Make a World

 I recently came across this book while browsing around the web.  Apparently, although I'd never come across it before, it's something of a classic, and was first published in 1972.  It is one of a whole series of similar style books by the author Ed Emberley, all with different themes.  It seems that this book in particular was quite influential, and helped shaped the visual culture of an entire generation of artists and designers.

The book covers a vast amount of subject matter in its 32 pages, and 400 illustrations, and the completely visual instructions are well suited to children whose reading skills may not yet be that strong.  The whole style of the book I thought might appeal to my son, who sometimes gets frustrated at not being able to draw something to his satisfaction, (he's a terrible perfectionist) and the book absorbed him completely for some time - he was very pleased with the results which it enabled him to obtain, quite easily, and of course the idea is that you can put all these individual drawings together to make your own 'World'.

I am not always a fan of very prescriptive art books, which show you a particular 'how to' technique and nothing else, but I think books like this one can provide a good springboard or stepping stone for the developing young artist.  After all, it's often said that many children eventually abandon art because they get frustrated when they find themselves unable to draw what they want to, and if a book like this helps them get over that hurdle for a while, that can only be a good thing.  There is also plenty of potential for creativity in putting together the individual drawing elements to create individual scenes or stories, and I suspect as time went on, those individual elements would be adapted and personalised.

All in all, I can thoroughly recommend this book.  If you fancy trying it for yourself, you can get it here. Alternatively, you can get a taste of drawing the Ed Emberley way, by creating your own dinosaur/dragon following the instructions below:


To Create your own Dinosaur/Dragon:

Start with a dinosaur....

 To turn your dinosaur into a dragon.....

You may also be interested in visiting Ed Emberley's own website which has more art activities and resources related to his books.

Artful Kids Competition - win a unique piece of personalised artwork

I have just launched my first competition for Artful Kids, in association with Raring to Go magazine. To take part I am inviting readers of the magazine, and of Artful Adventures, to submit a photo of their children's artwork, which will be turned into a unique, and personalised piece of contemporary canvas wall-art measuring at least 30x30cms and worth a minimum of £85.

This is just one of the options I currently offer at Artful Kids, but it is the most creatively satisfying and challenging for me, as the child's artwork is transformed into something new, while retaining the distinctive feel and integrity of the original.  Every piece is unique, as the approach taken is very much dictated by what the original work inspires.  You can see a few 'before and after' photos here which give you some idea of the wide variety of styles this can result in.  A digital proof is always supplied before production goes ahead, to ensure that the customer is happy with the finished result.

To enter, you need to submit a photograph of your child's artwork, by posting it on your blog and adding your link below. Alternatively you can send your image as a Jpeg to: info@artful-kids.co.uk.  The closing date for all entries is 30th April, and the winning piece of artwork will be selected the following week.

Best of luck!