Pencil, Paper, Draw!: Pirates »

Skulls and swashbucklers, treasure maps and gold: with this fun and easy-to-follow drawing book, kids can create their own pirate world. Slowly, in manageable stages, they’ll learn how to produce some cool characters, along with all the things associated with these seafaring buccaneers. Each page features several numbered figures, with lines to copy or trace that build the picture. Blue lines are the new additions; black lines were done in a previous step; and gray lines are guides that you won’t need in the final illustration. Make a scary pirate flag; a spooky skeleton pirate with a sword; burly and bearded Peg Leg Pete; Rose, the lady pirate; one-eyed Harpoon Hank; and sea monsters, too!

Children's Literature

AGERANGE: Ages 5 up.

Steve Harpster has created an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide for aspiring artists and pirate enthusiasts. The directions are simple to understand and provide all that is required is to follow along with the illustrations in the book. There are no textual instruction, except for the introduction and "How to Use This Book" sections. The beginning illustrator simply needs to draw along with the guide knowing that in each step the blue lines are the new step and need to be added to what has already been drawn. It is, overall, a good introduction into recognizing simple shapes, how they can be combined and how they can ultimately be manipulated to create something much more complicated. The focus of the book is cartoon drawing, but with techniques and tips learned here along with practice and patience, any young artist will be able to translate what was learned into other styles of drawing. One potential downfall of the book is that there does not seem to be a progression of gaining skills or increasing difficulty. It is more of a "jump in and practice, practice, practice" approach. This is part of the "Pencil, Paper, Draw!" series. Reviewer: Trina Heidt