Christmas 2010

There are plenty of top quality Christmas present options spread around the site, including last year’s suggestions. However, we thought we’d put up a Christmas post after seeing this week’s colour supplements brimming with gift ideas. Never before have we seen such a collection of ‘one minute wonder’, ‘straight to bucket’ presents. So, here instead is a short selection of possible gifts that deliver some genuine entertainment:

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

The Ottoline books fall somewhere between graphic novels, activity books and children’s fiction. Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is the first title, followed by Ottoline Goes to School and Ottoline at Sea.

Each book follows the adventures of young Miss Ottoline Brown, (and her sidekick Mr. Monroe), as they investigate various mysteries through stories backed up by excellent artwork, which is laced with clues and puzzles.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

The blend of text, images and puzzles gives the Ottoline books a particularly wide age range, as kids as young as 4 or 5 can enjoy them, while a 9 or 10-year-old will ‘devour’ them in no time at all. Some boys may not be quite as impressed as girls, which is a pity, as Ottoline’s quirky nature, the on-going ‘detective work’ and the sense of humour running through all the titles make for highly enjoyable reading.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat concerns a series of burglaries and dognappings. Ottoline Goes to School follows up with the investigation of a ghostly school. While Ottoline Goes to Sea finds Ottoline setting off in search of Mr. Munroe, who has gone missing.

All three books are highly recommended, because the combination of artwork, typography, fiction and mystery that they contain keeps the series fresh.

Legend of the Guardians on the Wii

The Legends of the Guardians books feature lots of combative, armour-plated owls winging and battling their way through a quest to save the Owl Kingdoms from evil. It all sounds a bit aerial Watership Down meets ‘Dances With Owls’; and that’s how the books come across. Basing a videogame on such a premise probably shouldn’t work.

However, having rotated the Wii-mote to operate as a pair of wings, the Legend of the Guardians videogame does a surprisingly good job as an action-adventure title/ basic RPG. The focus of the gameplay is the action and this mainly involves playing through a straightforward, but exciting, Flight Sim. In particular, several of the aerial combats find the player’s owl sweeping and twisting through ‘clouds’ of opponents in much the same manner as during WW2 Flight Sim gameplay.

Legend of the Guardians

Of course, Legend of the Guardians has a lot less bullets and blood around than in a standard Flight Sim and this allows the story to develop alongside the aerial combat. (Though designated a 12, there’s not a lot to cause concern for a 10-year-old and it’s one of those games where an older teenager might find it a bit short on options and glossy set pieces).

There may be a few minor grumbles about the length of the game, but it’s actually about right, as the flying is fun but, eventually, repetitive. It was, therefore, a good move to stick to about 8-10 hours of play at a lower price point than trying to spin things out. It’s also only fair to note the limited role-playing options, which are pretty much restricted to choosing whether or not to undertake a few side-quests. Nevertheless, Legends of the Guardian on the Wii is enjoyable and good value for money providing you shop around.

Please note: Amazon US’s current price is way over the odds.

Watercolour Paints

Watercolours should be an easy way to introduce kids and enthusiastic adults to painting. Unfortunately, that’s often not how it works when beginners try to make a start with an inexpensive box of small colour pans. The paint in bargain watercolour sets tends to be poor quality and any brushes included in sets are often unsuitable. In addition, watercolour painting calls for the right kind of paper and, ideally, a few instructions on how to start out by, for example, applying neutral washes to areas of shadow.

Using really cheap watercolours on standard paper almost always makes the colours bleed. The effect of this on beginner’s confidence can typically be measured by the hardened blocks of gnarled colour left to solidify inside paint spattered trays.

At the other end of the scale, full-blown artists’ watercolour paints are quite expensive and in some cases stuffed full of specialised pigments and other agents, which are, essentially, poisonous. That’s fine for adults who want an exact finish and know how to take the right precautions. However, $10 a block poisoned paints are, unsurprisingly, not recommended for kids.

Winsor Newton – Cotman Deluxe Watercolor Studio

The alternative to cheap kits or expensive paints comes in the form of mid-range kits and paints, such as Winsor and Newtons’ Cotman range. These are available in tubes, or as half pan or pan blocks, in up to 45 colours. Refills are inexpensive and, with the exceptions of black and white, the pan colours are as rich as the paint in the tubes.

There are several $20-40 Cotman sets, which offer a good selection of colours in tubes or pans. The 45 half pan set shown below is an excellent choice, as amateurs and artists can explore a wide, varied and consistent palette without frequent mixing. Add a line brush, a wash brush and some watercolour paper to make a good start for $30-$50 all in. (Unfortunately, we could only see the 45 half pan set at Amazon UK).

Amazon UK: Winsor and Newton Cotman 45 Half Pans Set

Older kids and artists in the making may also wish to look at spending a bit more on pen and ink materials, which provide a different approach to the use of watercolours as colour ‘fills’. Brushes, papers, pens and inks are all best bought with the advice of a local supplier until you’ve identified your preferred media.

There are plenty of online tutorials to help put a few basic watercolour techniques in place at an early stage. Some of the best support is available on Youtube, as you can watch artists’ methods and see exactly how they go about getting the results they’re looking for. Clearly, you’re going to get more choice if your search uses watercolors instead of watercolours.