Creative Doodling & Beyond, A Review
Creative Doodling & Beyond by Stephanie Corfee is a beautiful book meant to be user friendly in that one can doodle right in the book itself. Perhaps not the best choice for libraries to circulate given this feature, but it is a wonderful addition to a personal library. For those running art programs, the book is chock full of ideas that can inspire even the most reticent artist to creativity.
The book presents well as a colorful oversized paperback with rounded corners and gorgeous designs on the cover. This is not a book for an unskilled artist, however. The designs are presented as a whole, not in a step-by-step fashion that can be quite intimidating for the aspiring doodler. Unlike some other books in a similar vein like Zentangle Basics by Suzanne McNeil or Yoga for Your Brain by Sandy Steen Bartholomew, this book presumes the artist already has their doodling skills established.
The creativity projects within the book are a great next step for those who have worked their way through other tangle books and are ready for a "what next" activity. Some of the projects in the book including making your own doodle stamp and using it to create wrapping paper, designing unique gift tags and making family heirloom handprints are some great ideas for people looking for a next step.
Being an avid doodler myself and having worked my way through every Zentangle book in print, this book was a pleasant surprise. However, had it been the first book I purchased, I would have been a bit intimidated. The author comes at the book from more of a purist art perspective with lots of talk about line weights, symmetry and balancing forms that may go over the head of someone just interested in new ideas for using their doodling skills. In addition, only completed designs are shown - beautiful but perhaps difficult to tease apart for the novice doodler.
VERDICT: A colorful and inspiring book for further use with your doodling projects. Perhaps not the best choice for a circulating collection of a library but a great addition to a personal library of any artist, aspiring or professional interested in this artform.
NOTE: I did purchase this book from Amazon.com for my personal library.
The book presents well as a colorful oversized paperback with rounded corners and gorgeous designs on the cover. This is not a book for an unskilled artist, however. The designs are presented as a whole, not in a step-by-step fashion that can be quite intimidating for the aspiring doodler. Unlike some other books in a similar vein like Zentangle Basics by Suzanne McNeil or Yoga for Your Brain by Sandy Steen Bartholomew, this book presumes the artist already has their doodling skills established.
The creativity projects within the book are a great next step for those who have worked their way through other tangle books and are ready for a "what next" activity. Some of the projects in the book including making your own doodle stamp and using it to create wrapping paper, designing unique gift tags and making family heirloom handprints are some great ideas for people looking for a next step.
Being an avid doodler myself and having worked my way through every Zentangle book in print, this book was a pleasant surprise. However, had it been the first book I purchased, I would have been a bit intimidated. The author comes at the book from more of a purist art perspective with lots of talk about line weights, symmetry and balancing forms that may go over the head of someone just interested in new ideas for using their doodling skills. In addition, only completed designs are shown - beautiful but perhaps difficult to tease apart for the novice doodler.
VERDICT: A colorful and inspiring book for further use with your doodling projects. Perhaps not the best choice for a circulating collection of a library but a great addition to a personal library of any artist, aspiring or professional interested in this artform.
NOTE: I did purchase this book from Amazon.com for my personal library.
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