pleasure in sketching items around you. This book is a good introduction to the subject of drawing; it provides basic information but most of all a lot of ideas and inspiration using modern artists like Henry Moore and the Futurists as examples. There are lots of simple exercises to encourage creativity and not all are pure drawing for example creating a clay impression of a hand, on which tattoo like designs are drawn. Suggesting that you buy a box of chocolates and then try drawing each one is definitely an exercise in resisting temptation! Overall it is innovative, interesting and challenging.
* Monstersandcritics.com *
Mar 13
This is an intriguing idea and yet another Marmite book - you're either going to love it or hate it. The cover, which is mainly typographical (why???) and showing only a few fairly conventional line sketches, does it no favours and really doesn't convey they content. It should be said that the choice of the paper it's printed on doesn't either. It's that matt kind that tends to knock colour back, which is a shame because colour is sometimes central to the book's message and detail is also sometimes lost - particularly in the section on chiaroscuro. The first impression, on opening the pages, is a collection of random and seemingly confusing images. However, it doesn't take long for these to become a cornucopia and an intriguing collection of ideas that make you look and get you thinking. Subtitled The Dynamic Drawing Course For Anyone With A Pencil, the authors' aim is to teach by stimulation and example rather than through words - which is why that typographical cover is so particularly baffling. There are words of course, but they're only there to explain what you're looking (partly) at and (mainly) for and what you should be doing to achieve it. Sometimes it's a bit kooky but not deliberately and, crucially, not archly so. Its aim is to teach anyone to draw just by stimulating their imagination so that they can't help getting started. Personally, I love the idea. It's random, it's unconventional, it's unpredictable, maybe even a bit controversial in a good way. It's also been written by a couple of illustrators who have a nicely fresh slant on the whole thing.
* Artbookreview.net *
