As the holiday season nears (well, for many, it feels like it is already upon us/them!), here are a few wonderful artsy books I loved and think would make great gifts for the artist you know (even if it is yourself!).

I dabble in drawing, scribble some sketches, potter in paints, and generally am a casual crafter of sorts.. And I can never resist the lure of a good book (as you already know), even more difficult when it combines a few things I enjoy – like in the case of these books featured here today.

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Five Wonderful Artsy Books to Gift Anytime!

The Art of the Line in Drawing

I have always marveled at the minimalist drawings that some people create which are simply beautiful to look at despite possessing a zen-like simplicity. And with this book, I realized I could get to that point.

Here are my first attempts at drawing using the instructions in the book. Let me know what you think of them 🙂

Special Effects

I love experimenting with lettering (always did) and fonts too (though hesitantly in this case). This vibrant brilliant book offers so many ways to letter and so many tips (from the basics – the type of paper, pens/paints/brushes to use; to loads more).

Frösén provides many examples (and I love the quotes/phrases she uses for the same) to inspire readers to experiment and clear instructions for various fonts and lettering styles as well.

Once you start, it is kind of tough to stop trying out everything this book has to offer – so much fun creating… And here is hoping I am on my way to becoming a calligrapher (of sorts!)

Creative Portraits in Watercolor

Santos covers everything from the color wheel to harmonies, contrasts, and palettes, from basic tools needed (types of watercolor paints, papers, brushes, and other) to concepts and techniques. And she does all of this gently, without overwhelming the reader. While the step-by-step instructions seem brief, they are nevertheless helpful and have the tone of a patient teacher!

I am going to enjoy this book for sure, and hope to overcome my weakness of drawing (not much about this here but has enough for me to get started once again) and painting faces!!

Sweet & Creepy Coloring

While I should have shared this book earlier, I simply had not gotten around to actively working on all this a couple weeks ago yet. For I arrived back from India on the 27th of October, and jetlag as well as spooking my daughter to get started on college apps occupied my time. (The second part is still true as of now though i am thankfully over jetlag now)

Anyway, back to this book. It is full of spooky ghostly cuteness across its pages, and so much for everyone to spend hours coloring within…

Painting Cats

My teenager is perusing this one, and I will be sure to share one of her creations soon. She adores cats and loves to paint and doodle, so she is working her way through the book and enjoying it. As for me, I am trying to at least draw my way through these adorable cute creations for now..

The Bookish Memes Five…

For this one, I am picking one more of the artsy books I am reading and loving..

(1 & 2) Book Beginnings and First Line Friday

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

As children, we draw – instinctively, and generally without too much thought, we put crayon to paper and we make marks. We don’t generally have a sense of good or bad drawing. We just draw. And that is what this book is about – just drawing.

3 Friday 56

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Freda’s Voice and visit others in the linky. 

In truth, drawing is all about relationship, because it requires us to build connections with the world around us, to get to know it better and deeper through the process happening on the page. When we draw something, the nature of that object, place or person can communicate itself to us and we can reciprocate and reply – show that we have noticed – through the marks we make as we draw. What we are starting, in fact, is a dialogue, and talking is how relationships are formed.

4 Book Blogger Hop

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Bookworm or Reader?

Oh my! That is a tough question for I am someone who tends to read the printed word, regardless of whether it is a book, a magazine, a newspaper, or well, anything else! So a bookwormeader?!

5 More Artsy Books

• Drawing Digital: The complete guide for learning to draw & paint on your iPad by Lisa Bardot. I do not have an iPad but am trying to use this one with Sketchbook on my iPhone at this time. However, love the thoroughness of the instructions within that is sure to help all of you who have always wanted to try drawing on their iPad.
• Artist’s Letters edited by Michael Bird. I mentioned this book here and 👍🏻, enjoyed this read as much as I did the other book by Bird,
• Draw Every Little Thing: Learn to draw more than 100 everyday items, from food to fashion by Flora Waycott. Read my review here.
• Kawaii Doodle Cuties: Sketching Super-Cute Stuff from around the World by Zainab Khan. Cuteness overload in this book! Check my review here.
• The Art of Doodle Words: Turn Your Everyday Doodles into Cute Hand Lettering! by Sarah Alberto. More lettering.. and my review in the same post as for the Kawaii Doodle book.

Disclaimer: All books in this book are thanks to Quarto Publishing (the first five as well as Drawing Digital are physical copies of the books as part of my being a Quarto Ambassador while the others are digital review copies via NetGalley/Edelweiss.)

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read any of the featured artsy books, or the related ones? Your thoughts on the same? Do you have recommendations for any favorite artsy books of yours?