If you are new around here then maybe you’ve not come across one of this type of posts before. If you are here for the cards and art then scroll on (I have a couple of card posts coming later this week) but if you like a good book then I’m hoping you will find this post interesting. I spent a loooooong time in education culminating in a PhD in Cell Biology and that desire to keep learning has never left me. When I started work I revelled in the introductory training and since I started this blog I have enjoyed teaching myself about all sorts of things from the creative process to the nuts and bolts of running a website. I am forever buying books and signing up to courses to feed that continuous desire to learn more. I don’t like to bombard you with reviews but every now and then I like to share what books are on my table that I am enjoying and any other online learning that has caught my eye. I’ve linked all supplies with compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.
The Colour Scheme Bible
The Colour Scheme Bible is a recent purchase that I am really enjoying flicking through and can see me reaching for again and again. The book was written for interior design but I think help with colour schemes can span genres. Colours that go well in a living room or bathroom could equally go well on an autumn card or summer seaside card. So when I sit to make a card and am stumped as to what colours to use I’m picking out colour schemes from this book as a jumping-off point.
The pages of the book are laid out with a key colour and then accent colours to go with it. I like the way the colour blocks are proportioned in that the main colour fills the page, then there are medium-sized blocks of mid colours and a splash of suggestions for accent colours – the gallon, quart, pint principle of design.
I love this Coney Island colour scheme on the right, for example. The colours are all numbered – (1) could be your focal point colour, with (4) and (5) as accents and then (2) could be an ivory panel the focal point is mounted onto and finally (3) as a kraft card base. If you are struggling to create colour schemes that gel well together then perhaps The Colour Scheme Bible is for you.
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50 Ways To Draw Your Beautiful, Ordinary Life
Next up is 50 Ways To Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life. The illustrators from Flow magazine but this book together to share how to draw in their quirky, fun, doodling style! You might see on social media at the moment the build-up to “Inktober” which is a daily art challenge throughout October. Jake Parker started the challenge in 2009 as an ink drawing a day for the month of October with prompts for each day and since then it has been adopted and branched off in many directions to include colour and other mediums. A favourite of mine is “Peachtober” from illustrator Sha’an d’Anthes. Basically, daily practice is good for us and our art and Kathy Racoosin’s colouring challenges are another excellent example of encouraging us to pick up a pen, marker or brush on a daily basis. Basically, “just do it” as the slogan says and you will reap the benefit of daily practice. Getting back to this book and I can see it being a great accompaniment to the Inktober/October drawing challenges that will flood our feeds next month.
The book is filled with 50 step-by-step lessons illustrating how to draw the everyday items around us with space for us to practice within the book – a great medley of options to pick and choose from for October. Not only that but there are all sorts of fun and thoughtful little additions to the book, from the front fly cover unfolding to become a poster, to cut out paper dolls to colour outfits for, tracing paper sheets bound into the book to help when you are struggling with a shape, DIY postcards, sheets of watercolour paper, coloured paper to draw on with white pens or chalk. The list goes on.
Dotted throughout the book are also inspiring spreads on the artists. This book feels a little like Dr Who’s Tardis, you go inside and there’s so much more than you anticipated. Appealing to all ages I think this book would make a cracking Christmas gift for a budding artist!
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great resources!!