3 comments about Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age.

1. Nice range of examples categorized by how they look. An example is "ornate, curlique, sinuous". More a look book reference than a topic/subject reference. Examples include books, posters, ads, CD/DVD, web designs...all using art with a human touch.



2. Handwritten is a history lesson and an inspiration piece, breaking into a series of successive styles from polished to grunge. The exploration is seemingly complete, and as the above commentor wrote, will inspire you to pick up a pencil and sketchbook, and have at it.



3. Heller and Ilic's book is a collection of (in my opinion, and theirs), exemplary work in the world of graphic design in which the "handwritten" has been implemented in the artists' works.
   Examples range from magazine covers, traditional advertisements, film festival posters, album covers, book covers and other media/art. There is a wide range of styles covered, and though there is not a lot of text that accompanies each featured piece, the descriptions of the work are insightful to how (in the opinion of the authors) the text/design work, and in what ways. For instance, the authors comment on one poster which used a childish scrawl saying, "Scrawl is most effective when located with a generous helping of negative space, as is portrayed elegantly in this poster etc.etc."
   Though you might not agree with their observations, you will most definitely get something valuable out of your disagreement, wether it is a better sense of your own visions and style/likes/dislikes.
   
   All in all, this book is worth the money. It is bound to inspired you to break out a pencil and your sketchbook again.

5 comments about Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album.

1. This book is an awesome look back at some of the best artwork and packaging of its time. The footnotes for each "Fac" are interesting and the reproductions of the artwork are showcased nicely. I only wish there were some photos of the packaging, for instance the famous Blue Monday single with the die-cut, it would have been nice to see how it looked. Still, I think this is a great book!



2. I've always been a huge fan of Factory Records and the designs of Peter Saville so this book was a dream come true. Pictures of all the artwork from Fac 1 onwards, all the New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Durutti Column - everything you could want.
   A wonderful gorgeous book, the pictures are bright and clear, plus history and stories on major aspects of the artwork - highly recommended fro any Factory / New Order / Peter Saville fan.



3. This is an excellent book for fans of Factory Records. Factory was label that always had beautiful graphic design work. The album covers and poster art were a showcase for the design work of Peter Saville. I highly recommend this thorough book to fans of the label.



4. FACTORY RECORDS: THE COMPLETE GRAPHIC ALBUM could have been featured in our Music Shelf area but is profiled here for its artistic visual inspection of one British music label's eye-catching covers and productions. Notes for each production outline the varying graphic design choices which made the albums notable and different, making this a fine choice not just for contemporary music libraries but for art library holdings strong in graphic arts representations.



5. This is a magnificent time machine. There are a lot of labels people loved - Stiff, sst, etc. My favorite was Factory. With only a few exceptions, the music coming out on this label defined English music in the Eighties. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was unquestionably the song of the year in 1980 for instance. But what made the music even more evocative was the artwork along with it. The famous Joy Division covers, and the mighty "Power, Corruption, and Lies" are just a few examples. Thanks to New Order I learned who Fantin-Latour was, they skipped over him in my art history classes. I collected all the albums and 12 inch 45s. I especially liked A Certain Ratio, after I saw them at Danceteria in 1982 (I think that was the year). Where is the vinyl of yesteryear? The music is all on cd, but those tiny covers just dont do justice to the art. Here is all the glory in one beautiful package. If only I had made it to the Hacienda back in the day...

5 comments about Passionate Journey: A Vision in Woodcuts.

1. Compulsion pulls you through the powerful woodcuts in a few minutes. Each successive reading takes longer as you discover and savor character, plot and craft. Masereel lived by the nitroglycerin theory of rhetoric--the fewer the words, the leaner the lines, the more powerful the message.



2. "Passionate Journey" and "The City".
   Both books of woodcuts are produced by Dover Books. The presentation of both is simple but the reproduction of the woodcuts is very good. These woodcuts are as fresh today as they must have been radical when first published in 1919 and 1925 respectively. These 'books without words' are fascinating in their portrayal of the human condition. "Passionate Journey" I believe to be a true work of art. One criticism of the editions is that they lack detailed information on Frans Masereel's life and times. I would liked to have much more on the impact of his work at the time and the context with regard to German Expressionism and the Weimar Republic. These books will hopefully introduce the work of Masereel to a much wider audience. They also represent reasonable value for money.



3. -- or is it? Masereel's remarkable little book declines to explain itself.
   
   These 165 expressive woodcuts present snapshots from the life of one man, or so we assume. He's not all that special - he's not a great hero, leader, or lover, though he's each at one point or another. He doesn't rise above or sink below anyone else, except in the usual ways. As with Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," this book celebrates the ordinary. And, when seen in such detail, the ordinary becomes quite extraordinary.
   
   The book opens with the un-named man's arrival by train. The crowd and surroundings excite him, as does the mechanism of the train itself. Then, he's off to his new life in the city. We see that life in an uneven, even surreal pace. Masereel's vivid, expressive images hopscotch through the years of his life. Sequences of unrelated images seem to compress years into just a few pages. Other times, long sequences examine individual stories in detail - the adoption of a daughter, his happiness in her, and her final illness and death may be the most moving. It's a life-changing event, and sets the anonymous man off on a lengthy voyage, perhaps to lose himself or to find himself again. He returns to the city life, and eventually retires. The imagery changes radically at this point. It suggests Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night," and also hints at Van Gogh's death.
   
   Or maybe not. The imagery speaks volumes, but speaks a different volume to each viewer - and will probably speak differently to me when I read it again. Although it's an illustrated story, it's not for children. It is for anyone who wants to see the grandparents of today's illustrated fiction, or who appreciates woodcut in itself. This Dover edition is a beautiful reproduction, with richly saturated blacks but paper opaque enough to keep each page from bleeding through. It's easy to enjoy - so go ahead, enjoy it.
   
   //wiredweird



4. Like the Tarot, the images here are universal and transformative. They have the additional benefit of a wry sense of humor and subtle undercurrents of a humanist sensibility.

   A must have for any searcher or thinker.




5. When my sister gave me this book for my birthday, it was one of the greatest presents I ever received. I was inspired, comforted, and emboldened by Masereel's wordless tale of a questing spirit. Despite the fact that I've read it literally hundreds of times (almost every night when I was working in Calcutta), I always see something new in the subtle, highly expressive woodcuts. Besides the brilliance of his technique, the story Maserel tells is exciting, complex, hilarious and moving. A treaure I wouldn't trade for practically anything.

5 comments about Erte's Fashion Designs.

1. I love art and am always on the look out for great art books. Erte is a favorite artist of mine and when I found this inexpensive book, I jumped at it! Plenty of pictures, mostly black and white, and less fluff! Too many art books fill entire pages with well known images. This book is the opposite and has tons of great illustrations from Erte. For the price, who can complain? I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the 20's, studies fashion, and/or enjoys art.



2. This is a lovely little book that includes many georgeous fashion illustrations in the art deco style. An excellent book for the art deco enthusiast, or those those looking for new design ideas.



3. These designs may not always be emblematic of actual clothing in the 1920's, but they represent some of the most innovative, dramatic, and stylish stuff from the era, and remain inspirational to this day. The book features a few of his more ordinary designs, but also includes "Harper's Bazar" covers, theatrical designs, and some amazing haute couture. While there are no pictures of extant costumes, this book of illustrations, quite a few in color, is beautiful, stylish, and motivating.



4. One of the best! Truly unusual designs for creative figurative art dolls. Highly recommended.



5. With this book you get a glimpse into the master's mind at the birth of Art Deco and beyond. Erte's designs flourished in the mid-20's, when the Deco age was new, but you can still sense a taste for the noveau and baroque ages in his art and gorgeous designs. Erte was a pioneer artist untill his death and anyone seeking to learn true fashion design will benefit from the vision of Erte.

2 comments about Elephants Can Paint Too! (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)).

1. This book has quickly become my 5 1/2 year-old daughter's favorite. She delights in looking at the paintings made by elephants, and I appreciate the way facts about elephants are "sneaked" into the story so seamlessly. Switching back and forth between human students and animal ones makes for an engaging structure. There is humor as well as beauty. Best of all, the book has made us look at elephants--and by extension animals--in a new way (and has also broadened my daughter's concepts of what grown-ups can do as careers). We both really love this book.



2. inspiring book that illustrates the beauty within all, hope for an endangered species, connection between humans, animals, and our planet. Proceeds of the book benefit this innovation collaboration- I plan to purchase gift copies for birthdays, holidays.. really wonderful book for all ages.

1 comments about Pencil Drawing (Artist's Library series #03).

1. The last time I had drawn a figure was as a 10 year old boy. That drawing was of Abe Lincoln. Now, at the age of 37, I decided it would be fun to draw with a pencil again. This book was the first one, I bought this year, and am I glad I did. It leads you step by step the process of drawing a lifelike figure, from fixtures, to animals, cars, barns, etc. After completing my first drawing using the book, I was amazed at the result, and so is every one who has looked at it. I completed the second drawing with similar results, again, of a quality we could hang n our home and be proud of. The book tells you what pencil type to use, how to use it, with plenty of examples. If you are after a step by step book, that will give you lifelike results, I highly reccomend this book.

2 comments about Suspensions of Perception: Attention, Spectacle, and Modern Culture (October Books).

1. This book provides persuasively and exhaustively argued discussions on perception and artworks and instruments from the dawn of the modernist era that aid and, as Crary shows, change perception. The book can be very productively be read alongside "Burning with Desire: The Conception of Photography" and other texts by Geoffrey Batchen, and "The Engine of Visualization: Thinking Through Photography" by Patrick Maynard. The camera, they reveal in various ways, is not merely a device, but a construct made with the expectation that it will result in images that are analogous with human vision. The anticipation still exists that the camera obscura, and by implication its modern manifestation in the photographic camera, will replicate and verify what we see. The camera obscura entails a projection of light from real surfaces in ratios of proportion and intensity, on to a flat plane. In the pre-modern reading, the projection, ratio and reduction are evidently mathematical, and commensurable with the reality they conduct. However this point of view is at odds with the modernist view that the apparent geometry of the camera image is coincidental. That is, it does more to bring us closer to the human subjective (where are we?), rather than the abstract objective (where is everything?), in relationships with, and experiences of, space. Jonathon Crary and Geoffrey Batchen debate in various writings the transition between these points of view. Batchen (Batchen, G. (1991) `Enslaved sovereign, observed spectator: on Jonathon Crary, techniques of the observer', Continuum:The
   Australian Journal of Media and Culture, Vol. 6, No. 2.) critically responds to Crary (Crary, J. (1989) October, 97-107., Crary, J. (1990) Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century, MIT Press, Cambridge., Crary, J. (1994) October, 21-44.) but both agree that around 1800 came a `vast systematic rupture' in the history of theories of vision in which certainties about the nature of vision with the camera obscura as its paradigm, are displaced by what becomes the problem of vision, represented by the steresoscope and, as Crary details, in the work of Paul Cezanne. Jonathon Crary takes the position that the stereoscope replaces the camera obscura as the instrument that encapsulates the spirit of its period, in contrast with (Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers) Descartes' and Diderot's use of the camera obscura as a model for the eye (in Crary, 1998). The stereoscope accepted that vision is a function as much of the mind as outside stimuli. Patrick Maynard refers to these devices as `engines of visualisation', industrialising vision and commodifying it (Maynard 1997). This is useful sociologically and philosophically, and prompts a re-evaluation of these instruments for their characteristics in aesthetic uses. However Batchen's emphasis is on the evidence of a desire for photography, from which follows the invention of photographic instruments, and their cultural acceptance, producing actual historical discontinuities in perception.



2. A remarkable book that takes the reader on a chronological excursion into the changing ideas of perception during a crucial period in history -- 1870 through the early 1900s. Using three paintings to organize this tour de force examination of prevailing modes of scientific, sociological and psychological thinking of the time -- a Manet, a Seurat, a Cezanne -- he makes convincing arguments as to the inspiration these various discourses may have had on these artists. The larger context he explores, the evolution of the modernist, high-industrial conception of attention and perception, as driven by new technologies and modes of social thinking, has particular relevance today in light of the Internet. Crary is clearly writing for an academic audience here -- his prose style can often be difficult, but there is much here for general reader with an interest in media, perception, history, and in learning how we got to where we are now.

1 comments about The Impressionists Coloring Book.

1. wouldn't you love to be an impressionist artist? now you can with this fun book... grab your colored pencils and go... fun stuff here

5 comments about Drawing on the right side of the brain.

1. It works!
   
   I've picked up a few drawing books and always found myself losing interest after an exercise or two. With this book, I not only made satisfying drawings from the beginning, but found that I couldn't wait to get to the next exercise. Some of my portraits (but not all) were faithful to the subject in spirit as well as mere appearance.
   There are some objections to be made. The statements about consciousness may be mere assertion-or they may be exactly what's needed to sedate an overly analytical brain.
   But the objections, while they may be true are completely unimportant. What matters is that by following this method without sabotaging it, a complete novice can learn to draw quickly and have fun doing it.
   
   Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and the workable bang BANG: A Novel



2. Some may quibble over the left-brain, right-brain theory, but this is still that rarest of things-a book that actually delivers everything it promises. Experienced artists probably don't need it, but anyone who yearns to draw and thinks they can't will be amazed.
   
   I was 40 years old when my husband bought me this book and some drawing materials as a birthday gift. All those years, I'd been convinced I couldn't draw a thing. Using the instructions in this book and a beginner's class, I was thrilled to find myself producing some excellent drawings, including very realistic 3-dimensional portraits. Thank you, Betty Edwards, for one of the few books that really did change my life.



3. This book gives a very good understanding on how to use and control your creative side of your mind. Good how to's and good reading. i would also recommend her other books she has written. all are well written and gives a good insight on how to improve your talents and creativity.



4. An amazing book. Note that it has been updated so there is an updated version too. This includes 12 chapters that are outlined here: 1) Drawing the the art of bicycle riding, 2) Expressing yourself in drawing: the nonverbal language of art 3) your brain the right and left of it 4) Crossing Over: Experiencing the Shift from left to right 5) Drawing on Memories: Your History as an Artist. 6) Getting Around your Symbol System: Meeting Edges & contours 7) Perceiving the Shape of Space: The Positive Aspects of Negative Space 8) Relationships in a new mode: putting sighting in perspective, 9) Facing forward: portrait drawing with ease 10) The Value of Logical Lights and Shadows 11) Drawing on the Beauty of Colro 12) The Zen of Drawing: Drawing Out the Artist Within and an afterword-- is beautiful handwriting a Lost Art and a Postscript.
   This is the most widely used and highly praised drawing insruction book in the world. It has sold millions of copies and has been translated into at least 10 languages. As it says on the back cover-- it can teach you to draw even though you feel you have little talent and doubt that you could ever learn. It will allow you to gain skill even if your drawing is still childlike. If you're already a professional artist or artist in training it gives you greater confidence. First published in 1979 it is a classic. Most importantly it talks about the dual nature of human thinking -- verbal, analytic thinking mainly located in the left hemisphere and visceral, perceptual thinking mainly located in the right hemisphere. It follows the work of Rober Sperry psychobiologist who received the Novel prize in 1981 for his studies. According to the author, the key principle is that "drawing is a global (or whole) skill requiring only a limited set of basic components. It has some similarities to other global skills that are key to live-- driving, walking and even skiing. The author even talks about the perception of the whole (the gestalt). R mode -- right mode may seem difficult and unfamiliar -- and even off the wall. BUT learning to draw also helps one to control how one's own brain handles information.



5. All the stuff about "R-mode" and "L-mode" is really just pop-science. Like Freud before it, and as is the current trend with "memetics", it's a popular idea which people use to pigeonhole and explain social and psychological phenomenon which rely more on theory than anything else. Edwards makes the all-too-often assumption that any difficulty facing a potential artist is the "right-brain's fault". And after the first few chapters it gets really tedious. I wouldn't be surprised if she read this review and said to me that my "right-brain" is tricking me into thinking it's not really doing anything ;o)
   
   However, Edwards does indeed make a few valid points. She argues that drawing is a skill, much the same as reading as writing, and therefore it can be taught and learnt by almost anyone. Makes sense to me. She further argues that the reason why most adults can not draw is because drawing is not considered a survival skill and isn't stressed in the education system. Makes sense, too.
   
   The underlying theme behind the brain-hemisphere nonsense is simply perception. To draw realistically requires that you actually process the visual information of what you want to draw, rather than relying on any preconceived information. It's a bad habit, really, but hardly a "right-brain" conspiracy theory as Edwards makes it out to be.
   
   The book is broken down into various exercises, all of which force the reader to get into the habit of perceiving things "as-is", such as "vase-faces" and upside-down drawing, and well-established concepts like negative space are also discussed. This is where the book shines.
   
   Good for both beginner to intermediate artists, the overall theories, instructions and exercises make it worthwhile... if you don't mind sifting through the junk, that is.

3 comments about Image Comics: The Road To Independence.

1. In 1992 seven artists left their top-selling Marvel Comics titles to form a new company named Image Comics: a company which allowed them fewer editorial restraints and censorship. IMAGE COMICS: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE celebrates this company, uses interviews and art from the company's founders, and includes discussions with and examples from many comic creators over the last fifteen years who have helped make the imprint a lasting, notable company. Any library strong in graphic novel or comics history needs this.



2. Lenghty interviews covers all of the image founders including guys like Jae Lee, Steve Oliff J. Scott Cambell, Tome Defalco, Larry Mauder, and Sam Kieth. The problems Image had with their late books and why they left Marvel in the first place. It's really good even if you missed the 1992 formation of Image or was there when the speculative market put comic stores out of business.



3. For any comic book or even somone who enjoys non-fiction, this is a great read. People that have enjoyed comics in the 90's this is a refreshing reflection of a time where comic history was in the making.