Ever After

As I get back into crafting (lost momentum for about 10 years after having my youngest), I found Tamara Laporte's book Ever After to be very inspiring. Her paintings based on Fairy Tales are amazing and I love the way she brings in various elements in the background. There is a mix of guest artists with different styles as well. There are several sections to the book -- The Story of You, Inspiration, Comfort Zones/Productivity, Challenges/Deepening. Each section of the book has a few pages detailing one or two Creative Goals, followed by several Lessons (paintings that you can mimic). I found several nuggets in each Goal section, and just looking over the Lessons showed me several techniques that I would like to try. Like most such lessons there is a fine balance between giving too much technique and not enough. It appears Ms. Laporte straddles the line well, with plenty of pictures and a tip for each picture on what to focus on. Really my only downside is that I'm not too excited about recreating these exact pictures themselves --but then again the book suggests strongly that you take the Lessons in your own direction, and I certainly had plenty of ideas as I read through this book.
*I received an e-version of this book via Netgalley*

If you are a fan of mixed media art, fairy tales and fables then this is the book for you. With beautiful illustrations throughout, 'Ever After', gives you the option of either copying the ideas on offer or discovering your own style and running with it.

The main author, Tamara Laporte, aims to answer the question she hears the most from those who attend her classes, 'how do I develop my own creative style?' Through the projects in this book she invites you to discover and explore what feeds your creative side and then to use that with more confidence to complete your own works of art.

There are also guest teachers who work on some of the chosen fairy tales and their experiences and reasoning also help you to work out your own artistic goals and skills. Everyone has their own favourites from childhood and with the memories attached to remembrances of bedtime stories or movies watched the chance to interpret them in an artistically original way is very tempting.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the chance to stretch their artistic talents and, with this book, experiment while visiting memories from childhood.

I have taken several of Tamara Laporte's classes (in fact, I am taking a class from her right now) and I have always loved her kind, thoughtful and generous approach to both doing and teaching art. I have not taken the Ever After class, mostly because Fairy Tales do not interest me. But since she's an excellent teacher, and I'm always working on developing my own personal style I wanted to see how much I'd like the book.

This book has three main types of content:
- examples of art she and some contributors have made where they share their thinking and how they made a fairy tale their own. These come with step by step instructions to recreate the art. Not in a lot of detail but I'd say more than average. You can likely copy them using the steps.
- advice on things like how to work around your negative self-talk, find inspiration, develop your own symbolism, etc. on the way to finding how to work on listening to things that speak to you.
- and finally ways to make the art your own, i think this content is a bit thinner than i'd like. but in the end, there's no magic to developing your style, it's hard work and consistent work just like everything else in life, so I wasn't super surprised by the type of advice around this.

I can always use more Tam in my life. Her kind and supportive message is always just right for me. Her art, while different than mine, is always loving and kind and I learn a lot from her each time. When I am stuck or just want to feel encouraged and supported, all I have to do is pull out a Tam book and I know I will feel the warmth of her support.

with gratitude to netgalley and quarto publishing group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The book is broken up into 4 sections. It includes lessons from both the author Tamara Laport and guest teachers. There are many tips for making the lessons your own but it is also suggested that you start by doing the lessons as they are presented. Each lesson briefly describes the fairy tale at hand as well as what the artist wanted to bring to the story.

If you follow Tamara Laport (aka WIllowing) online or read her previous book then you probably already have an idea of what to expect here. The cover is a good representation of her art style. Her lessons (in book format anyway - never taken one of her classes) focus on self care and putting yourself in your art.

While I did get an ARC for review, I had already pre-ordered it before being offered it to review, and choose to keep my pre-order as ARCs expire and I definitely want to keep this one.


Section 1 is “The Story of You” which starts with a section on your creative goals and tips for finding your personal style. That is followed by Little Red Riding Hood. Then advice for how to make the lessons your own. Next up is Bambi by guest teacher Micki Wilde. Then Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. Alice is followed by Rapunzel presented by guest teacher Annie Hamman.

Section 2 is “Inspiration: How to Find it, How to Use it” which starts with the creative goal of staying open. Then comes Goose Girl. Lesson 6 is The Little Mermaid by guest teacher Andrea Gomoll. Lesson 7 is Sleeping Beauty (the book’s cover). Lesson 8 is The Little Match Girl by guest teacher Kara Bullock.

Section 3 is “Comfort zones & Productivity” which is all about going out of your comfort zone to find what you can really do. Lesson 9 is The Snow Queen. Lesson 10 Mulan is by guest teacher Lucy Chen. Lesson 11 is Goldilocks & the Three Bears. Lesson 12 is Blodeuwedd by guest teacher Effy Wild.

Section 4 is “Dealing with Challenges & Deepening Your Voice”. Lesson 13 is Peter Pan. Lesson 14 is Beauty & the Beast by guest teacher Mariëlle Stolp. Lesson 15 is The Frog Prince by Danita Art. Lesson 16 is The Reluctant Dragon.

This was a fantastic look at the process of several artists. I would categorize the art feature in the book as illustration and themes revolve around fairy tales. I love the variations in style, technique, media. Each guest teacher, had something unique to contribute, making this a very inspirational book.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Tamara's work and especially her approach on art, productivity and creativity.
I turn to her if I face art blocks or I feel like I'm not improving at all and she makes me appreciate the process again.
The book is beautiful! Tips, lessons and images are top notch.

I can recommend this to any artist, even if mixed media isn't your style of choice. You'll still find a plethora of tips.
I really need a hardcopy of this ASAP.

Thank you Netgalley for granting a wish!

Full disclosure - I requested this book via Netgalley as soon as I heard it was offered. Then I sat and waited impatiently until I was approved. I am taking the Ever After course online from Tamara Laporte and have been a fan both of her and her artistic stylings for years.
That said honestly, I was not required to give any specific rating or viewpoint on this book. I love having this digital copy but I am eager to get a print copy into my hands.

This book is a wonderful gift or jumping off point for an artist or self explorer of any skill level.
Even those, like myself, who doubt they will EVER master drawing faces, more specifically eyes, will enjoy time spent reading and paging through this book. I bet you will also find yourself looking for more inspiration from Tam and her guest/contributing artists in other places.
This experience is addicting, in a positive fashion.

The book begins with a brief explanation and introduction. From there it quickly shifts to focus on the reader/artist in training. Again, I will say this is a book for ALL talent or skill levels. The idea is not to end up with an exact copy of the work presented. It is more about finding your own focus and interpretation and to enjoy the process. Your skills as an artist will grow with the effort you add to the process.

Just as the Fairy Tales used in this book for the lessons have been told and retold and evolved with generation after generation and as they travel from country to country, these lessons will grow with you and your response to them will change each time you open this book.

This is not a read once and leave on a shelf sort of book.

Let me just say that I'm a huge fan of Tamara! Even if I wasn't, I would still love this book! The directions are easy to follow, along with great photos that go along with it. I really enjoyed the other artists contribution. Can't wait to get started drawing! Run, don't walk to purchase this beautiful book!

A simply stunning rendition of an art class. I love this artists style and she makes the steps very easy to follow. Her art supplies are a little expensive but I'm pretty sure you could find bargain art supplies would do the job just as well.

This book takes you step-by-step (sort of) through about 20 different mixed media paintings of fairy tale characters like Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid, along with lots of more obscure characters. They draw on the original folk tales, not the Disney versions. Some of the lessons are by guest artists. Along the way there is a lot of talk about what the original story means, how the artist interprets it, and lots of talk about creativity that encourages you to ponder things about yourself.

Many of the works are very pretty. They are mostly in the sort of brightly saturated, huge eyed young girls that are very popular these days in popular art. I'm not that big of a fan of the way women are depicted in this kind of art -- they're all thin and young and beautiful with massive, unrealistic eyes, tiny little noses, features that aren't in the right parts of their faces, and so on. In these days where nobody posts a selfie without manipulating it with Snapchat filters that give them bigger eyes, false eyelashes, slenderized hips and airbrushed skin, I'm just weary of more artificial images of what women are supposed to look like to be beautiful. There aren't even any women of color depicted (though she does tell you what colors to start out with for darker skin tones), other than Mulan by a guest artist. All of the portraits look like they'd be rich, beautiful influencers on Instagram if they came to life.

I originally ordered the book (through an ARC) because I was hoping to use it as a jumping off point to do my own portraits of what I'd rather see -- portraits of beautiful women with wrinkles, big noses, crazy hair, scars, etc. but in all honesty I can't really use this book to do the art (either hers or my version). There are not enough sketches to truly show you how to draw these really impressive looking portraits, and she uses very expensive art materials (and lots of kinds and lots of them).

It's beautiful to look at, and I understand that thousands of people take her classes and love her spirit. I've taken one of the free ones but never had the ambition to invest the kind of money in supplies needed to do more with it, especially as I'm really looking for art that speaks to me in ways mentioned already.

All that said, many people will no doubt love this book and find lots of great inspiration.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Ever After is beautiful both in set up and teh art included. This books teaches basic art ideas and techniques and mixes it with a variety of media and the richness of fairy tales. Each piece features a summary of the storym], the artist's thought process, and ideas on how to add your personality to it. Each peice is deconstructed into understand instructions with clear visuals to assist yoru creation. I love his book and look forward to working for my own hand at the art inside.

For some years now I have admired the style of art produced by Tamara Laporte, and others who can recreated aspects of her style. There are many almost magical elements in this type of artwork, it sparkles, it creates feeling of peace and joy, the colours, characters and layering are beautiful.
For me this book was a joy to read and learn from, it was great to look at the guest artists who also had their own version of this style of art work.
This book is one that lets one grow, find their own style and understand the creative process, and in doing so be comfortable in their own ability and style, be it what it may.

I was not familar with Tamara Laprote's art prior to coming across this book. I loved how this book was set up. The book's purpose is to help the reader find his or her own style after emulating more experienced artists. I have no doubt that taking the time to listen to Tamara's advice and really commiting to the process she lays in the first few pages will end with postitive results. As much as we all want to have our own style and have our art look great right away, that's not usually how it works & this book gives you directions on how to get there. I work in graphic design and am asked how to find a unique style in the community I'm a part of. Everything Tamara said could be translated to my line of artistry as well. I adored the fairy tale aspect as well as the guest artists. Seeing Tamara's creative process along with others' but while on the same topic was interesting and shows how similar but different the stages of artwork can be.

This is a beautiful book filled with wonderful fairy-tale themed mixed media art lessons. Steps are explained clearly with photos. Tamara’s processes to help people develop their own style are also clearly explained. I’ve taken several of Tamara’s online courses including Life Book 2019, which I am thoroughly enjoying! I think this is a perfect addition to any artists library.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

I think it is a very creative and innovative book, The idea is this: take a tale, see what you like in it, what thoughts and emotions it inspires it in you, transform it as you like, (something changed, something preserved) and illustrate it with mixed media of your choice. The result might be unusual, so for example the wolf of Little Red Riding Hood becomes a friendly creature, the Snow Queen is simply a woman who can't have children. The tales, except two or three, have female protagonists but their role is transformed in the imagination of the artists (the author and her guests). Updated to the modern way of thinking, they are no more passive, but often emancipated strong figures or at least protected by magical power. The readers are sollecitated to work out their own versions through creative ideas and technical tips.

I absolutely love mixed media art projects so when I was given an advance copy to read in exchange for my honest review I was over the moon. This book did not disappoint! Tamara Laporte is extremely talented! I’m now a huge fan of her work after reading this book! This book teaches basic art techniques and ideas mixed in with a variety of mixed media and fairy tales! I simply love this book and I’m so inspired to make beautiful art!

I really love Tamara LaPorte's art style and have all her books. This one was no exception. My only complaint is I would love MORE detail about how to create pieces! I love to see the art work, but I would like more information on the actual process.

I knew I was going to love this book and boy, I wasn’t disappointed! I have forever admired mixed media collages with their gorgeous art, colors and words taunting me to try and make one. I wasn’t confident enough to try though, not knowing the materials involved and wondering “what the heck is gesso and what do you do with it?”. The author provides glorious fairy tale inspired paintings and explains the process from start to finish with photos accompanying the steps. She takes it a step further and offers suggestions on making these pieces your own, which I plan to do. She has several guest artists included to sample several styles. The material section in the beginner section of the book is complete but not overwhelming. I enjoyed this book a great deal and look forward to completing my own version of Sleeping Beauty soon. Many thanks to Quarto Publishing and Netgalley for this advanced ready copy in exchange for my honest review. I truly enjoyed this gem!

Ever After is a multi-media tutorial guide to fairy tale inspired art projects by Tamara Laporte. Released 6 Aug 2019 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and available in paperback format.

There are certainly a variety of tutorial books which utilize prompts and meditative exercises to facilitate creative expression. This is another such. The author and guest teachers use guided fairy tale and fantasy imagery to help the reader tap into their creativity to produce paintings and other graphics and to develop their own artistic style.

The introduction (~10% of the page content) covers the structure of the lessons, tools and supplies, some artistic philosophy, paper choices, as well as instructions for getting the most out of the lessons.

Creative prompts are listed in sidebars as questions to think about before each lesson in order to get the process going: what inspires me, what techniques do I love, what scares me, what would I do differently, which color combinations speak to me, what emotions does this conjure, etc. The tutorials are well and clearly photographed and the accompanying written instructions are easy to follow.

Each of the lessons has an introduction with some history of the origin and background for the stories themselves along with a short artist's statement about intention and desired outcome for the painting. The intro is followed by process tutorials showing the creative process with explanations. The end of the lesson includes suggestions for alternative finishing and other refinements on the basic tutorial to allow for the reader's own embellishments.

The graphics are gorgeous. Illustrated in full color, the layout is both whimsical and beautiful with margin illustrations in the headers and footers of many pages. There are several different media covered including painting, collage, drawing, stamping, stenciling and more.

Although aimed at adults, this would certainly make a lovely gift along with drawing supplies, for a teen/young adult.

Four stars.

Beautifully written and illustrated book! Love the rich philosophy and meaning behind the author’s work and was very inspired!

Thank you, NetGalley for the preview of this eBook.

Ever After by Tamara Laporte is a book that blends mix-media and fairy tales perfectly making it a delightful read. Now I really want to take one of Tamara Laporte's online classes.

It's a great way to get inspired of creating something. new. And they're all fun ideas with a variety of materials so everything is it's own unique work of art.

When I saw the front cover of Ever After by Tamarta Laporte I knew I had to read it. I love mixed media artwork and this didnt disappoint.

To be able to learn how to draw and colour the pictures in the book while on a journey of self discovery is a great idea. I really enjoyed learning a bit more about the fairytales picked and how the artists came up with their ideas for the paintings.

I enjoyed it so much that I have now visited Tamaras website and an looking forward to seeing more of her work over time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quatro for the ARC. My review is my own opinion.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really like Tamara Laporte's artwork and this book didnt disappoint. Lots of ideas for mixed media art pieces taking inspiration from fairy tales. I would by this for myself.

This book is beautifully presented and includes many tutorials for creating your own fairy-tale inspired art. There were many photographs included for the step by step instructions and the book as a whole is full of inspiration.