Book Description

The 72 dragon patterns included in this guide cover all of the major types and traditions and can be used in a wide variety of media, including woodworking, quilting, painting, illustration, and computer graphics. The basics of dragon anatomy are covered, as are the details of dragon design, such as fire, scales, and fins. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Greatest pattern book ever!
I am a fantasy artist and I use alot of patterns. This book is the greatest. It has an editorial section on dragons, section on basic anatomy, scale work, dragon lore and lots of other helps plus tons of great patterns. The patterns are large and well drawn. The book is large, the cover and pages are thick and good quality paper. I would strongly nudge anyone that is into crafts, hobbies, art to buy this book. It is well worth the mony+. I also give her other book "Great Book of Fairy Patterns" the same rave. Do youself a favor and buy her books. ... Read more

Book Description

Have you ever seen a cookbook that mixes controversy into its recipes? Have you ever come across a book that combines gourmet dishes, artwork, and political and social commentary? Have you ever experienced a book beginning with the suggestive and unique packaging it comes in, that contains cutting-edge creative, and provocative contents that simultaneously stimulate, insatiate and exacerbate? Can a single book raise questions, stir emotions, and make you thirst for food and knowledge? "Art and Cook" may just be this generation's breakthrough book and it's aptly labled by its creators as being the leader of the "Revolutionary Movement."

"Art and Cook: Love Food, Live Design, and Dream Art" is not your ordinary cookbook. Nor is it your ordinary art book. In fact, it's hard to classify, as it consists fully of three integrated parts that overlap, merge and melt into each other. Our life's art, food and politics are intertwined in a fascinating approach taken by creative talent that until now has remained behind the scenes. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

freakish and pretentious
I use the words freakish and pretentious to describe this book because not only is it filled with "the cloud" (frenetic repeated techno-graphics used so commonly in early 90's websites) it reeks of turtleneck sweaters and black berets. The graphic design and images are distracting, at times distasteful, and on occasion, enough that I want to slap the book shut and hold it with two fingers away from me at arm's length.

Some of the images scare me. Take a look at the front cover. You see the eyeball EYEing you from inside the egg? If you perhaps think that a cookbook is about how food should eat you, then maybe it's for you. Or if you want to create food and have a nice display to put next to it when you display it in a gallery, maybe this book is good choice.

This is not a cookbook. It is a graphic design study with the subject of unappetizing food.

At Last a Cookbook That is Not Boring
The creators of this book are genius. I got this book as a holiday present. For the first time I could cook a gurmet dish so easy and talk about the concept behind the recipe. Its one of kind cookbook Infact its a collectible cookbook.
Worth any penny.

Art maybe. Cook no.
This book has mediocre art value and no cook value. At 9.99 it would be expensive.

Tantalizing...
I was first drawn to this book by the innovative egg-carton packaging and the captivating title and cover design. This unique and delightful cookbook presents all at once a celebration of great food and a salute to fine art.

The recipes offer a tempting array of appetizers, soups, salad and vegetable dishes, meats, poultry, and desserts - some with a European flavor, others Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. Each recipe is accompanied by a professional photograph, and clear, concise instructions that allow even the novice chef to successfully recreate the dishes.

I am particularly impressed by the ease with which I can prepare and present these foods. The complexity of the flavors in each recipe belies the simplicity of execution. For the first time I am able to prepare a dish that really looks like the beautiful photograph in the book! Favorite recipes include Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus Tips and Walnuts, Grilled Chicken Soup with Carrot Dumplings, Orange and Cognac Beef Stew over Egg Noodles, and Crepes with Vanilla Pastry Cream and Citrus Sauce.

Of note, too, are the intriguing, and often humorous nods to famous artists and their brand of surreal, abstract and conceptual art. The architects of this book are genius in their creativity, and masterful in their execution.

I highly recommend "Art and Cook" for gift-giving and for personal use! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

This is a great book!
This book tells you everything you need to know about making your own transfers. I especially love all of the introductory information. It's a resource that I can refer to again and again! And the projects are very clever and fun. ... Read more

Book Description

A magnificent selection of drawings by one of the greatest artists of the seventeenth century

For the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), drawing was a fundamental activity. Ranging from delightful renderings of children and elegant portraits of noblemen and women to vigorous animal studies and beautiful landscapes, Rubens’s drawings are renowned for their superb quality and variety.

This exquisite book presents—in beautiful full-color reproductions—more than one hundred of the finest and most representative of Rubens’s drawings, from private and public collections around the world. Essays by Anne-Marie Logan and Michiel C. Plomp provide overviews of Rubens’s career as a draftsman and of the dispersal of his drawings among collectors after his death. The authors discuss the various functions of Rubens’s drawings as preparatory studies for paintings, sculpture, architecture, prints, and book illustrations. The volume also includes a sampling of the artist’s early anatomical studies and copies after antique sculpture as well as several sheets by other artists that Rubens retouched, restored, or reworked.

This publication accompanies an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 14 to April 3, 2005)—the most comprehensive exhibition of Rubens’s drawings ever held in the United States.

Anne-Marie Logan is Guest Research Curator and Michiel C. Plomp is Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.


... Read more

Reviews (4)

Could stand a lot of improvement
I've used a number of For Dummies books and have been very impressed, but this one is a bit of a let-down. I'm returning to drawing after years away and was hoping this would provide a bit of a refresher course, but so far I've only found it moderately useful.

The book has a number of strengths, including a positive attitude that's important for beginners to latch on to in order to avoid discouragement. The author is also great technician with the pencil, particularly where realistic portraits are concerned. Not everyone will warm to her fairly cold, analytical, draftsman-like style, though.

Despite those strengths, there are too many flaws in this book to make it a first recommendation:

* There's not enough info on materials and tools.

* The drawing reproductions are mostly way too small to learn from. They're fine for inspiration (or intimidation!) but won't much help you emulate the author's technique.

* The main focus is on the author's speciality of portraiture. You'll find some really interesting info there, but it would have been nice to see equal attention paid to landscapes, animals, still lifes, comic book and cartoon art, etc. As it is, they're totally ignored or covered so briefly as to be of little use.

* Instructions are vague. The author does some great texture and shading work with cross-hatching but never adequately describes _specifically_ how to do it for the different types of exercises and drawings. Why not tell us what pencil you're using when, why you choose certain stroke directions and lengths, etc.?

* The author totally ignores blending in favor of cross-hatching for shading. You can do great work with either technique, so why pretend one widely used method doesn't exist? Blending is particularly important for super-realistic renderings and portraits. Almost without exception, the very best pencil portraits I've seen have been created with blending.

Don't get me wrong: this isn't a bad book, just not all it could be. Hopefully a second edition will get it all right.

A great way to start learning to draw
I got a bit of an "artistic bug" a while back and thought I'd try learning drawing techniques - so far I had been able to take a standard #2 pencil and do some pretty horrid sketches on copier paper, but that's about it.

Drawing for Dummies is, as another reviewer states, like a classroom in a book.
Throwing you right into your first simple drawing project in Chapter 1, she talks about the types of pencils and erasers you should be using (before getting this book I had no idea that you could buy different types of pencils to get different shades of darkness, or that with a kneaded eraser you could lighten an area and not completely erase it).
She then talks about how to see as an artist - how to see the lines in objects, different levels of shading are, etc.
Also covered is how to create the illusion of 3 dimensions using shading, how to shade using hatching and crosshatching, how to create textures in pencil, and there is a chapter devoted to perspective.
And that's not all!
The author then covers composition, sketching and sketchbooks, how to draw from memory, drawing still lifes, and drawing animals.
There is also an entire section of the book devoted to drawing portraits, starting with babies (as they are allegedly easier to draw than adults) and then moving through childhood and to adulthood.
Although she doesn't cover them quite as in depth as the other subjects, she also touches on things such as gridding, preservation of your drawing, your work area, cartooning, and how to develop your own style.
There are drawing exercises through almost every concept, and several "bonus" exercises are included in the back of the book.

The only issues I had with this book were that when it comes to shading, hatching and crosshatching are the only types it covers (or even acknowledges). Hatching is not the only, nor the most popular, form of shading, and although I'm sure it depends on the artist I'd have to say it's not the easiest either - some coverage of blending techniques would have been nice.
I was also frustrated starting out because it was very rare during the step-by-step drawing exercises that she states which pencil you should be using for what. After enough practice it becomes somewhat natural, but when first starting out it would have been nice to see "Use your 2B pencil for the shading under the wings."

All in all though this is an incredible book, definately the best of all the drawing books I've looked through at the book stores (and there are a lot of drawing books out there!).

this is the best for study to draw fast
i bought a lots of books and most of them was not pratical as this books. this books include all the subjects need to start draw . this is the only book need if you like to study to draw
for hobby and more.

An Art Course in one book
This is the best book on drawing I have ever seen. I was searching for an art book to help with some aspects of drawing I was having trouble with. This book went far beyond that. It is like an art course in one book. There are many other good art books out there which do the same thing, but the book is laid out in the familiar Dummies style, which is easy to read, and great to use as a reference book. The book includes all facets of drawing: line drawing, light and shadows, patterns and textures, perspective, elements of composition, drawing still lifes, plants, animals, landscapes, people (including babies), cartooning, as well as information about setting up your own studio, developing your own drawing style, crossing over from drawing to painting, as well as other information helpful to artists. The author's style is very entertaining, and she encourages anyone to try drawing. There are tons of pictures throughout the whole book, as well as about thirty projects to try. Whether this is your first attempt at drawing, or an experienced artist, this book is an excellent choice for any artist. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (7)

Superb
It is incumbent upon the reader of this book to have read Dante's DIVINE COMEDY at least once. If there is no familiarity with that masterpiece before-hand, little will be gained by browsing thru these wonderful pages.

For those who are intimate with Dante, this present book is a can't miss. As an illustrated guide thru hell, purgatory and heaven, the plates will recall to the mind of the reader the sundry circles, punishments, torments and rewards depicted in the poem.

For all who love the COMEDY, this is your chance to allow Dore to help you visualize your journey thru the cosmic afterlife with the likes of our friends, Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the poet. As an added bonus, there are tercets depicting the scenes drawn by Dore on every page.

After getting this edition, I'm now interested in getting his illustrations of Milton's PARADISE LOST as well. For those who browse thru these pages, I would HIGHLY recommend listening to Loreena McKennitt's song DANTE's PRAYER while you do so. It is off of her album THE BOOK OF SECRETS (ASIN: B000002NHN), also available @ Amazon.com.

Gustave Dore's superb engravings for Dante's classic work
I have a horrible confession to make: I much prefer to look at Gustave Dore's fantastic and grotesque scenes depicting Dante's "Divine Comedy" with just appropriate lines from the Longfellow translation then have to deal with all those tercets. Even worse, I think these 135 illustrations from the 1861 edition comprise Dore's best body of work, even better than his famous Bible illustrations completed five years later, mainly because I think Dore's style is better suited to the depths of Hell and the realms of Purgatory, rather than the stories of the Bible. Clearly Dore found his kindred soul mate in Dante and even though he did classic engravings to illustrate everything from "Don Quixote" to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," this is his monumental achievement. Many admirers like the plates depicting the souls writhing in the fiery torments of Hell, but my favorite has to do with the lower level of hell where Dante and Virgil encounter the souls frozen in ice (Canto XXXII). This Dover edition is relatively inexpensive, which means the paper quality is geared towards economy rather than reproduction, but I think that it a satisfactory tradeoff, all things considered.

wow!
Excellent artwork that comes to life very well. I really felt Dante in Dore's works.

Great illustrations!
If you are interested in Dore's work or Dante's Divine Comedy, get this! A great supplement to the book.

The Truth
And they talk about heaven on earth.

This is The Inferno Baby. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Beautiful
This is an unbelievably beautiful book! The photos are very good quality, the information accompanying them is interesting. Also loved the chronology at the end. Very lovely and well done. ... Read more

Book Description

Rachel Ashwell's trademark design style features a lovely palette of soft, feminine colors, fresh white paint, and a love for the finishing touch that may be slightly imperfect yet is filled with meaning. But her style is about much more than simply decorating an attractive home -- it's an intimate, warm approach to creating thoughtful occasions and comfortable environments for those we love.

In Shabby Chic: Sumptuous Settings and Other Lovely Things, Rachel uses six very different celebrations and locations to show how to make a joyful, lovely setting -- whether it is casual or formal, large or small. This beautiful, accessible book proves that entertaining need not be expensive or intimidating; it's simply a matter of inspiration and imagination -- and it all starts with the beautiful things, carefully chosen, that you surround yourself with every day. As Rachel says, "A sumptuous setting is a place of abundance and generosity, the necessary backdrop for any party. This is easy to accomplish when you allow a love of beauty to be the foundation of your daily life."

From a baby shower with the playful theme of a tea in an English country village, to a magical bat mitzvah celebrating two lovely young girls who adore the arts, Rachel provides hundreds of sweet ideas and imaginative details that will add sparkle and whimsy to every occasion. And this inspiring book will also help us find the beauty and freshness in our lives every day. ... Read more

Book Description

The successful book illustrator starts by understanding his author’s flight of fancy, then rendering the ideas and actions imaginatively in pictorial terms. This unusual and inspiring book was written for art students and ambitious beginners. It instructs on methods of developing both imaginative powers and the technical artistic skills to produce high quality illustrations that will please authors and children’s book editors.Separate chapters focus on:

Reviews (10)

Starts out well enough but loses momentum
The beginning of this book and the idea behind it are simple and straightforward: behind every object you see there is some "skeletal" figure made of simple geometric shapes - the cube, the cone, the cylinder and the sphere. If you know how to draw these and string them together you can in theory make any drawing you want. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is. Only the book doesn't fully realize its potential.
The first part of the book which deals with these basic shapes, how to draw them, shade them, etc ... starts out well enough. But by the time the author reaches the more advanced subjects, such as drawing nature, portraits and the human figure the book degenerates into yet another book filled with the author implicitly saying, "look at how well I can draw!", filling pages upon pages with finished, beautiful drawing a beginner can never hope to achieve. For example: when discussing feet and hands, the author provides two drawings of the foot and briefly tells the student he should observe the foot and note its proportions. Really? And I thought I should stand on my head and sing the star spangled banner. Sorry for the sarcasm, but that is not an acceptable way of teaching how to draw the foot.
Another example: when discussing figure drawing the author does not explain the figure's anatomy. Rather he says how he has followed his 14 years old daughter around the house and drew her in various natural positions. The reader is then presented with the final sketches, which by the way are very beautiful sketches. How did he achieve them? What are the principles he followed? How should one go about practicing sketching people? That the book does not reveal.
It seems to me the main problem of this book is that it tries to do too much - portraits, still life, landscapes, charcoal, wash, all in one short book? The more topics you choose to cover, the less space you can devote to each. I think it would have been much better had the author devoted more space to basic issues such as perspective, shading and textures, rather than rush headlong into complex topics. As it stands I cannot be sure whether it is intended for absolute beginners or advanced students.
In short, this may be a good source for inspiration or for tips for people on many levels, but definitely not your main source of information.

A good reference, and overall view of drawing
This is a good reference. The figure drawing section is well developed and good for the beginner. The book covers Still Life, Landscape, Perspective and Composition, Lighting, and Materials and various strokes/charcoal, pencil, etc. The foundation of the methodology in this book is its use of geometrical shapes (cones, cubes, triangles), reminiscent of Luca Cambiosa in the 16th Century. Then the book moves on to more advanced drawing/painting with Wash, Opaque, Acrylics and Ink. It's a good buy at this price, and a welcome addition to the artists shelf. [But if you're into Figure Drawing, also see #1 "Art of Drawing" -Willy Pogany, #2 "How to Draw The Human Figure" -Famous Artists School, and #3 "The Figure" -Walt Reed] Any of these figure drawing books, combined with "HOW TO DRAW WHAT YOU SEE" makes for an excellent combination in the home library.

Not as good as Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side ..."
This book isn't nearly as user-friendly, informative, or practical as Betty Edwards' classic, the new edition of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." I'd advise getting that instead of this one.

Drawing Drugdery
If you are an uncommonly patient and detail oriented person, who has a high threshold for tedium, this is the book for you. Yes it does go over basic shapes, etc. Chances are, if you are trying to learn out of a book and not making the commitment to take some art classes or find an instructor, then you will likely get bored drawing pages and pages of geometric shapes. ( I would also clarify that you are likely to get bored with this even if you take a class.)

Some art instructors are like drill sargeants and will bully their students through weeks of these sorts of drills. While they have merit, almost everything has some merit, the student who is just beginning on their own, or hobbyist is likely to find these drills discouraging.

A series of warm up sketches, getting a feel for the whole page and learning to work the page altogether is a much better start, while keeping in mind, shading and proportions, which you no doubt learn through so many other beginner exercises. Immersing oneself in these geometric grinds at the start is unnecessary self sacrifice, similar to learning to drive by starting with a class in how to change the valves on its motor.

Not Very Good for the complete newbie
I found the first few chapters to be pretty good but the drawings were too advanced for a complete beginner like me.
Well it's not that a beginner can't do them it's just that they take FOREVER to complete correctly. I felt better having some initial success and building confidence on much less complex and complete drawings like some other books do. It does do a good job of explaining shading though which is why I gave it the 3rd star, it's worth the 11 bucks but is more useful in addition to several other beginner books on the subject, I would read the first few chapters and practice them then do another beginners book and come back for the last few chapters a few months later if I could doit all over again. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

THE PUBLISHER'S CATALOGUE PRESENTS THE BOOK AS FOLLOWS
"Why brilliant fashion designers, a notoriously non-analytic breed, sometimes succeed in anticipating the shape of things to come better than professional predictors, is one of the most obscure questions in history; and, for the historian of culture, one of the most central." Eric Hobsbawm The Style Engine is an unprecedented survey of the culture of fashion and the fashion industry -- from the products and objects themselves (clothes, accessories, etc.) to the immaterial, ephemeral, shifting meaning outside of the products (the interdependence between the fashion world and mass media, the cult of the fashion designer, symbolic story-telling as seen on the runway and in magazines). This sophisticated social and cultural study of fashion is splendidly illustrate with images by the most celebrated photographers and narrated by a multifaceted group of international experts -- cultural anthropologists, journalists, academics, designers --- examining the allure and mystery of fashion from different viewpoints. "Fashion and Entertainment, Image and Media" takes a look at mass media and shows how fashion has influenced pop music, movies, television, photography, and advertising. "Fashion, Identity, and Society" demonstrates how fashion is a social phenomenon and cultural industry comparable to the entertainment, news, and information industries. "Industry/Economics" explains the process itself, from threads to textiles to finished product. "The Methodology of Fashion Design" not only reveals the manufacturing and marketing of the designs (clothing), but also exposes the contexts in which these objects acquire value (fashion). Fashion is one of the truly international languages, speaking to individuals in every country of the world, and this fascinating book will speak to those legions of style-obsessed readers.

METROPOLIS MAGAZINE REVIEWED THIS BOOK
 The Style Engine argues that fashion isn't running on empty.by Philip NobelDesign can be defined as making something new for a reason. Designers must always differentiate between the new that is new for a reason and the new that is only new; to do otherwise risks making merely art­or worse: fashion.All design disciplines court confrontations with vagary, but only one­fashion­exists so close to its seductions that it has become a synonym for aimless flux. Considering its mandate of seasonal variation and its love of annually renewed shock tactics, it¹s easy to see why so many would lump fashion in with art­bad art­before they would consider it a design discipline, the fashion world¹s unequaled lionization of its designers notwithstanding. The Style Engine, a collection of 25 essays by writers from within and beyond the fashion industry, deploys strong arguments to fight this dismissive view of fashion. It attempts to fill in fashion¹s overlooked back story so that it can be considered as the equal of its more sober design siblings.The book, and an exhibition by the same name that hung in Florence last winter, are the first projects of the Fashion Engineering Unit (FEU), a new, self-consciously intellectual institution that bills itself ³an observatory on the economics of creativity and the intelligence of style.² Funding for the group comes from Pitti Immagine, the commercial concern responsible for organizing the important menswear shows that bring over 25,000 rag traders to Florence twice each year.Historically, writing about fashion has been high and low. The FEU is looking for the middle way. It is telling that in The Style Engine critiques of fashion by Baudrillard, Benjamin, and McCluhan are discussed (with varying degrees of justification) alongside breathless promotions by Vreeland, Mirabella, and Wintour. Between the extremes of academic writing and hemline notes in the popular press, the FEU is trying to promote a culture of criticism around fashion that will bare its economic motivations and effects, its mass media aspirations, and the substructure of craft and industry on which it rests.As a vehicle for this redemptive mission, the book works very well. It¹s divided into four sections­roughly covering media, image, techniques, and money­which plot the terrain on which the FEU plans to develop its ³fashion culture.² Of these four categories, ideas concerning the economics of the fashion industry may be the best developed; lucid arguments spill out of the final chapter (³Fashion, Business, and Industry²) and pepper many of the preceding texts. In his introduction to the first section, ³Fashion, Spectacle and Media,² Giannino Malossi, the editor of the book, curator of the exhibition, and director of the FEU, establishes The Style Engine¹s delightfully frank approach to fashion¹s slow dance with commerce: ³Every fashion originates as an industrial product and, at the same time, as a form of mass communications, and every media phenomenon is the potential prelude to a fashion and that fashion points to a series of products for mass consumption.² Bridging economic discussions and the examination of fashion as a cultural medium, several authors rely on the versatile idea of added value. The concept is introduced in understated terms by Mario Boselli, president of Pitti Immagine­³[Fashion] is on the cutting edge in terms of capacity to create added value, not only through the processing of raw materials but also through the development and creation of immaterial contents²­and expanded elaborately in John Durrell¹s essay, ³The Value of Style: Dismantling and Assessing The Style Engine.² Durrell, an international management consultant specializing in pricing strategy, finds the value style adds by analyzing the relative financial returns of popular brand names; here, glamour is at last measured in real market terms.The same clear-eyed spirit also pervades the excellent essay by Nadine Frey, ³Mass Media and Runway Presentations,² which opens the book. After a thoroughly enjoyable lampoon of runway theatrics, Frey explains how the evolution of the fashion show from decorous practicality to raucous display was fueled by the increasingly insular nature of the events themselves. In the 1970s, ³fashion designers . . . began conceiving fashion shows that were more about concept than clothes, shouting their message so loud that it could be heard over the heads of the inevitably interpreting buyers and press.² Another irreverent essay­perhaps the best in the book­is Valerie Steele¹s ³Why People Hate Fashion.² Steele, chief curator of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and editor of a quarterly called Fashion Theory, addresses The Style Engine¹s most critical question with an elegant formal tour de force, introducing each paragraph with a contentious statement­³Fashion is an irrational form of female fetishism² or ³Fashion is capitalism¹s favorite child²­and wrapping it all up with a subversive epiphany: ³It is precisely the artificiality and pointlessness of fashion that makes it valuable as an esthetic fantasy.²I¹ll just ape the first part of Steele¹s technique: Fashion expresses itself as a cloying heap of pretentious images. Along these lines, The Style Engine¹s relationship to the fashion world it attempts to revise is troubled. As Frey¹s essay­and the editorial decision to place it first­make clear, one adversary here is the face fashion makes for itself. To achieve the critique it aspires to, the FEU and its authors must help us to see beyond the too well-known culture of airs, ointments, and emaciation that hides the profundity they are trying to tease out. The discussion of fashion in the context of commerce is a way to distance this project from the strong images that we inevitably bring to the book. Unfortunately, any progress made toward new visions is quickly undone. Most of the book is generously illustrated with images of the most contemptible superficiality­soft light, high cheekbones, fashion as you know and hate it. The front of the book even mimics a fashion magazine¹s advertising emporium; one flips through seven full-bleed photo spreads before finding the table of contents. You half expect the book to offer up sample perfume.This might be the intention of the designer; the images might be rhetorical­intended to confront the reader with normative visions of the spectacle of fashion­or ironic. But for those at any remove from authentic fashion images, it is too easy to see in the random photography reasons to revert to the impression that fashion is just a trifling soup of desire, art without reason, not really design. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A college Fine Arts Major's dream come true!!
This book covers the structural anatomy with pin-point accuracy. Though this isn't really an anatomy book by title, by examining Prud'hon's structural techniques, one can easily see all of college's artistic anatomy classes in one of his graphics. ... Read more

Book Description

Following in the footsteps of Cream and Fresh Cream, 10x10, Blink, and Spoon, Area is an up-to-the-minute, global overview of graphic design. This image-filled book presents the work of 100 of the world’s most innovative emerging graphic designers, showcasing work from such wide-ranging projects as corporate identity, poster design, book design, packaging, typography and CD cover design. The 100 designers were selected by a distinguished group of 10 curators from around the world– all highly established and influential figures in the field of graphic design. Each curator selected and wrote about 10 exciting talents whom they consider to have made a name for themselves on the international scene over the last five years. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The best book to understand contemporary graphic design
It is a great collection of great designers, and also a good way to realize that there's lot's of ways to avoid the common sense in design.

If you buy it, you wont be sorry
I am not a graphic designer, but an architect.I suppose that exposes me to many assumptions and charcter generalizations - so be it.I will say this, this book is an incredible asset to anyone involved in design professions or the creative process as a means of income.
There is little text, but lots and lots and lots of visualizations.The graphics are stunning, from the cutting edge to the everyday of the New York Times.The point is that this book runs the spectrum of graphic arts - and these are very fine arts on display.Each graphic artist was hand selected by a jury of critics - the format is similar to many of Phaidon's (the publisher) other titiles in related design/art professions.10 x 10 in architecture, Vitamin P in contemporary painting, Cream3 and Fresh Cream as well.I happen to own many of these other titles and find them all fascinating, artistically enriching and visually compelling.
I cant say that everyone will be as awe struck as I, nor can I say that all will have some sort of deep, penetrating and profound revelation viewing this book.What I can say is that this is a quality piece.Even if these artist/professionals are not new to you, or the mediums and concepts employed are old news, the book is still well made and keenly organized.
I know nothing of the finer points to graphic design.Sure I know a few names such as Paul Rand, but I know that I enjoy opening this book and examining the contents.Good design is good design and I am very fascinated by the thought of applying the visual stimulation and pleasure, gleaned from this book, to the work I do as an architect.

Hands Down the Best!
Being a creative designer you constantly look for graphic design books to help inspire the inner ideas and concepts that you long for.On the weekends, you constantly look for inspiration and design to help cure your fix. While, during the week you strive at your job or in school pumping out projects to feed the deadlines that you are constrained by.If you are like me and absolutely cannot get enough design than you should read further.I can honestly say that, this is the best design book that you can ever buy.Looking at Graphic Design books every week (I'm talkin 1000's of books) you see the same sort of books, about 100 pages 1 example or project every 3 pages and the price is about $40.Area is the one book that blew me out of the water for how much explosive design can actually grace a cover. Their is about 2 to 8 designs per page! The book has 448 pages!You cannot go wrong with this book.Do not waste your money on any other book, Area will impress and will be a fountain of creativity and design for all creative designers.I want to congratulate every designer that is in this book on outstanding work!Also thanks to Valerie Vago-Laurer, Patrick Busse,Jesse Donaldson, Julia Hasting, and Karen Farquhar, and Phaidon for anoter impressive book. If you are kind of shakey about the price, don't be, just get a copy as soon as you can, $69.99 is a steal for a book at this magnitude. You won't be dissapointed!Being a creative design student this is the best weapon in your arsenal!

BUY IT! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

It's NOT Tracing!!!
Simply put, this is the best book on inking I've read. Don't waste your money on other books, buy Jansen's and Miller's and learn everything you need to know.

The book doesn't stop with instruction on techniques, tools, and materials, but gives you some great tips such as why you should keep your ink bottle in an ashtray!

Anyone who has ever laboured under the misapprehension that comic book inking is just 'going over a proper artists drawing with a pen' is finally shown the error of their ways as Jansen and Miller demonstrate what a fine art inking is when practiced correctly. Moreover, this is a DC guide to inking, not a guide to inking DC characters. Once you've read this and got some practice in, you'll be able to ink everything from cartoons to the most cutting-edge comic book characters.

Great text, great illustrations, what's stopping you?

Buy it now!

The most complete inking instructional
The most well-rounded instructional on comic book inking (out of...2?) that I've seen. As a professional artist I can easily recommend this to those interested in learning the tricks of the trade. Not the end-all however. Practice often, study your favorite titles and illustrators, go to a museum every now and then, and take an art class or two. This could be your text book, along with DC's Guide to Penciling.

How to guide from the artist who inked The Dark Knight
This book takes you through some of the best problems inkers have. Klaus Janson shows you how to have a light source, use forced perspective to show drama and lots of technical tricks of the trade I never thought of. This takes his first book about comic book penciling to next level. It shows how comic pros like Neal Adams handle a problem vs. another with a different approach to the same drawing. I have read this from cover to cover and enjoy reading how Klaus faces the empty page with creative solutions to drawing problems.

I have admired his work since the 1970's to the present. While his blotchy and cartoony inking style is a far cry from his detailed work in the seventies, I still enjoy work. ... Read more

Book Description

If you are anime/manga collector or fan, you have had a burning desire to learn how to draw the popular characters by yourself.However, you may be worried that you cannot draw as well as people in art clubs or in cartoon clubs because drawing is difficult - don't worry, many people feel the same way.This series was written to help those who are interested in drawing, but are worried about the challenges involved with it.If you change the way you look at an object - even just a little, you can succeed. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

Just as the title says.
Yeah, as the title says this is a book with just the basics.

It's not a step by step "how to draw" book as you would first think, it's rather a book on "test and learn", for example it shows a variety of characters and tells things like "separated eyes express lonelines, the small mouth expresses a delicate nature", so this book will only teach you how to design plain characters and it's wonderful for beginners like me; In no way must be considered a complete "How to Draw Anime" lesson, but its perfect for start cooking, even if you don't even know how to hold your pencil (that was my case some months ago when I bought it).

If you're a complete beginner buy this book, I gave it 5 stars because it helped me a lot, but keep this mind: drawing characters is one thing, to give life to them is something else... for that buy the Volume 2, or do some research.

Not exactly the basics...
This is an excellent book and all, it has improved my drawing a ton! There are plenty of examples to draw by (showing different kinds of characters including the cool looking comedian, the quiet hero, and the flirty school girl)
I'd say that the one problem would be the fact that it details how to put a pencil against a piece of paper and gives a bunch of warm-ups, but then immediatly goes to the examples. This book is mostly for those who draw flawed drawings and want to find tips (located in the back) or people who want to learn a little more on how anime works.
THIS IS NOT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS! I REPEAT NOT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS!

While good, this is not for complete beginners.
To begin, this is a good book. On first glance, it has a lot of detail and reference. It has excellent models, and wonderful in-depth descriptions.
It has a few big shortcomings, tho. Seeing as the title is "Basics for Beginners and Beyond" I thought that this would be the perfect book for me, seeing as I couldn't draw at all. After I got the book and started reading it, I realized that this is not the first book I should have bought. While this book does give great reference, it does not give step by step instructions. For those of you who are like me and cannot draw at all, you're going to want something a little more simplistic and instructive. This should be the *second* book you buy. (Three stars because this is NOT for complete beginners, as the title belies.

Fot total and complete beginners, I'd recommend that you buy How to Draw Manga by Katy Coope, ISBN 0439317452. It's extremely cheap, short and to the point. While it has it's own flaws, it was just what I needed and recommend for those of you who are just starting out. NEXT I'd recommend this book. Once you've gotten the simple skills from Katy Coope, then Tadashi Ozawa will show you a where to go with it.

Great book for beginners
This is the first in a the "How to Draw Anime & Game Characters" series of books, so obviously this one starts with the basics beginning with shapes and lines. With that done, it progressively moves on to how you adapt those techniques into making your characters body, parts of the body, and face. They show how to draw many different body sizes, eye shapes, hairstyles, hands, feet, and so on from different angles. They also have some areas that put a beginner, intermediate, and professional artists work side by side and examine the problem areas. A nice feature to help you prevent common (and not so common) mistakes. Overall, it's a great buy to those who want to draw anime.

this is a great book
I have just bought this book about a week ago and it improved my
drawing alot.I gave it a 4 star because it took me a while to under stand the book.I've been looking for a good how to draw book and this book is great.It is good for beginners and has alot of details.I will recomend this book to anyone that wants to draw anime. ... Read more

Book Description

This latest addition to Robin Williams' Non-Designers line of books not only defines the principles governing type but explains the logic behind them so readers can understand and see what looks best and why. Armed with this knowledge, and putting into practice the secrets Robin reveals for making type readable and artistic, readers can then go on to create beautiful, sophisticated, professional-looking pages on their computers for output as hard copy or for use on Web pages.

Each short chapter explores a different type secret including use of evocative typography, tailoring typeface to project, working with spacing, punctuation marks, special characters, fonts, justification, and much more. It is written in the lively, engaging style that has made Williams one of the most popular computer authors today. And it uses numerous examples to illustrate the subtle details that make the difference between good and sophisticated use of type. The non-platform specific, non-software specific approach to the book makes this a must-have for any designer's bookshelf - from type novices to more experienced graphic designers and typesetters.

Please note! If you've read Beyond the Mac is not a typewriter then you don't need this book. This book is almost exactly the same as Beyond the Mac is not a typewriter. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Excellent book for beginner to mid-weight Graphic Designers
Robin Williams covers just what you really need to know in this short book. No useless chatter, just important information in a what-to-do and what-not-to-do manner with just the perfect dash of sarcasm and humour to create a relaxed atmosphere for learning.

The book begins with a bit of the history and structure of fonts. Very important information for beginners. But it immediately gets into information which results in an immediate improvement in your work whether you are a typesetter or graphic designer. You would now know what makes for tacky typography and what rules you could break to create a more artistic, daring, and edgy piece of work.

Every topic is accompanied by an illustration of the wrong way and the right way to do things and a list of the fonts used in the illustration (VERY HELPFUL!)

This is definitely a must-have book for anyone in the world of print media.

The First Book to Buy for Anyone Entering the World of Type
While the title suggests it's a weak primer for amateurs it is actually an excellent read for all those needing to review the basics of typography. Your work will look better and your confidence will improve after reading this book. Williams style is casual, often humorous, and always easily understood.

Too bad it's just a repackaging of Beyond the Mac is Not a Typewriter. I bought it cluelessly as there is no indication on the cover. A bit of a sales scam behind a generally good book.

I don't love typography
I generally find typography one of those dry, tedious details I have to know to as part of my job. But THIS book makes it approachable, understandable, interesting, and even entertaining. As titled, this is a book for NON-designers - people who aren't usually interested in this stuff unless compelled to be, and who don't have a lot of time to learn it. If you're looking for something edgier or for "breaking the rules," this is not the book to start with. However, if you're one of those people with a thousand fonts on your computer and only about 3 you ever use, this book will open your mind to the possibilities.

NOT for type lovers
When I picked up this book, I figured that the title, "The Non-Designer's Type Book," meant that it was a book about type, FOR non-designers. After reading it, from cover to cover, I now wonder if the title refers to the author's credentials rather than the book's target audience. I love typography. I sit in theaters and watch every minute of the rolling credits if the font used is well chosen and well displayed. I have a Caslon 540 lower-case "g" pinned to the wall above my Mac instead of swimsuit pics. If you love type, you know what I'm talking about. If you love type, avoid this book and do not recommend it to anyone who hopes to someday love typography and master its use. Robin Williams' cutesy and heavy-handed text, while sometimes informative, is loaded with irritating "insights" as well as written-in-stone directives that are passed off as law. For instance, in at least two places, she states that type should NEVER, EVER be underlined. She says that it's a "law" that should "never" be broken. C'mon Robin! I mean yes, underlining is very often misused, but have you looked at the latest PRINT or CA Annual? There is a time and a place for underlining and the sensitive, savvy designer knows when and how to do it. She outright trashes one of the most elegantly designed faces in the history of the printed word, Helvetica, and glibly states that it will be out of style for the "next two hundred years." What?? Again, has Ms. Williams even looked at what contemporary (and effective) designers are doing these days? Helvetica is alive and flourishing. And, at the same time she is trashing Helvetica, she calls "rendered" type (such as 3D effects, letters that appear to be chiseled from stone or made of, say, salad greens) typography's "most beautiful" trend. She's killin' me!! If you want to fulfill and expand your appreciation for typography, buy Robert Bringhurst's exquisite manual, The Elements of Typographic Style.

For professional designers too!
Designers, don't let the title scare you. This is not a dumbed-down guide for amateurs. Yes, it's a great resource for amateurs and they will understand it, but it's also a wonderful guide for professional designers who need to review professional-level typography. It's a must-have reference in my library. Includes lots of ideas on layout, fonts you can use in different situations, fonts that complement each other, increasing legibility and special typographic effects. ... Read more

Book Description

The Print is the third and final book in The Ansel Adams Photography Series--the seminal guides fully revised by Ansel Adams shortly before his death in 1984.

The Print, now available in paperback like the other volumes in the series, belongs on every photographer's shelf. It covers the entire printmaking process, from designing and furnishing a darkroom and experimenting with your first print, to mastering advanced techniques such as developer modifications, toning, and bleaching, and burning and dodging. This thorough guide is filled with indispensable darkroom techniques and tips, and amply illustrated with photographs and technical drawings. It is an indispensable tool for mastering the complex art of photographic printmaking. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

This is great book
In this book, Adams said Expression is more important than reality, idea more important than fact, the print more important than its subject. For it is only in the print that such magnificence can be unfailingly orchestrated. Those words made me think that what is good photograph. The book opens with a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit brief, history of photography before getting down to explain printing techniques.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. This book tells readers that what are good prints making techniques. After reading this book you will feel like that your printing skills are very improved. The reader will see many wonderful pictures as examples, that will surely create a better impression as to what type of pictures Adams takes.

This is great book !!!
In this book, Adams said Expression is more important than reality, idea more important than fact, the print more important than its subject. For it is only in the print that such magnificence can be unfailingly orchestrated. Those words made me think that what is good photograph. The book opens with a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit brief, history of photography before getting down to explain printing techniques.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. This book tells readers that what are good prints making techniques. After reading this book you will feel like that your printing skills are very improved. The reader will see many wonderful pictures as examples, that will surely create a better impression as to what type of pictures Adams takes.

This Book is Great !!
In this book, Adams said Expression is more important than reality, idea more important than fact, the print more important than its subject. For it is only in the print that such magnificence can be unfailingly orchestrated. Those words made me think that what is good photograph. The book opens with a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit brief, history of photography before getting down to explain printing techniques.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. This book tells readers that what are good prints making techniques. After reading this book you will feel like that your printing skills are very improved. The reader will see many wonderful pictures as examples, that will surely create a better impression as to what type of pictures Adams takes.

Excellent Book for any Serious B&W Photographer
This is one of a few books in this Ansel Adams series. He discusses a number of aspects of the print, it's limitations, and many techniques that can be used to exploit print characteristics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is at all serious about B&W photography whether developing your own prints or not.

A must have in the age of digital
This book though dry and technical has plenty of information that is a must have for any aspirinf photographer who wishes to push their black and white print skills furhter. Given that digital camera sales are now out stripping analog cameras will this book still have relevence? ... Read more

Book Description

Authoritative, eye-popping, and massive, Art of Modern Rock is the first and last word on contemporary concert posters. An art form that has grown hand-in-hand with the independent music scene, heralding small and large gigs alike, the posters have emerged from visually creative street-level notices to prized collectibles rendered in a variety of styles and media. Today's poster artists combine the expressive freedom pioneered in the poster revolution of the 1960s with the attitude and the do-it-yourself approach of the punk scene, creating an unprecedented surge of innovative poster production on an international scale. Featuring over 1,600 exemplary rock posters and flyers from over 200 international studios and artists, Art of Modern Rock is the long-anticipated sequel to coauthor Paul Grushkin's The Art of Rock. Profiles and quotes from the pioneers in the field and their emerging heirs share nearly 500 gloriously packed pages of poster after mind-blowing poster. As brash and colorful as the burgeoning scene it documents, Art of Modern Rock is the must-have book for music and poster fans and collectors. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A necessary book for advancement
This may not be the very best "first" book of drawing instruction, but it ranks among the books that any figure-drawing student must eventually study. When some satisfactory skill is achieved, read Hale. Hale is definitely not for the "drawing on the right side of my ambition" crowd.

Hale's credentials speak for themselves, and his work places him far beyond the herd of drawing authors that rely upon gimmicks such as catch-phrases such as YOGA, or ZEN, RIGHT-BRAIN, or INNER THIS or INNER THAT, in the title to push bland intruction to increase sales. Rather, Hale's work is striking because it reflects the singular focus of an artist who can teach figure drawing without mis-directing the student with irrelevancies.

Hale is also humble, in that he directs the student to genuine Masters of drawing: Durer, Rembrandt, Cambiaso, Rubens, Bruegel, da Vinci, Degas, and Carracci, rather than filling a book with his own drawings. He writes, on page 33:

"BY SIMPLY DRAWING A CUBE, you can understand some of the significance of line in creating the illusion of reality."

That is so refreshing because it stands in diametrical opposition to the DRAW-WHAT-YOU-FEEL genre of instruction which has become the fashion of the day. FIVE STARS is deserved.

michelangelo ,leonardo beware!
this is a wonderful must buy book by robert beverly hale , renowned art teacher,his understanding of the works of the great masters is truly astounding. what you can get from this book? all artists who wish to become masters of drawing the human figure can find a system to grade yourself for your entire lifetime compared to the great masters.that means you will never be easily satisfied by your own work, and you have the luxury of studying from a vast collection of drawings from almost all the well- known figure artists of the last six hundred years.each artist has his own strength and weakness . hale has very intelligently pointed out the strengths but misses out on the weaknesses thats where you got to have many more books on anatomy and drawing to cross refer and also finally you have to try identifying these strenghts and putting them down in your style while doing life drawing or imaginary drawing. you have to understand that we are at an advantage compared to all the artists featured in this book(even though hale would like you to beleive otherwise) because of the vast resources available to us in the form of great master works and anatomy books ,medical and artistic.buy this book and chart the path to great figure drawing. finally i beleive that its possible to acheive unparalled success at figure drawing through regular training in a systematic manner.anyone with any questions can email me .im an animator and an advanced student of figure drawing.

Hale is a Master teacher
As an artist that did not go to art school, I have constantly searched for instructional books only to be disappointed in finding stupid books written for people who are not serious about art and have no discipline. All of Hale's books, especially this one, are supremely intelligent and extremely insightful. after reading his book you'll gain insight to judge good drawing from a bad ones, a skill every serious artist should strive to have. Hale will help you see drawing in a new light and send you on your way to growth. Since he uses drawings by artists such as Raphael, Tintoreto, Rembrandt and Rubens, you'll be learning from the masters themselves, not from some mediocre artist. The only negative about the book, if it can be called a negative, is that after 100 drawings you want more. I learned more from this one book than through all the art books I have read before, and more than almost all the art classes I have taken, put together.

Not a "how to"; but a reference book
Robert Beverly Hale's "Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters" certainly deserves 5 stars. It even comes at a 5-Star price; but I must point out that it is essentially a reference book of master drawings rather than a "how-to" book for those learning to draw. It is not, per se, an "instruction" book on "how-to-draw". With that proviso, I would not be without this reference, if I wanted to be informed of the great masters.

Intriguing on many levels; plausible for the serious artist
This is an extroardinary study of the anatomical knowledge and ideas implemented by the greatest (anatomically informed)figure drawers artists of all time. It is quite inticing and the author is obviously intelligent enough to handle the analyzations of the pictures supplied, but the tips and exercises involved would be fit for somebody who views drawing as more than a hobby (for in that case one might be discouraged by the incredible extent of the anatomical knowledge of the "Great Masters"). ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A great book for animation fans and art lovers
The focus of this book was certainly ART, as it provides stunning pictures of Mideval Paris from historical archive that Disney artists meticulously researched before finalizing the background scenery. We also get a glimpse of the profiling of the psychology of each character, and their interaction that drives the story. However, at this price, I wish that they had CD-ROM version that catered to the sophisticated fans of animation art who are very interested in all of the gory technical details.

A must for Disn