After I wrote my earlier post on art ideas for children last month, I've had so many comments and emails from people sharing what books and resources their children love - they have been so helpful and interesting. Have a look in the comments of my earlier post for some of them. The Ed Emberley books in particular seem to be loved and used by everybody.
I decided to buy a manga book and some manga pens for C and O first. I bought Manga For the Beginner - Chibis by Christopher Hart and some promarker pens.
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| Manga for the Beginner by Christopher Hart |
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| Manga promarkers |
It was like opening floodgates! They both produced page after page of manga drawings, and still do so most days.
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| O's manga |
I ended up buying a second manga book, so that they didn't have to share, and went for Super-Cute Chibis by Joanna Zhou, which is also excellent. I also bought more promarkers, but have my eye on the manga pens by Faber-Castell too, which look very good and come in a good range of colours. You can buy both the promarkers and the Faber Castell manga pens at branches of Hobbycraft and most independent art shops, as well as online.
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| Super Cute Chibis by Joanna Zhou |
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| From Super Cute Chibis by Joanna Zhou |
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| From Super Cute Chibis by Joanna Zhou |
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| C's manga |
Other than manga, other successes have included How To Draw Fantasy Art Warriors, Heroes and Monsters which I bought for C, thinking he might like drawing things similar to his Warhammer figures. I was right - he loves this book and has been really inspired by it. The author, Mark Bergin, has a whole range of 'How To Draw' books out in the same series, which look excellent. C wants to get the Trees and Woodland one next.
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| How to Draw Fantasy Art Warriors, Heroes & Monsters by Mark Bergin |
For O, we bought Let's Draw Happy People by Sachiko Umoto which is just so lovely. Again, I am planning on getting the other books in the series by the same author. This book is an English translation of a Japanese book, and I find it very reminiscent, visually, of the Japanese craft books I own. O adores it, and it lives permanently propped open on her desk.
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| O's happy people |
Do you have any more art or craft book recommendations for older children? What books do your children enjoy?
Thanks for the recommendations - I've recently bought the bubble writing one for my 12 year old for his birthday I think he'll like it. Pro-markers are expensive I have a couple doubled up from my card making if you would like them just let me know I'll let you know what doubles I have and if they are any good to you I would happily send them to you xx
ReplyDeleteoh those happy people are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteOh their drawings! And I am v. envious of the markers, but doubt I would put them to such good use.
ReplyDeleteTheir drawings are fabulous! And I want that happy people book for myself - it looks adorable :o) x
ReplyDelete