No comments about Janson's History of Art: Western Tradition, Volume 1.

2 comments about What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images.

1. In the chapter titled the same as the book title, in laying out the grounds for his innovative exposition on images and culture, Mitchell explains, "[Images] present not just a surface but a face [italicized] that faces the beholder." Elsewhere in this chapter, he remarks that images may not have the power attributed to them; which supposed power is seen as absolute and all-encompassing in postmodern culture. Not suggesting that images ave no power, Mitchell takes the position that "the problem is to refine and complicate and refine our estimate of their power and the way it works." The author allows that his perspective based on what pictures "want" rather than what they "do" can at first blush seem to anthropomorphize pictures or give them an aboriginal animistic nature. But Mitchell explains that he means this as metaphorical, conceptual, and theoretical; not literal as in animism or even symbolic as with icons. Mitchell's provisional approach thus corresponds to the provisional quality of postmodern culture to bring extraordinary illumination to this contemporary culture.
   
   Fantasy, multiple selves, and virtual reality are other terms used to express this provisional quality of postmodernism. Playfulness is another--and Mitchell's book, while sound literarily and with extensive learning and cogent though, exercises the principle that playfulness can take one farther in some cases. Whereas in postmodernism, play with its provisional, usually somewhat artificial attributes is a manner of avoiding commitment and engagement with fundamentals, with Mitchell it is a technique for coming to grips as much as possible with the elusive, ethereal nature of postmodernism. It is impossible to encompass or define postmodernism; whose primary attributes are contingency, continually changing imagery, and pseudo-events and provisional personas to play to the media. But Mitchell has managed to relate postmodernism's sprawling nature and what accounts for this.



2. Professor Mitchell has put together an intriguing collection of essays that are distinctly devoid of the presumptuous art talk so often seen in the top periodicals and art blogs of our time - thank you sir! Since these essays are the work of an exceptional scholar, some of us mere mortals may have difficulty in following the abstract constructs and thoroughly academic ponderings. That said, I believe Professor Mitchell poses an interesting fundamental question as to whether the experience of viewing images has evolved within our minds to the point where we actually wonder if they have a life or consciousness of their own. If this is the case, the next question one may ponder is, what do they want? Professor Mitchell is quick to point out that in taking on the exercise of this thought experiment, we are not to proceed as though we are engaged in finding a cure for cancer here - my words, not his - but to proceed on a path of open-ended exploration. In attempting to answer this question, the author guides us along an extensive path that deals with numerous invocations, comparisons, analogies, postulates, arguments and other worldly considerations. Not only are the considerations of the world, but they contain a sampling of nearly everything in the world as well, from biblical chapter and verse to Marx, Blake, Nietzsche, Chaucer, Freud, Dante, et al. In the first half of this book, Professor Mitchell has indeed composed a concerto of tribute to much of Western Civilization. There are worse things one could do. That said, I would encourage the good Professor, in his ninth book (this is his eighth) to forsake his colleagues in academe just enough (heaven forbid!) to leave the huddled masses with fewer more distinct concepts and a more consistent theme. A reduction in the scope of considerations may help the reader to come away with a perception that there is a more differentiated hierarchy of importance amongst the contents of the book. In all fairness, each chapter of this very worthwhile book deserves its own review. I would also submit that the educational potential of this subject matter would not suffer in the least if the Professor were to delete his political inclinations, which, as interesting as they may be, do not enhance the subject matter of this book in any way. Anyone who wants to understand how we really relate to images should read this comprehensive book.

5 comments about Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Cartooning but Were Afraid to Draw (Christopher Hart Titles).

1. I have never done any kind of drawing other than when I was 8yrs old for fun. I wanted to learn how to draw cartoons and this book was my first purchase on my road to drawing.
   
   I thought the instruction was simplified for the beginning artist like me. I am very visual and so I was pleased with the tremendous amount of examples included. I also thought that the lay-out of instruction was helpful, step by step.
   
   Over all this book was very helpful, to the point, and interesting to read. Christopher Hart kept my attention while teaching me the basics of cartooning.
   
   thanks



2. Reading all the praise here, I was pretty anxious to receive this book, EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CARTOONING BUT WERE AFRAID TO DRAW. I expected to get inspired and learn techniques in writing and drawing I had not perhaps even considered before. In this respect, I can't hide my disappointment. I had not read for long before I realized that what this book had to offer would not be of much use to me. I am a self-taught cartoonist, I've been doing comic strips my entire life and all the advice this book provided I found to be completely obvious; not without relevance, certainly, but I didn't purchase this book to be told that "monsters get more effective if colorized green," or to study the contrast between a happy face and a sad face. Also, the drawings used to represent the points in the text are just about as stereotypical as they can get; I'm not saying I expected it to do the process of creating original characters and ideas for me, but in a book of this kind I find it of invaluable importance that the author is able to really inspire the reader to go ahead and make something good. After all, we've got HI AND LOIS and U.S. ACRES already, or what?
   
   However, if you have just discovered that you got a knack for drawing and want to try it out as a cartoonist, but need guidance in the (very) main rules, this is a good book. If you have been part of this medium for a while and seek new opportunities to get inspired or learn new tricks, try elsewhere. Your own mind for instance.



3. Before I finished my third book I decided it needed cartoons to visually explain some ideas (a picture is worth 1000 words) and provide humor to a tough subject. I started checking with hiring a professional artist (or student artist) to do the work. It quickly became clear the task would be time consuming, expensive and I may not get what I wanted in the end.
   
   First, it would be difficult to find someone who would be able to take what was in my mind and transfer it to a cartoon
   
   Second, it became painfully clear it would be expensive (even with a student artist). I wanted around twenty five cartoons drawn.
   
   Third, some individuals wanted to discuss contracts and usage.
   
   My best option was to learn how to draw cartoons myself. I figured it would be less expensive (only the cost of books and art supplies), and frustrating and I would get exactly what was in my brain. It would take some time to become proficient, but it sounded like a fun project. I was fortunately right.
   
   Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cartooning but Were Afraid to Ask by Christopher Hart and a couple other books helped me learn how to draw cartoons good enough to put in my latest book.
   
   Christopher Hart has done several books on drawing comics. He provides excellent common sense content, and teaches the skill very well though his words and cartoons.
   
   Some the sections that I found especially helpful were: Expressions, How to Draw Hands, The Art of Character Design, Body Types, Principles of Layout, Layouts from a Distance, The Special Effects Lab, Explosions and more.
   
   After finishing my sketches, I used Adobe Elements software to polish up the work. I was very pleased with the final cartoons that went into my book..and there have been many positive comments about them from people who have the book!
   
   Overall, this is a great resource for learning to draw cartoons!
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
   
   Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain : How to Come Up With Jokes for Cartoons and Comic Strips
   
   The Cartoonist's Workbook Drawing, Writing Gags, Selling



4. I love how Christopher Hart really delves into the hard things to draw. Like hands and feet and expressions. This is a wonderful art resource. The pictures are fun and will help you generate many of your own ideas.
   
   This would make a great gift!



5. Far more detailed than the How to Draw Cartoons book by this author. There are examples of heads, eyes, noses, mouth, hands, and many other elements in good detail.

5 comments about Learn Calligraphy: The Complete Book of Lettering and Design.

1. I enjoyed reading this book and peruse it on occasion, but I cannot follow it. It is beautiful, yet not practical enough. I believe it is not well organized, that it visually all sort of runs together, and that it should have been spiral bound. It's worth it to pay a few dollars more for spiral bound, yet the majority of how-to books are NOT offered as such. With a book you are doing copywork from, it's a pain trying to weigh it down to stay open without damaging the spine. I will hold on to this, but am here now to shop for a more useful book.



2. Margaret Shepherd has written many books about this subject (Calligarphy), this is special because include a sort of recomendations for students.
   I really enjoyed this book.



3. This book is excellent. When I received my book, I started to practice for 1 week and now my handwritting is pretty.



4. I was really having a hard time picking out calligraphy how to books so i went to the book store. unfortunately they do not have a lot to choose from, at the second store i found a better selection and found Margaret Sheperd's books. Wow, great books and great way to learn, she has a funny side to her and this book is incredible, not only do you learn you have fun doing it. i also saw a few more books in her name. Unfortunately i didn't have very much time to look at them all and i cant wait to go back to see the rest. I am thinking of picking up all her books.
   
   I think this is the best of the starter books. Very easy and a fun read too!
   
   Cheryl



5. I am the author of this book and just want to respond that I agree with the very critical reviewer who felt strongly that Copperplate should have been included. I wish so too. But it would need a whole other set of supplies and hand positions. Copperplate comes along much later, and is really outside the main core of the broad-pen historic hands. Maybe some day!
   To respond to Gary Bisaqa's review, I agree and I have covered the business end of calligraphy as a free-lance job, in a whole other book, Calligraphy Projects for Pleasure and Profit.
   I wrote this, like all my other books, because I wish I'd had such a book when I started out. Thank you to others who wrote in to say that it helped them start out too.

5 comments about The Greatest Album Covers of All Time.

1. What a great book. Could sit and look at it for hours. Makes a great gift.



2. My fiance and I spent over an hour in the book store looking through this book. We were so impressed by the collection that we actually decided to use this as the guest book at our wedding. There is something in this book for everyone and we intend to let our guest flip to their favorite cover and leave us a message. The great thing about music is that is spans cultures and generations, and we will be able to learn more about our wedding guests through their choices in this book. We highly recommend it for music lovers fanatic to casual listener.



3. My husband, John Berg, was the art director of many of the covers in this book. I looked in the index to find where they were and I was amazed that a book on the subject of the album COVERS would not have a listing for the people who created the album covers. Listing the albums by recording artist and listing by album name is fine but the subject of the book is the ART on the covers, and yet the art directors, while buried in the text under the pictures of the individual album covers within the body of the book, are not singled out in an index. A person researching the work of John Berg, or Bob Defrin or Paula Scher would have to KNOW the album title or the band in order to see the work. That's ok for a book about the bands, or the music or even the decade, but if it's about the cover art lets have it BE about the cover art- there should have been an index for the ART PEOPLE: the illustrators, the photographers and the art directors...so for someone interested in who did the covers rather than just what they look like this is not the best book, no matter how well it's printed.



4. I received this book for the holidays and wound up reading it cover to cover in 3 hours. The book does a great job of explaining the evolution of the album cover. It also gives great background into what the artist's was trying to portray with the cover. The book covers all genres, as well as, explains covers that were giving social commentary to covers that are just plain silly. Great purchase for anyone that loves not only the music but everything that goes into it.



5. If I had known, this would have been the last gift my husband opened. We could not get him away from this book on Christmas morning. It was fun to see him sit with our daughter and tell her about which titles he had and some of his memories to go along with the album covers. Neat book!

5 comments about Shoji: How to Design, Build, and Install Japanese Screens.

1. I've read the book 3 times already, and refer back to it frequently. It gives a good introduction to shoji, but I find that it is meant to be a refresher for an actual class. Some sections are vague, such as calculating board feet, so I had to go to woodworking websites for that exact procedure.
   
   The book was good enough to make me acquire two Japanese pull saws and a marking guage. I'm in the process of getting a finishing plane, so maybe I will then see how I do on actually constructing a shoji screen using the book's tips! Tool vendors seem to know the author, so he does know his stuff.



2. This is an excellent guide to making japanese screens.if you are a beginer or a pro i think youll find this the ideal choice to start off with.



3. Can not say enough about this book, it gives you a good start if you know a little about wood, but does not stop there.
   
   If you get this book you'll enjoy that it does not insult your interest by just showing pictures of work only a master could do. It gives the information needed to do your first design plus what you'll need once you understand the methods.
   
   Thanks Jay, you have given me a great new experience.



4. the book was easy to understand. easy to read. a great book , if you want to build a shoji screen this is the book for you. tells you about other uses and other stronger materials to use



5. The book arrived speedily and in great condition. What more can I ask?

4 comments about A Designer's Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing You Clients and What They Really Need (Design Field Guides).

1. Graphic design is about much more than typography, composition and colour. Researching and understanding the client's needs and those of the target audience are key to the design process. This book is a valuable resource for designers seeking to understand the research strategies and methodologies appropriate for their work.
   
   Kudos to the authors and the professional community of contributors for this book specifically aimed at designers. A Designer's Research Manual conveys information in a clear and readable manner with concise text, helpful graphics and relevant international case studies.



2. This book is a must have for any aspiring designer. I have the good fortune of studying under the author of "A DESIGNER'S RESEARCH MANUAL" Mr. Visocky O'Grady. Ken is my 'Design research' instructor; he is a high-energy teacher with a vast knowledge in his field. I recommend to all designers/students that you add this book to your library.



3. I had to buy this book for a Design Research class. I like the simplicity of the book and the information it contains. The authors dont bogg the reader down with a bunch of advanced technical terminology. I think this is a GREAT book for anyone just starting to get into design research. Its clear, consise and an all around good read. I've taken a few classes with Ken Visoky-O'Grady and he's an amazing professor. I think the book is a great first attempt and would be an asset for any young designer.



4. In my search for structured discussion on design process and research, I was fortunate enough to find this book, "A Designer's Research Manual," at the MOMA bookstore in SoHo. I only wish this had been available and required text when I was still in school. The Authors have done a great service to the design profession, and it's clients. Those of us who are more designers than "artists" would do well to integrate the principles of this book into our processes & methodologies for tackling our clients' business problems. It's thinking like that in this book that will make the case for design's value to the business of our clients. Thank you Jenn & Ken Visocky O'Grady!

5 comments about Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines.

1. I believe this book is good for beginners as it instructs the reader on how to analyze pigments (transparent, staining and opaque)and how they will behave. Most beginners do not know about these pigment characteristics, so from that standpoint alone it is a good investment for your library. It also illustrates the right way to lay in a flat wash and build depth through "glazing". Many of the exercises are beneficial to the reader no matter what approach you will want to take to your own watercolor paintings.



2. Well-laid-out basic procedures. Two pages in the back which are truly useful checklists for planning and starting paintings. I am excited about applying this method to subjects I have painted in the past.



3. Linda's work is so bold and fresh it borders on the abstract. The approach is groundbreaking, and the resulting work is rich and fluid and inspiring.
   The book starts out with suggestions on materials and supplies. She then leads you through very simple exercises to teach the basics of understanding negative shapes. She also provides instruction on modifying shapes, composition strategies, and color. Then she leads you through more and more intricate layers. It's an entirely new way of thinking. I have used these techniques in my own work and with my college students as well. Artists at any level can benefit from her ideas.
   
   (I also took a workshop from her and highly recommend her as an instructor.)



4. This author takes watercolor to a useful and understandable technique for the person new to this media. Her directions are clear, consise and knowledgable. Her demonstrations, while challenging to duplicate, are easy to follow. I highly recommend her book to anyone seeking to widen their understanding of what watercolor can do for their art.



5. This is an original book that will expand your painting skills by providing you with techniques to approach painting through negative spaces. Everything is explained meticulously in step by step diagrams that leave nothing unclear. It is a valuable addition to painters who want to expand their repertoire of skills. However, the technique explained in this book, fascinating as it is, has its limitations, as it can only work in pictures where the negative spaces are darker than the positive ones (you will understand how and why when you read it). Should the painter want their negative spaces to be lighter in color than the shapes depicted, this technique would not work.
   
   Maybe it is a first step and the author, or somebody else, can expand the possibilities of this technique further; what we learn in this book is certainly not the last word on negative-space painting. The author explores mostly landscapes, and the results of her specific approach gives results that are highly original, but that have a specific eerie-spooky character. Since I haven't tried applying the technique yet, I cannot tell whether that eerie quality is an inevitable consequence of that technique, or is it the result of the author's/painter's specific choices, and whether a different painter could get results of a totally different quality.
   
   Despite these limitations, it is a very useful approach to get to know, especially for painters who do not just want to learn a new trick, but who also want to learn how to see in new ways. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Creating Nature in Watercolor: An Artist's Guide.

1. I found this newest Cathy Johnson book to be every bit as informative and entertaining as her many previous books. The artist's love of nature shines gloriously within these pages. Not only does she give clear and easily understood instructions to 'capture nature', she also inspires you! This book is both working text and entertainment.



2. Having used 2 of Ms. Johnson's books before ("Creating
   Textures in Watercolor" and "Watercolor Pencil Magic-sadly
   out of print") I had great hopes for this new volume, and it
   does not disappoint. More than a collection of pretty
   watercolor studies to be admired -though it is full of
   them! - this book breaks down the process and tells you
   how to get the result you're looking for. Ms. Johnson even
   gives tips on the practicalities of capturing the
   uncooperative moving creatures of nature on paper! I have found something valuable on every page.



3. Cathy Johnson's newest book, Creating Nature in Watercolor, is a most delightful read and it's filled with tips and techniques on appreciating nature and capturing your interpretation of that observation in watercolor. Whether you want to learn how to document botanical samples in a journal or compose an extensive landscape on a full sheet of watercolor paper, this book is a must have! Cathy has a teaching style that encourages everyone to jump right in and have fun learning. This book contains short exercises as well as step-by-step lessons for painting landscapes. A beginner will find this book to be a tremendous start off point and a professional will find many useful tips and notes to help them progress in their treatment of nature and landscapes.



4. Cathy Johnson's newest book is a work of art in itself. The inside page design is simply beautiful. The illustrations by Ms. Johnson are very inspiring. And her tone is one of gentle encouragement ("yes, you can do this too"). I just received my copy recently and have already spent hours savoring it. Many of Ms. Johnson's books seem deceptively simple. One could quickly glance over her notes and paintings and then set the book on the shelf. The real value comes from taking her books, page by page, and actually DOING the exercises she provides. Pay attention to her teaching, follow her examples, and wonderful things will happen with your artwork. Creating Nature in Watercolor is a wonderful book and I am thankful that the artist took the time to create it.



5. I have just recieved Cathy Johnson's new book, "Creating Nature in Watercolor, an Artists Guide." I sat down and read it through, and found it felt like an beautifully illustrated letter from a good friend, who is encouraging me to join her in her love of nature and creating. The art work is superb of course, as I expected, since I already own several of her books, and recently took one of her wonderful Online Classes...and she has been drawing and painting for her whole life...but I also found much more in it than artwork. She not only shares many, many, many valuable techniques and tips...but they seem unique to her charming way of helping us out with some of the little things that become big things when you dont know how to deal with them. And she adds so many details and makes them all so interesting!
   Her 'personal relationship' with nature pulls the reader and artist into a close connection with creation and creating.
   It is a book for everyone...beginning and professional artists as well as all who appreciate nature.
   For me this is her best book....so far...:)

2 comments about Pastel Workbook: A Complete Course in 10 Lessons (Workbook).

1. Clear, simple teaching guide for pastel beginners. 10 progressive lessons. Examples range from simple to advanced, to encourage and inspire the reader. I think it needs a bit more information in fixatives and surfaces, which are a large factor in the whole picture-making process. Overall, it's a good book to get started.
   
   s_tomsik



2. This is one of the best written and demonstrated art books that I've purchased -- I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn to create art with pastels. This book will give you the basics in about 10 lessons.