Ruth Millington

I loved several things about This Book Will Make You an Artist by Ruth Millington and Ellen Surrey. First, the premise is that you will discover different artists' techniques and styles throughout history by making the art. Second, the artists come from the past and present and many different countries. I dare say there are more women featured in this book than men.

After introductory material, the book goes through history starting with cave paintings through to murals by Esther Mahlangu using one page to describe the art style or artist and another page with directions for creating a similar piece of artwork. For example, with the cave paintings, the author describes the materials our ancestors would have used to create the few red and black colors. In the "Now it's Your Turn" section, young artists create colored paint by adding spices like turmeric, cinnamon, or cumin to white paint. Another example focuses on string sculptures by Judith Scott. We learn about fiber art and young artists create their own three-dimensional sculptures. The author even teaches about Dada art where young artists make and perform found word poems.

This is a must-read for aspiring artists who want to learn about different styles and artists and try their hand at each one of them. The history of the artists/movements is concise and informative with keywords bolded and included in the glossary. The directions to create the artwork are clear with drawings of what materials are needed and for key steps. An illustration of each artist's/style's famous work appears on the page.

This book will make you an artist and it will make you an art aficionado, too.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program in exchange for an honest review.… (más)