This is such a cute guide! It explains the drawing steps easily so you can follow them and I think advanced artists can also benefit from this book, being able to alter the looks of the characters to their style since the base is so simple or maybe just for fantastical, cozy inspiration.

If you’re like me and appreciate a book that gets straight to the fun, Cute Fantasy Art Class: Mystical Anime Besties by Naomi Lord is a delight. I love how straightforward it is. It skips the fluff and dives right into the projects. The characters are thoughtfully organized, making it easy to find inspiration for any mood. There's also a variety of characters within the fantasy world that's included in the book, which I like as a fantasy book fanatic. The bonus chapters with adorable familiars are such a treat, adding an extra touch of magic! Best of all, the step-by-step guides are so easy to follow, making drawing these characters both fun and achievable. Although, I would have also preferred if the author provided some actual colour palettes to match the colours rather than just a description. Nevertheless, it’s still a perfect companion for creative escapes!

This is really cute, and I love the art style and illustrations. This feels like a good book to gift to older kids/teens/young adults who like to draw or are into anime. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for review.

I have a confession. I asked for this book for my kids, not myself. See, my kids love to draw. It's astounding how many hours they will sit at the kitchen table duplicating Dog Man artwork or Pokémon characters. So when I saw this book I knew I had to ask for it.

Cute Fantasy Art Class is an adorable book with the cutest illustrations, and Naomi Lord has made her plethora of characters the sweetest little fantasy characters I've ever seen. I even felt I could possibly draw them myself, and that's saying something. If you're looking for an art book to help you or a child you know develop skill this is definitely one to consider. I very much enjoyed it, and will be looking for a physical copy for our home.

*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Noami Lord, I love you. Genuinely, drawing cute anime-style creatures and characters has done so much to boost my confidence in drawing. I am very much a stick-figure/triangle dress kind of drawer. My skills did not evolve past the elementary level (though even that is not saying much, as I know more than a couple kids who are so creative and artistic).

I loved this book, though I have to say I liked the first one better, which is purely a matter of personal preference, as I enjoy drawing non-humanoid characters far more than humans. How am I ever supposed to choose a chibi archer over a dragon or a kitsune? 4.5 Stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Rock Point imprint for the digital ARC of this drawing guide! Naomi Lord’s art is so cute, and I had fun following along with the steps for drawing in her style. I think it would take a bit of practice to get a great result, but the bones are there if you work with them. I had fun looking through the book, and especially enjoyed how each character came with a little introduction and lore. I’d recommend this book to middle schoolers looking for a fantasy drawing book.

I am editing this review after more thought and discussions with my significant other who does know a lot more about drawing than I do and helped me word my feelings better. I feel there may be a bit of a disconnect in the difficulty levels portrayed in this book. To start off, the book has "Learn to Draw" in the title which leaves one to believe it is for absolute beginners and says it in the first pages, confirming my belief.
This is reflected by a tutorial at the beginning which is indeed for extreme beginners about how to generally colour your pieces, but do not have any guides on how to maybe choose a colour palette that fits together or troubleshooting methods to understand why your piece may look weird once coloured.
Apart from this tutorial on which colours to put down first however, I feel like the rest of the book does not have an actual class aspect to it and is more for someone who knows the basics of drawing. For example, as mentioned earlier, we are told to vary expressions, hairstyles, poses, and clothing pieces, but we are just told this is what we should do. We are not thaught how to understand how to balance the shoulders in a pose where the character's hips are facing one way but their face is in another direction. It also doesn't explain how to make sure the head still looks connected in that instance. Instead, it gives us a step by step, but I had to keep looking at further images to understand which part I was drawing. After bringing this point up with my boyfriend, he did mention that it could have been a good idea to do it the other way around and start with the finished piece, decontrusting it and showing the shapes to help beginners understand.

Overall, my thoughts remain that this is great to try and follow along, but seemed to be a bit unsure of the skill level required for their audience.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

This book is absolutely gorgeous and it is clear that the artist has perfected their style and is comfortable within it. That being said, I feel that may be a slight downfall for this book, which is said to be beginner-friendly with room for a challenge if desired. As someone who really loved making art in high school but hasn't drawn much since then, I still remember some of the basics and could see them used here, but there were things we did skip over that I feel could have helped. For example, we are shown at the beginning of the book that different facial expressions can do a lot to change the character and how it is seen, but although there are examples of different expressions, we do not have a separate tutorial for it. I understand this would make the book a lot bigger, but I feel that an aspect like facial expression or hair is very important and hard to draw as a beginner. I also would have enjoyed having some sort of scale or dotted background to the images since, again, as a beginner I've found that proportions can be very tricky and makes the final result seem crooked.

In the end, I do understand that this is not necessarily meant to be a step by step on how to start your journey overall, and the steps are still extremely clear and separated well enough that I didn't feel lost in between them.
The adding of the familiars is also absolutely precious and definitely a lot easier to start with from a beginner's perspective! My snake did turn out looking great, and gave me the confidence to give a try to the warlock next, which will need a lot more practice on my end.

"Cute Fantasy Art Class" by Naomi Lord is, firstly, absolutely cute! Just flipping through the pages is very enjoyable. Secondly, she really does deliver on the Art Class portion, as she provides so many step-by-step drawing instructions within. This could be a great companion for a Dungeons and Dragons game, if you want each person to draw their character! It's a little beyond my skill level, but I'm practicing!

This is a great drawing book that my son (10) and I happily drew from and will continue to use. This isn't an entry-level basic book as it jumps a little into the deep end. But that's great because too many art/crafting books spend time with basic tips, and we were looking for something & are capable of higher-level instructions. This will appeal to all ages.

As someone just starting to explore digital art, this book is everything I hoped for and more. The designs are not only adorable but also approachable, making it perfect for beginners and those looking to build confidence in drawing fantasy characters. Each tutorial is thoughtfully broken down into clear, step-by-step instructions that feel easy to follow and incredibly fun to try.

What I loved most is how the book encourages you to add your own creative spin—whether it’s through customizing outfits, experimenting with hairstyles, or adding accessories. Even as a total beginner, flipping through this book made me feel inspired to start drawing right away (and yes, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at sketching a fairy—let’s just say my results were surprisingly not terrible!).

The organization is fantastic, too, with characters divided into imaginative settings like “The Enchanted City” and “The Moonlit Mountains.” It’s not just a guide; it’s an invitation to explore whimsical worlds while learning how to bring them to life on paper (or digitally, in my case).

If you’re a fan of fantasy and anime art—or even just looking for a new creative outlet—this book is an absolute treat. I can’t wait to dive in further and see what else I can create!

This was very cute and bright it says about many ways to lay fabrics and measure out the bodies so i would highly reccommend.

This is a VERY cute book with a beautiful array of fantasy characters to draw! Naomi Lord's style is absolutely adorable, and she has provided detailed character tutorials for a whole range of creatures - it's very DnD/Humblewood themed, and I will absolutely be drawing all my DnD characters in this style. I have enjoyed myself immensely following some of the tutorials (I used pencil and paper and followed along just fine, despite most of the drawings appearing to be digital art).

I was unaware that this is a second book until I saw some other reviews, and I wonder if book one has a little more on anatomy and how to scale the drawings. This book does have a brief mention of "Body and Posing", but doesn't go into great detail on how big arms should be in proportion to head etc - for a total beginner, it might be frustrating to be thrown in at the deep end. As I doodle quite a lot though, the basic shapes for putting together a humanoid in each tutorial were great for me!

The instructions are detailed, however they don't always match up word for word with what the drawing is actually doing - for most of the heads the instructions say "draw a round shape", when the drawing looks more like a bean shape. The drawings are very easy to follow though, with the new bits being drawn in a darker colour to show exactly what you're adding at each stage.

In the introduction there is a little bit about customising characters, however I think it would be nice to see a gallery at the end with some variations on characters (not necessarily with a tutorial), just to get a vibe for how exactly you can change up each character. For anyone who draws a lot and knows a lot of poses, I'm sure they can use their imagination, but for a complete beginner it might be nice?

Tl;dr: Very cute book, would absolutely buy the first one (and this one!), might be a little tough to follow for a total beginner.

Incredibly adorable!

Like the first book - Cute Creature Art Class -, this book provides step-to-step instruction.
It mainly focuses on human/humanoid characters, but you'll also find a section with animal familiars!
It's great for beginners but also those who don't necessarily use this art style (or if you just want to look at cute art).
I'll definitely use the tips!

I’ve loved Naomi’s art for a long time and have many of her pieces in my home.
Very cute book, really good step by step instructions.
Can’t wait to try some of the characters and maybe add my own flare of style :)

What a lovely glimpse into the art world of Naomi Lord! This is an artist I wasn’t previously familiar with, but will definitely look forward to seeing more from them. The title of this book perfectly sums it up - it’s the cutest art class I’ve been a part of. Broken down into categories and then further into types of characters, Lord takes us through the process step-by-step with how to draw fantastical characters (and maybe some fantastical creaturese as well?) Accessible to non-artists and fun for everyone. This is the type of book that you need your own copy of, checking it out from a library is just going to leave you wanting more!

This is a very beautifully illustrated book that is supposed to help you draw cute fantastical characters.

I had never followed this author before, but immediately loved their art style, cover page, and coloring techniques. I was excited to test this out.

The book is divided into several themed sections. I enjoyed that so many different creatures are covered. There is a separate chapter on animal characters and a separate one for magical familiars, which I loved.

I believe that this book is more suited for digital artists since there is a lot of outlining and silhouettes, which I feel would be a struggle to erase or cover up in traditional drawings.

I tested some of these tutorials on my digital drawing pad.
The author starts with a brief overview of basics, like drawing faces, expressions, coloring techniques, etc. Then, she jumps right into drawing characters.
I would love it if there were more discussions on the proportions, and if the introductory tips were a bit more detailed.

While I really enjoyed the illustration style, I feel like the tutorials themselves were not very clear. Sometimes what is written doesn't really match the drawing beside it. For example, the instructions are usually to draw ovals, circles, rectangles, etc., but what is actually drawn is more complex than that.
Whether I followed just the instructions or tried to replicate the drawings, it didn't quite turn out as I expected it to. I consider my drawing skills to be fairly good, but maybe this book is just above my skill set. In that respect, I don't think it is for beginners at all. However, there are many useful tips, so I will try to use them to develop my own characters and art further.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

I was really excited to get this drawing guide from NetGalley and settled it for some sketching. At first glance, it looked like the directions would allow me to successfully draw my own cute figures. Overall, the instructions are lengthy and detailed. Not only are there written instructions, but below these, an example sketch is also provided to help visually guide the leader. However, some of the instructions aren't exactly suited for beginners. Sometimes, we are instructed to draw a round shape or a rectangle but the drawing underneath isn't exactly that. So either my drawings came out completely wrong because I followed things to the letter or I tried to replicate the drawing examples provided and also failed. It took me more than a couple tries to get something close enough to the expected final result, which was a bit frustrating.

And this is not to say that I am a complete beginner. I know how to draw and have been getting better everyday but this was a completely new style to me and I struggled. I will continue to practice but the instructions are not necessarily reflective of what is actually required and I take issue with that. I can acknowledge that someone who has more experience than I could probably easily replicate or follow these instructions so I think this probably isn't for me just quite yet!

Overall, I do think this book is more detailed than most drawing guides out there and does a decent job at guiding the reader, provided the reader is a bit more experienced than me haha.

I love Naomi Lord’s artstyle and have followed her for years on social media. When her first book came out, I was thrilled (and bought it), and I’m no less excited by this one.
The principle is exactly the same: after quick references about drawing faces, or coloring for example, the book is divided by “subject sections” and for each drawing there is a double page (occasionally more) tutorial. It is (of course) beautiful, and only navigating through the pages is satisfying for the eye.
For someone who doesn’t know proportions and isn’t good at drawing, a few things are missing, though. In fact, the “global shapes” and proportions aren’t indicated, only the step by step tutorial. It was already the case in the first book, but now that most subjects are human –and consequently more complex to draw– it becomes more problematic. That being said, after a few attempts I managed to reproduce some of the drawings. I’m sure that someone with a better eye would do great with the step by steps that are truly detailed. For starters like me, however, I would recommend buying book1 first.
Like the first book, I enjoyed this one, and I will be there for book 3, should it exist one day.

I received a free copy of this book. I leave my review voluntarily and my opinions are my own.

I found this book absolutely adorable. Instructions were clear and easy to follow.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE SO CUTE!!! It's an easy to folloe guide on learning to draw famtasy characters, and delivered just what it promised!