Literature in Art Books

This book of scholarly essays on the impact of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" provides a very interesting set of perspectives on how this magnificent work influenced the cultural world of the West, especially in the 19th century. Not easy reading but fascinating to me as someone who has lived his life in the thrall of this opera.

I love the easy directions. Not only is it simple for me to use, but also for my third graders! Thanks!

This is the one -- groaty to the very core, fire-minted with economic insight and saucier than a dutchman's greek. Cuckltural marterioles to the max. Fork aht, sisters and brothers, fork aht.

My sons love this book. It helps them make realistic animals. I highly recommend this series.

My 5 year old son, who shows no particular artistic talent, enjoyed this book because he loves bugs. Even though this book is designed for older kids, he did a fair job drawing the crawlies. I uploaded two of his best work above. He gets no adult help.

I first found out about this book when my son came home with it from the elem. school library on their class' library day. He is 6 yrs old and loves to try to use paper to trace over the cars & trucks in the book. Older kids could probably try to draw it freehand from the picture. It really shows pretty much step by step to drawing all sorts of these things. This has led to my son drawing more and improved his fine motor skills, including handwriting. Partly because of this, he got a Crayola Light Up Trace Desk for Christmas that has vehicle stencils and he is still drawing . . .

Drawing Alien Fantasies is a step-by-step guide for drawing aliens and their spaceships. It also teaches perspective by showing you how to draw various alien settings.

It shows you how to start with simple shapes and develop them into complicated drawings. I am eight years old and before I got this book I could barely draw at all. Using this book, I've gotten to do really cool drawings like the Deep Space Viper.

This book would be great for any kid who likes science fiction and wants to learn to draw. If I could, I'd give it more than five stars!

This book is part of a great drawing series. It shows complete idiots (me) how to draw great, realistic animals. It also helps the accomplished younger artist (my daughter) to improve their work. Great animals, excellent advice, in a format that doesn't talk down to anyone. I have given several of these books as birthday gifts many times to anyone who likes to draw.

This is by far one of my favorite "children's" drawing books. I say children, but trust me, adults will find it just as useful and just as enchanting. The author, Doug DuBosque gives us step by step instructions on how to draw a wide range of insect critters. These drawings are in black and white (I find using a simple #2 pencil the best, along with some nice grade drawing paper) and are quite detailed. Now the word detailed may sound intimidating, but it actually is not at all once you get started. His lines and instructions are so simple that the very young can follow them with very little outside help. I photograph these little creatures and find, in my spare time, that is is quite gratifying to be able to draw what I photograph...it is sort of a hobby with me, one that I take great pleasure in. This book gives you a great start. Along with the wonderful drawings (step by step) the author offers, he also has provided a very readable and understandable text. The other books in his series are just as well done, it is just that I am particular to insects. In this small volume, the author also includes spiders, ticks, mites, centipedes and millipedes. All in all, a great little book and if you are interested in such things, a great by. As an added bonus, I have found that if you give a small kid a few pencils, a stack of scrap paper and this book, you can expect to not hear from them for a couple of hours or more, which, in my opinion, is far better than the T.V. or interrupting my naps. The kids seem to love this one.

While Draw Science Fiction is meant for a juvenile audience of aspiring cartoonists, it's featured for its ability to appeal to many an adult who may want to try their hand at drawing aliens, spaceships and space adventures. Step-by-step line drawings impart the basics of how to put together common monsters.