[.ca] Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book: Learn to Draw ... (ISBN 0316789690)

From Amazon.com:
With little more than some ink, paper, and your own fingers, you can become an artist! Caldecott recipient Ed Emberley, author of Go Away, Big Green Monster!, as well as many creative art books (Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make a World, etc.), shows readers how to turn fingerprints into lions, basketball players, reindeer, "bean buddies," submarines, rainbow dragons, trees, even watermelon. Emberley provides straightforward information about materials and techniques on the very first page, then sets readers free to discover and explore. Step by step, Emberley takes artists through the process, showing, for each picture, a fingerprint first, then adding simple lines and other fingerprints to make the print evolve into an entirely new entity. A mouse, for example, starts out as a brown oval fingerprint. Next, two pink fingertip-print ears are added. A black dot makes a nose. Two smaller dots become the eyes, and finally a few lines turn this blob into a bewhiskered mouse head. Young artists can spend hours creating designs, patterns, and decorative scenes with this fun technique, especially if they move on to advanced finger-printing on the last page. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Second generation of Ed Emberley artists!:
We own four of Emberley's Drawing books and my kids loved them... they are now adults and I plan to use this newest book with my two grandchildren. Kids love to draw, but often get frustrated because the results "don't look right!". These books turn "I can draw??" into "I CAN DRAW!!" with smiles and laughter all around. The directions are very simple and the results satisfying... I recommend this book for all the budding artists you know.

I can finally draw!:
I purchased this book for my five year old and I have spent all afternoon creating. I am all thumbs when it comes to art and drawing. I have never been able to reproduce drawings--but now I can. Mine look just like Ed's. WOW! There is no need to purchase ink pads- I just used my son's washable markers and colored my finger with them. What a great book!

I LOVE this book!!!:
A friend of mine gave me this book, along with some stamp pads and markers for my 39th birthday. I am having so much fun with it! I use the ideas in the book for decorating letters, envelopes and packages, and everyone loves them! I recently taught my 4 1/2 year old niece to make "thumbies" as my friends and I call them, and she was able to follow along easily. She made a balloon-carrying mouse, a butterfly, a "frog with no legs" and a clown. I was really surprised! So, now I'm ordering a copy to give to my sister for her.

EXCELLENT FOR BEGINNING DRAW-ERS!:
I think its so sad when children say "i cant draw"... when all they need is someone to show them that it is easy and fun! This book is fabulous for the beginning drawers in your life...i try not to go by the age ranges as people learn to draw at different stages... i showed this book to my son's teacher who was convinced she couldnt draw only to see the pride in he smile when she made a few little fun pictures...clearly she was re-thinking her artistic ability! the pictures are simple as are the concepts but i think starting with the easy stuff builds self esteem and gives kids courage to move on the more difficult complex things...

Don't I Have This One Already?:
That's the feeling I had when I received this as a present but, nope, I was wrong: I had the THUMBprint drawing book. And there's very little duplicatioin between this book and the thumb book! Same premise and target audience, though: If your kids have fingers, they can draw! If they're very young, you can draw the details, but if they can hold a pencil, they can probably add the simple shapes and forms to make their own pictures. The more drawing I do with kids, the more I realize how these books develop skills. They're a perfect gradient for youngsters just sitting down to draw. The books tell them what shapes to add, and it's a matter of duplicating those shapes in the right places--a skill one needs for more realistic drawing. This is a great starter for a series of books that your kids will enjoy for years and will give them a comfort level and basic skill set they can use to make more sophisticated drawings later, if they want.