How to Draw Almost Everything: An Illustrated Sourcebook Paperback – Illustrated, April 22, 2016

these are amazing books! I've loved the art of drawing, forever.. But I'm terrible.. These little drawings are so adorable and simple with the step by step pages - and there are SO many awesome pages! I love to use them for doodle art with my students too, or creating stories, they're a lot of fun. I feel like a better "artist" already - I can add things to them (elements from other pages) or just change colors... The simple steps make this book a true find and there seem to be endless possibilities to what you can do with all of the images provided! I highly recommend this for creative types or people looking for some creative sparks - an wonderful source of lots of fun art!

How to Draw Almost Everything: An Illustrated Sourcebook Paperback – April 15, 2016by Chika Miyata (Author)I am a bit over 50 and I have never tried to draw, when I was still a kid I was told just to forget it. Now with all the adult coloring books and the doodles, I thought I would give it a try, and I am having such a GREAT time, I couldn't wait for this book to come out, (I pre-ordered it in January) it arrived today and I couldn't be happier, for someone that doesn't know anything about drawing but wants to try it, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. Worth every penny. I am so happy and highly recommend this book for "almost" ALL AGES. Thank you to the Author "Chika Miyata" , and thank you to Amazon for making it available.

Great handbook breaking down multiple subjects in an accessible way that is great for beginners. It is compact, and the illustrations are tiny (think quarter-size, ok not all or even most are that small, but you get the idea). I actually appreciate that because it makes the book more portable if you want to travel with it. At 221 pages, it's a great resource and I look forward to practicing my drawing skills.Critiques:1. An index would really be useful! There's so much covered, and things are nicely divided into categories. But they aren't in alphabetical order or even from most popular to less. For instance, cat is on page 26 but dog is on page 17.2. Speaking of, I wish a full page was dedicate to variations for cats and dogs, as they are likely to be more popular subjects.3. The full color pages can be difficult to read. There are some categories where the pages are a solid color, with the illustrations in a darker shade, monochromatic instead of the colorful illustrations on the majority of the pages. I would rather the color be confined to the border, leaving the majority of the page white, with the standard colors used to highlight where you can make the drawing more realistic.But overall, it's a great handbook for beginners wanting to draw with crayons, colored pencils, pens, or markers.

Really, I want to give this book 4.5 stars.The book's title should probably be "How to Doodle Almost Everything," and most people should know that going in- this book shows how to draw tiny, cute pictures that one might use to doodle around a notebook or in a journal. This is not a book that will show you how to draw super-realistic drawings. That should be obvious to anyone who looks at the preview photos, but I've seen reviews on other sites where people didn't realize what they were getting.Overall, the book is amazing; my critique is mainly this:Sometimes, the artist shows us step-by-step instructions, and sometimes the step-by-step instructions are eliminated. Sometimes the more complicated drawings don't have instructions at all; they're just pictured in the book for one to copy.As an intermediate artist of sorts myself, the steps are intuitive, and I understand the process of how to achieve the end result, but I fear for the people who are starting out or have never drawn who might be a little overwhelmed.Either way, I highly recommend this book.

This is a really nice book full of fun doodles that are easy and fun to replicate. I feel an embarrassing amount of pride for each doodle I finish and walk around the house showing everyone my work, like a little kid.For beginning artists, you may not have the range of pens and markers she recommends, but it ultimately doesn’t matter. Just use the book w the tools you have and decide if you love drawing enough to invest in more pens, etc. I found that I like the ink line art the most so far, but I’m just getting started.

My friends knowing I was a fan of Sachiko Umoto's drawing books recommend Chika Miyata's boo "how to draw almost everything". I purchased this partly to just look at the art and also as a way of developing my own whimsical style of drawing vesus my more realistic art. When the book arrived I found it filled with lots to look at and some inspirational ideas.First, the good stuff. The book is full color and author/artist Chika gives a good selection of items to try and encompass the everything the title states. Between the pages you will find animals, food, office supplies, planes, people buildings- just about anything - to practice. There isnt much text other than some simple steps, imstead relying on sequential pictures to copy from start to finish. Chika uses mixed media so some drawings may just use pen and ink while others blend colored pencils or acrylic paint.Now for the not as good. The step by step pictures don't realy help one draw better, instead just showing how a picture is built up. Which materials were used is also not explained so unless you are familair with different art mediums you may be lost at how some effects were achieved. My biggest personal issue with the book was that it was too think so ome could not flip to a page and use as reference without using a paperweight to hold the bok open. Also, in a truly personal taste I did not find Chikas art as attractive to look as Sachiko Umotos. In fact, Chikas work at times seem messy and unfinished.Over all I enjoyed my time wth this book but it is not a book I woud return to often. A fun drawing guide but not essential.