Book Review: 642 Things to Draw

It's been a while since my last book review, but rather than rectifying that with a novel review, I'm here to tell you about a fun, creative book instead. It's called: 642 Things To Draw.

642 Things To Draw is an inspirational sketch book packed full of prompts to inspire and encourage its owner to draw. Rather than just being a collection of inspiring words and ideas, the book is designed to be used as a sketch book, with room beneath each prompt to complete each one.

If you're like me, you might long to draw but often lack the inspiration when you pick up your sketchbook; there's only so many fruit bowls and wine bottles you can draw before you get bored and give up altogether. Sound familiar? If it does, then I think this could be the perfect book for you.

With 642 different prompts to work through, this book is a great source of inspiration for beginners and pros alike, and it should keep even the most productive artists busy for months, if not years. It includes a wide range of different topics, such as: animals and people, landscapes and buildings, food, every day objects, emotions, body language, fantasy, and so much more. They've got everything covered! The wide variety of subjects helps to keep the sketchbook interesting, and also challenging- well, at least for amateurs like myself!

The pages each feature one to four things to draw, and are neatly divided by thin black lines in to halves, thirds, or quarters (when more than one topic fills a page). The space provided for sketching is limited when the pages are divided in to three or four, but the advantage is that most tasks can be completed in a relatively short space of time- which is ideal if your time to draw is limited.

Here's just a selection of the prompts included in the book:

♥ A crash test dummy.
♥ Sea spray.
♥ A circus.
♥ Freckles.
♥ Unmentionables.
♥ A narwhal.
♥ Head in the clouds.
♥ A scream.
♥ A gravestone.
♥ The view from an airplane window.
♥ A tattoo.
♥ A celebration.
♥ A spiral staircase.
♥ Best friends.
♥ Polka dots.
♥ A lemon meringue pie.
♥ A Beatles song.
♥ A shoulder shrug.
♥ Tears.
♥ Hills and valleys.

What I love about this book is that the majority of the topics are suitable for artists (or budding artists) of all ages and skill. Some prompts are easy, others more complex, but you're free to interpret each prompt in your own way and draw in your own style, at your own level; you don't need to be Van Gough or Banksy to give them a go. You should be able to complete many of the topics at home, but you could also carry the book around with you, completing tasks as and when you find the inspiration. It's totally up to you!

I bought this book because I used to really enjoy drawing, but I haven't picked up a pencil or paint brush in several years. My art supplies are just gathering dust, and I'm eager to start using them again. I knew I needed a little help with inspiration, though, so having already gotten a lot out of the Things To Write books, I knew this book would be the ideal way for me to slowly ease my way back in to art. 

I'm not a great artist by any means, but using 642 Things To Draw is a great way for me to give it a shot, practise, and attempt to draw a bunch of things I've never drawn before. I haven't drawn anything worth sharing yet, but I'm looking forward to working on more this Spring and Summer when the days stretch out and the daylight is better quality to work from. There are so many interesting things to draw in this book, and I plan to eventually work my way through all of them. Although, knowing me, it'll probably take me a while!

I think 642 Things to Draw is a fantastic inspirational sketch book for any person who loves to draw; and it's a great book to challenge yourself with if you're looking for something new to try this year.

There are a couple of other books in the series, too, including 642 Places to Draw, 642 Fashion Things to Draw, and 712 More Things to Draw, which are all available through Amazon.

Have you got a copy of 642 Things to Draw, yet?