Ready to take your doodling to the next level? I’ve got to say, this is a fantastic way to do that. This is really such a creative and fun concept! The pages are coated with a glossy finish, and then a flat paint(?) covers that, allowing you to scratch — with the included stylus and/or fingernails or whatever you like — to reveal the color underneath.

It’s offered as sort of upgraded version of doodling, and my daughter (who is quite a budding artist) is really enjoying filling out each page with the suggested doodle-y patterns, or simple line drawings of her surroundings. It seems to have really sparked her creativity, and I see she’s now using what she’s learned in her other artworks. Great concept in a beautiful book, well-bound, and very high quality printing on such a unique and inspiring concept.

I used to be something of a calligraphy fanatic. After I had children, that kind of got set aside. But lately I’ve been wanting to take it up again. So I’m very happy with this book for everyone, and which is a great refresher course for someone like me. And I’m grateful for the accomplished experts who wrote this, yet were able to break things down simply, even for beginners — including children — up to experienced adults.

I realize now that the scholarship and breadth of lettering has greatly expanded during the computer age, and I’ve been practicing and catching up with the help of this great little manual. The book is beautiful, and offers a guide to traditional and modern lettering. Note that the book is for hand lettering, not for designing typefaces on a computer. Yet, I’m thinking about adapting some of these fonts, which I’ve created based on what I’ve learned, into digital fonts for sale on a creative online market websites. Super thrilled with this!