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Drawing a blank? This York Co. artist's book can help


Caleb Robertson's new book has a host of drawing exercises to help readers express their creative side.

Arthur Caleb Robertson wants to draw out your creative side.

The 24-year-old Spring Garden Township resident and recent York College graduate has written and illustrated a book full of exercises aimed at helping adults explore their creative side through drawing.

With its heavy-duty cover and spiral rings, the book is like an artist’s sketch pad. Its one-word title, “Draw,” tells readers what Robertson hopes they’ll start doing once they flip open the cover.

The book is filled with pages of prompts for drawers — and space for them to create. One page encourages readers to draw a picture of their first house. To help users along, Robertson poses questions, such as how many windows did the house have and was in the city or suburbs?

To pay for the book's publication, Robertson set out to raise $15,500 on Kickstarter, the online funding site. He crushed that goal, raising almost $25,000 from 575 backers.

The pledges flowed in not just from York County but from people in Texas, Oregon, Australia and the United Kingdom. Kickstarter’s editors even selected “Draw” as one of their “Projects We Love.”

Color My World

Robertson, who goes by his middle name of Caleb, graduated from York College in December with a graphic arts degree. His book grew out of a senior class project. It hits the market at a time when a growing number of adults are taking up coloring as a stress-reliever and a way to recapture some of the creativity that comes so naturally to children, he said.

Coloring books for adults accounted for five of the 20 best-selling books on Amazon.com in 2015, according to the online retail website.

Twelve million coloring books, including those for adults, were sold in 2015, according to a recent Time magazine article that cited a report by Nielsen BookScan. That was up from 1 million the year before.

Closer to home, adult coloring books are among the top sellers at Books-A-Million in Springettsbury Township.

“It became a huge item at Christmas time and hasn’t let up,” said Dan Broeker, the store’s general manager.

Robertson hopes his book will unleash the same spark of creativity that coloring books do.

“It has to come from here,” he said, tapping the side of his head.

“Draw” has a humorous side, too, like the page that is nearly empty save for the warning, “Blank page: Please do not write or draw on this page.”

It's a nod to all the short-answer tests Robertson remembers taking as a kid.

“Haven’t you always wanted to draw all over one of those sheets from a standardized test?” he asked.

Melanie Rodgers, an associate professor of art at York College, watched Robertson’s book develop from class project to moneymaking venture.

“I thought it was really neat,” said Rodgers, who coordinates the college’s graphic design program. “I thought it was extremely well-crafted and a very viable product.”

For Robertson, who grew up in Spring Garden Township, the youngest of seven children, drawing and doodling was a way to express himself. In his back pocket, he carries a yellow notebook full of sketches and what he calls “random stuff.”

Caskey Group in York is publishing the books, which Robertson will sell on his website. It’s the first Kickstarter-funded project Caskey has done, said Tony Rife, the company’s president.

Robertson has ordered a print run of 750 of the larger books, which measure 6-by-12 inches, and 650 of the smaller books, which are 3 ½-by-7 3/4 inches.

"Draw" isn’t Robertson’s first creative venture. His company, ArtC Creative, makes silk-screened, York-themed T-shirts Robertson sells at flea markets and other pop-up events around the region.

Robertson hopes “Draw” rekindles the creativity grown-ups "let go of when they stopped being kids".

“This is hopefully a slow introduction back into it,” he said.

"Draw"

Available: Online at Robertson's website, www.draw-book.com

Price: $29.95 for the 6-by-12 inch book, $13.95 for the 3 1/2-by-7 3/4 inch book, or $42.95 for both.