20 Ways To Draw A Cat

20 Ways to Draw

by Julia Kuo

This inspiring sketchbook is part of the new 20 Ways series from Quarry Books, designed to offer artists, designers, and doodlers a fun and sophisticated collection of illustration exercises. Each spread features 20 inspiring illustrations of a single animal, such as a cat, giraffe, seal, elephant, or whale–with blank space for you to draw your take on “20 Ways to Draw a Cat.”

The stylized animals are simplified, modernized, and reduced to the most basic elements, showing how simple abstract shapes and forms meld to create the building blocks of any item that you want to draw. Each of the 20 interpretations provides a different, interesting approach to drawing a single item. Presented in the author’s uniquely creative style, this engaging and motivational practice book provides a new take on the world of sketching, doodling, and designing.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Drawing, Reference, Self Help, Animals, Crafts

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Julia Kuo is a Taiwanese-American illustrator who has worked with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Google. She has taught illustration courses at Columbia College Chicago and at her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Julia was the visual arm of Chicago's 2017 March for Science and has had the honor of being an artist-in-residence at Banff Centre for the Arts in 2014 and in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2019-2020 Gray Center Mellon Collaborative Fellowship.

Her most recent book is "I Dream of Popo" by Livia Blackburne, published by Macmillan.

www.juliakuo.com

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know that this is a pretty high rating considering
a) it's not even a real book (at least by some standards, as it's partly labeled as a sketchbook )
b) at least 1/4 of it is blank... there's blank space on every other page at least.
c) most of the illustrations aren't even in colour.

However, the four stars I gave this book is not relative to others; my personal satisfaction regarding this book was insanely high for almost no reason, except that I really really like looking at the gorgeous illustrations and designs.

I knocked off a star because I didn't particularly like how it's designed as a sketchbook; the paper is not suitable for drawing, and I had thought it would be good as a reference book when making your own designs or copying these, but not to draw in.

Perhaps I'm somewhat biased as I received this book FREE from my school library's book fair book raffle, so I'm super pleased with that :3

Also, just to note, but I read the Chinese version of this; physically it's not much different though, with just an addition of the Chinese name for the animal under each page's heading and a Chinese introduction.

Obviously you have to look out because this book contains barely any words (I would say, fewer than 50 in all, except for the introduction/preface thing), so you may not find this purchase worth it (if you are buying...?) As another reviewer said, this book doesn't contain any how-to instruction, and it seems that some of the designs were produced with graphic-design software, which is pretty hard to replicate by hand. However, it's still a very nice book with pretty illustrations, so.....

More about the pictures:

I really liked them :) Even in (mostly) black and white, they were really inspiring at least to me. Clean lines and not cartoony looking, while still being creative-and-sketchy.

[Jeani · Rating 1 out of 5]

No instruction. It's more like 20 drawings of cats to look at and 44 other animals. Easier done on Pinterest.

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel cheated. The title is misleading. There are only two pages for cats. The drawings are very cute though but it isn’t what I’m looking for.

[Dilla Kamal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great to look at especially when you're bored and wanting to practice your animal sketches. Swiping the pages on Kindle while looking for inspiration is better than having to google for them.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. There is more than one way to . . . draw a cat.
Have fun with it.

[Kara Decarlo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a drawing instruction book, more of a peek into an artist's sketchbook.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Examples of drawings. Very little instruction.

[sleeps9hours · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it! One of my favorite art inspiration books to use with my daughter who likes to draw. It doesn't show how to draw, but has lots of cute animal examples that are fairly simple. Julia Kuo is by by far our favorite artist in this series.

[Mary Cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book for my daughter, at the time a third grade elementary school teacher, to use in some of her art projects with the students. It did not disappoint, showing with imagination and examples that, while there are many ways to draw something, there is no right or wrong way. This is perfect for that age group, since they often feel anything they draw should look like the example. This gets rid of that notion and helps them see that ow they express themselves in drawing is thier own choice.

[Sparrowapril]

You can see a preview of this book on Amazon. it is not instructional as in what strokes to draw. It includes several simple pictures of each item for inspiration. There are a lot of solid shapes with the details left negative which could be difficult to draw, but if the solid is done in a pale color the details could be added in a darker shade.

There is enough here for my purposes, which is to spark some new items for doodling.

Many reviewers seemed to be expecting something different, If you can't see it in a store, check out Amazon's "Look Inside" preview before you buy.

[Cat Fithian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be more instructive than it is. What it turns out to be is a sketchbook with lots of different kinds of each animal, drawn and printed in stark black and white. They're interesting, I can see kids getting inspiration from them, but there isn't any actual instruction or "how to" in the book. My overall feeling: meh.

[Sarah Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute book, but I was hoping for something more instructional and less journal like. It has lots of premade doodles to help get your ideas going if you want to copy them, but with no instructions on how to do so. Categories of animals with some blank areas to doodle in your own.

[Rift Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I paged thru this delightful book... and then I drew a penguin on some correspondence! Yay Doodling!

[Vi · Rating 4 out of 5]

more like glorified clip art with room to draw, but simplified so that artists can learn some basic ideas of representation.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. What an OK book of clip art... not what I was looking for... and really of no use as a tool for Artists or Designers, though maybe for Doodlers?

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable designs--easy to follow, lets you discover your own sense of style and preference.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a bunch of illustrations

Doesn't show how to draw things. Just a bunch of very small drawings. More cartoony than I expected. Not helpful