5 comments about The Animator's Workbook: Step-By-Step Techniques of Drawn Animation.

1. I am impressed. I didn't expect this book to be so detailed. My son is just getting interested in animation and I got this for him for xmas, I am sure he will love it! My hubby, who is a pro, has voiced an interest in his own copy.



2. I was really looking forward to this book. It appeared to be the ideal book designed with assignments to increase knowledge of methods of animation. Twenty years ago, this was probably a good book. Does ANYONE animate using acetate cels anymore? Does anyone want to? Maybe if I had been looking for a history of animation, I wouldn't have been as disappointed as I am.
   
   In general, I've gotten great books from Amazon, and this book isn't their fault. It just proves that sometimes, being able to browse through the book in a real bookstore will give you a better idea of whether the book is what you're looking for. Being able to search inside the book (as is possible in this case) doesn't always give you enough of the book to really see.
   
   I just don't understand all the 5-star reviews that don't mention any of this. Are they not drawing with computers or Wacom drawing pads? I honestly don't need to know the methods they used on Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willy. If I buy a book on printing, I'm not presented with a description of Gutenberg's press. Sigh.



3. Bought for my 19 year old. This book is awesome and really brings out the artist in the person drawing/sketching/using the book. You will love it too and it's suitable for most ages.



4. I just ordered this book. Many flash animators have recommended "The Animator's Workbook", "Cartoon Animation", "Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26)" or "The Animator's Survival Kit" in order to create flash cartoons.
   I also have "Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26)". I have browsed through Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit" and that seemed too much for me to handle. I'm not an animator by trade but a wannabe. I look forward to improving my animation skills with this book! I also got this book for an excellent price!
   
   6/14/05 - I just received my book. I will be using flash to create web based cartoons! This book is very appealing to me and doesn't intimidate me. I need a book like this because I'm not an animator by trade. You must pick this book, "Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26)" or "Cartoon Animation" if you are a beginner. All three books are excellent choices if you want to create flash cartoons! I prefer "Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26)" more than the other books.



5. I bought this book a while ago, but recently got my hands on Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit" and it is astonishingly stronger in every way. I just bought that one tonight actually. Skip this one and go straight to Williams' book, it is strong for beginners, and even stronger for people like myself who need something more detailed and insightful than "The Animator's Workbook." I didn't know there was more that I could learn about the basics and subtleties for a great foundation until I read "Survival Kit." Please learn from my mistake and do yourself a favor by buying that one. You'll be way ahead of the curve.

No comments about The Information Design Handbook.

2 comments about Plants: 2,400 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Flowers, Trees, Fruits and Vegetables (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. I love the Dover Pictorial Archives Series and this book is a fine example of the copyright-free images that Dover offers in these books. Jammed full of beautiful black and white drawings in fine detail this could be the one book in your library to cover all your botanical needs. But it won't be. Once you see this book you'll want to add more Pictorial Archives Series books to your library.



2. This is a terrific book. I purchased it with the companion book on Animals. It is a "must have" for anyone interested in art, biology, or just a good coffee table book. It will keep youngsters quiet for hours with the facinating illustrations. Very high quality. You just can't beat the price either. I highly recommend it. You, too, can be botanically correct!

2 comments about Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide.

1. Excellent. Very well written and engaging - great ideas for class discussions. Have recommended the book to friends and colleagues.



2. This book is a splendid addition to the field of Graphic Design History. Until recently the study of graphic design lacked the sort of critical analysis that art historians have routinely lavished on painting or sculpture. Drucker and McVarish do a great job of engaging the reader in their thought processes. Some of the best pages are mash-ups of colorful and diverse graphics with interjected commentary and questions. For example, the two-page spread presenting Chinese oracle scripts, Sumerian cuneiform, and a Mayan codex is bisected by a horizontal red ribbon of text asking: What is the written equivalent of an ironic inflection? What is the spoken equivalent of a sans serif face?
   I had the opportunity to see this text of this book before it was published. The book design is splendid. One might quibble with certain inclusions or ommisions, but overall this volume is extraordinary. The writers left me thinking anew about the impact and importance of graphic design. I teach a graphic design history class, and I found it thought provoking.

5 comments about Mac is not a typewriter, The (2nd Edition).

1. I have had a copy of this book for about 10 years and it is a great resource for clear and concise layout guidelines.
   
   Last week, I took a look at my son's yearbook committee drafts. Yikes! I just got a copy for them!



2. A real gem for type novices: brief and structured overview in a non-technical language, with plenty of examples to compare the difference in effect. In my opinion: a must for everyone creating copy (be it a club newsletter, an invitation to a party or a corporate brochure).



3. I bought the first edition of this book when it came out, and I just bought this copy of the second edition because I wanted it.
   This book is an extremely valuable reference book. If you follow the pricniples set forth in this book, your documents will look professional.
   Robin Williams if the premier author of Macintosh books, and of books on design. All of her works are more than worth the price.



4. I'm reminded of Shunk and White's "Elements of Style". Short, correct, and invaluable. That's what Robin William's book is for people who care about the look of their written word on a computer. It's easy to make your work look professional and "The Mac is Not a Typewriter" shows you how.



5. For first time mac users, this book is a must! It has great pointers and tips to understand some things most people don't know. It shows you differences in symbols, and shows you key commands that are useful and helpful. I learned a lot from this book.

1 comments about Color Studies.

1. There are lots of books about color, but few include information directly pertinent to stitchers as well as to painters.
   
   Needlepointers will be familiar with Feisner as the author of Needlepoint and Beyond, an incredibly creative book from the late 70's. She is also the founder of the EGA Master Craftsman in Color program.
   
   The book is divided into four parts: Color Foundations, Dimensions of Color, Color in Compositions and The Influence of Color. Color Foundations cover the basics of color perception, color theorists, color mixing, and the different color wheels. Dimensions of Color covers the different aspects of color (hue, value, intensity, etc.). The section on color in composition discussed color in relation to different elements in designing a piece. Two wonderful chapters cover color interactions and the effects of illumination on color. The final section looks at the influence of color in two different ways. The first chapter covers color symbolism (religious and otherwise) and the second chapter looks at the use of color in fine and applied arts.
   
   Each chapter is lavishly illustrated with great works of art as well as color studies done by students in Feisner's classes at Montclair State University. There are also diagrams illustrating many of the principles discussed in the test. Several of the diagrams take the same composition and color them in slightly different ways, so it is immediately apparent what a particular technique (like adding a shadow) can do for a piece.
   
   There are also tables in the book which highlight particular techniques of use to artists of all kinds. One in the this section, lets you know how to make "metallic" shades without using metallic colors. Technical concepts are explained clearly and simply, but it's easy to move to other books which cover these concepts in more depth.
   
   Each chapter ends with a number of exercises covering the topics of the chapter. I really liked that the exercises don't assume that you will be mixing colors in paint, but leave the choice of media up to the student.
   
   The appendices of the book are a wealth of information. Appendix 4 is the most useful for stitchers. It matches various art media colors to Color-Aid papers, the standard color tool for most artists. Not only does she list several different types and brands of paints, she also lists the matches for seven kinds of thread (DMC and Anchor floss, Paternayan, Appleton and Medici wool, DMC Rayon floss and Au Ver a Soie silk. This listing is so useful that I ran out and bought the range of colors in Anchor floss and will be using them for all my exercises for the book.
   
   Have you ever had the problem where you really wanted something to show up against a background, but it doesn't? A final appendix, lists color legibility rankings, listing background and lettering colors. By looking for your background color, say blue, you can find that the most legible (distinct) color for lettering (or in our case the foreground) is white, the least legible of the choices is orange with yellow in the middle.
   
   In the past I have often been frustrated with commercially available books on color. They have often been written poorly, emphasized mixing paints, and gotten too technical too quickly. If you combined this book with Mary Shipp's Color for Needlework, you would have enough information to make you a color expert.

2 comments about Digital Art Masters, Volume 3: Volume 3 (3d Total.Com) (3d Total.Com).

1. I bought volumes 2 and 3 of these, and found both excellent, I love studying the images to see how the people that can do it, well do it.
   
   The descriptions of thier work flow are short but i work alone doing renderings and i found it good to get the tips no matter how short and sweet



2. WOW! I just purchased Digital Art Masters Volume 2 & 3 from Amazon, let me start by saying these books are incredible, the amount of talent, the quality of the images and the overall look and print of the book make it a fantastic MUST HAVE for any aspiring artist or anyone involved in the creation of digital images.
   
   Bare in mind though, that these books will not go deep into technical explanation of any particular software but rather will detail each of the 60 selected artist's techniques and their methods for sketching, inventing and creating these extaordinary elements and taking them out of their heads and putting them on the screen.
   
   From characters to vehicles, backgrounds to robots, the masterpieces found in this book will inspire anyone who reaches its pages with an incentive for creation and a will to let your imagination take you places you thought you couldn't draw but after seeing what these people all around the world are doing, you just can't wait to give it a go.
   
   Great purchase!

5 comments about Marbleized Bookmarks: 30 Ready-to-Use Designs (Large-Format Bookmarks).

1. Great set of bookmarks. They come in all kinds of patterns and they are laminated. You just tear them out with the preforations then I trimmed the edges of mine up and there just as good as the kinds you can find in bookstores!



2. I used these bookmarks as little gifts to kindergarteners I helped learn to read this school year. I printed a message on the bookmarks, but the they were so glossy that the ink just puddled. My suggestion for personalization would be to purchase some clear labels to print your message on, then adhere them to the bookmarks.



3. The nice thing about these book marks is that they are all unique, come in a book and are inexpensive. They come in perforated pages and you have to tear book marks out along a performation. While they aren't as nice as, say a Tiffany set, they meet my needs. I didn't want eye-catching bookmarks but rather a large set of functional ones.



4. I am a little disappointed in these bookmarks. When you tear them out of the book, it cuts off one side of the bookmark so that only 3 sides of it have a white border. I think it looks odd to do this, and perhaps I'm the type that loves symmetry. Overall, not the quality I was expecting, but they are pretty.



5. From the reviews of these, I was expecting something much nicer then what I recieved. The patterns are nice, but the bookmarks are not laminated or anyway fortified. They also tear very easily.

4 comments about Anatomy and Pathology: The World's Best Anatomical Charts (The World's Best Anatomical Chart Series).

1. My preschool grandchildren wanted to know what was under our skin. Their parents tried to explain but only when shown this book with its pictures did they seem to understand what they were being told about the human body. They are fascinated with the illustrations, especially the baby in uterus. From the other room, after much time explaining the pictures in the book, we heard the older child tell the younger one, "I mean my beating heart inside, not the red valentine one!" They will be able to reference this volume for years to come to answer their questions.



2. This book has great visuals to show the students about different areas of the human body. A must have!



3. Very good quality at the cheap price.
   I recommended it to my students as well.



4. The charts are excellent... photos are colorful and labeled nicely. The print is a little small on the charts but the color and diagrams are very clear and excellently done.

5 comments about Fruits.

1. I got this book after seeing the live exhibition of the same name in Sydney years ago and I just adored it!
   Even if you don't like the particular styles shown in the book, it is just such a different and creative take on fashion!
   I find the styles inspirational, happy and fun!
   It is also interesting to see how the styles have morphed from different eras in history and from certain sub-cultures both native and foreign to Japan.
   After seeing this book, studying it and just absorbing it madly, I developed a hankering for all things lolita, and have been wearing the fasahion on and off for about 3 years now.



2. I used to see this book all the time at the nearby music store, and one day I received it as a gift. I'm not going to suggest that everyone should dress like the people in this book, but I will say that I loved how they were able to put together something different and interesting, completely unlike what I've seen here in the U.S. Even the most outrageous outfits I've seen at clubs in LA can't hold a candle to what's in this book. Very creative stuff here.



3. This is an interesting book. The author/photographer documents street fashion in the Harajuku district of Japan. Each page is a photo of an individual and a brief description of their outfit. If you are into this style of fashion, this is a book worth owning. The only short-coming is that the descriptions are printed in colored ink and sometimes get lost in the background color of the photographs.



4. My high school art class, Costume Design, LOVE this book. It's fun to see teenagers in another culture taking western fashion and personalizing it. Every time I pick up the book I see something new. We've only had the book a couple of weeks and it is already dog-eared.



5. Great book, made my girlfriend quite happy. She is very into Japanese street fashion and this book just captivated her, she looked through it about 20 times the day i gave it to her.