My Style Studio, from Klutz, is a book that gives girls everything they need to create unlimited fashion designs. The inside cover of the book contains tracing paper, colored pencils, a marker, a pencil sharpener, an eraser, textured plates, and cling-on stickers in the shapes of faces, hairstyles, shoes, pants, skirts, and shirts.
To start, girls take the transparent figure and dress it with the combination of elements they like. Kids can combine items by simply eliminating lines to create new garments, such as connecting a top and a skirt to create a dress. Then, kids trace the figure, being careful to only trace the lines they want—the outside of a shoe, for example, and not the foot inside. Once it’s all on paper, kids can outline the final image in ink, and erase stray pencil marks, creating a clean illustration.
Once the figure is drawn out, girls can let their creative juices flow by coloring in the model, adding textures by placing the textured plates under the image and rubbing colored pencils over the paper, adding accessories and jewelry, creating a scene, and more.
The book contains a plethora of ideas for girls to think beyond the provided shapes and garments and create all kids of new patterns, outfits, details, and styles. Not only would I have absolutely loved this as a kid, I was really getting into it while I tested this book for review! (Not gonna lie, I’m a little impressed with my own creation, if I do say so myself.) The best thing about it is that the book really gives girls a launch pad for their imaginations. While the book provides eight colored pencils, girls can open up a whole new palette by adding their own pencils. The tips in the book, such as how to draw accessories such as bags, hats, and glasses, let girls practice getting the form right by tracing them, and then they can go on to experiment with additional styles and designs as they gain the skill and confidence to try new ideas.
The book also shows kids ways to use the tools provided to achieve tons of different effects. Layering pencil colors creates new colors; laying one color down and then using another with a texture plate creates an intricate, multi-colored pattern; using different amounts of pressure changes the depth of saturation and can also lend itself to an ombre effect; mixing texture plates creates entirely new patterns; and more. The possibilities truly are endless!
