Art from Simple Shapes: Make Amazing Art from 8 Simple Geometric Shapes! Includes a Shape Stencil Paperback – August 19, 2015

SUMMARY: This book offers instructions on how to draw dozens of simple figures using shapes as the base. The author shows how you can turn the shape in different directions to make even more figures. She also shows how you can make very simple drawings in four steps or more difficult drawings in eight steps. There are prompts to further think about how the drawings can be made with variations.ILLUSTRATIONS: The illustrations are clear and simple for the young ones, but also adorable and interesting for all ages.THE GOOD: Many reviewers are calling this an art book, but from a teacher's perspective, I would use this as a book to teach geometry concepts. The author introduces all sorts of shapes and calls them by the correct name such as equilateral triangle and trapezoid. She teaches quarter turns and half turns. She counts the steps from the beginning to the finished product. This book can be used for a wide variety of ages. It begins with shapes such as circles and squares and ends with rhomboid and hexagon. The author invites the children to think of variations to the drawings so they can express their creativity. This book of course offers how to draw art and can be used as a springboard for creative writing activities. The finished drawings are of high interest objects that will get kids wanting to participate.THE NOT AS GOOD: The layout sometimes gets a little crowded with the thoughts and ideas the author throws into the middle of the page.AGE RECOMMENDATION: This book is advertised for grades 2-5, but I think it is completely appropriate for younger children, especially those wanting a challenge. Preschool through grade 4 can find something to appreciate in this book. Teachers in these grades can use it for a math/art unit. The book is a bit juvenile for 5th grade.NOTE: I received a free ARC copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Art from Simple Shapes Make Amazing Art from 8 Simple Geometric Shapes! Includes a Shape Stencil by Rosa M. Curto Dover Publications 5 out of 5 starsReview by Lorraine Leatham & J.J. Helgeson - Rainey Day Book ReviewsLearn to draw funny characters and everyday objects. This is a full-color guide that encourages imaginations young and old by exploring the wealth of possibilities behind basic geometric shapes. Kids will learn how to transform various shapes into a total of 125 different drawings. Most of the instructions were fairly simple. My son who is six and I had a great time on a rainy afternoon. I would say that this book is best geared for the young budding artist but even an older artist can learn a trick or two. J.J. gives this book a high five! * I received a review copy of this book from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review *

A brilliant collection of ideas for drawings based on 8 geometric shapes. The eight shapes are half circle, circle, half oval, oval, triangle, square, rectangle and trapezoid but there are other shapes and ideas, too. There are lots of examples with step by step guidance on how to successfully create the images. From animals, clothing, homes, objects, the list of finished drawings is diverse and inspirational. They are the kinds of drawings that anyone, regardless of age, who has the fine motor control to hold and use a pencil can attempt and succeed at doing.The drawings in the book are fun, the guidance is pictorial and easy to follow and the end products may well inspire others to try more complicated developments based on these. I really like it and can also see it being useful in schools to help children develop their pencil control and help students successfully and comparatively easily do their own art work based on these simple shapes. I was particularly impressed but the faces to express emotions and could very easily see teachers encouraging their pupils to create their own versions of these! I have no hesitation in recommending this to anyone seeking basic guidance on how to draw characters and everyday objects.Thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley, too for provided an ARC for me to read in exchange for this, my honest review.

Boring and way too simplistic, but the shape template was worth the purchase. Would have liked to have a heart shape and rhombus shape... and for the price, maybe the same shapes in a larger format as well.

I received a copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.Didn't love this one quite as much as the finger print one, but I loved it still. While it is fun for the kids, it's also fun for the person who can't draw to save their life.I am going to start off by saying, I am not an artist, at all. My drawing skills are not even as good as my children's. But this book made drawing simple art from shapes I do know how to draw. Though I didn't love this one as much as the fingerprint one, I did enjoy it. My girls were even able to understand the simple instructions and there were so many different things to learn to draw. Overall this one gets four stars.

More for teachers of lower grades, so will donate it to a school.

Biased. Reviews are from people who got a free book. Not honest

A little too simple.

Simple, elegant and FUN!