An actual quality how to draw book for young teens.

[OtherMuzz]

So this is something that has been brewing in the back of my mind for a while. A how to draw book where anyone who actually knows anything doesn't cringe like hell when we look at it.

The idea is to make a book in direct competitions of the likes of Christopher hart, in terms of it is supposed to be a cheap fairly short book that relatives will buy a kid as a shitty Christmas present because they heard they like drawing. But it will be peer reviewed by professional artists, and contain strong fundamentals.

The more i think about it the harder i realize it is going to be, as i want to punch in as many fundamentals as i can, but still be straightforward, and provide a perfect basis in which the kids then can jump to traditional drawing texts. I'm not really thinking too much about how i would get it published, whether crowd sourcing is a valid solution after i have it written, or to approach traditional publishers.

So far I'm making this thread as a commitment to get it done.

Essentially it's going to be the opposite of this

---

Ok the goals.

• To be approachable by absolute beginners
  
• Inspire creativity
  
• Promote good drawing habits, squash bad (petting lines ect)
  
• layout a simple but solid foundation of fundamentals
  
• Not look too adult or difficult that an adult will not buy it for their
  
• draw characters of varied ethnicities and genders. I don't want to make it a big issue, but maybe have a character that is subtly gay? And avoid stupid stereotypes like "dumb kid" "glamorous teen".
  

Specific non goals

• it won't teach colour theory
  
• It won't compete with the likes of the traditional life drawing
  
  
  

[/hr]

Another concern that i have is that i am not good enough, but i hope to circumvent that with peer reviewing and iteration on all the drawings.

[OtherMuzz]

Started writing it in google docs, so far all the drawings are going to be placeholder, and the text will be far more verbose than the final.

I think it is far easier to condense complex text than to expand simple text.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/10efh...JDPK8/edit

[MissLillyArt]

This is a really awesome idea! I used how to draw books when I was a lot younger, and I picked up some terrible drawing habits from them. I don't know how half of them even made it to publication.

[OtherMuzz]

I think its because most serious attempts have been seen as too complicated for kids by the publishers, and thus don't make it through.

Learning how to draw a shitty drawing is nowhere near as daunting as learning to draw something well.

I think the hardest thing will be to make drawings which are approachable but also teach good habits.

[SpectreX]

Great idea!
Really hope it will work out and that you find a publisher ^^

Good luck!

[Madzia]

I recently watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctkRwRDdajo Betty Edwards - Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain. She explains drawing really good for someone who never had contact before with art. Also it make ME realize how different I see world in comparison to non-artists. Maybe this will give you some ideas for topics to prepare :)

[OtherMuzz]

That's a great idea, I'm watching it now. ( i should probably sleep though haha)

I've got a pretty decent idea about how people draw in symbols but it's helpful to learn other ideas on the subject.

[Heavenwill]

That's a really cool idea Muz :p Can't wait to see more of this

[Damien Levs]

Man, yes! This is a really good idea. I hope we get to read some, I might learn some stuff. Looking forward to this!

[Rognoll]

Kickass idea! I wish I could come up with some good stuff for this summer pitch.

BTW, The tick rules.

[OtherMuzz]

I need to do more work on this, I'm just focusing on getting everything ready for this job interview on Tuesday though.

:)

I am having second thoughts about whether i am actually good enough to make such a book, maybe a better approach is to do the bulk of the writing work but also outsource a bunch of work on it to better artists. Focus on making it a collective input of knowledge of pro's and not just one.

[Rognoll]

Good luck with that, dude!

[EduardoGaray]

i wasted a lot of money on useless how to draw books when i was younger and innocent so i wish you the best of luck with this project! Also, good luck with that interview!