Book Review: Storybook Art
Step-by-Step Art Projects for Children Based on Famous Illustrators
Ideal for casual fun or school art lessons, this book provides instructions to imitate the styles of 100 well-known picture book illustrators.
A collection of creative art projects for children, Storybook Art by MaryAnn Kohl and Jean Potter (Bright Ring Publishing, 2003) provides easy to follow instructions for children to recreate the style of their favourite picture books.
Storybook Art has been awarded a silver honor medal by the Parents’ Choice Foundation and received a 2003 Reader Award from Practical Homeschooling.
Picture Books and Illustrators
Over 100 companion art activities refer children to their favourite picture book illustrators for inspiration and ideas.
Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, Pat Hutchins, David McKee, Ian Falconer, Maurice Sendak and 93 other illustrators provide the inspiration for encouraging children to explore art works inspired by a familiar medium – well-known and loved children’s picture books
Activities include:
- charcoal sketching projects
- watercolour painting
- constructing objects such as a striped hat in the style of Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat.
- how to make handmade paper
- embossed drawing
- make your own pop-up pictures
- pressed clay pictures
Each project includes a list of materials required, easy to understand step-by-step instructions and some suggestions for variations and extensions of the basic activity.
Step-by-Step Art Projects
Each project page focuses on reproducing the style of a specific illustrator. There is a brief summary of the art style, a synopsis of one book illustrated by the artist and a quote by the illustrator. A black and white hand-drawn image of the artwork project and black and white picture of a child’s completed project is provided, but there is no actual illustration to provide an example of the illustrator’s work.
The top corner of each page contains a series of icons that indicate:
- level of experience/skill required – from beginner artists with little experience (one star) to challenging activities for artists with experience with a variety of methods (three stars)
- recommended level of adult planning and supervision (from little to involved)
- Type of technique or style
- An outdoor icon indicates an activity can be completed outdoors.
- A group activity icon indicates a project that is suited to groups of two or more children.
Additional Resources
The projects are sorted into five basic techniques – draw, paint, print, cut/collage and craft/construct. The chart of contents lists projects providing a summary of information about each activity including name of illustrator, author and book title, name of art project, style, child level and adult involvement. This is a great overview for selecting a suitable activity at a glance.
In addition, there are a variety of alphabetical topic index lists including index of book titles, illustrators, authors, publishers, art activities and illustrator websites as well as a general overview alphabetical index.
A 7-page listing of picture book award winners is included as a guide to choosing quality picture books. The awards include The Caldecott Medal, The Parents’ Choice Awards, BookSense Book of the Year Awards, The Charlotte Zolotow Award and the Boston Globe – Horn Book Awards.
Applications and Uses
Storybook Art is ideal for use by classroom teachers or home schooling parents as part of a curriculum for children between the ages of 4 – 12.
Encouraging children to explore the various illustration techniques can provide them with inspiration for illustrating their own stories. It can also help them to better evaluate the techniques and details of illustrations in their own favourite picture books.
The lack of original colour illustrations and obscurity of some of the illustrators for readers outside the US is a minor annoyance in what is overall a very useful, well set out children’s art activity resource book.
Related article: The Art Book for Children
