‘How to Draw Cute Stuff’ is full of fun art ideas for school holidays

How to draw cute stuff, by Angela Nguyen is simply a delightful book. 

I’ve been a bit of a sketching and drawing person for most of my life, having majored in it at school. Sadly with age and busyness, and also with lack of practice, I have let it slip away – until I found this book in my mailbox to review. 

The cover is colourful and enticing, with lots of pictures of ‘cute stuff’. On opening it, I was really excited to see that I was going to be able to actually learn something and that it was not going to be difficult. 

Angela starts off with a few suggestions for what tools you need, pencils and pens, paper types and surfaces etc, with techniques showing how to master basic shapes and facial expressions. She even shows you a simple way to create shadows to give your drawings dimension. 

Further investigation offers step by step hints on how to get expressions right, how to draw people in the correct proportions and how to get movement into the picture. After a bit of practice, I felt like I was doing pretty well. She then dresses up her cute people, with simple ideas on how to create clothes and costumes for whatever you want to create.

Animals have always been tricky for me. Now I can draw a fish that does not look like a sparrow. My whale is recognisable as such and my dog does not look like a horse. 

The real proof of the pudding was when I went away with my grandchildren for a few days, and after a few renditions of the “I’m bored” chorus I got the book out with some paper and pencils. The children who were aged ten to twelve years thoroughly enjoyed their experiments with some great pictures emerging.

After a comprehensive look at how to draw cute people and cute animals, Angela moves on how to draw cute things. Buildings from skyscrapers to igloos, houses and tents. She adds in furniture, common household items and also transport. Finally, I can draw a car which looks like a car,  not a box on wheels. She completes the book with food, plants, flowers and trees.

Many would think that this book is just for children, but I found that it suited me very well. It is bright and colourful, the instructions are comprehensive yet simple. She explains how to put shapes together, eg how many circles make an elephant and somehow it all works. I particularly enjoyed her explanation of dividing people into thirds – two circles and a half circle. Her explanation of how to change expressions was wonderful, and now I can get both perspective and proportions worked out.

This is a book that you might buy for your grandchildren, but possibly will be reluctant to let go of.  It is delightfully relaxing to curl up in a chair in the sun and just do a few sketches which you might like to paint or use Chameleon pens to complete. I would highly recommend this delightful book. How to draw cute stuff by Angela Nguyen will certainly help to fill a few hours when you need a distraction or when your grandchildren come to visit.

How to draw cute stuff by Angela Nguyen is available from Dymocks. Click here for details