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Books to Inspire Children’s Art

Today I am sharing four books six-year-old Emma has been perusing that inspire artistic exploration.

Fun Crafts with Colors belongs to a neat book series called Arts and Crafts Fun. This title is full of fun, creative activities that encourage children to think about color and the impact that color has on their artistic creations.


Fun Crafts with Textures belongs to the same Arts and Crafts Fun series, but focuses on texture instead of color. Emma finds this book particularly intriguing, and I think it is a fantastic way to get children thinking about different art media – including some that are a bit unusual.


Talking with Artists is a very dense book that is probably most interesting to a child who already has a significant interest in art. Different illustrators were interviewed, and – based on the personalities of the illustrators – the interviews can be highly entertaining or quite dry. Emma focuses mostly on the illustrations rather than the text, but the variety there is an education in and of itself.

 


Emma borrowed
What Do Illustrators Do? from the library for the second time this week. We last took it out months ago, but it made quite the impression on her, because she intentionally found it to borrow once again. Illustrated comic book style, this book explores the entire process of illustrating a book. It talks about how artists consider perspective when illustrating books, how each artist has their own style, how artists work with editors and designers for the book, and much more. I definitely came away from this book with a new appreciation for just how much work goes into illustrating a book!

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

14 thoughts on “Books to Inspire Children’s Art”

  1. If you want a chapter book that inspires art and friendship Masterpiece by Elise Broach is one of my all-time favorite novels. Every student I have ever suggested it to falls in love with it as much as I am. It’s for older kids…8 and I up I’d say.

    1. Ooh we love “When Dinosaurs Came With Everything” – a picture book by Elise Broach! Will definitely check out “Masterpiece”, thank you for the recommendation!

  2. Elisa | blissfulE

    What a great thing to understand more of what goes into illustrating books! What a great roundup from your art-filled family!

  3. The first 2 books look interesting. We try to read some art books fairly regularly, but, alas, some of us are simply not that crafty :) Thanks for joining WMCIR!

  4. There’s an illustrator who is currently blogging the entire process. Only problem is it’s only coming out occasionally, so I can’t tell you the blog name. It’s been really interesting.

  5. Carolyn Wilhelm

    I did not know about any of these books. I am always looking for good art books as I am related to an art teacher. I will pass along the titles. Thank you so much. Carolyn

    1. I hope the art teacher likes them! I was so pleased to find them (actually, Emma found them at the library…)

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