We've been huge fans of The Etherington Brothers since first discovering their work in the fabulous Phoenix Comic - and so far Lorenzo has put together some truly stunning tutorial collections under the "How to Think when you Draw" umbrella.

But this time it's the turn of his brilliantly funny brother Robin - the 'writing' half of the team - to pour his wisdom into a fantastic tome that will give writers a huge shot in the arm in terms of skills, and a huge boost to their confidence as they start to write up some of the exercises contained in this book.

As the boys have been running their own tutorials free over at https://theetheringtonbrothers.blogspot.com for some time now, it's great to see Robin's writing tutorials finally getting a solid roundup like this, in a gorgeously presented hardcover edition which recently launched successfully on Kickstarter.

We've been hoovering these books up whenever they're released (always worth following the guys over on twitter @theetheringtonbrothers to see what they're cooking up next!)

I'm interested in both sides of the coin, both illustration and writing - but writing is where I struggle the most, and for would-be authors it's sometimes quite daunting considering all the variables and structural elements of a piece of writing, even if you've got past the real first hurdle - getting some subject inspiration.

Robin helpfully delves into the intricaties of character and plot, but builds on these with fantastic weapons to add to your arsenal such as working in back stories, figuring out sensible naming conventions for your characters (or non-sensible ones that will still work beautifully).

At each point there are exercises to try yourself - and so far I've been working through this book with a journal, noting down and attempting each exercise in turn, and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with my own writing efforts.

What I like best about Robin's approach is that it's less preachy, less draconian about writing 'conventions' and in most cases though Robin pays due homage to 'the roolz' he does dispense with them when they're a bit too limiting, and shows you how to do the same - and get away with it!

My favourite exercises - the ones I found the most helpful - were the character-based ones, where you'll learn how to really get under your character's skin and work out what makes them tick - and how to avoid those pitfalls like making your characters too much like you (or not enough if you're self-referencing) and how to avoid getting sued by including folk in your stories that might not want to be in there!

It's brilliant this, like a reference bible for writers at any level, regardless of the genre or subject you want to write about. Having direct access to the contents of Robin's creative brain in this way can only be a good thing (particularly if you've ever seen any of the workshops or shows he and his brother produce - they're gold dust, just like this book!)

Sum this book up in a sentence: A stupendous book filled with amazing insights, tips and tricks to give your writing a real shot in the arm, or to get you started on the right foot when it comes to dreaming up stories, characters and plots.

"How to Think When You Write" by Robin Etherington is out now, self published (self purchased - not provided for review)

Imagine waking up in the morning at 4 AM and instantly thinking to yourself "What can I draw today?"

Now imagine doing that - but doing it in a way where you're actively thinking about how you can share your incredible artistic knowledge with a whole stack of other people, from amateurs (like us) to professional artists looking to add a few tweaks to their game.

Lorenzo Etherington is a dude with a singularity inside his head, capable of drawing in the most incredible ideas through some mystical gravitational force, and translating them into glorious pieces of art - or awesome mind-expanding tutorials.

We've been following his "How to Think when you Draw" series online and in the pages of the fabulous Phoenix Comic for some time. Lorenzo doesn't just teach you how to draw a squirrel, a girl's hair, or a shattered window pane - he takes you through a thinking process that describes what you're trying to draw or visualise using a set of rules that seem so jaw-droppingly simple that they provide an instant confidence boost. "Can it really be that easy?" you start asking yourself - and as you start to scribble and draw some of the exercise topics, you find that the guy knows exactly what he's talking about.

"How to Think When you Draw" is now a hard-backed book available through Lorenzo's recent kickstarter, self published through Hulu. Giving Lorenzo an entirely free rein to produce a piece of work that draws (yeah we'll use that pun a lot) on the very best of the tutes made available previously, with a good few we hadn't seen before.

The book - as you'd expect - is just utterly fantastic, and for us it was really great to have a lot of the tutorials organised by category and available in one place - in a book that we can fold flat and start drawing from. YASSSSSSSS!!!

Follow some of these and you'll start to think before you lift your pencil or pen to paper! It really does work!

Each tutorial section also comes with a vast array of complimentary source material and drawings to help you get up to speed once you've got the gist of what you want to do. Needless to say both C and I absolutely loved all the figurative stuff, particularly drawing gorgeous Stranski-esque ladies.

In our particular level of the kickstarter, this amazing book also came with "The Deluxe Collection Volume 3" - Another huge slice of Lorenzo's personal art back catalogue. 600 pages in fact, blimey guvnor!

A colossal volume comprising 4 years of awesome artistic creativity from an absolute DUDE!

As we've previously said with the last couple of editions of this mighty behemoth of artistic inspiration, the Deluxe Collection III is chock full of amazing ideas, character art, scenic stuff - heck, you name it and it's in here somewhere. In Lorenzo's trademark "Noir-Punk" style, you'll find everything from Stranski girls to kittens driving mechs, stunning Tiki statues or cute little buildings perfect for shoehorning into your favourite RPGs.

Inspiration wise, it's impossible not to flick through this and soak up some of that artistic genius - in fact in conjunction with "How to Think when you Draw" you'll have more than enough source material here to really get your skills up to scratch.

C was so inspired by these that she dug out all our previous Lorenzo books and is now going through them all again, making little doodles and notes as she goes. I love the fact that I'll be off somewhere else in the house and I'll suddenly hear a squeal of delight, the thumping of feet and her appearing at the door to show me some other new little marvel she's discovered in these.

So there you go, a huge thanks to Lorenzo for those early mornings, for the colossal effort involved in producing such a massive body of work - it is worth it dude, it does pay off and you have definitely inspired us so many times to pick up our art materials and get drawing.

C's best bit: Mech-commander Kittens (I think she still wants a 'how to think when you draw' tute on Kittens, so perhaps for Volume 2?)

Daddy's favourite bit: I get completely lost in the imaginary alt-universe of a world that still riffs on 1930s and 40s movies and film noir with a sometimes sci-fi and modern twist. Just too, too good!

Check out Lorenzo and Robin's awesome blog over at http://theetheringtonbrothers.blogspot.com

"How to think when you draw" and Deluxe Collection Volume III were available via Kickstarter (self purchased, not supplied for review). 

Our first Book of the Week for 2017 continues a long-established tradition of The Etherington Brothers basically taking up residence in the BOTW slot with everything they release...

Not one, but two utterly stunning and MASSIVE art collections nail our second Book of the Week slot. We're Lorenzo crazy, baby!

The glorious return of the man with the quiff! Our second Book of the Week this week is the awesome "Von Doogan and the Great Air Race" by Lorenzo Etherington

Imagine waking up after a traumatic incident to find that the world you once knew had disappeared, and worse still, your hair had turned completely white. To add insult to injury you also find that your surroundings are less than hospitable, and you are - in fact - constantly referred to as "Old deady-chops over there".

Welcome to the world of Long Gone Don, one of the coolest comic strips in the fabulous Phoenix Comic, wrought by the expert hands of The Etherington Brothers (Lorenzo and Robin).

Don Skelton finds himself in exactly this predicament at the very start of the tale, collected together here as part of The Phoenix Presents series - something that has allowed us to catch up with all the bits we've missed from the weekly strips in the comic itself (hooray!)

Somehow we'd managed to miss the very start of Don's adventures, so here we find him as a true fish out of water, wandering the dark and gloomy confines of "BroilerDoom" - a place that's as warm and welcoming as a wet weekend in the local sewage works.

Thankfully help is at hand, A sassy hispanic crow called Castanet helps guide (if guide is quite the right world) Don through the underworld, teaming up with a motley collection of miscreants that make the Guardians of the Galaxy look like a local sewing circle.

It's brilliantly told, gorgeously illustrated stuff and we've been hooked on this book since it fluttered through our letterbox.

"Long Gone Don Volume 1" by Lorenzo and Robin Etherington, is out now from David Fickling Books. Don't be late for your own death!

Charlotte's best bit: Gorgeous art and a completely crazy collection of characters, and something of a huge crush on Don himself

Daddy's Favourite bit: Utterly in love with this strip, packed to the gills with hilarious comic asides and gorgeous details in the art. More soon please!

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books and those wonderful Phoenix folk!)

With a huge dash of derring-do, the world's coolest quiff, and puzzles to mangle your brain and beat it into submission, Von Doogan stars in his very first adventure puzzle collection. The very best (and trickiest) puzzles that kids can wrap their grey matter around have been a running theme in The Phoenix Comic. Charlotte and I usually enjoy working out these tricky little puzzles, which are fiendishly devised and beautifully illustrated by top comic talent Lawrence (Lorenzo) Etherington, one half of the fabulous Etherington Brothers.

We follow Von Doogan on his quest to solve the riddle of the golden monkey, while outwitting dastardly foes (and hopefully not depleting the ozone layer too much keeping that astonishing hairstyle in place!)

Zowie! This looks tricky! Poker Face (Puzzle 6)

I have a terrible admission to make - I keep sneaking off with this one to solve some of the trickier puzzles (and they really are fantastic, everything from working out safe passage through tarantula-infested caves to stacking up cargo in just the right way on a series of trucks).

Having all the puzzles gathered together in one delicious volume is awesome and if this doesn't keep us busy for the entire long summer school holidays, nothing will.

Puzzle 13 - A Clandestine Culinary Cryptogram. Unlucky for you!

"Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey" is available from the fabulous Phoenix Online Store.

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte is convinced that she could actually solve most of the puzzles on her own without my help, and that I just get in the way! Charming!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Absolutely love Von Doogan puzzles, they're like the Times Crossword of comic puzzle sections. No mean feat if you can manage to solve all of these without your brain exploding out of your earhole and crying "Mercy, mercy!"

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)