Tiz and Ott’s Big Draw – book review
By Bridget Marzo
Published by Tate ISBN 978-1849763103
Review by Derek Brazell
We all know that most kids love to draw, but if they need a bit of encouragement, Bridget Marzo’s book, which revels in mark making, will certainly help them.
The two characters, Tiz and Ott (a cat and donkey – created in Marzo’s spontaneous line) draw and paint their own environments throughout the book, from a brick house through a wildly painted storm to a crash land in sand dunes. ‘How will they get out?’ is the slight story’s moment of intrigue (with a page flap to emphasise it). But this charming book isn’t really about story, it’s about the love of putting a brush or pencil to paper, and all the endless variations those movements can produce – for little and grown up hands.
Along with easy instructions on how to replicate the sweet characters, Marzo also includes a handy spread showing a host of different types of marks – splodge, dashes, twiddly, crinkle – which I think kids should find really useful as starting points for their own pictures as well as inspire new approaches to using their materials. A great way to kick start some image making.
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