Drawn by Nature: Patterns - (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An art activity book celebrating the amazing array of patterns that can be found in the natural world.

In part, this is a coloring book in reverse--instead of coloring in the shapes, you get to fill in shapes with pattern. Combining creativity and calming repetition, this is an activity book to help you feel grounded, relaxed, and inspired. A wealth of other activities awaits as well--try creating your own patterns inspired by the incredible shapes you find in nature and draw your own details onto the natural scenes.

Ranging from the mesmerizing stripes of a zebra to the tessellating patterns of a turtle's shell and swirly, spiral ferns, this book is bursting with plant and animal life that's just begging for some extra detail to be added. It's perfect for anyone who likes to doodle or who loves noticing the little details in our world.

As an added bonus, each page also has some extra info on why these extraordinary patterns exist in nature, whether it's for camouflage, to attract a mate, or even to defend themselves.

Calming doodling activities include:

- Design butterfly wing patterns: Study the symmetrical pattern of a butterfly's wings and fill in some wings with your own colorful designs

- Recreate the winding swirls of an ammonite fossil: Learn all about ammonites and sketch some of these beautiful fossils onto rocks

- Create a honeycomb pattern: Complete the honeycomb pattern in a beehive and find out why this structure is so strong!

About the Author

Emily Rand studied illustration at Camberwell College of Arts and the London College of Communication. After graduating she worked with children and young people teaching art and running creative workshops in schools, galleries and museums. Inspired by the beautiful and unusual books in the children's bookshop Chantelivre in Paris, Emily was inspired to start creating picture books in her free time.

In 2012 she entered her illustrations to the illustrator's exhibition at Bologna Children's Book Fair, her work was selected and nominated for the prestigious Bologna Illustrator's Award. The selected illustrations became her first picture book, A Dog Day, published in 2014 by Tate Publishing. Since then she has written and illustrated six books published by Tate Publishing, Thames & Hudson and Flying Eye, her books have been translated into many languages and sold all over the world (including in the Chantelivre bookshop in Paris!).

In 2019 Emily was selected by the Children's Laureate, Lauren Child, to be featured in Drawing Words, an exhibition of contemporary UK children's book illustration.

Emily lives in east London and works from a studio nearby in an old carpentry factory.