1 comments about Force: Character Design from Life Drawing.

1. There's only a couple character design books out there. Most notably Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games, and Graphic Novels. This new volume of Force takes on design from a more exploratory standpoint. One that can also lead to a foundation of more informed choices when working with Bancroft's methods later on.
   
   The text starts off with a review of the drawing techniques Mattesi laid out in the original Force. Not only the concepts of drawing with forceful lines and shapes, but also ensuring every aspect of your drawing make a statement about the subject. It's that thought process that leads to interesting designs.
   
   This book has no shortage of examples of experimental designs based off of posed models. Not only from the author, but also from several noted artists including Stephen Silver, Dean Yeagle & Ragnar. Each example includes explainations for the artistic choices made.
   
   Flipping through the pages of this book you, you won't find many of the tight, nailed down drawings you might expect from a character design book, but the principles Mattesi teaches build a strong foundation to create better, more interesting designs.

5 comments about Art Stamping Workshop: Create Hand-Carved Stamps for Unique Projects on Paper, Fabric, Polymer Clay and More.

1. This book is my new stamp carving bible! The projects are inspiring and there are no hard to find tools required. Thanks to the detailed instructions carving a stamp from an eraser is easier than carving a pumpkin. A great book.



2. It's a neat book.But I need to work at doing more stamps more often.



3. If you need some inspiration, I strongly advise reading this book. Before reading the book, I didn't understand and was very intimdated about carving. After reading Art Stamping Workshop, I am now carving and printmaking!! I also teach this form of art in various schools and art stores.
   
   One of the reasons I advise my students and online members to read this book, is because it is both teachable and progressive. It is an excellent book to study for classes, workshops, and personal study. With each technique, Gloria Page teaches in a way that you are bound to understand, and you are not left in the dark or in confusion in any way.
   
   In an online group that I host -Artists of the Round Table- we read this book from cover to cover, and tried each of the projects. "ALL" of the member LOVED it.....adults, as well as the children!!! Gloria Page was kind enough to make herself available during the workshop to answer any questions, and to give advise and commendation. What an "encouragement" this was to the members studying her book!
   
   Loving author.....AWESOME book. A perfect combination!
   
   Sincerely,
   ~Jacqueline F. Graham
   President, Artists of the Round Table
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtistsOfTheRoundTable/



4. If you are interested in learning how to carve your own art rubber stamps then you need this book as well as The Weekend Crafter:Rubber stamp carving.
   
   Both books provide clear cut instructions on how to carve your own stamps to make artistic and fun stamps that are one of a kind. But this book is much better of the two and I'd suggest this one if you can only buy one book on the subject of stamp carving.
   The projects in this book are lovely, artistic and not cutesy or cookie cutter similar to everything out there. You will easily be able to begin carving right away with this book alone. Well worth the 15 bucks here on Amazon! I recommend it.
   5 stars!



5. I have always wanted to make my own art stamps but never knew how or where to begin. Thanks to Art Stamping Workshop, all of my questions have been answered! After reading this fabulous book, I was able to create a stamp from items I had around the house. Gloria's instructions are easy to follow and the photos clearly show how each step is supposed to look as you go along. Gloria Page makes stamp carving easy and FUN! The variety of projects in this book are different from anything I have seen in other stamping books and are easily adaptable to any style.

5 comments about The Sumi-E Book.

1. Calligraphy and brush painting are not easy to learn WITH an instructor; learning from a book is daunting at best. Yolanda Mayhall's book is as close to having an instructor as any I have found - and I have tried many books. Her style is informative without being pedantic, guiding gently without drifting into boredom.
   
   If you take nothing else away from reading her book, you will realize that art is not "taught", it must be appreciated, understood, to be learned. Like a foreign language, sumi-e demands inspection and appreciation before you can begin to replicate it! Even those who can read printed Japanese will have difficulty understanding how the strokes are created. Those impoverished by a lifetime of penmanship will find the basics of "brushmanship" as foreign as Japanese language!
   
   Never fear! This book will lead you gently through the process. From preparing ink to holding the brush to creating those first tentative strokes, this teacher is at your side. She will guide you through the strokes of the "four gentlemen" at the core of brush art. Bamboo leaves will give way to the orchids, birds, mountains and waterfalls all illustrated s0 beautifully in her book.
   
   Remember that brushwork requires practice. I have used many a fat Sunday newspaper as an inexpensive substitute for rice paper (a point worth remembering to all the "grasshoppers" out there). Practice makes perfect. Yolanda will inspire you to practice and lead you through the levels until you could paint bamboo in your sleep! I have yet to find a live teacher who can inspire me to improve my brushstrokes like Yolanda can in her book.



2. If you are new to Japanese brush art work and want to learn the technique, this is the book to start with!



3. If you're a beginning Sumi-e painter you might want to wait on purchasing this book until you're more comfortable with the basics of brush loading and color gradiation.
   
   This book tends to avoid going into detail about the intricacies of brush loading and the importance of your paper quality and it's absorbency.
   
   If you are a beginner looking for a solid book that explains in alot more detail the four gentlemen and the importance of your brushes quality and methods for loading the brush, buy "Japanese Ink Painting: Beginner's Guide to Sumi-E" (Paperback) by Susan Frame. It's a marvelous book with alot of great examples and step by step instruction as well as some history and excercises you can do to become more comfortable with your brushes.



4. Personally I am also interested in using colour in my sumi-e works, this guide only has black and white. But the images are just beautiful. Hope I reach that level soon!



5. After exactly two lessons in watercolor and an appetite to learn more precise brush strokes I purchased Sumi-E. I immediately was able to make headway using the carefully written examples shown in this lovely book even without purchasing the precise Japanese brushes. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Art from Intuition: Overcoming Your Fears and Obstacles to Making Art.

1. It wasn't clear to me this was a drawing and painting excercise book. I don't need exercises, just freedom from artist block. Artist block is what I entered in the search and "Art From Intuition" came up. It may be a good book for the novice artist.



2. I returned this book for a full refund. The art examples within were anything BUT inspirational--in fact they were down right depressing!



3. As an art teacher and an art book author, I'm always looking at the competition for additional insight and inspiration. This, along with David Friendly's "The Creative Way to Paint" and my own book, are among the best books on the subject. Worth every penny!



4. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RQDTY7WE71WJB "Art from Intuition" book review by Big Puppet.



5. If you are an artist, want to be an artist, are interested in creativity, work with creative people, want to relax, enjoy making a mess or just want to live a fuller life...buy this book! It is full of ideas for helping you listen to what you need to hear, getting you unstuck and helping you enjoy yourself. It is destined to be the book on every artist's shelf.

5 comments about Mastering Color.

1. I liked Ms. McMurry's approach with how she both wrote the book and what she decided to share in regards to her knowledge with oils. I would really give this book 4 and a half stars because in order to be a five star it would have to include even more info, however the book is well-printed, the examples excellent and it includes lots of photographic information along with the written descriptions. One of the better oil painting books out there. I wasn't disappointed.



2. Vicki has written an exceptional instructional book on color. She is well informed and has a flair about her which shines throughout this book. She is a true artist and is willing to share it with all of us. You will learn about her supplies and many of her tips to be a better informed painter and artist. Thank you, Vicki
   
   Eleanor



3. I am really pleased that I have purchased this book, as it has given me an insight as to what colors to use in my paintings. I have been painting for years and I now feel more confident in choosing color range - thank you Mastering Color. The book is also very well explained.



4. I though it would be very deep into color theory, on how to get accurate
   tonal and saturation value, but in fact it's very light, and doesnt really add anything new that havent been written in others books about color theory. The presentation is impeccable which make it a nice book to own. But if I had seen this book in a librairy before buying it, I would not have bought it.



5. great book-like the explaination on all the color schemes. very easy to understand and refer to when doing color studies.

5 comments about Roy Lang's Sea & Sky in Oils: Painting the Atmosphere & Majesty of the Sea.

1. It has really nice pictures of the oil painting.
   It has some step by step "how to paint a sea"... I just wishe it had more.



2. Purchased the book thinking it would be a good overview. The reviews seemed promising. I've read it like three times now! It is so good and the techniques are really straightforward. I'm about to paint my very first seascape having learned from this book that it IS possible. I understand that there is also a Roy Lang DVD that goes along with this book and am looking to get a copy. If you want to learn how to paint the sea - you can't go wrong with this book.



3. An excellent book of ideas for those attempting, for the first time, the complexities of the sea. I would like to have had a few more work studies under different lighting conditions. Certainly a terrific starting point for first timers such as myself.



4. this guy knows how to paint water but never give you a good tutorial at all, i bought this book 'cause of the painting in the cover... thinking that I'll learn to paint at least that painting... WRONG!!! only shows you how to paint small waves, boring scenes nothing great... last time I'm buying books of this kind in amazon... I'll better go to half price books



5. I made the mistake of not reviewing his work before buying the book. While his water is well done, his rocks look like they were painted directly from a squeezed tube. It's a distraction in many of his paintings. It is hard to learn from a book when you aren't impressed with the artist's work.

3 comments about The Art of Portrait Drawing: Learn the Essential Techniques of the Masters.

1. The "Art of Portrait Drawing", a hard cover beautifully printed book, is a fine addition to any beginning or intermediate artists library. Joy Thomas is a highly skilled artist and the book is filled with "hands on" demonstrations and practical tips on approaching this subject. Personally
   I find portrait drawing/painting to be an extremely challenging and intimidating task. Indeed there are many "celebrity" artists in the top galleries who couldn't paint a good portrait if their life depended on it.
   While this book may not be the definative work on Portrait Drawing, it is very well done and well worth the investment.



2. The author works from life and covers most the kinds of things you'd want to know about successful portraiture. The step-by-step was most interesting to read as she takes you through a process and how to resolve some issues you may run into. It doesn't offer a lot to beginners because she assumes you know how to see and do basic drawing and toning. I'd say this is a book for the intermediate artist who needs to reenforce existing knowledge with some very useful tips you probably never thought of, particularly for drawing from life.
   
   I only have a few small critical things to say here. Although she reviews some basics on composition such as the golden ratio, she doesn't actually seem to practice them much in her examples. For example, she shows you how to "center" the head and says the "full face" portrait is the most common. Well I've heard alot of arguments against centering and full face views so it seems a contradiction to talk composition then not practice it in reality. I believe the 3 quarter view is most common, and you do not want to center the head for reasons I can't give here because it is too detailed. But perhaps she didn't want to overload the reader with composition theory since that's a much more complex issue.
   
   But this is very worthwhile to read and she seems to have done a great job with the structure and language of the book.



3. I just watched the video that comes with this book. I would higly recommended both. As a beginner it was inspiring to watch an artist actually doing the technique described in the book. I can only imagine that if someone has more experience, it would be very usefull to see someone highly skilled perform their technique. I have read many books on this subject and find this to be the best.

5 comments about Mark Rothko.

1. I must admit that I have not been the biggest fan of Mark Rothko, but after reading this book and seeing the quality plates, I am very much a fan of Rothko. Now, when I go to museums, I am very interested in seeing his work and studying his color, edges, paint handling and spirit. This book is worth owning.



2. I saw the original show that went with this book. While the book cannot do justice to the works one can still appreciate the greatness of Rothko by reading/viewing it.



3. I recently bought this book, and I want to comment on the discussion regarding the color - the color is NOT great, and it does NOT show Rothko's work in its best light. Anyone who says differently should get their eyes checked. That being said, other than that it seems to be a very nice book, and I'll still be glad to have it in my library. I just need another book for better color reference.



4. This is the catalogue for a beautiful exhibition that was held at the Beyeler Foundation. Many of the works reproduced are hidden in private collections (e.g. a huge 1958 canvas in black, white and red) and it is great to be able to admire them. Nothing replaces the live experience of being engulfed in a Rothko, standing a short distance from the canvas itself, but this book is undoubtedly a valuable addition in any art library.



5. It was nice to see the transition that Rothko made throughout the years from complex modern art (ala Picasso and Dali) to more simplistic yet rich in colors.

3 comments about Fully Booked: Cover Art and Design for Books.

1. The latest in contemporary design in the areas of color, graphics, typography, and within the requirements of a definition of a book, shape are applied to the design of books by more than 260 book designers, commercial artists, and graphic designers from European countries and some from the U.S.
   
   The styles range from understated, almost muted (as when pastels are used) to classical-like for their sense of order to striking to chaotic so one can not get any coherent sense of subject and has to figure out wording on one's own. No matter what style, however, each book has some expert, innovative, or imaginative touch or technique to distinguish it.
   
   This large catalog illustrated with several color photographs on each spread of facing pages itself employs the innovative, rarely used technique of half the text aligned in one direction and the other half aligned in the opposite direction (as sometimes seen with the texts in two different languages in a bilingual edition of a book). Samples of the book design of the numerous artists range from a couple of six or so.
   
   The covers of the books are like product packaging, not the routine, familiar look of the large majority of books in a bookstore or library. Some of the most interesting are covers for classics and major authors whose books remain in print over the years. These book covers can be compared with ones of past editions so that this contemporary interpretation of the particular book by graphics, images, etc., can be especially appreciated. Such covers of books by Tolstoy, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Robert Louis Stevenson can get one to thinking about them in new ways. Many of the covers are engaging for their play of elements, sometimes to the point of interactivity. The cover for a book No Smoking is like a pack of cigarettes which has to be opened for the book to be drawn out. The wittiness and liveliness of many of the covers is exemplified by a design with two round eyes on the top cover and a tongue sticking out from the page edges.
   
   It is in the inner pages of the books though where the greater degrees of innovation are seen. Not only is formatting varied by composition, typography, and graphics, but in some instances the shape customarily associated with a book (i. e., the page) is transformed to the limits. Some pages are folded to make particular sections or to contain particular material within books, sometimes with folds within folds. Some more complex fold-outs are like origami.
   
   Not only book designers, but graphic designers, product designers, and commercial artists of all types would get sources and ideas from the hundreds of clear, detailed photographs.



2. Cultural commentators frequently write about the potential decline of books in the digital age and they might be right as far as literature is concerned. The arrival of the Sony Reader, Amazon's Kindle and other electronic readers could mean that today's young grow up reading literature on anything other than paper. Perhaps not so easy to present visual books in an electronic format but I expect it will come but what can't be digitized is the feel of a book: the weight, texture of quality paper, pictures printed in four color with a varnish fifth printing, binding and even the aroma gives a bound book something special. Can you hear them say "Open me!"
   
   The editors of Fully Booked like to create the impression that books are alive and well though I thought the message was rather diluted because so many of the wonderful examples shown exist as just one copy. These artists and designers have used the medium of bound paper to create works of Art rather than beautiful examples of art run of in hundreds or thousands of copies and available to a wide audience.
   
   Whether it's one copy or thousands there is no doubt that the pages display some quite amazing and fascinating creativity on paper. Is there one example that sums it all up? For me that would be `Your Home' by Olafur Eliasson, a nine hundred page oversize book that features various cross-sections of a house which have been laser cut into the pages so that you physically pass through the building as the pages are turned.
   
   Other intriguing books include Susanna Berkenheger's `Time for the Bomb' which has large die-cut holes punched through many of its two hundred pages though it does seem that these eliminate lots of text. Robert The creates art by using books as objects like a gun shape stamped out from a novel, Jason Salavon cleverly uses an IKEA 2007 catalogue minus the photos and text so all that is left are 374 pages of the background color panels (yours for $500) Tank Books had the neat idea of publishing classics that fit inside flip-top cartons with clever packaging design that combines the author and title in a cigarette-box style graphics.
   
   Fully Booked is a visual feast of one edition books and others published in many copies but it is unfortunate that the book's production takes on some of the experimental design that is apparent in many of the titles illustrated. For a start the book is printed in two sections, look through the first 141 pages and then you'll have to turn the book over to look at the other 121 pages. I can't see any reason for this other than designer whimsy! There are two contributors essays filling sixteen pages throughout the book, none of them have page numbers even though one essay refers to the others by page number. The illustrations are keyed to the captions with a numerals set a five point light face so you'll have problems reading these in a domestic lighting environment. The middle of the book has a ten page designer index and oddly the book's imprint is part of this. All of this suggests to me that the publishers seem rather unprofessional in the way they present information to book buyers.
   
   Apart from the lapse in some of the editorial production (so four stars) Fully Booked will amaze anyone interested in contemporary book creativity.
   
   ***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.



3. This book is so full of brilliant ideas. I couldnt manage more than 5/6 pages before being flooded with inspiration. Very strong concepts very well executed.

5 comments about Visual Literacy: A Conceptual Approach to Graphic Problem Solving.

1. This book, oh, this book.
   
   To put it simply, if you have already learned the principles of design and would like to challenge your creativity, buy this.
   
   If you are just beginning in your quest of knowledge, steer clear.
   
   It is simply a book full of examples, nothing more.



2. Our students have related warmly to Visual Literacy. It has helped them understand the fundamentals of design. The exercises connect with the real world and they generate a lot of inspiring results.



3. As a sophomore advertising student in Richard's "Visual Literacy" class at SVA, I learned to see the hidden beauty of... just about everything. The assignments included were both artistically and intellectually stimulating; one project that I don't believe is included in the book was "Point of View," in which he asks you to show one object from six different perspectives (not from different views, more from say... a mouse's perspective, your mother's perspective, the perspective of a giant). It was the perfect blend of creating and thinking, both outside of the box. Buy this book. Use this book. It is great for creative block, and more fun than kindergarten!



4. but the shipping sucked!!!
   
   The delivery time was great.
   
   However, you guys sent it to the billing address... not the delivery address. So I was late on an assignment for class.



5. I bought this book to help me teach a graphic design course to high school students and found that it's visual problems were very useful and interesting. It approaches visual communication and literacy from a direction I have not seen before. The students were really forced to think and be creative, and the other art teachers took notice. I would also recommend this to those not interested in graphic design because the principles in the book can be applied in other media as well.