Non-Fiction Review: Craft-a-Doodle, 75 Creative Exercises from 18 Artists

Title: Craft-a-Doodle, 75 Creative Exercises from 18 Artists

Author: Jenny Doh

Age Range: any

Paperback: 144 pages

Publisher: Lark Crafts (August 6, 2013)

Genre: Non-fiction, arts and crafts

Series: none

Source: Publisher for review

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Book:

Using a simple doodle as a starting point, 18 artists take you on an inspirational, crafty journey! Filled with inventive prompts designed to fuel the imagination, these 75 exercises motivate crafters to pick up a pencil, brush, or marker, and explore their artistic voice. From quick “try it” ideas using shapes and patterns to doodled portraits and contour drawings, these step-by-step projects are wild creative fun. The featured artists include Cori Dantini, who provides a “Recipe for a Face”; Flora Chang with innovative watercolor designs; and Teesha Moore who offers ideas for adding personality to doodled characters.

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Jenny Doh is head of www.crescendoh.com and author/packager of numerous art and crafting books. She is former Editor-in-Chief and Director of Publishing for Somerset Studio magazine and its sister publications. For her leadership in publishing, Jenny was recognized by Folio magazine as one of the top 40 leaders within the publishing industry.

Jenny received her Masters in Social Welfare from UCLA, and her undergraduate degree in Political Science from UC Irvine. She lives in Santa Ana, California. She loves to crochet, knit, stay fit, and play music.

 My Thoughts:

If you have a creative or crafty child, this book is perfect! Even if you are the crafty type, you would most likely enjoy the exercises in this book. There are 75 exercises in all, and each one is unique. Several different artists contributed to the book, so styles and ideas are widely varied.

I liked some styles and exercises better than other ones. Not every exercise appealed to me, but the beauty of having so many artists contribute is that there will most likely be something for everyone.  This book is a great resource for getting those creative juices flowing and switching into right brain mode. It is a lot of fun to take the doodle prompt and put an individual touch to it.

Here are some of my doodles:

This book is definitely recommended for anyone artistic! It would make a really fun Christmas or birthday gift.