5 comments about 9 Heads: A Guide to Drawing Fashion (3rd Edition).

1. I took an illustration class and we used a different book and felt that my illustrations were still horrible, even after the class. I saw this book was being used for the next illustration class and looked at my friend's book and decided to get it. Upon receiving this book, I started really sketching and I got a lot of compliments on my new sketches! This is a great instructional book!



2. i could honestly say i have a ton of books and as a fashion designer this is the best book out there.. it will teach you step by step and the best thing to do is to get colors for modern fashion. You have both of these you are set. I had Nancy R. as a teacher and shes the best! the money is worth it !! it will be your fashion bible! :)



3. I can't explain what a great help this book has been for my studies. It is very indepth and the steps to creating the croqui are excellent. I am a first year fashion design student with very limited skills in drawing and this book has helped me improve in my class by leaps and bounds in just a short span of time. A must for all Fashion Illustrators.



4. This book is a must have for anyone who is seriosly into Fashion Illustration. I do some of my teaching with it, and students go crazy over the simplicity of the explanations.



5. This book is a must have for anyone who wants to learn to draw human figures or wants to go into fashion design. The language is easy to understand and the results are great. Your drawing skills improve and your drawings become more realistic. A must have for artists and future fashion designers.

5 comments about Watercolor for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Serious Beginner).

1. I liked this book because it gives you lots of ideas to think about as you grow and learn to watercolor paint. However, I didn't feel it was a must-have for my collection. The pictures are beautiful and the ideas are good to remember but if you're really enthusiastic about painting, I think you'll be doing all these things she speaks about anyway. I guess it's a good book to have if you need a reminder once in a while.



2. Watercolor for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Serious Beginner)
   this is a fantastic book. The information is clear and concise, and the lessons move one along at a good pace. I should mention that the title of this book is a key to understanding it. This book is for the SERIOUS watercolorist. If one wants to really become serious about their water color studies. This is an excellent place to begin.



3. This is a good book to learn a variety of techniques in watercolor painting. This was for my teenage daughter who enjoys watercolor painting, so she can expand her level of techniques. She sat for hours going through the book to learn and study what it had to teach her.



4. Was a welcomed Book in my collection and is extremely helpful in applying new techniques in a new student of watercolor.



5. This makes me want to take my supplies and park myself somewhere beautiful to sketch and paint.

5 comments about Colored Pencil Portraits.

1. I have taken a workshop by Ann Kullberg she teaches colored pencil so clearly that even I learned something. I have read this book and one of her other books. Colored pencil painting done by showing the importance of layering colors in creating shapes with depth and richness in colors. I've since used what I learned from Kullberg in my other painting mediums. I've got nothing but praise for this book!



2. Colored Pencil Portraits
   I have been a non-professional artist for over 50 years, and I do primarily portraits of people and pets. This book offered very thorough help. For example, the author showed how to create your own guide for skin tones using the brand of pencils she uses. It made it very easy to create the same effects.
   
   She also gave quite a bit of space to explaining how to do a background, and showing good and bad examples of how to place the main subject within the "frame" of the background. Many full color examples of what she is trying to explain make the book enjoyable and easy to understand the points she is making.
   
   All in all, this book is well worth buying if you do portraits--or would like to.



3. For those interested in the colored pencil medium, this is a descriptive reference for portraiture creation.



4. When I recieved this book, the first thing I did was skim through it entirely. It is very informative and well written, going into excellent detail in technique and color theory for the medium of colored pencil. After settling down with enough time to properly read it ( although the chapters are detailed enough that it is not necessary to do so), I also found that the techniques explained incorperate very well into my own personal style of drawing. It will definatly remain, as a great reference, in my studio for years to come! I recommend this book to anyone who loves colored pencil or those that have no idea just what a colored pencil can do.



5. This book is equally useful for beginning colored pencil artists through more advanced portrait artists. It is a must read for beginners, as I am. Author Anita Kullberg begins with basic colored pencil techniques, composition and the all-important skills of using light, dark and mid tone values. Then, she leads the reader through the step-by-step techniques of painting skin tones, facial characteristics and realistic hair. By the time I painted my second portrait using Kullberg's techniques described in this book, my painting was believable and recognizable. Far more important to the amateur, I really liked my work! The book is indexed for an easy search for content and Kullberg's "Hints" are real gems. This is a great reference book in addition to the tutorials.

5 comments about Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life: Over 1,000 Illustrations.

1. This book goes good with Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy. I have gained better understanding from studying this book as well as Hogarth's. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to know a little about human anatomy.



2. This is a very helpful and thorough book. It's a great book to draw from, great for structural help. Great price on amazon! It's worth it because buying the individual books is much more expensive!



3. I also own Contructive Anatomy and his books on HANDS. This is a must have. Not just for the content, but also for the style. Any serious artist should diligenly copy the sketches in this book, as a daily sketch exercise.



4. Mainly for intermediate-level artists- I *might* have to pick this as my #1 Bridgman book. It has a little bit of *everything* depicting figure construction from memory. It's also great for general improvement; a few tips & tricks- an indispensable reference for all working artists.
   
   And Bridgman appeals to a *very* wide-ranging audience: fine & commercial artists; illustrators; comicbook pencilers; animators; video-game designers; fashion artists; sculptors; computer graphics designers; students; intermediate-artists; experts; and professionals. This Complete Guide represents the best of 6 out of his 7 individual books. Drawing the Female Form is the book that gets left out. Designed by editor Howard Simon in 1952; Bridgman passed away in 1943, so it's not Bridgman's fault if anyone has issues with the layout(!).
   Here's a quick breakdown of his 6 individual books, from my very favorite to least...
   1. Book of a Hundred Hands- His *best* representation of hands; if hands are your main interest, skip all else & buy 100 hands.
   2. Constructive Anatomy- His *best* individual work on figure construction- especially with cubed-construction of the head.
   3. Heads, Features and Faces- Great for beginners; it isn't in-depth, and it isn't nearly overwhelming like this Complete Guide.
   4. Human Machine- Genius in concept- drawings exceedingly sketchy. These are the sketchiest drawings in this Complete Guide.
   5. Bridgman's Life Drawing- Like a mini Complete Guide. Treats the figure in its parts as well as with basic, full-figure movement.
   6. Drawing the Draped Figure- *Very* basic. Everything you need from this exceedingly thin book is included in this Complete Guide.
   
   In short: The basic *point* of Bridgman's Complete Guide is to help people to draw figures more convincingly, and even from memory. To a great degree, at least in my opinion, this book still succeeds in a very effective way...
   
   P.S. This book is definitely *not* for beginners! Only *Intermediate-level* artists need apply.



5. I would rate this ten stars if I could. Speaking as someone who has gone to some school and trying to complete my portfolio through books and tutorials, this book is absolutely indispensable. Its a little hard to understand as navarro states earlier. But once you actually work through an exercise, any exercise, his method clicks very quickly and easily. I am amazed by the amount I learn and skill I gain with every page of this book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in any area of art.

5 comments about Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition.

1. As an aspiring illustrator/artist/graphic designer/film maker/whatever I felt I had a grasp on drawing the human figure. I could more or less draw what I saw or if I could plan something well enough in my head I could put that to paper.
   
   However therein I came up against a limitation. I could only plan so well. My understanding of the human body - its proportions and limits of motion only reached a certain point. My figures always looked static and never seemed to leap off the page in the way that I intended.
   
   There's a multitude of conflicting information that I've read through before coming across this book - the human is six heads high, no, wait, seven, no eight and a half... if you've suffered this problem then I suggest you read this book. It gives you a base, or rather, flexible rules to work from. Reading it you feel the only step beyond it would be actually going to study life drawing at University.
   
   I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to add a sense of 'life' to their figure drawings, be they cartoonish or realistic styles. Especially if you've suffered the 'conflicting advice problem' as I have. It also aids in being able to invent dynamic figures rather than just understanding what you're seeing.



2. the book met all my expectations regarding its detail and content.
   the pictures show the human body in all its musculature glory.
   some of the bigtures are repeated throughtout when describing the human form and that was rather disappointing but overall the deatil and particular style of anatomy drawing is dynamic as the title suggests. buy this and a standard science text book and you will have enough source material to work from



3. Definetely a must have. Wonderfful drawings, perfectly explained. You will learn anatomy in the most romantic way you can imagine. I love it!



4. The book is absolutely excellent for anyone that is trying to learn artistic anatomy. It is precisely oriented to the artist's needs and it doesn't go around talking about medically or biological explanations.
   I took a point out because I'm not so sure this new edition has really improved the quality. It has a couple of long initial chapters talking about the history of human anatomy in art and a disclamer about the modern arts. But I don't see this comments add as much value as the space it consumes.
   Also, the yellow figures are not as clear to see as the old black and white figures the old edition had.
   Anyway, I think is a really good book and I absolutelly recommend it.



5. This is a fascinating approach to anatomy, utilizing over-emphasized musculature to better illustrate the human form. Anyone considering purchasing this book must possess the understanding that these are exaggerated proportions not demonstrative of a realistic human form. But they are not designed to be. They convey the inter-relationships between masses that would normally be only subtly perceived. I did not require the art history lesson in the beginning, but perhaps that may appeal to some customers who would like to see the artistic past that helped inevitably shape artists like Hogarth. Overall, this is a good work that acheives its purpose.

5 comments about Basic Colored Pencil Techniques (Basic Techniques).

1. I bought this book with several others, and if I didnt have a comparison I would probably rate it better. The images are washed out, cartoony, and poorly drawn. The author doesnt seem to like using colors at full value, rather he/she prefers to have all the pictures in soft colors.



2. I was immediately struck that the author uses Prismacolor Professional Colored Pencils, my own brand of choice. This made it easy to practice her techniques using the same colors as stated by each image. I learned the best way to layer color - basic tonal layering, heavy pressure layering, two layer approach, spot layering (basic, bold, blended), plus doing the single layer approach. Other techniques covered are the lifting of color, covering large areas, using various colored paper for special effects and so much more that it would take another paragraph to fully describe the multitude of methods the author covers in this book. This book has steered me on the path to produce interesting works of art with colored pencils, where before I managed to use my college art classes to some degree, but not in the quality I really wanted to see my work develop. This is a good book for beginners and intermediates, maybe even good review/reference for the advanced artist. I am so pleased with this book over other colored pencil technique books that I am sure that the others will get dusty from lack of use, while this one will become a true tool to help me with my future artistic endeavors.



3. I read the reviews on all the colored pencil technique books on Amazon and chose this one. I taught myself watercolor and had been doing some colored pencil illustrations, but needed some help! This book shows all the tricks and tips I could ever need and the steps are usually broken up into understandable stages of a drawing - but not always. I would have liked to see more of the tools at work in the instructional photos. Sometimes just "use an eraser for this effect" doesn't make sense without the eraser right there, doing it. I am actually creating my art using Corel Paint with the colored pencils and this book is a terrific help!



4. I would recommend this book for beginners and intermediates as well. Easy to follow and the techniques I learned are priceless.



5. I found Borgeson's handling of background very interesting and different from all the other colored pencil artists' books. Her use of spot layering and single layer color juxtaposition helps to make the large areas go quickly. She also presents other methods to speed up colored pencil application. Of course, she covers all the basics, too. A good book for any colored pencil artist.

3 comments about The Art of Botanical Painting.

1. It is a nice book and the explain it good the art of flowers. I recommanded on every the draw with flowers.



2. I've bought all sorts of books on botanical painting but this is the best of the best. The illustrations are fabulous, the instructions clear and comprehensive. Have you ever heard of "botanical gray"? This book is something you can't live without.



3. What a fabulous book!
   
   If you paint flowers in watercolour or are enrolled on a course of Botanical Illustration, as I am, then this is the book for you.
   
   Written by Margaret Stevens in association with the Society of Botanical Artists, the book takes the reader briefly through the beginnings of Botanical Art to a useful chapter on materials including paper, watercolours and brushes. Whilst it doesn't proscribe a palette of colours, the great majority of the illustrations detail the colours used. The chapter on plant anatomy is useful for the non-botanist as is the one on drawing technique for those new to this aspect of painting.
   
   What gives this book a considerable edge over others of this type is that its other purpose is as the text book for a two-year diploma course in Botanical Illustration run by the SBA. (The author is the course director.) There are up to a dozen examples of work covered from start to finish over several pages produced by members of the SBA, some of whom are tutors on the course. There is excellent detail of watercolour technique and superb coverage of the production of varied coloured leaves and flowers and the colours used in their painting. The chapters on composition, working in the field and painting fruit and vegetables are extremely useful. All chapters are illustrated by high quality botanical paintings, mostly by SBA members.
   
   A beautiful book to own, better as an inspiration to painting but best of all as a reference when painting flowers in watercolours.

5 comments about The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color.

1. As an artist who uses color in my work, this book has been invaluable. The color wheel has always been my primary reference for color combinations; however, since reading Johannes Itten book, an entirely new world of understanding and enlightenment has evolved. I love this book for how it has enriched my knowledge and passion for color.



2. A little expensive, but well laid out and designed. On quality paper. Thoroughly recommended.



3. This book of Johannes Itten is a good example of the use of colour in the antroposofic way. He connects the different colours with moods and feelings, religious symbols and even gives it a spiritual dimension. For me it was an eye-opener on the aspect of harmony. Itten emphasizes that the eye and mind are always looking for balance, harmony in the sense of a grey-tone. If a work of art does not reflect this kind of harmony, for instance because of a distonality in the use of colours, the eye and mind get restless and agitated. But if used on purpose this aspect of colour gives a work of art a very strong impact and makes it a masterpiece.[...].



4. This book might be expensive, but what do you expect for such genius. I love this book, and would recommend it to anyone into color theroy. Itten is a color genius, and this book proves it.



5. I'd studied physiology and neuroscience, later switching careers from a medical path to that of a designer. I've dived into many sources for my self-education/training. Itten is the grand-master of color; no other book I've read compares to those of Itten. His teachings have enlightened me in ways that I'm amazed by, touching on scientific, psychological, behavioral, and the most personal aspects of color as a study and an experience. It's changed the way I look at my environment, and it's changing the way I use color in my work as a designer.

   I'm so impressed with the value this book has had to me, that I bought Itten's book on Form and Design, even though I didn't necessarily feel lacking on those aspects of design. It's rather because of the likelihood in the quality and richenss of knowledge I'll gain, as I did from this book.

5 comments about Comics and Sequential Art.

1. I just received this book yesterday, and I've been devouring it ever since! Mr. Eisner is a master storyteller, and he does a wonderful job of explaining the how's and why's of it in this book. The book is loaded with examples as well, mostly from his "Spirit" series. Trust me, you are going to be blown away by these things that were created a good 50 years ago! If you want to improve your comic book storytelling ability, this is an excellent place to start!



2. After reading the reviews of this book here on Amazon, and running across mentions of this book in lots of other places that talk about comics & graphic novels, I was really looking forward to reading it. But on the whole, I've been very disappointed. Although the book covers a lot of relevant topics, it does so in a way that seems sloppy and self-congratulatory. The book could do with a thorough proofreading to catch the numerous typos and other errors, and the author seems more concerned with impressing the reader than in making the topics easy to grasp and apply. I'm really surprised to find that this isn't a better introduction to the art & craft of visual storytelling.



3. Hey, why not take the analogy further? Scott McCloud's 'Understanding Comics' is the Sequential Artist's New Testament... and Fredric Wertham's 'Seduction of the Innocent' is the Sequential Artist's 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.
   
   'Understanding Comics' didn't exactly make 'Comics & Sequential Art' obsolete - in many ways they compliment each other, and they take somewhat different approaches to explaining this wonderful and fascinating art, although of course there are many similarities (McCloud clearly states that Eisner's work was his biggest influence, and it shows in the text). McCloud's book is more entertaining and reader friendly, that's for sure, and in many ways covers more ground and goes deeper - but it's important to remember that McCloud had the benefit of an extra decade in which the medium developed more rapidly than ever before, as well as that of Eisner's work as a reference. Eisner's work is the first true academic examination of sequential art and its potential as a medium, and was written at a time when the big revolution in comics - which he himself helped agitate more than fifteen years before - was just reaching its crucial stages.
   
   Aside from giving solid ground to several definitions - sequential art, graphic novel, the Gutter - which would become basics of the medium - Eisner's work took deeper consideration than anyone before him of the enormous potential the form has, and was an integral part of the artistic revolution is so-called comics. By many it was considered definitive; such a thing, of course, does not exist. 'Understanding Comics' builds on Eisner's work and in many ways is more complete, just as another, more complete work, may appear ten or twenty years from now. McCloud, of course, had the benefit not only of Eisner's work but also of artists like Dave McKean, who stretched the very same ideas that Eisner talked about to new extents. My main complaint about Eisner's book, in fact, is that he uses only his own work to illustrate his points, rather than draw some examples from great contemporaries like Robert Crumb or Art Spiegelman.
   
   While 'Understanding Comics' is friendlier and better suited for beginners and casual readers, 'Comics & Sequential Art' is more complex and more academic, and directed at those with an artistic background - after all, the material was taken from a series of lectures Eisner gave in the School of Visual Arts in New York. If you're new to the business, 'Understanding Comics' is a better pick, but if you have professional interest in comics, then both these works are essential reading, and 'Comics & Sequential Art' is remarkably important and inspiring.



4. I have no doubt Will Eisner's intentions were noble in writing this book. I'm also not here to disparage a widely acknowledged great in the comics industry. And yet...
   It comes as no surprise that this emanates from a series of academic lectures as it smacks of a non-academic striving desperately both to sound learned and informed and to give serious academic weight to a subject generally percieved as throwaway entertainment.
   Will Eisner was a great, but a great of a very different era and as such he has very little relevance visually to the world of comics today. That's not to say he's inferior to a lot of the hacks passing themselves off as 'cartoonists' these days, but if you want to work in that industry as an artist (thus producing sequential ART) then this book is a fraction of the use of the superior (that's right SUPERIOR) Scott McCloud book "Understanding Comics".
   So do yourself a favour and buy that instead.
   Oh, and using lots of big (and inappropriate to the medium) words doesn't make you sound smart, either.
   Sorry.



5. "Comics & Sequential Art" is based on a course Will Eisner taught at New York's School of Visual Art although originally this work was written as a series of essays that appeared randomly in "The Spirit" magazine. Eisner provides a guide book to the "principles & practice of the world's most popular art form, and while it is of interest to those of us who read comic books it is clearly intended to be of use to aspiring comic book artists (and writers, albeit to a lesser degree). One way of measuring the book's success is to note that I have the 24th printing of a work that was first published in 1985 (and expanded in 1990 to include print and computer), but then the fact that the book was written by Eisner and uses dozens of examples of his own art work to evidence his points, as well as drawings down specifically for the book, is enough to tell you this is something special.

   There are eight lessons in Professor Eisner's syllabus: (1) Comics as a Form of Reading looks at the interplay of word and image in comic books that has created a cross-breeding of illustration and prose, including the idea of how text can be read as image, which shows the sense of detail Eisner brings to his subject. (2) Imagery begins with the idea of letters as images and develops a notion of how the "pictograph" functions in the modern comic strip as a calligraphic style variation. The key subject here is that of images without words. (3) "Timing" considers the phenomenon of duration and its experience as an integral dimension of sequential art, with Eisner drawing (literally) a distinction between "time" and "timing." This chapter looks at framing speech and framing time, with Eisner making his points in the textual part of the chapter and then providing a series of comic book pages evidencing different features he wants to emphasize. (4) The Frame is a major chapter that examines in detail the sequences segments called panels or frames, with Eisner emphasizing the idea that these frames do not correspond exactly to cinematic frames because they are part of the creative process and not the result of the technology. Eisner examines encapsulation, the panel as a medium of control, creating the panel, the panel as container, the "language" of the panel border, the frame as a narrative device, the frame as a structural support, the panel outline, the emotional function of the frame, the "splash" page, the page as a meta panel, the super-panel as a page, panel composition, the function of perspective, and realism and perspective. This chapter is not half the book, but it is close, and it basically tells you everything you ever wanted to know about a panel in a comic book. When you are taking into account the meaning of the border of the panel, then you know this is a comprehensive examination of the subject under discussion.

   The rest of the book deals with what you put in those panels: (5) Expressive Anatomy provides a micro-Dictionary of Gestures before covering your options in drawing the body, the face, and the body and the face. As an extended example Eisner provides his complete "Hamlet on a Rooftop," which does the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. (6) Writing & Sequential Art talks about the relationship between the writer and the artist (whether they are two separate people or not), and various story telling elements. There are several choice examples on the application of words and the various ways then can add meaning to a series of panels, and practical examples of how writers and artists work together to create comic book stories. (7) Application (The Use of Sequential Art) makes a distinction between the functions of sequential art as instruction and as entertainment. This leads to a discussion of not only the graphic novel and technical instruction comics, but story boarding for commercials and films as well. (8) Teaching/Learning, Sequential Art for Comics in the Print and Computer Era lays out the range of diverse disciplines involved in comic books, laid out in a structured typology (categorized under psychology, physics, mechanics, design language and draftsmanship). Eisner also briefly shows what adding a computer to the process means for creating comic books.

   There is an inevitable comparison to be drawn between Eisner's "Comics & Sequential Art" and Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art," but I really see the two books as being complementary. Although you obviously can shift back and forth between perspectives, McCloud is looking at the medium from the reader's point of view and Eisner is more concerned with the creative process. Eisner has praised McCloud's book as "a landmark dissection and intellectual consideration of comics as a valid medium," which is a fundamental assumption of Eisner's work here. The primary value of "Comics & Sequential Art" is for professional and amateur artist, but students and teachers, and even mere comic book fans, can benefit from a serious and comprehensive examination of the art of funny books.

3 comments about The Face Painting Book of Butterflies.

1. This and the other books by this author are beautiful but not terribly helpful for non professsional face painters. The pictures are very pretty but there is only brief direction on how to achieve the end look. Some of the materials used are very specialized. I would only recommend this for an expereinced face painter.



2. I LOVE this book. Yes, it is a little small, smaller than I thought it would be but it is jammed packed with ideas. The other person said that all the butterflies were the same but they really are not. Great inspiration for colors and shapes. Love the little quotes on each page. Nice touch. With your own creativeness you can make great mystical butterflies. I would have like a little more info. on how to put the paint on but if you have just a little knowledge on how to put it on you can figure it out. Practice on a kid for free. Again I love the book great addition to your painting library and I am ordering Marcela's book on Face Painting Fairies and I am sure I will be just as happy.



3. This "book" is more of a color pamphlet. It shows how to create full-face butterfly paintings, but they all looked very similar. If you have any artistic bone in your body, you probably won't need this book for anything but inspiration. I found it helpful for showing me how to face paint butterflies on little children and keeping it away from the eyes. Also, most of the butterflies use glitter, which I was scared to try with young children.