“Ed’s Drawing Books in many ways are about knocking the title of ‘art’ off its big and scary perch. The books show you ways to draw, not ways to be an artist. In fact, the words ‘art’ or ‘artist’ are nowhere to be found in the Drawing Book series, save for the mandatory Library of Congress shelving notes. When he does talks for young people, Ed likes to say that he “draws pictures for a living.” In his Drawing Books, he wasn’t out to spawn legions of artists, he was out to give kids the tickle of fun and success by drawing something that they might not have thought they could draw. “Not everyone needs to be an artist,” he says, “but everyone needs to feel good about themselves.” And it’s key to Ed’s worldview that one can have fun drawing without the burdensome idea of being an ‘artist,’ just as one can have fun playing catch or shooting baskets without needing to think of one’s self as an ‘athlete.'”
— Caleb Neelon on illustrator Ed Emberley