The “How To Draw Cool Stuff” Series Is Perfect for Beginners and Polishing Your Art Skills

The How To Draw Cool Stuff series by Catherine V. Holmes is an easy-to-follow drawing guide that’ll help you with sketching, shading, and a whole lot more.

As someone who loves drawing and creating original or fanart, I’m always on the lookout for resources to polish my skills. The How to Draw Cool Stuff series consists of three books, each covering specific things related to art. The best part of the series is that everything has been broken down to the basics. And I’m talking child-friendly basics here.

The first few pages of each book might make you feel bored until you reach the somewhat tougher sections. But my advice is that you should stick with the basics being taught. Creating art can be made easier if you start with simple shapes instead of trying to make a masterpiece in the first few strokes. Working your way up from circles and squares can help a lot in attaining the final picture you want.

How to Draw Cool Stuff is the first book in the series. The lessons are divided into three sections which are Know, Understand, and Do. There is also an accompanying artistic ‘Vocabulary’ section. This book teaches a lot of things in a step-by-step manner. You can learn how to draw a family of ducks, a waving banner, and a whole lot of other cool stuff.

How to Draw Cool Stuff: Shading, Textures and Optical Illusions is all about creating 2D and 3D shapes. Again, the second book in the series has been simplified for beginners. You’ll learn how to properly add shade to your creations as well make sure your figure’s proportions are correct. This book also teaches about hands.

From experience, I can say that drawing realistic hands can take some time to get right. With this book, you’ll be able to follow useful steps that’ll enable you to draw hands with the proper skin texture as well as learn how to shade them in an effective manner. There are also lessons about optical illusions and being able to play tricks on someone’s perception through art.

How to Draw Cool Stuff: Holidays, Seasons and Events is the third book in the series. It’s all about showing different holidays and festivities through art. Catherine takes a step-by-step approach in this book too. Whether it’s the Chinese New Year, Halloween, or Christmas Eve, this book has you covered. You can easily use the lessons taught to create individual holiday-inspired pieces or you can make tinier versions to include in event cards.

Throughout the series, Catherine V. Holmes also has advice to share with aspiring artists or hobbyists about their imagination being their only limit and how they should keep expanding it. She also encourages adding your own take in the lessons being taught and not trying to create replicas. You can also try everything out with colors if you don’t want to stick with regular black pencils.

The pages in all of the books are of good quality and the illustrations are clear. The covers of all three books are stunning!

All in all, I found the How to Draw Cool series quite useful. Whether you’re someone who hasn’t drawn in a long time or are still learning, the guidance offered by this series will surely help you out.

Have a piece of fanart stuck in your mind but you don’t know how to create it on paper? Well, this series might provide you with an answer by taking you back to the basics and offering some helpful lessons to refine your skills.

Are you familiar with the How to Draw Cool Stuff series by Catherine V. Holmes? Let us know.     

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Note: I was provided with the How to Draw Cool Stuff series (Library Tales Publishing) for review by Smith Publicity, Inc. The opinions are my own.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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