Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
In my quest to get those creative juices running again (and to push myself to draw by hand), I’ve been amassing stocking up on all sorts of books with drawing prompts and other creative exercises.
The stack has grown and I haven’t made a lot of headway through them, but my current favorite of the bunch is a book called “Craft-A-Doodle.”
Stress has been at an all-time high in the past four weeks or so, as event after event (after event!) just kept on coming and I was up to my eyeballs in work. Three little books have been my constant companion during this time: Sachiko Umoto’s Illustration School series, which I picked up during the last MIBF.
I initially picked up these books because they’re adorable — who can resist covers like these? And I felt like I need an art refresher course, as this stubbornly dry spell in my artwork has refused to budge. But I’ve always been a doodler, and doodling calms me down especially when stress is at its peak. I find that working with my hands keeps me from getting too agitated, or from screaming (at certain people) in frustration.
Sachiko Umoto is a popular Japanese artist, and her Illustration School series: “Let’s Draw Plants and Small Creatures,” “Let’s Draw Cute Animals,” and “Let’s Draw Happy People” are step-by-step guides to cute (kawaii!) illustrations. The instructions are simple and work for various skill levels, and the pages are textured nicely for pencil drawing. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the books ever since I got them!
As some of you may probably know, I have not had meat for over thirty days now, because of a no-meat Lenten pact we’ve got going at work.
Today’s book is something that has actually made the past few weeks a bit easier for me: The Doodles Diet by Deborah Zemke.
I found this book one day when I was in a bad mood because I happened to pass by a rotisserie and went weak from the wafting smell of golden roasted chicken and shiny cutlets of pork. I consoled myself by entering a book store, and luckily, there was a little bargain sale going on at one of my favorite National Book Store branches (Harrison Plaza, if you must know — awesome bargain section!) and I found this book… (and two more bags full, but who’s counting?!?).
