This art book offers all artists something fun and challenging to draw. It doesn't matter what skill level you are at because you can grow and hone your skills with the book. Going through the book, you will receive how-to-draw instructions and learning art terminology. Overall, it's a great breakdown on drawing, shading, perspective and art terminology.

I recieved this ebook as an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you

This was from back in 2022, I could not get this book to open , never did get to open so I am sorry I never reviewed this book.

My Quick Thoughts: This is an amazing resource with so much to offer for artists at all levels: from the beginner to the serious artist. While some of the things might prove to be challenging for young children, I also feel that this is a book we can grow with as an artist, and do more with each time we attempt the same drawing or move on to something more challenging or new for us in the book.

Holmes makes this so much more than just a step-by-step how-to-draw with additional information on learning art itself. A know-understand-do section alongside each art project helps students know the basics and understand the concepts used in that before they apply the skills and do the artwork themselves. In addition, a vocabulary guide is provided for projects that is super helpful too.

Disclaimer: I got a digital review copy of this books from Netgalley originally and these are my honest opinions of the book. Please note that the review is based on a more recent reading of the book (library/personal copy)

My son is 6 and has ADHD and autism, so hyperfixation is obviously a big deal in our house. Currently, it's drawing. And I don't mean drawing a picture, I mean drawing 30 pictures in a day. He draws so quickly that I often can't tell WHAT he has drawn. When he takes his time, he's great. My husband recently took up drawing as a hobby and my son is delighted. He has asked me to draw with him, but I am simply not good at it and I get frustrated easily. When I saw this book, I thought it would be great because it has step by step drawing tips and could help my husband, who is new to this; me, who gets frustrated because I don't know where to start; and my son, who could use the chance to slow down and add some detail. I enjoyed it for all of us.

This was not anything more special than other drawing books.
I really would like authors to work with teachers or professors in the field to get a hold of their class plans and work off of that

The best information from this volume was the pages on shading and perspective.
A great breakdown visually and easy to follow.

I utilized the book and feel there is always a need to learn methods to draw new things if you are someone who enjoys drawing. This provides useful techniques.

I found the very basic information useful, such as shading techniques, hatching, and blending, and there are some helpful explanations of how to achieve a specific effect. It's also useful for expanding your art terminology vocabulary if you're unfamiliar with it, as I am. I've learned how to draw and shade shapes better, and I've taken bits and pieces from various chapters. Really nice graphics, and it's easy to see how a diagram and a picture are put together.
Excellent for both new and experienced users. Looking through it made packing difficult because I wanted to keep it! A lovely art book filled with clever ideas and useful information. I wholeheartedly endorse it.

I am not an artist, although I do want to be able to do more than just doodle. "How to Draw Cool Stuff" i an excellent resource for teachers and artists alike.

Art theory - topics such as form, shading, and perspective are broken down into simpler, more accessible steps, ideal for use in a classroom. For each topic there are a couple of pages for the theory before allowing the readers to explore the topic more fully in the step by step guides.

These drawing guide or tutorials are broken down into the most basic, basic steps, and as the author suggest, it's best to block out all the following steps and focus only on the one(s) you need to do at a time, to minimise overwhelm (especially when first starting out and your drawing looks nothing like the finished product!)

I would recommend the reader work through the book sequentially, rather than flopping to the thing they want to draw most of all - many of the illustrations build on the theory in previous chapters, and jumping in headlong without that base leads to some of the tasks looking like "draw the rest of the ____ owl". But working through preceding chapters helps alleviate this. So does patience!

~Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~

This book has really come in handy with the art class I teach. There are so many great ideas in here and wonderful tips and advice. Highly recommend!

As an artist this books is an amazing inspiration. I have reviewed two books, How to Draw Cool Stuff: A Drawing Guide for Teachers and Students and How to Draw Cool Stuff: Shading, Textures and Optical Illusions. The artist has shared materials with perfect techniques for sketches. Each and every step is mentioned thoroughly. Definitely, I would like to give 5 stars to the book. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

I am absolutely addicted to this series of reference books for how to draw. Most of the books in the series are available on Kindle Unlimited and are great for novices as well as more experienced artist looking for sketch tips.

As someone who does not have a lot of experience with art, I felt this was such a helpful resource for all stages of artists. I appreciate the steps provided to help guide an artist towards completion of their project. I like the simplicity and the complexity of the projects, starting from the easy to follow steps, to challenging one's ability and skills.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book and the other one I was sent of the same name. I have fun doing some of the drawings and I plan to continue trying to do some of the techniques. I think this is a great book for all ages.

This book is a pretty average “how to draw” book. It has a wide variety of things you can sketch, and i even took the time to follow some of the illustrations which was a fun little break from my day!
However, this is very much one of those books that start off strong with the tutorials and then at the last step they kinda throw you into the deep end and say “shade it to look perfect!” and expect you to know how to do that.
While there is a section on how to shade at the beginning of the book, it’s not nearly comprehensive enough to know how to or where to shade each drawing that’s being shown.
I’d recommend this book to people who already know how to heavily shade but just want a few guidelines in how to draw random stuff… which isn’t many people, sadly.

My son loves drawing and absolutely loves any book that will teach him how to draw different things. He really liked this book and wants a physical copy.

I have received a copy of this Ebook courtesy of NetGalley, Library Tales Publishing, and the author Catherine V. Holmes. Opinions expressed here is my own.

I am an artist and was excited to receive a copy of this Ebook for exercise. It comes with exercises and directions, using just a pencil, an eraser and paper. By "cool stuff" it includes variety of animals, human body parts, holiday motifs, flowers, etc. utilizing basic shapes.

Ultimately I felt this book lacked detailed instruction for shading, and there are more written instructions over visual step-by-step drawings which I believe would be highly helpful. Also, I felt drawings seem dated and not very attractive personally, similar to old-fashioned tattoo drawings - this is totally a personal taste. I personally skipped over half of drawing exercises because it didn't feel attractive to me.

This may be a good starting point if you don't know what to draw or where to start, then again, I feel there are better drawing how-to books with better drawings and better instructions.

Maybe a bit wordy for younger students. Otherwise very educational. My 10 year old semi art prodigy was quite interested in the shading techniques and she said she doesn't feel she gets it right. I don't know what she's talking about, she's better than I was in college but it helped her to understand what she was struggling with.

This is a really solid primer. It's nice that it provides explanations and not just line work. I'm just learning and found it pretty easy to follow.

A great book for anyone looking to level up their drawing skills!

Easy to follow instructions and done in a simplistic way allowing a wide audience the opportunity to learn.

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and Library Tales Publishing for providing me a copy of “How to Draw Cool Stuff” in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

This is an excellent book for those that are a beginner or even an intermediate. It gives vocabulary and descriptions of the art forms, but is mostly a step by step of a huge variety of drawings. They start out simple with a basic line drawing, but she takes you through the steps where the end result is very complex. For example, there are animals, human faces, skulls, banners, block lettering and hearts. These are only a few of the drawings; there are many, many more. By breaking down the shapes into simple forms, you will learn to “see” differently and take your drawing to a new level.