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Step 1: Find a brick, any brick, this one is a paving brick. Brush it down to reloctes spiders, bugs and sand. Give it a rinse under the tap and allow to dry.

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Step 2: Paint a coat of Lily White paint onto the top of the brick. Paint the layer thinly and make sure that splodgy brush strokes are flattened out. You can use a wide brush. Allow the paint to fill holes, chips or cracks in the brick.

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Step 3: Paint the whole top of the brick and down the sides to half way or just over half way. Fill in little holes by brushing the paint back and forth over the holes, in different directions. Wash your brush, close your paint lid and let this dry. If there's a sunny spot around, let it dry in the sun.

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Step 4: When the top side seems dry enough, turn it over and place on to some clean milk bottle tops, or cooldrink lids, anything that will lift the brick off the surface because the paint might not be 100% dry. Start painting the underside (which is on the top now), being sure to fill in little holes, chips, cracks and uneven parts.

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Step 5: Once complete, the whole brick will be white. Clean your brush, close your paint lid and allow the brick to dry. Once dry, if your brick was quite dark in colour, repeat steps 2 to 3 so that the brick has two full coats of white paint. If your brick looks much like this one, you don't need another coat of white for now.

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Step 6: Once both sides are dry, choose which side will be the front of your book. Probably the side with least glitches. Give that side (top only) another coat of white paint and leave in a sunny spot to dry completely. Wash your brush and put your lid back on your paint.

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Step 7: Your brick should be nice and dry now. Use River Stone colour to paint the spine of the book, just 1 layer should be fine.

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Step 8: On the front cover area, mark off 1cm from each edge using a ruler to measure and a blue pencil crayon to make the marks and draw the lines. If you don't have a blue pencil crayon, a normal pencil is fine.

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Step 9: Do the same on the spine area, 1cm from each of the four edges.

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Step 10: Mix up a pale fudge colour by mixing half Fudge Beige and half River Stone or lily White paint. Use this to paint the ‘pages’ area which will be the 3 sides, leaving out the spine area.

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Step 11: There will be three sides of the brick painted, leaving the spine unpainted with the page colour.

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Step 12: Using Periwinkle Blue, paint the edges of the book front, keeping clean lines.

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Step 13: Paint up to the edges of the pages area and the edges of the spine area up to the blue lines you marked out.

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Step 14: The next four steps show how to do some blending. The top and bottom of the front cover will have a fade which goes from the paper colour you mixed, to stone colour to white. Starting with one of the corners, paint the paper colour you mixed previously, clean off brush.

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Step 15: While this first colour is still wet, paint some of the stone colour, blending it quickly into the paper colour.

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Step 16: While the stone colour is still wet, paint white to blend into the stone colour. It doesn't have to be perfect, areas of hard lines can be fixed once the paint has dried. Don't try fix or overwork any areas as the bottom layers of colour will start lifting.

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Step 17: Follow steps 14, 15 and 16 with the other 3 corners. The middle section of the book cover will be left mainly plain white. Allow this paintwork to dry properly.

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Step 18: We're going to draw the oval which appears on the front of the book. Using a sharp pencil, mark off 2cm from the blue border at the top of the rock. We're working on the oval which appears on the front cover.

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Step 19: Draw a faint pencil line across the top, mark off 1cm from the left and right blue border as well.

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Step 20: Using your milk bottle cap or something of similar size, place the bottle cap so that one side meets toe top 2cm measured line and the other side of the cap meets the right hand 1cm measured mark. Lightly draw around the bottle cap starting at the top, for 180º (half of the cap).

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Step 21: Do the same on the left hand side. Your oval shape is starting to take form.

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Step 22: Where the two circles from the bottle caps don't meet, and there is a drawn straight line, draw a gentle arc to complete the top of the oval. Do the same for the bottom of the oval.

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Step 23: Using an erasor, rub out all the extra lines that are not representing the oval (inside and outside the oval line.

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Step 24: Paint the oval area using Periwinkle Blue, as used for the border areas.

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Step 25: It should look like this. Allow the oval to dry.

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Step 26: Working on the pages edges of the book, put some River Stone paint onto a palette (yoghurt lid works) and dip either a dry sponge or an old dry toothbrush into the paint and drag it across the brick edges to create 'pages'. Don’t fill it in, allow the darker colour beneath to show through in the gaps.

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Step 27: Do the same using Queen's Gold, keeping the streak lines.

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Step 27: Do the same using Queen's Gold, keeping the streak lines.

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Step 28: Neaten up the blue edges of the front cover so they overlap slightly (2mm max) onto the pages area.

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Step 29: Do this all the way around and finish off by painting the back of the book flat blue. Allow to dry and do a little clean-up.

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Step 30: Print the PDF worksheet onto A4. The download link is in the introduction to this tutorial.

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Step 31: Use a white pencil or a standard pencil to mark out the inner fine line that will go inside the oval. You'll need a fine brush (I recommend a 4/0) and a Lily White paint.

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Step 32: Paint the fine line all the way around the inside of the oval, swiveling the brick as you go to get the best, most comfortable position for your hand while doing fine lines.

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Step 33: From your printed worksheet (see step 30) cut out the oval area.

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Step 34: Using a ruler and a pencil, draw lines on the base line and the top line of the text on the oval you cut out, right to the edges of the cut out paper.

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Step 35: Place the cut out oval on top of the painted oval, as horizontal as you can (measure from the top of the brick if necessary), and mark the ends of the lines you drew onto the painted brick on the right and the left of the oval.

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Step 36: Now join up those marks to create lines using pencil and ruler.

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Step 37: Take the cut out oval and fold on the base line of the word 'WINNIE~'

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Step 38: Hold the folded paper to meet up with the top most drawn line, make sure it's centered in the oval area left to right. Start marking the vertical lines on INNI and E. Then mark the diagonal lines of W, N and N, then the horizontal lines of E.

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Step 39: Using your finest brush (a 4/0 or a 3/0) and your best quality white craft paint, start by painting first all the vertical lines, then the diagonal lines, then the horizontal lines. Look carefully at your printed reference to see which lines are thicker and which are thinner.

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Step 40: Once all complete, paint the tiny serifs on each letter where they meet the base line and top line of each letter.

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Step 41: Now do the same with the second line of text THE~POOH (follow steps 38, 39 and 40)

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Step 42: Your oval should look like this now. If any of your lines are wobbly or too thick, you can carefully touch up with blue paint. When this paint is completely dry (tomorrow) you can erase the pencil lines with a soft eraser.

Cover

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Step 43: As long as your paint is dry, gently erase the pencil lines and touch up the lettering only if needed.

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Step 44: From the printed worksheet, draw a pencil line directly on the base line and the top line of your A A MILNE lettering, then snip it out using scissors.

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Step 45: Measure 1cm from the blue border at the base of your brick and draw a pencil line across. Match up the baseline pencil line of your type to this drawn line and mark off the top line of type. Draw a pencil line across so you have 2 pencil lines for your A A MILNE type.

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Step 46: Using scissors, trim off the white area below the baseline of the type.

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Step 47: Place the lettering to meet up with the top line, making sure the A A MILNE lettering is centered left to right on the brick, between the blue boarders. As before, using a pencil, mark the vertical lines of MILNE, the diagonal lines of A A and N then the horizontal lines of A, A, L and E.

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Step 48: Using a fine brush (4/0), paint carefully over your pencil marked areas taking special note from your printed reference which lines are thicker and which are thinner. Add the little serifs to finish off. Allow to dry.

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Step 49: Using a pencil and a ruler, draw a line on the baseling and the top edge of the spine lettering WINNIE~THE~POOH.

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Step 50: Cut out this line of lettering along the two pencil lines so that the cut lines are right on the edge of the baseline and the top edge of the lettering.

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Step 51: Position the cut-out strip of lettering in the centre of the spine area - left to right and top to bottom. Mark the baseline and the top edge on both the left and the right of the lettering.

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Step 52: Using a ruler and pencil, join up the lines you've marked so you get two straight guidelines for your lettering.

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Step 53: Find some presstick (sticky-tape can also help to hold the lettering in place).

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Step 54: Place blobs of presstick behind the lettering to hold it in place on the top pencil line.

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Step 55: As before, mark out your vertical lines, diagonal lines, horizontal lines and your Os, taking careful note of the shape of the Os.

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Step 56: You can move the lettering a bit away from the pencil line edge now, then using the Periwinkle Blue as for the border edges, start painting your lettering using a fine brush (4/0). Take careful note of which lines are thicker and which are thinner by referring to your print-out.

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Step 57: After checking that all the thin lines and thick lines are correct and the ovals of the Os are thicker on the left and right, and thinner at the top and bottom, add the little serifs. If any letters look too fat in the wrong places, when the blue is dry, you can go in and touch up with the background River Stone colour again as needed. Erase the pencil lines only when paint is completely dry.

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Step 58: This is how your book should look now. Next step is the most fun, the E. H. Shepard illustration.

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Step 59: We're going to paint the cloudy background. In the white area in the middle of the brick, add some Lily White paint quite roughly but more in the middle areas, not too close to the outer edges. This is to facilitate some blending.

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Step 60: While the white paint is still wet, dab some Periwinkle Blue.

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Step 61: Dab the blue in patches, wipe off the brush with a cloth or tissue, add a bit more plain white to soften the blending. It can have a rough, painty look when complete.

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Step 62: On your worksheet you can roughly mark the outer edges of Pooh, bees and balloon then cut it out along the wavy line using scissors.

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Step 63: Position this final part of the worksheet on your brick so that it fits snugly under the painted oval area and also centered left to right. Using a pencil, draw about four short lines that start on the paper and continue to the brick. These will be used when positioning the print-out on the brick again, and again.

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Step 64: Take the paper to a window and place it face down so that you can see the illustration shining through the paper in reverse. Use a soft pencil (2B or graphite stick) to scribble over the reverse. Only scribble over the areas where the lines are.

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Step 65: The back of the illustration will look like this. If you don't have a soft pencil, try a normal pencil, it may work fine.

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Step 66: Reposition the illustration on the front of the brick using your four positioning lines. Use a ballpoint pen (ar anything with a hard, thin front) to trace the outline of Pooh. You only need the outside outline, not any inside detail. I've used a red pen so I can see what I've traced.

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Step 67: Remove the paper, set it aside and paint the blob-like shape of Pooh using a mix of Fudge Beige and Lily White - same colour as used for the bottom layer of the pages on this book.

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Step 68: Once Pooh is nice and dry, reposition your illustration using the positioning marks and trace the balloon.

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Step 69: The balloon needs some blending. Start with Dragonfly Blue and neatly paint around the inside edge of the balloon.

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Step 70: Wipe the brush with a cloth or tissue. While the dark blue paint is still wet, paint some Periwinkle Blue, dabbing it into the edges of the dark blue paint to blend it.

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Step 71: Wipe your brush dry again, add Lily White paint to the middle area, dabbing it into the light blue to blend. If needed, dab areas that look like they need a bit more blending. Don't worry too much about brush marks, they suit the style and overworking them will flatten the blending.

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Step 72: The front of the brick should look like this and needs to dry before the next step.

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Step 73: Place your printed illustration back on the brick using your four guides for positioning and trace over the balloon string, the arms, legs, ear and nose of Pooh (don't worry about the inside line detail, just the outlines) and mark little blobs / circles for the bees, mainly to get their positioning.

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Step 74: This image shows the pencil markings - they are just guides.

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Step 75: Using a thin brush (4/0) and Jet Black paint, paint the outline of the balloon.

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Step 76: Looking carefully at your printed reference of the illustration, copy the fine cross-hatching lines on the balloon, keeping your lines thin and clean. Add the balloon string.

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Step 77: Paint the outlines of Pooh using a fine brush and black paint.

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Step 78: Looking closely at your printed reference again, paint in the detail lines on Pooh. In the story he has covered himself in mud so that the bees will mistake him for a little black cloud, that's why he is so 'muddy'.

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Step 79: Mix up a little Canary Yellow and Fudge Beige paint 2:1 and paint little dots where the bees go. Allow this paint to dry.

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Step 80: Following the printed reference again, paint the little bees. They are quite rough but that's fine, just copy what you see, making sure you don't cover the yellow bee areas completely.

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Step 81: The bees should look like this now.

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Your Winnie-the -Pooh book is complete 🙂 Well done!