How I Learned To Draw
A Wall of My Framed Art
EelKat's Art Books
How I Learned To Draw
This Lens Is Part Of a Series of Lenses
Read The Other Lenses In My Art Series
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How To Start Your Own POD Business
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I have started two different home businesses and one fund raiser all using the Print On Demand technology. On this lens I well look at what I did and tell you how you can do it too! This lens was created on September 5, 2007 Last updated on August...
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My Art Equipment
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With 30 years of art under my belt, I have tried literally hundreds of different materials and art supplies, testing them all, the old and the new, and finding out which are the best, than sticking with the ones that worked the best for me and my sty...
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How I Became An Artist
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I've been an artist for nearly 30 years now. In the past few years I've expanded to creating art for greeting cards and t-shirts. On this lens I'll look at what I do and how you can do it as well.
Books I Used As a Young Child
During the first ten or so years of my life, I set out to collecting a lot of drawing books, and it was through those drawing books that I got my first start. Many of these children's art instruction books, I still use even today, and would recommend them to anyone of any age who desires to learn to draw.
If you have never drawn anything at all, there is nothing better than the any art books by Ed Emberley. These were among my very first books, and were well used. Used so much if fact that I had to buy multiple copies of several volumes. I still use Ed Emberley's books, as there is nothing better to teach the basic ground rules of drawing.
Sadly of Ed Emberley's some 30 or so books on art instruction, only a handful are still in print today and the out of print volumes are rather hard to find.
Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $6.99
Used Price: $2.98
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make a World
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $6.99
Used Price: $2.98
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Faces (REPACKAGED) (Ed Emberley Drawing Books)
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $6.99
Used Price: $2.98
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Books I Used As a Child
Cats: How to Draw Them (Pocket Drawing)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $16.99
Used Price: $18.50
Release Date: 12/31/1969
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Draw Horses With Sam Savitt
Amazon Price: $25.95 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $25.95
Used Price: $13.80
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Art Books From My Early Teen Years
With this change in my goals, came too a change in my art books, as now I took to studying human anatomy vs drawing. During this time the books that impacted my drawing skills the most were those by George B. Bridgman.
It was during this period when most all of my Twighlight Manor illustrations were drawn, and when my pictures of Etiole and EelKat became the most drawn thing of all.
Constructive Anatomy (Dover Books on Art Instruction)
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $8.95
Used Price: $3.41
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Art Books From My Later Teen Years
It was during this period that my many pictures of Sir Roderic and his haunted house, The Twighlight Manor began to be drawn, and when my art took a turn from the cute and cuddly to the dark and bloody, as I discovered the art of drawing gore in graphic detail, added with the life like addition of color pencil shading techniques.
There was also an increasing rise in comic books influencing my drawing style during this period, most noticeably Batman and Wonder Woman.
Colored Pencil Solution Book
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $19.99
Used Price: $14.61
Release Date: 12/31/1969
Avg. Customer Rating:
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Art Books From My Young Adult Years
My art turned now more than ever to drawing birds. It was during this period that I drew nearly all of the bird art you see featured on my CafePress and Zazzle products.
By this point I had started using my ever faithful Crayola Big Box once again, now in combination with colored pencils and watercolor.
Artists Photo Reference Birds (Artist's Photo Reference)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $24.99
Used Price: $32.31
Release Date: 12/31/1969
Avg. Customer Rating:
Art Books of My Mid-Twenties
Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolors
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
List Price: $22.99
Used Price: $10.24
Release Date: 12/31/1969
Avg. Customer Rating:
Harvest Moon in The Twighlight Forest
My Late 20's & Early 30's: The Age of No Art Books!
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In my late 20's and early 30's (or the past five years) I have not bought a single new art book! Instead, my book collection has expanded in other areas, namely: comic books. My vast unended supply of comic books was sadly left damaged by first a flood and than a year later a fire. With thousands of comic books damaged beyond repair, many reduced to "paste" after the flood, all of my book buying efforts have been focused on rebuilding my beloved comic book collection. Unfortunately, this was a collection inherited by me after my grandmother died, a collection she started back in the 1930's and my research now tells me that many of the comic books I had sell at alarming prices ($700 - $2,000 per issue is not uncommon!) It will cost me some $300,000 to $400,000 to rebuy/replace all of those now destroyed comic books. :( Well, as I don't even make a fraction of that total each year, it will be a while before I am ever able to replace the lost comics.Until I went looking to replace the comics I had had, I had no idea the prices comic books of the 1930's - 1950's were selling for, as I had never before tried to buy any from that era. So, while I would like to someday rebuild my once massive collection, my focus now has moved on instead to just buying up all the comic books I enjoy reading the most: namely Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, and InuYasha.
And so, we come to the end of this lens, because I have not bought any new art instruction books since the flood. While many things were destroyed by the flood, thankfully, all of my art instruction books remained intact.
Ed Emberley on eBay
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George B. Bridgman on eBay
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Reply
- greatartists greatartists Apr 5, 2009 @ 8:13 am
- Hi EelKat, Thanks for this splendid list of art instruction books arranged by the age group in which you discovered and used them. Have you ever come across the large series of art instruction books written by Walter T. Foster that used to be available in my corner of the world in the 60s, 70s and 80s?
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Reply
- makingamark makingamark Mar 18, 2009 @ 2:57 am
- Following the ages of learning to draw is a great way of unpicking what kids are ready for at different stages!
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- Tiddledeewinks Tiddledeewinks Mar 1, 2009 @ 2:04 am
- Art is a good creative outlet for everyone! Check out some of my over 150 lenses!
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- Tiddledeewinks Tiddledeewinks Mar 1, 2009 @ 2:04 am
- Art is a good creative outlet for everyone! Check out some of my over 150 lenses!
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Reply
- GypsyOwl GypsyOwl Aug 15, 2008 @ 11:36 am
- Hi! Your work is so inspiring. :D Thank You. GypsyOwl
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