DIY Superbooks
Books that are DIY projects themselves
Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel December 13, 2013
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| Photo provided by Storey Publishing |
The pages of these DIY Superbooks are profusely illustrated with quirky-cool
drawings. If there are any photos, they are altered and enhanced with more distinctive
drawings. Embellished hand-lettering is also the norm. A new type of superhuman
DIY author/creator seems to have emerged—one with the x-ray vision to dream up
and complete incredible projects plus
the creative brilliance to share those projects in the most riveting way.
So, if you want the power of DIY, search out these crazy-talented
authors and their amazing DIY Superbooks:
FILM AND
VIDEO MAKING: “Action! Professor Know-it-all’s illustrated guide to film &
video making” by Bill Brown.
At first I thought this clever
little book was meant for kids, but apparently, it has become assigned reading
in some college-level beginning film-making classes. A fellow reviewer calls
it, “simultaneously
erudite and approachable, leavened with wit and charm aplenty." Illustrated
with simple line drawings, “Action!” makes reading about white balance and
hyperfocal distances actually fun, and will inspire film and
video makers of all ages and experience levels to stride confidently into multimedia
projects of any size.
COZY
SHELTERS: “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats,
Funky Forts” by Derek “Deek” Diedricksen.
The adjectives in the title are
apt for describing the book itself—essentially a brainstorm of wildly imaginative
ideas in the format of a black-and-white graphic novel—although it also has a
small section of color photos featuring the author and others enjoying their
outrageous, gotta-have-it shelters. The structures range in size from a disaster-relief
shelter-for-one, to a junk-car cabin, to a “Tee-Pee for Three or so…,” i.e.,
they’re all pretty diminutive in size but big on wow factor. As one reviewer
describes it, “the book reads like a demented Boy Scout’s fantasy notebook.”
(Diedericksen also gives 3-day Tiny House Workshops. Go to http://relaxshacks.blogspot.com/)
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CLUBHOUSES:
“Keep Out! Build your own backyard clubhouse” by Lee Mothes.
Not quite in the category of
superbook, I’m recommending “Keep Out!” nevertheless, as the perfect complement
to “Humble Homes.” Once Diedricksen has inspired you to leap tall buildings in
a single bound, this one will provide the practical, step-by-step guidance to
make it happen. The author includes photos of a clubhouse he and his friends
built and rebuilt in the early 1960s from lumber, nails, old wallpaper and
other things “found mostly by rummaging through the neighbors’ trash.” To
recapture the romance of that early experience, Mothes provides plans and
building instructions, as wells as wisdom on tools, techniques and using found
materials, to create a retreat that’s a little less slap-dash than the one he
built 50+ years ago, but probably more reliable. (See photos of Mothes’
childhood clubhouses and more at http://theclubhouseblogger.blogspot.com/)
BRILLIANT STORYTELLING: “Abstract
City” by Christoph Niemann.
Niemann’s stories revolve around the stuff of his everyday
daily life (home, kids, coffee shops, cables, dust bunnies), told using the most
commonplace of materials. But there’s nothing mundane about Niemann’s storytelling.
He uses napkins and coffee stains to demonstrate his love affair with coffee; crudely
hand-sewn dolls to write about his superpowers; cookie dough and sprinkles to illustrate
an alternate creation-of-the-world story; woven paper to explore the fall of
the Berlin Wall. My favorite chapter is “Bathroom Art,” in which Niemann
designs shower walls using “pixel drawings” made up of classic 4-by-4 inch
colored tiles, including pixilated “Venus of Urbino” and Warhol’s “Brillo Box.”
It’s storytelling reinvented—squeezing lumps of coal into glittering diamonds.
(You won’t want this book to end, so go to http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/
or download his app, “Petting Zoo” for more.)
PARENT PROJECTS: “Made by
Dad: 67 Blueprints for Making Cool Stuff” by Scott Bedford.
Who needs a phone booth when you’ve got a book with 67
ways to transform yourself into a super-parent? This book is the only thing
you’ll ever need on a cooped-up, rainy Saturday afternoon—a project book which
combines hyper-inventive drawings, photos and text, created by a guy who must
be the super-est (and tireless) of dads. In the introduction he says, “If you
have kids, some time to kill, and an empty toilet paper roll, this book is for
you.” The projects are all kid-tested on his two young sons, and use supplies
you’ve already got like cardboard, soup cans, rubber bands and plastic bags.
What kid wouldn’t love to make a Slingshot Car Launcher, a Spaghetti and
Marshmallow Eiffel Tower, or a Remote Release Zip Line? (Also see his
award-winning blog, www.whatimade.com)
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| Photo provided by Storey Publishing |
Although the author, Amanda Thomsen, didn’t create the
drawings for her book “Kiss My Aster,” the collaboration between her sassy
writing and the fresh, amusing illustrations is seamless. It’s all just one
big, piquant bunch of fun that manages to also include helpful information for
the beginning gardener. Thomsen is obviously a knowledgeable horticulturist,
but may love sewing words just as much:
Thomsen on growing vegetables: “Pick a site near the
house, so harvesting doesn’t become a schlepfest, okay?”
On growing hedges: “I bet you want a hedge. Way to
start out easy, chief.”
On tearing out plants: “Tearing out is so much fun
that I almost want to come over and help you. Almost.”
You
get the idea. “Kiss My Aster” wears a cape and flies high above other gardening
books in the DIY Superbook stratosphere.
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| Photo provided by Storey Publishing |
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