Customer Reviews

How to Draw Princesses and Ballerinas (Usborne Activities)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for a 7-year-old niece who loves to draw. This is a bright, pretty book with a sparkly cover and extremely cute pictures of princesses and ballerinas, BUT I was disappointed in the actual drawing instruction the book offers.

The written instructions are often mediocre ("Draw a circle for a head. Add her face and ears. Then draw the bodice and skirt of her dress. Add little shapes for the toes of her shoes"). The accompanying how-to-draw diagrams are only 2" high by 2-1/2" wide, which is much too small. Like my niece, I think most children will skip over the diagrams and their accompanying text and go immediately to trying to copy or trace the large color pictures instead.

The book also lacks any discussion of drawing basics, such as body proportions, basic shapes used in drawing (circle, triangle, oval, etc.), and sketching lightly first so unwanted lines can be easily erased. These things are assumed rather than discussed or pointed out directly. The book also does not really encourage creativity or originality; the idea here is to copy the pictures shown in the book.

As stated earlier, this is a very cute book, but you might want to be aware of lack of real "how to" information.

My 8 year old daughter LOVES this book. She immediately started following the directions for drawing "Princesses in Gowns" and had instant success. The step-by-step is not bogged down with extra explanations that might be of great interest to older children, but would just be taking up space for kids who want to dive in and draw. There are plenty of variations on each drawing to give kids the idea of improvising on the basics, both in the poses of the figures and in the embellishment on clothing, hair, etc. My daughter considered a few of the author's variations for gown embellishment, then pulled out one of her K.Y. Craft books for more ideas, because, as she put it, she had finally drawn a princess with a gown that was good for decorating. There is a whole page of hairstyle ideas, all kinds of inspiration! Great springboard for creativity!

There are also paper-cutting activities, stickers, hints to help when using other media (paints, felt tip pens, etc.), and everything is kept to such a simple level that even a child who thinks she can't draw or has been repeatedly told in school that she is not good at art can look at these with confidence, try them out, and get wonderfully rewarding results! My daughter loved to draw until she went to public school. These books have let her have back her love of drawing.
I have tried the Ed Emberly books (good, cute, just not very girlish), the Draw Write Now program, and a long list of others. I have been trying everything for the past few years to help this child overcome the feedback she received from teachers ("too slow, never finishes anything, not using the right colors, not using enough colors, poor handwriting, poor drawing, uses stick figures," etc.) beginning in kindergarten and continuing up to the present. She loved drawing and wrote little stories almost daily before entering kindergarten... then it all ground to a halt when she started hearing that she had to hurry up and that she wasn't very good at it. This book gave her back her love of drawing. I have already ordered more by this author and will continue to buy books written by Fiona Watts. They are very good for my little girl's soul.

This book is excellent. I highly recommend it for as young as 3 and 4 year olds. My daughter's skilled have dramatically improved from this easy to follow book. Excellent.

My daughter has enjoyed drawing and making paper chain dolls with the ideas in this book.
It's so easy to use that she was able to begin drawing from it right away. In a matter of an hour or two she made two sets of paper chain ballerina dolls with doily tutus and several drawings of princesses.
She's seven and with many art/activity books pitched at kids, she often needs my help, but not with this book.
The instructions are clear, every page is cheerful and colorful and loaded with ideas to get little girls drawing.
When kids can make something worth looking at in a short amount of time, they are encouraged to keep trying and to come up with their own ideas. I think this book is really good at enabling kids to make something pretty and to be creative. I highly recommend this book for little girls.

My granddaughter loves this book. It gives her a simple process to draw princesses and ballerinas that look very good when she's finished. Doesn't take a lot of time to do.

What a great book for any little girl who loves to draw. I have it for my daughter and often give books from this collection for birthday gifts. This book + a pack of paper + markers and crayons are always a hit.

I bought this book for my niece for Christmas this year and when my 5-year old daughter saw it, she was "in love" so I'm sure I'll be buying another one for her birthday in April.

My 8 year old daughter loves this book. The drawing style is easy to mimic, fun, and informative. Children can use a variety of art supplies you probably already have, such as crayons, markers, colored pencils, watercolors, acrylic or tempera paints, or any combination to create artwork. Children are encouraged to mix and match ideas shown within the book and to venture out on their own to create princesses and ballerinas that are uniquely theirs.

This book is VERY cute, just as the cover conveys. There are lots of good ideas for a young girl wanting to draw ballerinas and princesses. The stickers are a nice added plus. My daughter who is 6 is enjoying it. I think girls 4-8 would enjoy it.

We purchased for our daughter's 8th birthday. She loved the previous drawing books we had bought and this brought just as much enjoyment. The directions are easy to follow and produce great results.