Inkblot: Drip, Splat, and Squish Your Way to Creativity

by Margaret Peot

Overview

Leonardo was inspired by the haphazard swirls in marble; Victor Hugo dribbled coffee and wine on paper to create new imagery. Now, noted artist, printmaker, and Broadway costume designer Margaret Peot takes inkblots to new creative heights with this stunning, hands-on celebration of their beauty and potential. She presents the many insights and techniques she has gained throughout her career—from basic tips and information on paper and ink to advanced techniques for transforming inkblots into works of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590787205
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1010L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Margaret Peot is a book artist, printmaker, painter, and artist. Since 1989 she has been painting and dyeing costumes for Broadway (The Lion King, Wicked, Spamalot, and hundreds of others), dance, television, and film. She lives in New York with her husband Daniel and son Sam, both of whom are excellent ink blotters.

Editorial Reviews

"[An] exciting road map through an underappreciated art form. . . . Equally cool for kids and parents, art classes or casual groups." —Kirkus Reviews

* "Peot's enthusiasm is contagious and her ideas about using images to develop creativity are intriguing. . . . Likely to make teachers and artists catch the inkblot bug." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Browsers will be delighted with Peot's diagrams and finished pieces, and practitioners can expect to find as much guidance in her examples as in her text." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

Gr 3–9—Peot takes inkblots out of the psychology class and into the art room. After a short introduction, she gives basic instructions for creating inkblots. She shows variations and explains how to use the form as the basis for more finished projects. Finally, she suggests that readers create a sketchbook and explains how to use inkblot art as a starting point for creative writing. Each project is presented in standard format, with a supply list and step-by-step instructions. The materials are readily available at art supply stores, and the clearly written instructions are infused with encouragement. Peot's enthusiasm is contagious and her ideas about using images to develop creativity are intriguing. In addition to the projects, the author includes interesting sidebars that introduce "inkblot heroes," including Rorschach, who created the psychological test. The book is illustrated with color photographs of art done by the author and by children. For some projects, the illustrations show progressive stages of the creative process, while other pages contain a sampling of finished products. The book is handsomely designed with a variety of background and font colors and printed on high-quality glossy paper. As Emberley popularized fingerprint art in Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book, (Little, Brown, 2002), this book is likely to make teachers and artists catch the inkblot bug.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT

School Library Journal

This exciting road map through an underappreciated art form shows that "[a]nything is possible with inkblots." Choose supplies, carefully fold your paper and you're off: "Dab ink. Drop ink. Splat ink. Make puddles and lines and swirls and crisscrosses"; "tip it in different directions as if you were a waiter bobbling and balancing a tray." Pressure techniques offer seven ways to gently manipulate wet ink inside folded paper. Then unfold—and behold! Expansive suggestions propose wide-ranging possibilities for what an inkblot can resemble, from "the most remarkable tendrils, winter branches, spiky hair, strange grasses, [and] elongated mushrooms" to "kissing fish, sailing ships, faces, flowers, planets, or monsters.... [or] a tornado, a volcano, or a maelstrom." For hesitant artists, the text provides creative prompts—if your inkblot were a circus act or a culinary dish, what would it be?—and atmospheric questions—is your inkblot fast and splashy or slow and trickly? A secret or a billboard? "Drawing into" the inkblot means adding lines, textures and colors with other media on top of the dry ink. Peot's own entrancing inkblots (spaceships, landscapes, comics), plus a few guest-blots, illustrate every step, showing how the pure blot becomes the final artwork. Inkblot Heroes (Victor Hugo, Hermann Rorschach) get accolades; readers get clear directions and lively encouragement. Equally cool for kids and parents, art classes or casual groups. (Nonfiction. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews