5 comments about The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, Second Edition.

1. Very clear and detailed information, with excellent photo and graphics that illustrate the alternative processes.
   All the processes are historically contextualized.
   Congratulations Christopher James for this great book.



2. 'Tis the most complete alternative processes manual of all times. More beautiful color photograph illustrations than you could think to shake a stick at. To get the most alternative use of this book, one might stitch the pages together to wear as clothes, and alternatively processize to one's heart's content.



3. This book is for artists. It is worth every cent. Remember, you get what you pay for. It contains the details, the history, the examples and the intellect. Very well put together and a pleasure to read. If you are serious about learning "alternative" photographic processes, this is the book.



4. Every learning photographer must have this book. More to photography than photoshop and digital and this book will open up you photographic world.



5. You may not believe it, but this book is actually good bedtime reading for any photographer. Christopher presents the history of each process backed up with examples both historical and contemporary. His sense of humor is evident in much of the writing. If you've never tried any of these processes, step by step instructions are given as well as helpful tips to ensure success and sources for product. More about digital technology is incorporated in this edition- yes it is ok to make digital negatives to use with an old process!

5 comments about The Natural Way to Paint: Rendering the Figure in Watercolor Simply and Beautifully.

1. This book shows how to do watercolour figure sketches in a loose free style.
   
   The eye-catching pictures help in showing how to draw people with exercises that are easy to follow and understand.
   
   For learning to draw or paint people and figures this is an excellent book. He also talks about the materials needed; colour mixing, brushwork and practical tips to get the result you are after.
   
   You may not enjoy this book if you like more detailed realistic paintings as his style is sketchy but to me this is the magic.



2. Charles Reid does his usual "bang-up" job. The pictures make you want to pick up a brush immediately. I also have one of his early books...very worn by now...and this one doesn't disappoint me either.



3. This book is so helpful..from the preparatory sketch to painting in watercolor, he teaches it all. His techniques are simply amazing, and I've learned more from this book than anything else...I FULLY recommend this book



4. I have other books by Charles Reid that I love. I didn't know that this book was still available, so I was thrilled to find it. It is a great book on painting the figure. I am an art teacher, so I will share it contents with my students.



5. If you like Mr. Reid work, then you'll love this one. If you have one book
   to buy for watercolor, then this is the only one you need. This book will teach you alot, if you are ready to invest yourself.
   The spontaneity usually associated with watercolor is an illusion, and this
   book with simple exercise will help you control this medium, and help you
   cause accident that others call spontaneity.

5 comments about Finding Your Visual Voice: A Painter's Guide to Developing an Artistic Style.

1. I am truly enjoying this book. It has helped me reflect on my artwork, as well as validate my subject preferences and style. In addition, the artist interviews and works featured are inspirational. It is a great addition to any artist's library.



2. I received this beautiful book as a gift and have found it to be a wonderful companion in my studio. First of all it is packed with delicious colored photographs and painting reproductions on high quality paper. The concealed spiral binding makes it extra user friendly when lying on my drawing table but easy to retrieve from the book shelves (where it rarely stays). I found the interviews with artists to be insightful, perceptive and fun. I have enjoyed picking it up so many times and spending a couple minutes reading a gem that gives me the inspiration I need to move forward with my own work.
   Thanks Dakota for a terrificly thought provoking book that distills and honors the creative process.



3. This book is an easy-to-follow guide to sort out your own style of creative expression. I'm not a painter, but I have started dabbling in mosaic. I'm convinced that this book can help anyone interested in forming and developing their unique style in any visual art medium.
   
   The book is spiral-bound which means it can lay flat on the table while you refer to it. I love this feature. The chapters flow logically from recognizing your inspiration and suitable subject matter, to more technical topics like lines, composition, and process. The information is presented simply, with many examples to illustrate each point. Contemporary painters offer their advice through carefully guided interviews throughout the book. The most clever aspect of the book is the chance to review and reflect on each topic through end-of-the-chapter questions. Finally, exercises help you to apply what you have discovered about yourself and your art. Finding Your Visual Voice is a process of developing self awareness and you are gently guided through that process with this excellent book.



4. At first glance this book gave me the impression that it really was going to be a visual delight. The format of the pictures and interviews were a creative way to feel as if I were there with each artist Ms Mitchell interviewed. I am just beginning to experiment with the idea of artistic painting. This book has a variety of methods and formats to chose from if I want to experiment in various areas. As a teacher, I like the exercises at the end of each chapter. This book could be used for art classes as well as just for information about painting.



5. This book has been an inspiration to myself and several of my artist friends. It really helps you focus on your individual style and helps you find techniques that are best suited you personally. The layout is exceptional, and I loved the workbook style which allows you to experiment and use the various information provided by the guest artists.
   I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in painting, no matter what level they are. What artist, or person for that matter, wouldn't benefit from learning to find and listen to their "inner voice"?

No comments about Watercolor Made Easy: Expressive Color: Discover easy methods for keeping your watercolors fresh & lively (Watercolor Made Easy).

5 comments about Game Development Essentials: An Introduction.

1. Excellent book as an introduction to developing games - My students (and i) found it very hard to put down after reading through the first chapter!
   
   One question i have is about the instructor resource on DVD mentioned in the book. As this is the first time using the book for our game development course it would be helpful to have some material - especially the powerpoint slides. Does anyone know how to get a copy of this DVD? - Thomson learning doesn't seem to have a link for this resource.



2. Ordered this book for my husband's class. Not only did Amazon have it in stock, it was $20 cheaper than Barnes & Noble (with member discount) and that's even after upgrading the shipping. Was a little worried at first that the book wouldn't come quickly cause the tracking was awful, but it arrived fast.
   A note worth mentioning: this book comes with a CD as well even though it does not say so.
   
   My husband has not used this book much for his class yet, so as for the material I am not sure. But we are very pleased with the product & Amazon (as usual) so far.



3. I picked up this book as a possible replacement for the book that is currently used in my 'Game Design' course. This book is very attractive and professionally put together. It covers the material that would be essential (hence the title) when discussing the elements of game design:
   1. The history of the medium
   I found some annoying factual errors in this part of the book. Which initially turned me off but I continued to read since errors seemed to be in the sidebars which may not get the same editorial review.
   2. Who plays and why?
   This contained very interesting material for students to discuss with respect to player motivation, personality and gender. The eye-opening part for me was the view of game playing from the perspective of generations. Baby boomers, Generation X and the Millennial Generation look for different things from the games they play. (This part made me examine my own choices for games and the characters I am most attracted to in them!)
   3. The elements in a game - genres, platforms, player mode
   
   Part II is where the real gems are for people who really want to design games:
   4. The elements of storytelling
   5. Creating the characters/roles
   6. Creating the game experience, e.g. challenges
   7. Creating the World and Atmosphere (anyone else listen to the audio CD to remember the delight in playing the game?)
   
   The last part covers:
   8. The key roles/titles in the game development process
   9. The process of producing games
   10. The future of gaming
   
   The book ends with the following bonuses:
   11. A list of resources for those who are serious about actually getting into the game business
   12. List of books to read and learn more
   13. A CD with tools
   
   The key thing I value when spending time on a book is one - am I learning something new? This book offers many ideas central to designing video games. It is an excellent book for a course on the topic or for any budding game designer to pick up start the journey.



4. It's an excellent book. The fact that she included my incredibly detailed game design document in no way influenced my rating.



5. Just wanted to let people know there is a later version if you missed it, and you should check with instructors before buying this book and be sure it is the dated version needed!

5 comments about Pro Paint/body Hp1394.

1. Disappointed at best. Bought three books on the subject on Amazon at the same time. Believe it or not this was the best of the three. Gave up on the books and got more information from a paint shop guy. The picture on the cover of the 69 Camaro has nothing to do with the book (Yes, I have a 69 Camaro). It caught my eye and the author got my money. I read the other reviews and either they didn't buy the book and read it or something is funny.



2. While this book doesn't go very in-depth, it does cover many subjects of paint and body including some rust repair (not a lot though). Good if you are trying to learn, enough to get started.



3. i am very new to the body work scene, it actually happened on accident. i got asked to do it at my new job. i just fix rust holes in junky BMW's in Germany, but i wanted to make my work look like it is supposed to be there. i havent read the entire book yet, but what i have read has been very helpful. the work i have produced is not perfect, but the tips i have gained from this book have made big improvements in the end. a little (by my standards anyway) amount of body filler makes the jobs turn out pretty good, but i am still playing around with the right mixture for the filler. a few more gallons of it, and i might be on the right track. but hey, the people around me are enjoying the contact buzz. wear a respirator as described in the book!
   This book has been a big help for me.



4. After going through many books on car painting, this is without a doubt the best. Easy to find topics, very readable. If you are just going to read 1 book, this is it!



5. I knew very little on the subject and wanted to broaden my knowledge a bit. This book did the job just fine. I feel that I could easilly apply the things that I've learned from this book to jobs in the shop. It has plenty of information on the subject and covered everything that I wanted to get a grasp of. Excellent for the beginner like myself.

3 comments about Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits: More than 500 Color Combinations for skin, eyes, lips & hair (Color Mixing Recipes).

1. This is great value for a novice that needs help to mix skin colours. The text is kept to a minimum and the charts clear to understand.



2. This book is cool. Flip the hard pages (wipeable), and you have all ethnic colors at your fingertips. Of course you will need to adjust, but it is full of basic eye, nose, lips etc. colors and carts. Im glad I bought it.



3. If you are looking for a technical guide on how to mix skin colours for all the different races of people (well most anyway) then this is the book for you. It gives you all the information you need (which paint and how much)to mix just about every shade of flesh, covering both cool and warm versions, it covers the full tonal range for each mix and shadow effects. In summery it is the most comprehensive flesh colour mixing book I have come across yet and I have got most of the more popular books on this subject. At this price it is a bargin
   

5 comments about Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (Enhanced and Expanded Edition).

1. I purchased this book for myself after finding Amazon's price to be the best deal out there. It is beautiful and thorough. Sister Wendy covers every major time period with overviews of the most significant artists while including comments and close up studies of specific works. This book could easily be an art course in itself- it is comprehensive and the illustrations are just what you would expect of a DK book- beautiful and with accurate, vivid color. Sister Wendy writes in a readable layperson's style; you need not be an art student to enjoy this book. It is easily my favorite buy of the year- you will LOVE this book!



2. The first purpose of an artbook is usually to showcase fine art with high quality reproductions. This book certainly packs in ample artwork, well supported by Sister Wendy's colourful commentary. However the image quality is horrendous, with a vast proportion of the reproductions being badly pixelated or blurred.If you like Sister Wendy, then buy her other books. This one is so sloppy that it is disrespectful to the artworks and is to be avoided.



3. A 1¼ inch thick book with about 400 pages and more than 450 color illustrations of the most significant works of art in Western history can hardly fail to please anyone with an interest in art history. In Sister Wendy's Story of Painting, Sister Wendy provides an intellectual and somewhat passionate discussion on major art movements and sensitive analysis and interpretation of more than thirty paintings she showcases in the book. Enlargements of particular areas of these paintings are used to analyze techniques and identify symbolism. In the absence of ancient paintings that have survived, Sister Wendy uses other forms of art such as sculptures, friezes, tapestries and mosaics to illustrate the subject, composition, style and proportions used in paintings of that era. She treats all styles of art with equal reverence. Shortcomings in this book are few. Illustrated timelines that appear before each major section of the book could be improved by the addition of other historical milestones to help the reader achieve a better perspective. I would prefer less commentary about numerous paintings of a single artist and instead, more information on the cultural and political influences that shaped the development of painting. I would prefer less coverage of obscure artists such as the Nabis in favor of more on Victorian art and Art Nouveau. And I would wish for a more eloquent conclusion to the book. But the thing that was most lacking to me is a discussion on paint! Nowhere is the development of paint as a medium discussed with any depth. These aforementioned shortcomings, however, pale in comparison to what Sister Wendy has accomplished in her book -- the creation of a comprehensive and scholarly source of information on the history of painting that neither the newcomer nor the expert could fail to enjoy.



4. I am very excited about using this book to study art with my children. The photos are top quality, showing close ups of interesting details in the paintings. I have a collection of art books, but this is by far the best. Worth every penny!



5. If you study art history at all, you know that the Roman Catholic Church (in particular various popes such as Julius and the Medici family-line popes)were great patrons of the arts in order to glorify both the Church (Christianity) and their pontificate. Michaelangelo, Rafael, etc. were commissioned by the Church to produce magnificent works of art, and indeed they did, hence the Sistine Chapel and The School of Athens in the papal apartments. If Mr. Jin looks at the numerous Annunciation paintings and reads history, he will realize that they are reflections of "popular culture"--Christianity was the HUGE influence at that time. Popular culture at any given time reflects what is on the "minds of the people"--hence the name POPULAR that comes from POPULATION. Today's "culture" reflects the obssession with celebrities, hence the plethora of celebrity gossip magazines.
   
   Anyway, the book IS magnificent and so assessible to the common person. As much as I love art history and have 15 college credits in it, I don't want to read the dry stuff either. This edition with its close-ups is magnificently done, and the copy is easily digested. I think Sister Wendy did the art world a favor, and this is how art should be presented instead of pretentiously overdone by "experts" who want to impress each other. By the way, I'm probably the only person who prefers Rafael to Michaelangelo (though he can't be TOUCHED in sculpture), I think that everyone should check out "The School of Athens"--what a masterpiece! And Picasso's "Guernica" is a haunting portrayal of the horrors of war. Knowing the stories behind the paintings and not worrying about the "methods" the artists used (which should be relegated to a techniques-type book) makes the paintings so much more meaningful to an audience. I don't care for Cubism until I know that it's influenced by stylized African art and that Picasso was reacting the 1937 bombing of Guernica. Live on, Sister Wendy!

5 comments about The Chinese Brush Painting Bible: Over 200 Motifs with Step-By-Step Illustrated Instructions.

1. This book is for the beginning art student and not much use for anyone who has a basic knowledge of Asian brush painting. The word "Bible" in the title is misleading as most other books on the subject are far superior.



2. This is an excellent guidebook for anyone studying or interested in Chinese Brush Painting. My only quibble is that there are not enough examples for each of the suggested compositions.



3. This is a great instructional book for anyone wanting to learn to paint in the Chinese brush painting style. There are 200 motifs with step by step instructions. I love it!



4. This truly is the Chinese brush painting Bible; an awesome tutorial and guide to learning this art.



5. I was looking for a book on Chinese brush paintings that not only showed you how to to the painting technique, but also had a lot of different design motifs. well this is the book. It is a step-by-step book and has over 200 motifs that are beautifully illustrated. It shows you the finished painted motif and the steps to achieve it and each page has a sidebar of the paint colors you will need that not only tell you the color in words, such as pink, but has a small circle of the paint color too (great for a beginner) as well as the brushes that you will need for that particular motif.
   
   The best feature of the book is that it is spiral bound, so that it opens flat and stays flat while you are referring to it. It is a small book height (about the height of a hardback novel), but loaded with great illustrations and beautifully laid out.

5 comments about Color Mixing Bible: All You'll Ever Need to Know about Mixing Pigments in Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Soft Pastel, Pencil, and Ink.

1. This book will makes your life easier by guiding you in choosing the right ccolor combinations to reach the desired hue.
   
   It is simple to use and accurate; don't waste your art supplies by mixing the wrong colors. Great for people like me, afraid of color.



2. I think this book covers most of what you need to know about color. I like the color charts for each medium. I still think you need to make your own charts, because colors vary. But the color charts in the book are good for reference. I think it could be stronger in the area of color theory, but as a reference book it is good.



3. This book is the best l've seen. Very easy to understand and excellently laid out making very easy for the beginner to learn the basics of color mixing.



4. Have not read this (but gave high ratings because it appears to be pretty much an all-encompassing color theory book), but to post I MUST give a rating.
   Apologies Amazon.
   
   I am trying to figure out if it would suit my need, which is a book which guides how to mix most shades and tones in the spectrum, via proportion, based on the CMY (Cyan/Magenta/Yellow) primaries.
   
   Does this book cover many different shades and the proportions needed *working from cyan, magenta & yellow*?
   If not, could anyone PLEASE suggest to me what book DOES?
   
   --if you know, of course :)
   
   Hope you reviewers see this post!
   
   TYVM!



5. Very good for all types of artists. It even has inks for us printmakers!!!