Drawing Cute with Katie Cook by Katie Cook

Rating: WORTHY!

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

This book is an awesome introduction to illustrating, aimed at younger children. And even adults for that matter who might want to get into the fun business of creating a cute children's book. I had never heard of Katie Cook, but despite looking barely older than a teen herself, she's a mature illustrator who has worked on a variety of projects for, for example, Marvel comics and on My Little Pony, so she's well-known in the business for her illustration skills.

She should also be known for her writing skills since she's also a writer and her comments throughout this book were hilarious and it was worth reading it just for those. The illustrations are really the cherry on top though, because in a handful of steps she shows how to create a bewildering variety of images of animals (would that be bewilderbeasts?), assorted inanimate objects, sports and hobbies, and food - which seems to be a special favorite of hers despite her trim figure. Maybe Cook isn't just a name?!

The steps are easy. As she says, if you can draw a potato, you can draw anything, and anything and everything populates these pages. The chapters cover Animals, Foodstuff, Hobbies and Sports, Holidays and Seasons, and Handy-Dandy Objects. There's getting on for a hundred thirty pages of illustration, and each page contains about two things to draw, including domestic and wild animals, flying and swimming animals, cute and scary animals, and even fantasy animals. And insects and arachnids are animals, remember, no matter how much you might want to dissociate yourself from that end of the family.

There are cakes and ice creams, teapots and milk cartons, pineapples and avocados. You'll like her grapes a bunch! When you see her apples you'll say "Core!" Drawing peppers will no doubt ring a bell. The broccoli looks very cubby, but it's with the sandwiches that you'll earn your bread. Okay, enough pun-ishment! There are also kayaks and racquets*, knitting and football, jigsaws and books - enough to keep you busy making variations on a theme until before long, you're launching into your own original drawings in short-order Cook style! (Okay, I lied about the puns).

I really liked this, the drawings are good and simple enough for anyone to follow and create your own. The results are very cute, just as the title promises. The supporting text is, well, supportive, and funny, and this book makes for a great gift! If there's one thing we really do need, it's a lot more talented illustrators, especially of cute, and from a diverse background. This book is a great way to encourage that and I recommend it.

*Isn't racquet a weird word? Seriously? Who would even think up a word like that? Just sayin'.

Gronk 2 by Katie Cook

Title: Gronk 2
Author: Katie Cook
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Rating: WORTHY!

Charmingly illustrated by Katie Cook.

DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!

Here we are with volume two of Gronk, volume one of which I favorably reviewed in January 2015. If you liked that one as I did, then you will undoubtedly love this one since it's more of the same kind of thing but different. Just like the first graphic novel in this series, it skirted dangerously along the border of being too sweet for consumption, but for me it never drifted over the line enough to turn me off. The comic has its own website, so you can try it yourself before you buy.

Gronk is green and cute, and far too sweet and pleasantly-dispositioned to actually be a monster. She's left her own world and found her way into the author's, where she's rapidly adopted, joining the author, who lives in a rather isolated Canadian cabin with her pet cat and pet dog (who is more of a 'monster' than ever Gronk is). I loved how mischievous Gronk is, and unintentionally troublesome.

Gronk is into everything, and this causes all manner of issues, but it always works out in the end. We learn about Gronk's desire to own an iPad, a visitation from a pug dog and the ensuing fun, Gronk's discovery of 'one-click' ordering, the benefits of snuggle blankets and so on.

I have to say that this volume started off a little slowly for me and I was wondering if I was going to like it, but it didn't take long before I started feeling much warmer towards it as each page slid by. The comic is loaded with pop culture references, doubtlessly some of which I missed. It was replete with Harry Potter references, which seem rather dated these days, but I have to say that Dale makes a really cute Hermione Granger! I recommend this comic.

Gronk by Katie Cook

Title: Gronk
Author: Katie Cook
Publisher: Action Lab Comics
Rating: WORTHY!

DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!

This graphic novel charmed me completely. I loved it from the cover illustration onwards. It even comes with its own website!. It ran all the time along the border of being too sugary, but for me it never really slipped over sufficiently to turn me off. The author sounds like someone it would be fun to know. Were it not for the presence of the sweet young monster, I could almost believe this was an auto-biography.

In Gronk we learn of an ugly green monster who really isn't ugly or a monster, or even very scary (but who is assuredly green) and who is too sweet and pleasantly-dispositioned to live up to really monstrous standards. She leaves her world and accidentally finds her way into the author's, where she's rapidly adopted, joining the author, who lives in a rather isolated cabin with her pet cat and pet dog (who is more of a 'monster' than ever Gronk is).

From there we follow this family's daily life in a series of Sunday newspaper style comics section vignettes, as Gronk learns about he human world and how to fit into it. Why does the cat spend so much time sitting in a cardboard box? Why isn’t it wise to invite the dog into the box? Should cats be bathed daily by sitting them in the toilet and flushing it? What’s the best way to play Monopoly? Why doesn’t Candyland actually have candy? And so on! These are certainly questions I want serious answers to!

One of the strongest pluses of this novel is that it shows with heart and feeling how different people, different personalities and different outlooks can live together in harmony (aside from an occasional glitch!). I recommend it for that, and for the comfortable and pleasing artwork in full color - artwork that looks more like heart-work it's so warm and cozy. Yes, I went there. Unashamedly! The author takes a page or two at the end to offer an interesting story of how Gronk became a character and then a story. It just goes to show that doodling isn’t a problem - it’s a feature!