Sketch Card Mania

Sketch Card Mania
by Randy Martinez and Denise Vasquez [741.6 qMar]

I was surprised to find this helpful book in the library collection. Comic book and graphic artists have really popularized the use of "sketch cards" as ways to create quick little collectible works of art, especially while sitting at a table at a comic book or science fiction convention. Sketch cards are, basically, the equivalent of collectible baseball (or other sports) cards, or Wacky Packages (if you grew up in the 1970s!). They are 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" in size, usually have a "calling card" for the artist on one side, and start off as a blank art surface on the other side, which the artist will fill to a fan's requests on the other. This book approaches the use of sketch cards from the artist's point-of-view. It is broken up into four sections: (1) Sketch Card Tool Box, talking about the various mediums that sketch card art can be created with -- from mere graphite pencil, to colored pencils, colored markers, watercolors and/or acrylics; (2) Designing and Constructing Your Personal Sketch Card -- a VERY detailed section about creating your supply of ready-to-use blank sketch cards with your pesonal info attractively presented on the back; (3) Sketch Card Demonstrations -- merely some examples of art styles; and (4) Introduction to Self-Promotion -- a remarkably handy short-cut guide to established an electronic presence for yourself as an artist in the world of online social media and social networks. Although I have no artistic talents, myself, I still found this book to be an intriguing and informative read. I think it would be a really helpful guide for artists interested in getting into the sketch card game, particularly the section dealing with how to create your own supply of sketch cards. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

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Picture This

Picture This
by Lynda Barry, with guest water colorist Kevin Kawula [741.5 Bar]

Picture This is part graphic memoir, part sketch book, part artist’s self help book and part drawing how-to book. Amidst all of these are decorative watercolors and drawings carefully illustrating the aforementioned parts. If paintings and drawings could talk, Barry’s writing is representative of what they would probably say. Strange and interesting musings throughout “Picture This,” cover diverse territories of her thoughts. Barry illustrates moments from her childhood in comic strips peppered throughout. She counters past insulting drawing critiques with written rebuttals, quirky collages and sketches. Her sense of humor comes in various short form drawings from her personification of a dust bunny (they do like gentle breezes, but hate vacuum cleaners) to a summer to-do checklist (don’t forget to stub your toe on a sprinkler or drink green Kool-Aid). All of these elements form a kind of storytelling collage. If you need some creative inspiration, a motivational pick me up after a bad critique or simply a road trip chuckle, this book is for you. Trivia: Friend and college classmate Matt Groening refers to Lynda Barry as, “Funk Queen of the Galaxy." Barry responded by noting that Groening is “Funk Lord of the USA.” [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try What It Is by Lynda Barry, One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, or Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli.] -- recommended by Glory B. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Wikipedia page for Lynda Barry ] | [ an unofficial Lynda Barry web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.