Sunday, November 30, 2014

Sketch! by France Belleville-Van Stone




I am an armchair art enthusiast, enjoying the genius of others and secretly wishing I had the talent to be so expressive on paper.  I'm also a collector of books and have added many how-to-draw volumes to our home library. What sets this art book apart was the biographical aspect of this book. The author introduces herself and her development as a self-taught artist while gently weaving instructions into the text.

The book is almost a scrapbook into the author's life--seeing parts of her history through her drawings and narration.  The book does a great job of giving an introduction to some basic tools to get started, a section explaining some digital resources {an area I knew nothing about} and what I really loved was a section for inspiration. The author has an alphabetical list of drawings that help prompt and inspire the reader to draw objects and things from their own life and experience.  A great section to close the book and prompt the reader to get started on their own artistic journey.

The book was filled with lots of examples of her work.  I enjoyed the casual, informal layout where the reader feels as though they've had tea with the author and learned some her secrets (the main one being practice, practice, practice). The product notes and recommendations were very helpful with suggestions at various price points.

Take a sneak peek inside the book and buy it for a creative person on your gift list this Christmas. Sketch! can be purchased directly from Random House.  I loved that the author encourages the reader to draw with our without formal training.  Grab your copy today and get ready to sketch your life!

Disclaimer: I received Sketch! from Blogging for Books for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

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