Suppose You Met A Witch (1973, Ian Serraillier and Ed Emberley)

Pick any date landing somewhere in my first year of grade school and chances are I had "Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals" (1970) on loan from the school library that day. "...Animals" was just one of many books by Ed Emberley that taught children how to draw cute, cartoonish characters using just a dozen or so simple shapes and lines.

The truth is, by first-grade standards I was considered, in the parlance of the schoolyard, a "pretty good draw-er" and could scribble a decent illustration without relying on Emberley's sequential instructions. Rather, it was Emberley's appealing  style and whimsical imagination that caused me to hoard his books like buried treasure.

Where else was I going to see a turtle roller-skating in the rain?

"..Animals" focuses exclusively on the animal kingdom, but also includes a useful facial-expressions sampler, as well as an example of how his simplistic, shape-based creations could be easily embellished into something a little fancier.

Step aside, Block In Bird, here comes Embellish!

Later entries in Emberley's instructional series included "Make A World" (1972) and a string of color-themed books ("Purple", "Green", "Orange", "Red") which, collectively, established an alternate Emberl-iverse of characters, vehicles and fantastic creatures. (I previously posted on his monster-themed  "Book of Weirdos".) Many of these books are still in print.

Emberley also produced absolutely charming woodcut illustrations for the 1965 book "Yankee Doodle" (Dr. Richard Schackburg). 

But perhaps his most striking work is found in the 1973 book "Suppose You Met a Witch". Illustrating a fairy-tale story by English poet Ian Serraillier (originally published in 1952), Emberley's work here (sixteen two-page spreads, plus front and back covers) is almost psychedelic.

Presented below in its entirety.

The above beautiful illustration of two swans on the water is done in very light, low contrast colors that is hard to appreciate from a scan. Below is the same spread with the contrast cranked up to eleven to reveal the line work.

"Suppose You Met A Witch" is out of print as of this writing.

Call It Macaroni?

With Independence Day looming, I thought I'd share some patriotic (but admittedly non-scary) books that I found in an old taped-up box way back in the Haunted Closet.

First up is The Story of the Liberty Bell (1965, Natalie Miller, illustrated by Betsy Warren), from the Children's Press Cornerstones of Freedom series. Check out the great cover art:

Here's the title page and an interior illustration:

Next up, my personal favorite, Yankee Doodle (1965, by Dr. Richard Shackburg, with woodcut illustrations by Ed Emberley). I previously posted about Emberley's instructional drawing books (which I would check out continuously from my grade school library). His woodcut illustrations, which accompany the complete lyrics to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" along with historical facts about the song, are exceptional. Here's a few.

Finally, an ex-library copy of a Follett Beginning Social Studies book that looks like it got a lot of mileage...Paul Revere (1965, Gladys R. Saxon, illustrations by Jo Kotula). Below are pages illustrating the Boston Tea Party, the famous midnight ride of Paul Revere, and the opening salvos of the Revolutionary War.

Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos

Ed Emberley is an artist and illustrator (official website here) who has authored several books that teach children how to draw all kinds of people, places and things using the basic shapes of the line, square, triangle, circle, scribble and dot.

Not only are they great books for young budding artists still learning to conceptualize, they are also a lot of fun to browse just to enjoy the charmingly simple designs of Mr. Emberley.

His books have been in print in various incarnations for over 30 years. Currently on store shelves is the latest repackaging of his "Drawing Book of Weirdos", which is all about classic monsters and scary characters.

"THE MONSTER"

"EVIL EVA"

"THE WITCH"

"WEREWOLF"

"VAMPIRE" (various poses and states of being)

"THE ZILLA"

(Hey--he looks kind of like Godzilla, but he isn't. He's an original
creation who only happens to resemble Godzilla.)

If you'd like to learn how to draw these monsters and more using only a few simple shapes, please do pick up a copy Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos here. Check out his Drawing Book of Halloween, Big Green Drawing Book, and Big Orange Drawing Book for more monsters, aliens, and creatures.