Description
Book SynopsisThis fourth book in the 'Kawaii' series is packed with adorable creatures from a range of cultures and mythologies. In the hands of author-teacher Angela Nguyen, even a three-headed dog is drawn in a style that will have any young artist cooing! This book teaches young readers what kawaii is all about and how to draw any mythical animal in an adorable style. There are clear step-by-step diagrams that are great for visual learners and make it super-easy to follow the instructions. The wonderful beasts are organized by the terrain in which they are found: air, water and land. There is also a section devoted to how young readers can create their own creatures: elephants with tiny wings, bunnies with unfeasibly large ears, and 'mash-ups' like giant bats. Angela has created 'feature spreads' showing imagined landscapes where some of these creatures might safely graze. Taking cuteness to the next level, this wonderful resource makes drawing instantly achievable and great fun!
Trade ReviewFor the fourth title in this series, the author gives fantasy creatures the cute makeover. If you doubted whether a kraken or basilisk could ever look remotely kawaii, then look no further for proof!
Here is another in this excellent series for my keeper shelf. I think that these have to be the most user-friendly drawing books ever, and I enthusiastically recommend the series for all those Japanophiles who find mastering the manga style tricky.
The key to success is largely in understanding what makes something cute, and then altering elements of a drawing to achieve this. Learn how to simplify facial expressions to convey a wide range of moods and add in simple but effective backgrounds. Basic art materials are all you require, and you can draw on anything, so this hobby probably won’t require any outlay at all – always good news. Build up your beastie from simple shapes, add in details, and you have a drawing worthy to be turned into a soft toy, painted onto a T-shirt, or made in polymer clay.
The book is divided into chapters so you can choose from depicting creatures from water, air, and land environments. Each item takes up a double page spread and shows how you can build up a drawing, adding colour and also how to vary it in usually two ways. Creatures include dragon, unicorn, Nessie, and griffin, but most are mashups invented by the author, such as a rabbit with a mermaid tail, flying elephant, fluffball and many more. At the back there are ideas on how to create your own with examples. There aren’t any projects, but cute creatures like these are ideal for translating into any craft project you can imagine. More titles please!
-- Rachel A Hyde * myshelf.com *
A great chance to return to my childhood! I loved the easy to draw figures and step-by-step illustrations. It helped me to unwind and relax as well as discover I can draw! -- Caroline Watson * Amazon Customer Review *
A really great read. The instructions are so clear with adorable results!
-- Janet Barnes * Amazon Customer Review *
Table of ContentsMeet Angela!
Tools
Fiber-tips, colored pencils, no special equipment required.
Make It Cute!
The key ingredients to making a cute drawing are explained here: big head, large eyes, fat cheeks, and a little bit of
magic, capturing the essence of a creature’s character.
The Menagerie
A roll call of all the creatures, making it easy to choose the one to draw first.
Chapter One: Water
Loch Ness Monster (aka Nessie)
Water horse
Kraken (a sea creature from Norse myth)
Snapping turtle
River monsters
Ghost whale (bake-kujira, from Japanese myth)
Inkanyamba eel (a legendary river creature from Zulu and Xhosa folklore)
Crocodile gbahali (from Liberia)
Water dragons
Water bunnies
Chapter Two: Air
Air dragon
Griffin
Pegasus
Phoenix
Giant bat
Winged elephant
Giant butterfly/moth
Kongamato (pterosaur-like creature from Congo)
Elemental birds
Winged deer
Winged lion
Flying rabbit
Giant dog
Chapter Three: Land
Giant dog
Basilisk (magical serpent)
Cerberus (three-headed dog)
Unicorn
Robot monster
Tree creature
Bigfoot
Big antler deer
Ozark howler (a shy, legendary creature living deep in the Ozarks)
Three-eyed cat
Rock monster
Kasa-obake (an umbrella-shaped mythical creature from Japanese folklore)
Nuppeppo blob (a baggy, saggy creature from Japanese folklore)
Land dragon
Sphinx
Grootslang (Afrikaans and Dutch for “big snake”)
Horned rhino
Ghost creature
Floofle (a furball with ears)
Horned tiger cub
Now Draw Your Own
Index and Credits
