I went to Abu Dahbi this spring for the launch of my husband’s new project Berklee Abu Dahbi. While there I had the opportunity to attend the Hay Festival where I discovered the art of Ed Vere. I picked up two of his picture books for Lydia and Zoe. Mr. Big being one. We love Mr. Big! I especially like the “A true friend can come in any shape or size…” message. So we were super excited to try out his new “Draw with Ed Vere” Mr. Big video. #drawwithedvere

What you need
- Paper
- Pencil, marker or something to draw with
- Crayons, markers or something to color with
- Computer, tablet, or phone to acces the “Draw with Ed Vere” video
- Nice to have: Mr. Big book (ask your librarian or buy a copy online)
What we did
We started by reading Mr. Big again (we’ve read it approximately 345 times). Each time we discover something new in the art. Lydia and Zoe love the little “For Papa” dedication on the last page of the story (we say Papa not Dad so…).

Then we set up our drawing supplies and pulled the “Draw with Ed Vere” video up.

We watched the whole video first, then paused (many times!) while we followed along.
First we drew Mr. Big’s head.

Then we drew Mr. Big’s body.



When you finish you can color Mr. Big in. Lydia and Zoe chose to color his jacket yellow to match the illustrations in the book.

What we thought
This was our first time drawing to a YoutTube video. We thought it was fun to follow along and see how close we could get our Mr. Big gorilla art to match Ed’s.

Lydia added a few worms as we’ve been learning a lot about gardens and worms lately. We actually just finished this wiggly worm project that you might enjoy!

PS: We started by drawing our own version of a Gorilla… we though it would be fun to note the differences as we are learning about artistic style and that it’s ok to be the same but different (something we talk about a lot a identical twins!).
