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Reviews
Art Before Breakfast: A Zillion Ways to Be More Creative No Matter How Busy You Are by Danny Gregory
dwimblim's review
4.0
I enjoyed the tone of this book; it was fun to read. Had lots of interesting art exercise ideas. I like its realistic (yet optimistic) attitude toward creating a daily art habit. Full of great sketches.
gna_again's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.75
I rated this book highly because there are many truths here and the author honored my time. He did not mince words and taught me lessons I plan to implement into my daily life. This is a book worth sharing because it can change the life of anyone who reads it.
elenajohansen's review
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
The ethos of this book speaks to me: it's possible to make time for anything (in this case, drawing) if you prioritize it and/or break it down into small chunks. The "before breakfast" part is encouraging the reader to put their drawing practice first, and in this case I mean "practice" as daily observance rather than action meant to gain or improve skill.
The idea being that gaining skill will come naturally if you just do the thing.
And I think for a lot of people a lot of the time, that's true, but there's very little practical instruction in this book, it's a week-long course of exercises to get started (which I am doing; I read the whole book in a day but this morning saw me on Day 4 of the first week of early-morning art-making) and then a bunch of inspirational exercises in no real order with no real difficulty curve. A lot of the ideas I like, and quite a few I don't--especially the one telling me to "borrow" someone else's child to draw, since I have none of my own...that's a little weird; and the one telling me to skip a meal and draw instead, or that I'll end up eating less if I'm drawing my meals frequently because they'll get cold. I'm not down with bringing food into a discussion about forming an art habit beyond "hey food is fun to draw," the author shouldn't be telling us not to eat.
Back on the positive side, there's also an explicit permission in the book to do art badly, to suck at it. Which is something that a lot of people need to hear.
But do I think this book has really found its way into the hands of the target audience? That audience feels narrow, because this isn't for Real Artists, it's self-help for "busy" people who want to make art but don't feel like they have time. I already make art frequently, so I don't really "need" this book, though as with many ADHD peeps I go through phases with my hobbies and will probably never devote myself fully to one type of art or craft forever. And it's not going to satisfy anyone looking to get more serious about drawing (or whatever type of "art" they end up doing for their 30 days, if they stick to it) because of the lack of practical instruction.
I grabbed it off a library display about art (with another, very different book I'll review soon) and said, "sure, why not, my art journal's been neglected recently" but since I already have a strong interest in art, I can't really judge how successful this book is at what it sets out to do--get a busy newbie started on an art journey. I don't think it's terrible (beyond those exercises I find questionable) but I'm not sure it's all that great, either.
The idea being that gaining skill will come naturally if you just do the thing.
And I think for a lot of people a lot of the time, that's true, but there's very little practical instruction in this book, it's a week-long course of exercises to get started (which I am doing; I read the whole book in a day but this morning saw me on Day 4 of the first week of early-morning art-making) and then a bunch of inspirational exercises in no real order with no real difficulty curve. A lot of the ideas I like, and quite a few I don't--especially the one telling me to "borrow" someone else's child to draw, since I have none of my own...that's a little weird; and the one telling me to skip a meal and draw instead, or that I'll end up eating less if I'm drawing my meals frequently because they'll get cold. I'm not down with bringing food into a discussion about forming an art habit beyond "hey food is fun to draw," the author shouldn't be telling us not to eat.
Back on the positive side, there's also an explicit permission in the book to do art badly, to suck at it. Which is something that a lot of people need to hear.
But do I think this book has really found its way into the hands of the target audience? That audience feels narrow, because this isn't for Real Artists, it's self-help for "busy" people who want to make art but don't feel like they have time. I already make art frequently, so I don't really "need" this book, though as with many ADHD peeps I go through phases with my hobbies and will probably never devote myself fully to one type of art or craft forever. And it's not going to satisfy anyone looking to get more serious about drawing (or whatever type of "art" they end up doing for their 30 days, if they stick to it) because of the lack of practical instruction.
I grabbed it off a library display about art (with another, very different book I'll review soon) and said, "sure, why not, my art journal's been neglected recently" but since I already have a strong interest in art, I can't really judge how successful this book is at what it sets out to do--get a busy newbie started on an art journey. I don't think it's terrible (beyond those exercises I find questionable) but I'm not sure it's all that great, either.
ovenbird_reads's review
4.0
I was looking for something with more concrete technical instruction and while this book didn't have that it was still quite lovely. I would recommend it for people who have never had an art practise and for those, like me, who are getting back to art after a long hiatus.
toniclark's review
2.0
I heard Danny Gregory on a podcast and was really impressed. However the book was under whelming. I did not think the suggestions were interesting or helpful. I could think these up myself.
Also, some parts of the book are hand-printed, rather than a conventional typeface. Or perhaps it is some fanciful font that is supposed to look like it was printed by hand. This, at least on the Kindle, was hard to read and irritating. (Though, for the record, I I am visually impaired, so it might be partly my vision.) I ended up skipping these sections.
Felt that I got very little from the book. It just made me grumpy.
Also, some parts of the book are hand-printed, rather than a conventional typeface. Or perhaps it is some fanciful font that is supposed to look like it was printed by hand. This, at least on the Kindle, was hard to read and irritating. (Though, for the record, I I am visually impaired, so it might be partly my vision.) I ended up skipping these sections.
Felt that I got very little from the book. It just made me grumpy.
dizzybell06's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book and it was quick to get through. I would give it 3.5 stars. The book started off really nicely with seven tips on how to develop a creative habit, but after that it was kind of just ideas of things to draw. I really liked the illustrations and the emphasis on not being a perfectionist, but I did not find the book to have many inspiring tidbits. His ideas were very short and did not really tell me anything I don't already know. Maybe I would have liked this book more if I hadn't read other books previously by other authors that I found to be insightful and inspiring.
mom2triplets04's review
4.0
Picked this book up from the library. Trying to add more drawing and creativity to my life. Great prompts on how to do that. Loved looking at Danny’s drawings. Happy drawing.