Christmas Gifts

My mom and my sister very generously gifted me with some very cool art books for Christmas.  Take a look:

This first one is called "How to Make a Journal of Your Life" by Daniel Price.  It's a small book (6.5 x 5 inches) but it's packed with good advice and some awesome sketches.

I love the title of this next one, "How To Steal Like An Artist" by Austin Kleon.  The title means, basically, that nothing is original.  We're all influenced by everything around us, everything we've seen before so anything we create isn't completely original (as compared to plagiarism, which the author defines as "trying to pass someone else's work off as your own").  Once you accept this principle, the pressure is off and you can go out and be a sponge, learn from anyone and everyone.

"The Sketchbook Challenge" by Sue Bleiwiss contains a whole bunch of techniques and prompts for filling up those blank pages, as well as pictures of pages created by many different artists who make sketchbooks and journals, many of whom I have met and/or studied with,including the wonderful Diana Trout.

Last but not least is "642 Things To Draw" by Chronicle Books.  It's a bunch of blank pages with, you guessed it, 642 drawing prompts (here's just a few examples: snowshoes, a robot, bricks, an uneventful street (!!) and even David Bowie). 

So far, I haven't been brave enough to draw anything using any of these books yet (mostly because I just haven't had time - I've been forcing myself to focus solely on finishing my Sketchbook Project, which is due next week) but I will!