1 comments about Aegean Art and Architecture (Oxford History of Art).

1. It is a little biased but a critical reader will have no problem discerning what is fact and what is opinion. It is certainly more factual than many "archaeological" magazines out there. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in Bronze Age Crete (Minoan Crete). Mycenae is spoken of (as our other Aegean sites) but the Minoans are the definitive focus of this book (as well as the Therans)

5 comments about Idea Index: Graphic Effects and Typographic Treatments.

1. This book is a great cause it helps to inspire thoughts for designs in a creative way. Ideas that you may not think of to add to a design will help open your eyes. The typographic treatments help broaden your mind by seeing how to create attractive type so your not using the same old style of typographic.



2. 
   
   You may be a design superstar, but you need this. If not now, you will eventually and it will be at 2am in the morning and 4 Red Bulls shy of an 8am deadline when you realize you should have had it, while all the local bookstores are closed and the one person awake that you know owns it lives one hour away, but your car is out of gas due to the money you're not making from the ideas you're not creating from the Idea Index you don't own and anyone else you think may own it is sleeping or competing for the same work and laughing at your naivety because they know they are going to win the job and raise their arms in ecstatic passion, kissing the boss's butt and laughing with an evil smiling scowl in a moment of unfair glory you are not a part of. Invest in saving your tail from that moment.
   
   The greatest designers and artists will tell you they don't always just "make it appear", but go to other sources for inspiration. Even if you don't think you need it, you need it just to give you a fresh perspective at times.
   
   I can't tell you the number of times this little idea factory will save your tail during a mind block! It has saved me many times and probably has resulted in thousands of dollars worth of design work won due to the ideas generated from it during a blank out. Just that alone should be enough to convince you to get it.
   
   This durable, vinyl covered gemlette is geared toward graphic design folks and is divided into two sections:
   
   1. Graphic Effects:
   2. Typographic Treatments
   
   What I really like about the Idea Index is that amongst its 300+ ideas, you will find multiple versions of each individual idea per page, not just one little instance. Also, the ideas use varying techniques, not just what the author may be predisposed to. The ideas are indeed simple in many cases and that is enough to spark that one little idea that will build and build, compounding the ideas until you have just thrown your hands over your head in ecstatic excitement over the design award you just won, after making all that money from that job you wrested from the hands of the other guy 4 Red Bulls shy of an 8am meeting at 2am who doesn't own this book. Uhh . . .
   
   Save yourself the drama. Just get it, my brain hurts . . . from all the ideas this book creates.



3. This is a great little source of ideas to keep in your back pocket. It is good to flip through when you need to work past a creative blcok.



4. I was happy to find this little book. It has two main sections, one for graphics and one for type treatments. In each section are several ideas explained in both words and visuals. There isn't anything ground breaking here. But it's awesome because there are so many ideas and approaches tightly packed in a small book. So when my brain is dead and and I need to pull out of my tunnel vision...it's there for me.



5. Sometimes I find myself a little stuck on projects but flipping through this book always gets me back on track. Just as he says it is useful tool to "get ideas stirring or later on, expand a page or two of thumbnail sketches." The graphical examples used in the book aren't finished, polished pieces but they are great illustrations of how to expand your ideas and speed the creative process.

5 comments about How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs.

1. This book is ok, for those who are not interested in drawing from life, and are content with drawing from blown up photographs. So if drawing is just a fun hobby this book would be super to draw portraits of your friends and family. But If you wish to progress beyond the point of basically making an exact copy of a photo then this book isn't for you. Hammond uses graphs to basically copy a photograph. So if you wish to draw a person, or any object that is not in a photograph this book will not help you sharpen your drawing skills.



2. This book is excellent if you've always been wanting to draw, especially if you thought you couldn't. It will prove that you can, and quickly. I literally went from stick figures to commissioned portraits in under a year. You will not be disappointed if you purchase this book!



3. i definetly would recommend this book,as well as another book by carol parks called secrets to realistic drawing both excellent tutorials and reading



4. If you want to learn how to draw pencil portraits from reference (photos), but you don't manage to do more than simple sketches almost always impossible of they be recognized (it was my case), this is your book. Suitable for beginners want to progress in days, what would usually take months for being reached, this book teaches step by step with 20 demonstrations, how you can draw portraits from photos.
   
   For me, good method is that that teaches you to draw better than you drew before, and this is with certainty this category. The method doesn't make you to lose time with theories that a lot of times only serve for thickening the book. It is focused from start to the end, in as to do a pencil portrait from photos. This was my objective when I decided to learn how to draw and in spite of me always be wanting to learn to draw better, today I can say that that objective was reached. For who wants to venture in learning how to draw pencil portraits, this with certainty should be the first method to invest.



5. I already had some drawing experience, but this book really helped refine my skills and give my portraits a professional quality.

1 comments about Hammershoi.

1. This book is the catalogue for the current London exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art on Hammershoi, the first ever held in Britain on the work of the "Danish Vermeer". It gives a fair idea of the mastery of light Hammershoi was able to infuse his paintings with.
   
   The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.
   
   On the whole, a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available on the artist in English - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

5 comments about Marks of Excellence.

1. This book is a great resource for the methods behind some of the most sucessful logos created. Even if you are not a "logo designer" this book is a good reference. The author gets extremely deep into the psychology and methods of successful logos. Although sometimes laborious - it provides great background.



2. If you want do develop a brand name, this is the right book. It presents an overall process on how to buid a branding.



3. This is a beatifully designed book that is very complete. There are hundreds of examples of good design, and enough text to satisfy those who need detailed explanations. Quite simply, I have seen nearly all the books available on logo design, and this one of the best I have ever seen.



4. I basicly see this book as an art book. Enjoy the design of old and contemporary trademarks and their functions. The text though, is very technical - as in other areas of marketing, the science of trademarks and branding is overacademized for nothing.



5. Per Mollerup's Marks of Excellence is an interesting and beautifully illustrated look at trademarks. The most interesting part for me are the little anecdotes which occur here and there about particular trademarks. For example the Guinness harp is based on the O'Neill clan harp, when the Irish State was formed in 1922 they had to reverse the harp because Guinness owned the copyright.
   The look and feel of the book is similar to any of the Graphis range. The book begins with a brief look at the precursors of trademarks such as heraldry, monograms and brands for animals and goods. It then examines the design process looking at the type of corporate identities that can be created and their application. The bulk of the book though is the taxonomy of trademarks breaking them down into classes, such as birds, botanical, buildings etc. There is a brief look at the background to the trademark accompanied by the name of company which uses the trademark and the designers behind it.

5 comments about Sailor Jerrys Tattoo Stencils.

1. A good source of very nice Sailor Jerry Stencils from the man who in my opinion did the best traditional tattoo flash ever.
   
   Not as good as the now difficult to get Sailor Jerry Tattoo Flash books (volumes 1 and 2), which give a better of idea of this man's talents drawing flash. It has some extra stencils of things not in those books, so it is well worthwhile.



2. I feel that every single tattoo artist,inspiring tattoo artist, or any kind of artists and even art historian should,must own this book. I will admit that when I read the first 15 pages cause thats all there is with any writting on. I had a tear in both my eyes. Every single page back to back is covered with Jerrys tattoo stencils. Also every page is in a very heavy duty paper and they are perforated so you can take each page out and laminate them and use in your shop or portfolio of flash to use for you customer/clients. Every page is full of history. I highly recomend this book and the otherjerrys stencil books they are a very big must have specialy for you buisness/shop you will be so excited to look at the tats not to mention the money you will make from the stencils. I noticed that every single Tattoo magazine has countless tattoos specialy the women are covered in this art. I recomend this book in a big way.
   You are very welcome for the big tip.



3. The book is good for simple, traditional stencils. The drawings are super basic (as they should be for that time), but I was hoping I can get an idea for what the stencils looks like with color and shading. The drawings are fun to mimic and be creative with your own shading and color.



4. I was looking for Pin Up Art Styles and found it all in this book. All the styles are for men & women. When You go into a tattoo shop and look at all the art work on the walls and books; this book has it all summed up. This cool book has it all.



5. Beautiful old school stencils of the original artwork of Sailor Jerry...what more could you want! :)

5 comments about The Urban Treasure Hunter: A Practical Handbook for Beginners.

1. I was hoping for a little more technical stuff with this book. It talks
   about old buildings, privies, new construction sites, and etc. to look for
   things. I wanted techniques in the handling of the detector. Not so much as
   where to go. To me, it's a book about common sense. Overall, I would
   recommend it. It is helpful in a few areas.



2. No matter what your treasure, be it coins, bottles, or somethisg else, this book has great tips on where and how to find it. I originally bought a copy for my son and was so impressed that I bought another copy for myself.



3. I am just beginning my hobby with a metal detector. I purchased several books on treasure hunting and this is by far the best. It has a broad range of extremely useful information. By all means start with this book if you too are a beginner. Most of the other books I bought had a lot of fluff. This book has a ton of useful information and guidance.



4. This book is an invaluable resource for the beginner and even the intermediate detectorist. It has filled me with new ideas of where and how to search for lost valuables and coins. The tidbits on history and archeology were most interesting.



5. This book has a lot of information about treasures all over the country. Tells you where to look, how to go about hunting and what equipment you need and what to do when you find your treasures.

2 comments about Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century (October Books).

1. HUGE thumbs up. Crary historicizes technological vision and illuminates an underrepresented point: things we're taught to think of as objective, such as cameras and vision, are in fact quite subjective and historical. They're ideas first, which means social/cultural ideas, from design to usage. Gradually these cultural ideas plus economic and technological possibility fuse into 'things'. The social aspects get invisibly embedded into these 'things' through myths of objectivity and modern people's desire to be taken care of by machines. When cultural values become things we are conditioned not to see the subjective part. Why? Our primary way of thinking is still the way of the Enlightenment -- from the 18th century -- which loves measuring and equating and separates 'myth' from 'science'. [Which is which? as Roger Waters asks, Do you think you can tell?] Western high culture privileges thinking and seeing over affect and body, imagining they are separate and valuing one over the other. Really it's just an excuse for laziness and cultural arrogance.
   
   Read this book along with Eric Michaels' _Bad Aboriginal Art_ and Adorno and Horkheimer's _Dialectic of Enlightenment_ to begin to see glimpses of Western cultural values and narratives embedded in today's supposedly 'objective' media such as photography, video, TV, vision, etc. Do the work and eventually technology will be a mirror of your own social/historical context.



2. Crary presents some interesting views on the perception of art. I found that it took a while for his ideas to formulate - the writing tends to be a bit wordy. I would recommend the book with reservations - really only for the serious academic reader. Not a casual bedside book.

5 comments about Blue and Yellow Dont Make Green.

1. I'm a sorter. I organize. I put things in boxes. Color doesn't want to go in boxes. Or categories, or areas, or mix well with others. It drove me nuts. Sometimes it was too bright and sometimes it was so dull it hurt like a toothache. This book began my understanding of why color does what it does. Michael Wilcox put together a dictionary which unravels for me the complexities of color and the how's and why's of hue, tint, and shade. He has broken down the chemical compounds of color in an understandable way and broken the secret codes of the paint manufacturers so that you and I can read the labels. Now we can purchase exactly what colors we want and either mix our own exact shades and tints or get the individual paint supplier's.
   
   Ever wonder why you sweat in your sister's bathroom and not in your's? Her's is painted peach and your's is blue. Why that works, now, is someone else's story. And then there's black. Who knew there were so many different kinds of black? There's a black to fit each room in your house, made out of every color in the room in which it is to reside. And it matches perfectly. Amazing.
   
   Now when I see two shades of lemon yellow I don't see yellow at all. I see either greenish yellow or brownish yellow and refer to them as green or brown. It's very tricky to see the primary hue over the secondary color anymore. Huh. I guess that's what an educated color sense sees nowadays. Never thought about it before. Three cheers for Michael Wilcox and PO3, PV15, PY3 and others! I get true colors every time.



2. this book gets more interest for its paradoxical (and inaccurate) title than for its contents, which are straight out of 18th century color theory and painting practice. for a review of this book and links to background materials, google "wilcox handprint" and click the first few links. i should add that some of the positive reviews posted here appear verbatim at the wilcox "school of colour" website and are therefore just viral marketing.
   
   the quiller book "color choices" and the hilary page book "color right from the start" are excellent resources. this book is heavy on simplification, routine, and computer generated color samples.



3. This ia a fabulous book for any artist or aspiring artist. From a pallet of only 12 colors he show you the hows and especially the whys of mixing just about any color you want. Especially good for water colorists. You'll never be mixing "mud" again.
   
   Ben Albert



4. I am very pleased with this book. It is filled with valuable information for the painter which is presented in terms that are easy to comprehend. I am currently working my way through the exercises and by doing so can already see where the book has been worth every penny. As someone well acquainted with "mud" I think the book will save me a fortune in paint down the road. I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to recommend this book to anyone interested in painting whether new to painting or an experienced artist. We can all learn something new from it. In fact, I think it would make a great text book.



5. Before reading this book, I already had a good basis in the basic color theory: the primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, and the ideas of complementary and analogous colors. I even knew that mixing complementaries would result in browns to blacks.
   
   However, I hadn't learned how to apply that knowledge in the way this book presents it. As a result, sometimes I would mix colors that were muddy or shaded, and I didn't know why. This book explains it all so clearly and so simply that you are sure to retain and use the information with ease.
   
   In summary, this book tells you how to mix any color you want, reliably and with confidence, just using six colors, two of each primary color. Everyone who understands color knows that yellows fall on a range from almost-orange to almost green, blues fall on a range from almost-green to almost-purple, and reds fall on a range from almost-purple to almost orange. The fact that these colors are in a range means that, when you mix them, you will get different results depending on where the colors fall in that range.
   
   This book tells how to determine where a color falls in those ranges, and also gives you a clear and understandable way of knowing what to expect when mixing different primaries. The system works.
   
   One nice thing is that, with the price of paints today, if you need to, you can only purchase six colors and you will pretty much be set. Accordingly, this book recommends that you purchase those six colors, two from each primary, with one color each that tends toward each end of each primary (a green-yellow and an orange-yellow, for example).
   
   Of course, you can always buy a larger range of colors, but armed with the information in this book, when you do so, you can confidently purchase and mix those colors and have a good idea of what the results will be each time.
   
   If you are impatient with theory, you can skip all the stuff about reflected light, additive versus subtractive color mixing, color perception in the brain, and so on; it may or may not all be true, and is anyway only Mr. Wilcox's theory about *why* his system works. Instead, if you are impatient, just read the juicy stuff about the colors themselves. It will definitely improve your ability to mix colors well. If I were making a list of "must have" books in an artist's reference library, this would be one of them.

3 comments about The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at Art (Occasional Papers, No 4).

1. 
   Recently I bought at least 5 books regarding the modern art analysis. May be this one is the book that most cleverly resolved the question on how to approach the complex modern art. It presents a strategy to open up your mind and get the most of every piece of art that you confront in a museum or a gallery. It does not dwell upon art history but emphasize on what to look and how to look. Unfortunately, at the end of its barely 90 pages, you ended asking for more.



2. This book is interesting for artists. It opens up your mind for different ways of thinking.



3. The Intelligent Eye is a great way to teach students (or anyone) how to think by looking at artwork! This book has an easy to read, conversational style to it as it shares some very basic truths about thinking.