How It All Started

My dad used to take my sister and I to the local library on Main street. Way back when I was still in elementary school I wasn't much of a reader, I would only pick out books with pictures in it. This one time I distinctly recall that my love of drawing drew me to this red book. I remember picking it up and skimming through the pages. Not only did this book have very few words, it had tonnes of pictures. On the cover were a bunch of weird looking things, and the way it was laid out it was clear that this was a how to draw weird looking things book.

I wasn't too impressed with the cover, but skimming through the pages I was intrigued by two characters. One of them with a gun, and the other with a sword. Yep, I knew instantly this was the book I was going to borrow. And boy am I glad I did. I'm no artist, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good at free hand drawing and this book did a lot in teaching an impressionistic kid at the time.

I spent that week going through pages of paper, drawing out all these characters from the book. Starting with the man with the sword, then the character with the gun. The book didn't detail how to draw backgrounds but the book's finished drawings all had beautiful backgrounds, and I just copied whatever I saw in the books.

I fell in love with this book and didn't want to return it at the time, but I had exhausted all that it had and my dad would've back handed me if I returned it late. I've tried searching for this book at the library again in years thereafter to no avail, having been replaced by similar books.

The name of the book: How to Draw Star Wars Heroes, Creatures, Spaceships, And Other Fantastic Things by Lee J. Ames.


Picture from Wookiepedia