Book review: let’s draw plants and small creatures
A little while ago on the blog, Danni wrote about a rather lovely book by an illustrator called Sachiko Umoto.
During my recent travels, I flew out of Bali airport and, while idling away the time in the airport bookshop, I stumbled upon another publication by the same illustrator, Let’s draw plants and small creatures.
Being right up my street, that book has now joined my ever-expanding collection of crafty tomes: 
The design and layout of the book are really lovely and make it easy to simply pick a page at random and have a go at following the instructions. There are lots of tips from the author about how best to structure your drawing at the beginning. It also helps that the whole thing is ridiculously cute, including the bite-sized facts peppered throughout (did you know a swallow could fly up to speeds of 322mph? I didn’t. So that’s why they’re so tricky to photograph!): 
I love to draw. Most of the time, when I’m not incessantly doodling nonsense on the back of an envelope, I’m copying from a picture or an object, and I’ve loved having a go at copying from Sachiko’s book. Here are some of my attempts:
My first drawing from the book – the cactus kid. Not sure what happened to the one at the bottom’s lips though – allergic reaction perhaps?
Really loved drawing this hibiscus flower – though as I was drawing in pen I couldn’t do the leaves quite right. Still pleased with the result though.
I tried my hand at a scene featuring many delightful things such as a tree, a hill, clouds and some flowers.
Since I started a “patterns” board on Pinterest I’ve been unearthing patterns all over the place – so I decided to try my hand at creating some patterns, at the centre of this is the Butterbur Flower (as you might have guessed).
And this pattern using the poinsettias drawing from the book.
And finally this underwater vista using the carp from the book.
The book is published by Quarry, and you can buy from Cass Art online as well as many other retailers and don’t forget to check your local bookshop too. Go buy it and then draw to your heart’s content.
It also happens to be National Doodle Day today so why not show a bit of line-drawn love to the charity Epilepsy Action and get drawing for them. They also have a rather wonderful doodle auction taking place on eBay, including doodles from the likes of Grayson Perry and Raymond Briggs (I am very tempted by the Grayson Perry auction…).
– Charlie
About thisischarlie
Charlie your patterns are so lovely! It makes me miss doodle club, we’ll have to recreate it over a Skype chat soon 🙂 xx For those of you wondering what doodle club is, it’s simple – on your lunch break gather some pals, paper, pens, pencils and rubbers (erasers) and sit round a table doodling and chatting. A great way to unwind for 30 mins
Go doodlers! By gum, though short-lived, Doodle Club rocked my world. I think a re-enactment over Skype is a fantastic idea. Thanks for the comment on the patterns – I really enjoyed drawing them. Sachiko’s book is a great way of getting inspiration too. Doodling is pure mindfulness as well.xx