Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Goody Gumdrops with Ed Emberley
Drawing book
For ages 5 to 8
Two Little Birds, 2014 ISBN: 978-0991293513
You may think that drawing is complicated and that only people who have a natural affinity for it can do it. The truth of the matter is that creating simple drawings can be quite easy to do, if you know how to go about it. Thankfully for thousands of children (and adults too), Ed Emberley developed a simple drawing method to help people learn how to create wonderful drawings.
In this book Ed shows us how to take simple half circle gum drop shapes and turn them into pictures of animals. The book is made up of two sets of tear away instruction and drawing sheets so that children can share their art adventure with a friend or sibling.
On each sheet a series of pictures show us how to create one or more animal drawings, step by step. Something is added with each step so artists do not have to do too much each time and therefore don’t become overwhelmed or confused by the instructions. There is very little text in the book so once a child understands how to use the sheets, he or she can work through them without needing any help.
In the center of each sheet artists will find one or two colored gumdrop shapes so that they can try creating their own drawings, following the directions at the top and at the bottom of the page. For example, on the first sheet we are shown how to draw a seal at the top of the page and how to draw a beaver at the bottom. Green and brown gumdrops in the middle of the page serve as canvases for our own beaver and seal drawings. On the back of the sheet there are two more gumdrops to draw on.
Other animals we learn how to draw include puppies, owls, an armadillo, a bunny, a kitten, birds, and spiders.
Once they have mastered the simple techniques described in this book, children can go on to create wonderful artwork of their own that is full of animals.
