5 comments about Thoughtless Acts?: Observations on Intuitive Design.

1. A book that makes you aware instead of being in automatic pilot. Sit in a restaurant, at a park, or simply on a bus and start thinking about this book and how people behave. Great for account planners.



2. Overall concept is interesting. What we observe, how we are conditioned, how we respond to our environment but quality of book could have been taking further. Instead of being paperback size, it could have been a larger coffee table book with higher quality photos to illustrate points. Rather than having to refer to back of book to understand why image was included, it should have been on the same page as the picture.



3. Yet another lousy book by IDEO. The whole book is nothing but photos. The title "Observations on Intuitive Design" implies to me that they are Jane Fultons observations. Sadly they are not. They are YOUR observations from looking at the pictures. And I paid for this. No written content (to speak of). I'll save you some money; take your camera into a supermarket, a compusa, and a walmart and snap away. Then go home and review them. Done and I saved you some cash. The arrogance of these guys. They slap their name (IDEO) on a collage and call it observations?



4. Excellent book that illustrate the little things that miss our senses and observation day in day out.
   
   Opens up a world of thought for everyone around, expecially designers.



5. At my initial experience of going through this book, I must say that it has too many pictures/photos which one cannot comprehend at first glance. Though they are obscure by nature, but in fact, there are some real meanings toward each situation. It requires some proper thought and understanding of "how" and "why" we go through certain 'thoughtless acts' in our daily lives, and that's exactly the case Jane Fulton Suri has presented in this book. The IDEO process through its power of observation helps to "peer" deeper in those 'un-thought off' understandings in the pictorial situations. However, in order to grasp the meaning behind those pictures/photos, we have to somehow breakdown the boundaries of thought, and unleash our imagination to the next level to comprehend its obscurity. To summaries it all, this book is basically to feed our creative-thinking (and definitely not rational-thinking) process so that we can experience and learn to make products/services better and more versatile.
   
   However, I could have given this book a complete 5-star, with the exception of its price.

No comments about Rapunzel's Supermarket: All about Young Children and Their Art.

5 comments about LogoLounge 3: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers (LogoLounge).

1. This is another good book of logo ideas. Great for inspiration. Nicely laid out and the pages are of good quality glossy paper. Very nice book for my collection.



2. This series is a must have for any designer. Not only is it great for ideas, but a nice tool to have when a wishy-washy client just isn't sure what they want. If you are a serious designer, you must own all the Logo Lounge books.



3. Always a fan, the assemblage of brands from every corner is impressive and helpful. The Lounge has always been and continues to be a wonderful resource for jump-starting logo block.



4. Whether you are fresh out of college or a seasoned Senior designer, you will find this book an amazing resource of ideas, trends and just plain good design.
   
   We actually have purchased every volume and they keep getting better and better. Logo Lounge 3 is no different in terms of the unique talent chosen to be showcased in this edition.
   
   If you need a design spark look no further, this is the book of choice.
   
   [...]



5. Great book for inspiration and search for the right ideas. This time RockPub. is making few more pages showing how the logos work in the graphic design environment.
   
   I was excited to see foreign companies using the latest styles in advertisement, like the russian phone company "BeeLine."
   
   Wold highly recoment this book for a graphic design major and advertisement.

5 comments about Making Wire Jewelry: 60 Easy Projects in Silver, Copper & Brass.

1. This book is a great beginner's book for working with wire. The pictures that show how to make each project are made to scale so all you have to do is lay your wire onto the picture to see if you are correct in size and shape! It has every step in great detail. A must have for new wire workers!



2. This book was great to get me started playing with wire. Just makes you want more of the same!!



3. Had I not received this book as a gift, I would return it ASAP! The bulk of the projects consist of oddly shaped links attached to eachother to create "chains". Also, the way the book is set up makes it very difficult to follow, and the pictures are not close in proximity to the actual instructions, which really sucks! I must admit there is one particular design that I very much like, and I made a lovely bracelet from. I suppose if you're really into shaping wire, and nothing more, than this might be something you'd enjoy.



4. Good bones, that's what this book gave me. It was my first or second and what a good model to imprint on.
   Clear, comprehensive, it established good practice that has served me well.
   I am apart from it and returned to its words and images in my mind.
   
   If you already know the basics and have an esthetic vision, this may be old news. If you are a beginner, then this should be part of your canon.
   
   The tone, comfortable, practical and the projects are well paced.
   
   It's now old and the field is crowded with both imitators and those reaching beyond this. It remains solid and nourishing. Thank you Helen Clegg for your good thoughts and inspiration.



5. An excellent book for the beginner or intermediate wire jewelry maker. Beautful pictures of the finished piece and step by step instructions including "templates" to compare your wire pieces as you progress.

4 comments about Stencil Pirates.

1. Awesome book, Highly recommend it as a must buy for anyone into the street art scene, It has a detailed guide on how to make & use your own stencils & gives a history on the subject & also introduces the reader to a few of the best artists that use this medium. Great book, A wonderful addition to my collection,and anyone who gets it!!...



2. In the flood of recent books about graffiti - this is one of the only books to seriously take on the 'function' of illegal public markings in society. There must be 50+ well-distributed books about graffiti that manage to suck out most of the political implications of graffiti in exchange for ego boosting. Additionally, the descriptions and history of graffiti in the global south make it quite unique and equitable.
   
   From page 36 " At their best and most cryptic, stencils are signs that are both hollow yet simultaneously pregnant with meaning. They are signs without signifiers, images or statements with no clear or fixed meaning..."
   
   MacPhee infuses the graffiti research process with the semeotic and anthropoligical tools that are necessary for interpreting urban space. I highly recommend this book



3. From my New York Press review of Stencil Pirates, 11/04 (vol. 17, issue 45):
   
   A FEW YEARS AGO, while walking down a sparsely traveled block in my old Brooklyn neighborhood, I came across three-foot-tall, carefully rendered cursive on an otherwise blank red wall: "Cap'n Jazz" in silver spray-paint. I did a triple take. Who'd bother to apply the name of a little-known early-90s punk band from Chicago to a Brooklyn wall in 2001, and why? I didn't much care; those shimmering letters brought on a surge of memories from my years in DC punk; it was as if a long-lost friend or secret admirer had left me a note. Though "Cap'n Jazz" swiftly vanished under a fresh coat of paint, those same memories slip into mind every time I'm there, three years later-that block, to me, transformed.
   
   The power of street art, namely stencils, to shape public space, and the ways in which it does so, is the subject of Chicago artist Josh MacPhee's Stencil Pirates, a handsome publication that both documents and casts a critical eye upon a thriving art form. Early on, MacPhee quotes artist Russell Howze: "Traditional art is usually a static experience... Most traditional art is found in galleries, chosen by someone else and viewed by a select group of people... Even when thousands of people see larger exhibits, traditional art's exposure is still limited by the price of admission at the door."
   
   Stencils, however, to the joy of some and consternation of others, are the great equalizer: With the help of basic, affordable materials, the same work of art can reappear throughout a city, cities or countries, meeting with a broad audience and reception. Some stencils remain for months or years on a sidewalk or wall, insinuating themselves into a neighborhood's character and landscape. What prompts residents or city workers to paint over some and not others can be as intriguing as the work itself. (What causes some stencils to fade before others, on the other hand, is a simple matter of paint quality, which MacPhee discusses in the practical, informative "How-To File" section.)
   
   MacPhee parses out Stencil Pirates according to several dozen themes. In "It's Official," he explores the influence of industrial stencils; in "Argentina," the revival of the stencil as a tool of communication and political expression after the country's 2001 economic collapse. Intentionally succinct in narrative and commentary, MacPhee devotes page after page of Pirates-quite a few of them full-color spreads-to more than 1000 images. Plenty of the work in Pirates, if noteworthy in message or placement, is rudimentary, skill-wise.
   
   But just as much of it is gorgeous, sometimes awe-inspiring in its intricacy. "Are We Free Yet," a collaboration by JSO4 and Sevenist, is a painstakingly executed multicolor mural of telephone wires, tiny birds, two bright kites and a placid, curly head on a floral pillowcase. Upon the sleeper's torso, this text: "Only in my dreams is my memory restored, so I sleep all the time so I don't forget how 2 live." In an example of "stenciling as civic duty," artists Scout and Stain created moving color portraits of neighborhood children on abandoned buildings and boarded-over windows throughout decaying downtown Albany, as, according to Scout, "an offering to the people who live there."
   
   One section presents snapshots of stenciled poetry-reproductions of well-known verse as well as stenciling as self-publishing. And all over, from Argentina to San Francisco, stencils have a vibrant history as public service announcement, whether it's "Dyke March 1996, Market & Castro, Saturday June 29, 7 p.m.," or markings from the 1989 Anti-Nuke Port Stencil Project, which organized a team of stencilers to create anti-nuke images that included their exact mileage from a proposed nuke-equipped Staten Island Navy base. Pirates shows that even a single word or phrase can adorn a wall, lovely, depending on factors such as placement or use of typography.
   
   For MacPhee, all of this is "liberatory." Decrying the highly regulated state of public space in America as a forum where homogenous, calculated corporate messaging rules, MacPhee says that "encouraging people to think off the conveyor belt of work, shop, eat, sleep, work, shop, eat is downright revolutionary." Indeed, the book overflows with stencils that shout their message as loud as the paint allows. Other images are subtler, even cryptic. Anton van Dalen, who worked mostly in the 70s and 80s, shot for the subliminal, aiming for his stencils "to operate as traffic signs, you absorb the meaning before you even know it."
   
   Of course, not every stencil artist is inhaling toxic fumes for the sake of art, political beliefs or to convey any particular message. Shepard Fairey has used his Andre the Giant stencil to launch an industry of "Obey"-branded clothing and posters; he also designed Radiohead's noxious "Hail to the Thief" stencil campaign. MacPhee explains corporate forays into stenciling as an attempt to garner street cred for their products-and of course, to move product. Even when corporate patrons have been revealed, the ensuing hubbub "is better exposure for their advertising than money could possibly buy."
   
   MacPhee doesn't delve far into the history of stenciling; his focus is on modern-day work. He does, however, outline its past-from Egypt and China and Greece to the Soviet Union and Nicaragua, South Africa, Mexico. Over thousands of years, the basic technique of applying paint over a design cut out of a solid material has endured. The word "stencil" has its roots in the French estenceler, "to decorate with bright colors," which in turn comes from the Latin scintilla-"spark."



4. highly recommended! this book is beyond your pretty picture book. the author's essays give an excellent overview of stencil graffiti, and his list of bibliography and end notes provide the best starting point ive found for further research.
   
   it's missing one star simply because i find tristan manco's "stencil graffiti" more interesting in terms of the art work selection.
   
   these 2 books are essential for stencil graffiti lovers!

4 comments about Images 2: The Ultimate Coloring Experience.

1. Yes - another coloring book review by me, but necessary in regards to this one. I was excited to try this one out as I love geometric designs and was pleased at the price available from one of the sellers through Amazon. One I got it I decided to try a few out and was pleased with the results of my artwork...then I examined the book closer. I found that there were only 12 designs and four of each, thus making the 48 pages of the coloring book! I felt disappointed, even though I could easily vary each image with different colors and patterns. The paper was of better quality than many other coloring books so that was a plus. But I wish I had known that there were only 12 different designs as other reviewers didn't mention this nor in the description of the book. I do recommend using quality colored pencils in order to get the most of your work - you will be happier with what you produce if you do!



2. This is a great coloring book for kids of all ages. It is creative, fun, and a great present if you don't know what the child already has or wants. Any child will enjoy coloring the cool designs in this book. I usually include a nice set of markers with it too.



3. As an adult colorist, I find Burrow's books to be some of the best on the market. The designs can satisfy the meticulous detail person, while allowing the colorist to create their own designs using the grids supplied.
   On the whole, a satisfying coloring book! Buy them all!



4. My fourth grade daughter colors similar pictures in school and was so pleased to be able to do the same at home. She is amazed at the outcome of the images. Thank you.

3 comments about Paint People in Acrylic with Lee Hammond.

1. Lee Hammond really does a good job with her books. I have perused many and this is the best I've found so far. I like the individual facial feature tips and the examples she uses. As a sidenote, perhaps if someone wanted to sell a lot of books and make a lot of money they could develop a book like this but with a particular slant regarding caricature/comic illustration using Photoshop.



2. I love Lee's instructional art books...she is so down to earth and her easy to follow suggestions make learning fun. I have been drawing portraits for a few years and people can't believe that I never went to art school, this new book has helped me go on to painting portraits in acrylics. I did a baby's portrait in acrylic for the first time and when I presented it to my client she cried. She said it was so beautiful and lifelike. This was due to Lee Hammond's wonderful insight into the world of acyrlic.



3. Having learned to draw from Lee Hammond's books and enjoying her first acrylic book I was on tenterhooks waiting for the publication of this one! I wasn't disappointed. Ms.Hammond's style is straightforward and enables you to tackle the exercises with confidence in order to build skills. This is an important part of Ms. Hammond's technique - the progression and she makes the process enjoyable. I truly believe anyone can learn to draw and paint via Ms. Hammond's techniques and be encouraged by their steady progress. Buy this book you won't be disappointed!

5 comments about The Art of Hellboy.

1. Anyone who appreciates Mike Mignola's unique art style will enjoy this book. Lot's of unpublished pieces in here that I had never seen before. Definitely worth a look!



2. Mike Mignola's amazing art for Hellboy looks very different from anything else being used in comics today. His distinct linework and inking style, combined with a well-honed eye for panel layout makes his artwork a perfect complement to his stories.
   
   That said, this book is mostly a collection of finished art, covers and promotional pieces. What I really expected from an "Art of" book was process, sketches, and perhaps some discussion of technique. A fair comparison would be the recent Usagi Yojimbo art book or the Blacksad Sketch Files.
   
   Maybe one of these days Mr. Mignola will put out a "Making of Hellboy" book that fills the gaps. The few sketches and thumbnails in this book really aren't enough.



3. I would be warry of spending too many of your hard earned dollars on this book. I am a new fan to Hellboy, and absolutely love Mignola's art. However, the reason I would be heasitant about recommending this art book is that there is very little new art in it. Most of it is just rehashed covers, pages and posters. Probably about 10% of it is stuff that you've never seen before; which in my mind, does not warrant the hefty price tag. If you have all the books in the series then you already have 90% of the art found in this book. The sketches and other doodles that are only in this book can most likely be found floating around the net if you look hard enough for it.



4. Mike Mignola is the master of what not to put in a finished peice of art. While he draws loads of details with the original pencil lines as soon as the ink is applied, he buries them. What makes that technique work so well is that regardless of no evidence of the black flooded pencils the viewer knows the details are there. That masterful ambiguity is what makes the Hellboy art so creepy, menacing. From out of the shadows lurch horrors not meant for the eyes of humans. This is quirky, fun and scary without having to overwork the skilled designs and careful layouts. When I look at all the cartoony comic artists, with their minimalist leanings, and contrast them with the guys who insist on drawing every hair on a head while laying in invented overdone musculature that fairly bulges through a sweatshirt, it is refreshing to see Mignola's seeming ease and inpeccable black spotting that shapes even the things not seen, but definitely suspected, along with shambling ancient horror and explosions of combative violence in the defense of the human race against festering ancient evil.Words? In this book? My brain is full of words unread but ever present. That's Mike's other gift to me.My only question is when will we see a volume collecting his myriad other works?



5. Mike Mignola's comic books are great. You should buy them instead of this overpriced collection of Mignola art. The very thing that makes Hellboy so beautiful, the simplicity and elegance of design, means that looking at a Mignola sketch is exactly like looking at a finished comic book panel, except you can see the India ink brush marks in the black areas, and there is no supporting narrative thrust to give the picture meaning. The same goes for his pencils (of which there are few included- I don't think this guy makes a mark on paper without inking and publishing it). There is not even a discussion of Mignola's sources or inspirations, no bibliography of the occult (oh, I forgot, we're living in post-literate America). There is no insight to be gained by investing in the Art of Hellboy, because it is just a sampler of beautifully designed panels that look better in the comic books.

5 comments about Polymer Clay Surface Design Recipes: 100 Mixed-Media Techniques Plus Project Ideas.

1. This book had some interesting techniques in it, but for the most part this isn't something that will get a lot of use. I'm not all that into uing paint on my clay and this book has several paint treatments. So for me, this book wasn't that great.



2. I really like this book for the fact that although i do not use polyclay often, this books ideas on color, scheme, and technique can work for most media. i thoroughly enjoyed the eye candy but savor it mostly for the secret recipes on coloration. i would recommend this book for all involved in visual arts.



3. Great information, I would recomend it to anyone who likes Polymer Clay.



4. This book needed writing! Thank you, Ellen for sharing years of experimentation and innovation. as you created your art. The specific information contained within its covers could well save an artist much time and money.
   
   Great information and a must have resource on surface treatments and polymer clay.
   
   Donna Kato, author of The Art of Polymer Clay



5. Some techniques in this book were new to me and some I have done for years. I like this book because it is a good collection of surface treatments all in one place.

4 comments about Perspective Drawing.

1. The book came in a timely fashion along with its "Creative Drawing" counterpart and has been exactly what I needed for my art class at school.



2. Unfortunately, I would too often come out the other end of a chapter realizing that I had only really learned a small handful of facts that I could universally use. The convoluted drawing descriptions tended to leave me a bit cross-eyed and I found the illustration captions did a better job of explaining what the entire page just did. Still, it does offer enough useful information overall, but despite all the drawing technique, does not really offer many basic solid rules of perspective. Leans a bit more on memorizing techniques in an array of possible circumstances rather than understanding the basics which can then be applied to any circumstance. The book is worth reading however, particularly since it is so short that you will hardly lose anything by doing so, and will likely gain some useful knowledge along the way.



3. I have to differ with the positive review of this book. I have a little experience drawing, and had some specific questions about perspective, such as how to draw a receding row of arches. This book answered none of my questions. The first several chapters focus on conceptual basics, often drifting toward common sense rather than solid technique. (I don't need to be told that tall buildings seem smaller at the top stories; I need to know how to use that realistically in a drawing). Complicated (and practical) applications of perspective, like portraying rooms full of furniture, are given short shrift. There are exceptions - the chapter dealing with cast shadows, especially the detailed treatment of light on complicated surfaces like stairs, is well-done and potentially very useful - it's the only reason I have not thrown this book out. I don't know of a good practical overview of perspective drawing for all levels, but I have gotten a lot more useful instruction out of the amusingly dated (and cheaper) "Perspective for Artists" by Rex Vicat Cole.



4. Perspective drawing is one of the skills many people see as neccessary repertoir for an artist to have. Particularly for subjects such as architecture or some types of still life. The subjects covered in this book include everything from 1,2 and 3 point perspective to circles, ovals, cylinders, squares, rectangles, inclined planes and an entire chapter on cast shadows during different points throughout the day, shadows on overcast days or from artificial light.

   The author explains everything in a clear manner without talking down to the reader. He says this book grew out of his 30+ years teaching perspective to art students at San Jose State University. Each concept is shown with plenty of examples and details and the author assumes the reader will practice each of them. One of the last chapters is on Visualization - basically drawing a picture in perspective using the rules and concepts as test that you truly asorbed all the preceding lessons. While I am sure there are other good books on perspective available, I was quite pleased with this one. A lot of beginning How-To Draw type books never give more than a cursory mention of one or maybe two-point perspective. For the majority of artists this book will be all they'll ever need on the subject. There is enough material here that it will probably take at least 6 months to really get a good feel for everything it covers. The book contains a glossary and index. For the amount of information given it is very affordable.