Draw Your Day for Kids!: How to Sketch and Paint Your Amazing Life

by Samantha Dion Baker

Hours of fun, art, and inspiration await in the kids' version of popular Instagram artist Samantha Dion Baker's Draw Your Day, an instructive and inspirational guide to keeping a daily sketch journal.With an encouraging and kid-friendly tone, Baker shares the benefits of keeping an illustrated daily journal with young readers. Drawing daily is a relaxing and reassuring way to express yourself, as well as a practical way to hone art and observation skills and creativity. The book will also function as a time capsule, enabling kids to look back on their memories and feelings, as well as having a visual representation of their developing artistic abilities. Adapted from the adult book with simplified text, kid-friendly art and prompts, and a built-in journal for kids to apply everything they've learned and create their own keepsake, Baker's signature illustrations inspire and demonstrate art techniques. With recommendations for materials, practice exercises, and ideas for inspiration, a budding artist could hardly wish for anything more.

Genres: Art

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 25, 2022

About the author

Samantha Dion Baker is originally from Philadelphia, where she grew up in a family of
artists. She graduated from The Cooper Union in New York City and spent over twenty years ' working as a graphic designer. Now a full-time author, illustrator, and artist, her favorite thing to do is wander the city streets and travel with her family, drawing all of the things she does, eats, and sees in the pages of her sketch journal. She is the author of Draw Your Day, Draw Your Day Sketchbook, Draw Your World, and forthcoming Draw Your Day For Kids! She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very inspirational and informative guide to keeping a drawing day journal for kids. It has practical instruction for how to shade, draw faces and figures, etc. with the first half of the book giving instruction on basics and how to do journal pages with advice like overflow outside of the page, how to use white space, the rule of thirds, types of lettering, etc. and how to do things like record your day, draw emotions and weather, etc. It's illustrated throughout with the author's incredible journal pages. There are also a lot of exercises, like make lists of things you'd need on a vacation that you could draw and fill these 6 squares with drawings of animals, etc.

The one negative I see with it is that the author's art is so good and I can see a lot of kids (and even adults) getting frustrated at not being able to do anything near this level. She doesn't really give instruction on how to draw the things other than faces and basics like copying her apples three ways to show how different media have different effects (a really cool idea). But even I felt kind of intimidated by this book. She has things like a really detailed drawing of a camel on one page that's painted with watercolors with perfect calligraphy and amazingly realistic dogs and all this stuff that would leave me feeling over my head. I would have loved to have seen pictures of journal pages done by kids in addition, to show that those can be fantastic too and you don't have to be an amazingly accomplished artist to make wonderful journal art pages. She does mention at the very end that she grew up in a family of artists and she felt frustrated as a kid because she felt that her art wasn't good enough and that it took years of practice, but I wish she would have put that at the start of the book instead of the end and also showed us some of those pages (she said she kept her stacks of art journals) or those of other kids. This is the kids' version of an adult book she wrote and I can see this being a little less overwhelming for adults, though I love the mood and the exercises she gives. As long as the child is not a perfectionist and understands that all art is great art, I think this will be a really fun and useful book.

The last nearly 100 pages are blank, for the child to start a journal of their own.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samantha Dion Baker has a good deal of experience inspiring and empowering people to keep drawing journals or illustrated journals. Before writing “Draw Your Day for Kids!,” Samantha Dion Baker had already published several books about drawing and sketching for adults — “Draw Your Day Sketchbook: A Guided Drawing Journal,” “Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal” and “Draw Your World: How to Sketch and Paint Your Remarkable Life.”

The book begins with a thorough explanation of the materials and from there goes on to explain the whys and hows of journaling with drawings. She presents important techniques of drawing, like rule of thirds and how to use white space. The exercises are kid-friendly, like make a list of things you need on a vacation that you could draw. Baker is a fabulous artist and the book is filled with lots of eye candy to admire and inspire. There are lots of exercises and prompts to get the budding artist going. At the end of the book there are approximately 87 blank pages in order to start one’s journey of journaling with drawings.

While the book is aimed at 8-12 year olds, it could also be used by adults. Because of its accessibility, this book would be an excellent gift for kids who are interested in beginning their artistic journey.

Thank you to Random House Children’s Crown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[MookNana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would make a fantastic gift for any budding artist in the middle-grades/middle school or older! It's an excellent combination of art lessons and journaling inspiration. I learned more about drawing technique here than I ever did in school and it seems so much more accessible!

The illustrations and examples in the book are so lively and pleasing to look at--they're a treat in their own right. There's a guide to supplies that explains what's available but doesn't make it seem like a child would need expensive or elaborate equipment to express themselves--pencil and paper are more than adequate! There are also ample blank pages at the end for readers to start on their own journal right away. I can imagine kids getting lots of inspiration from this and spending many happy hours drawing away!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

After following Samantha for many years and owning her other amazing titles, "Draw Your Day" and "Draw Your World," this was a must. As someone who came to drawing later in life, I was unsure and intimidated. Reading up on the subject, nothing resounded with me and quelled my fears more than these books.

Samantha has a gift for encouraging, removing doubts and calming those inner fears that hold us back. She teaches you to just go for it and not to be so caught up in perfection. One of her principles is that so often, mistakes turn out to be blessings. You can learn from them and come to see them as the accidental revelations they are.

For those who seek to document daily life or simply develop a love and practice of drawing, these books are pure gold. One important note: this latest book IS NOT just for kids! It breaks down the practice into simple steps that frankly work beautifully for all ages. I found it easy to understand - it takes away all the overly technical aspects of drawing which can easily overwhelm.

Feeling free to put pen to paper, to paint as you wish, to just try, is the best! Never would have known what I was capable of without Samantha's calm counsel. Her easy, kind, friendly nature resonates on every page, nudging you to try and not be so hard on yourself. Something we all need when taking on a new venture. You cannot go wrong with her wonderful books. With all the books I've read on the topic, these offer a unique perspective that resonates and frees you to try.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Draw Your Day for Kids! is an upbeat art journaling guide with tutorials and prompts by Samantha Dion Baker. Due out 25th Jan 2022 from Penguin Random House on their Crown Books for Young Readers imprint, it's 224 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a comprehensively written and engaging primer aimed at young readers (~8-12 years, lexile 970) with colorful prompts and tutorials to support and develop a journaling habit. The introductory chapters include the hows and whys of setting up and developing the habit of keeping a journal and using (and improving) it. The second section includes accessible suggestions and prompts for rendering letters, objects in our immediate vicinity, feelings, and quotes.

It should be noted that the content/art/instruction parts of the book cover 137 pages of the total page count and the rest of the book (including the e-book format) are blank and are intended to be used as a personal art journal. I found the author's art very pretty and professional, and I can imagine that setting my own scribbles on the same page as hers would be moderately intimidating because I hate "ruining" pages in books and still struggle with spontaneity as an adult.

This is an informal but also appealing, accessible, and useful resource. I would recommend it to journalers, as well as in classroom settings, sketching and nature activity groups, and the like.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the concept was interesting. Than I have to read this book. After all, it was unclear if the book is made for kids to paint their lives, or for parents to draw their life for the kids to see. And, crap. The same third of the book wasted on the same brain dead description of the materials. And the same beginner watercolor drawings, as in a hundred other watercolor books.

Getting past the long material introduction, and here there are the same brain dead quips about ”even the greatest artist” who must be ”the greatest artist in the world”. I was hoping for a cute book for a gift. And all I got was the moronic thoughts of a failed person: there is no greatest artist. And it will never be. Because art is subjective. And even if humans would turn into ants overnight, the statement would still be imbecile: greatest in what way? greatest in what technique? greatest in... oh, never mind.

And when I was hoping it will start, here is a second beginner part copied from one of hundreds of books on the same theme already on the market: how to shadow, and make lines in general. Is it useful? Of course not! It is crap. There are entire books made for shadowing, and this second rate artist will just inject a photo of his work after some 36-hour class to which he participated.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed the Kindle edition from my local library.
If you enjoy DionBaker's Instagram posts, you may enjoy this book for the suggestions of "Drawing Challenges" and lists of items to draw. I like the suggestion of drawing someting three times: once from life: once from a photo reference you took; and once from memory.
As an adult, I got some ideas for myself. I imagined the kids I know might just roll their eyes at her suggestions.

[Rupali Gore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book which will inspire artists to create art as frequently as possible. The prompts, drawings and the description of the inspiration for various sketches are elaborately written and expressed. It illustrates documenting daily happenings and observation, recording memories with the help of sketches and words.
The sketches in the book are by the artist herself. They are finely done and add a cheer to the book.
A book worth reading for artists of different levels.

[Kelly Teen Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and practical, worth the flip!