Wednesday 9 December 2015

8 Ways to Draw an Elephant by Paola Ferrarotti (Tara Books)

We love art activity books and we particularly love any book that can introduce us to new art styles or ways of drawing and colouring - and of course books that feature our favourite animals...!"8 Ways to Draw an Elephant" by Paola Ferrarotti collects together some of the most gorgeous Indian art styles to introduce artsy kids (and adults) to traditional methods of drawing and decorating fab illustrations. 

Taking that most iconic of Indian animals, the Indian Elephant, as its core template Paola gathers together artists who work in each particular style, giving children blank templates to come up with their own interesting ideas. 

As with many activity books that are this beautiful, once you've got over the initial mental block on drawing or painting or colouring in this gorgeous book, you'll soon be an expert in drawing the intricate patterns and decorations that are common to the many Indian art styles showcased here.

We were completely hooked and absorbed by this wonderful book, and it was lovely to see styles here that we recognise from Tara Books' other fantastic publications, which always feature the most amazing talent from India at their core. 

If you're a fan of those intricate adult colouring books but want to take the challenge to the next level with some drawing and colouring, and some truly gorgeous new art techniques then this book will win you over!

Charlotte's favourite bit: Combining dark backgrounds with light highlights and tiny daubs of colour for dazzling effect

Daddy's favourite bit: I'm rubbish at drawing animals (particularly elephants - who knew their feet were so hard to draw!) but this book has been thoroughly absorbing and fantastic to work through

(Kindly sent to us for review by Tara Books)

"8 Ways to Draw an Elephant"

Written by Paola Ferrarotti

Illustrated by Various Artists

Published by Tara Books

Publication Date: 1st September 2015