Reviews (1)

Interesting
I got this mainly for the Daimon Scott artwork,and its loaded with it. Some of the subject matter left me me a little distant. But over all a interesting read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Drawing    4. Genres & Styles - Rap & Hip Hop    5. Hip-hop    6. Rap (Music)    7. Study & Teaching    8. Technique    9. Techniques - Cartooning    10. Techniques - Drawing    11. Contemporary dance    12. Drawing & drawings   

Reviews (1)

Rock Art Brought to Life
No one really knows what was in the minds of the people who made the prolific, and mysterious rock art of the southwest.Therefore most reputable books on rock art simply describe in dry archeological detail the design elements and locations of the various panels.Leslie Kelen is more of an oral-historian than a scientist.He simply recorded the words and stories the modern Native Americans tell about the art in their area.He combined this with a fine, scientifically accurate introductory essay on ancient cultures, and spectacular photography.The result is a real experience of Canyon Country Rock Art.The book captures the beautiful inscrutability of the rock art and some of the best stories commonly told about it.Many of the local Native Americans are both steeped in their native heritage, and well aware of the scientific community's analysis.This is not a book for scientists.It is a book for people fascinated with the southwest and who wish to add new colors and possibilities to their ruminations on rock art.This is a book for visitors to the southwest who want to see more deeply into the landscape they are traveling through.I have been a guide in the southwest canyon country since 1996, and this is the number one rock art book I recommend to clients. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - Native American    2. Antiquities    3. Art    4. Art & Art Instruction    5. History - Prehistoric & Primitive    6. Indians of North America    7. Native American Art    8. Picture-writing    9. Rock paintings    10. Study & Teaching    11. Utah    12. Art / History / American    13. Art Forms, Treatments & Subjects    14. Religion & Beliefs    15. The Americas   

Reviews (2)

New!
Book came within a week and was still in original wrapping.No complaints.

A definite must!
For anyone who is going to college and studying Art, Art History is a required class. This book surprisingly enough was written for the average college student, making the class a little easier to tolerate. The book is full of colored photographs and goes into great detail about the specific periods and works/artists. Although the second part of the book is more interesting, this book illustrates the beginnings of art. I have to say that I have a better eye and deeper appreciation for art in general after reading this book. Besides, knowing about art is a great way to impress the ladies! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. History - General    4. Study & Teaching    5. Cultural studies    6. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles   

Reviews (3)

Novice Beware
From the description and reviews, I thought that this would be quite the helpful instructional book, but I was wrong.I've never picked up ANY sort of paintbrush before, so I'm starting below ground zero.The entire section on mixing the seven different 'colors' of black in with the five different wetnesses consists of a total of two paragraphs.There is no instruction on how to control how much ink gets on your brush, or how to dilute the ink down to one of the lighter shades without turning the brush into a wet dog on the end of a stick.There are exactly nine paragraphs on working with the black ink (which is the basis for most of paintings I've seen) before the book dives into color.ONE of those paragraphs is on how to hold the brush, and ONE paragraph is on different strokes to use.I'm really disappointed in the lack of explanation.How do you do a stroke with the side of the brush and keep the bristles from spreading all over the page?How, exactly, do you adjust the amount of water on the brush.The book says to dab the heel of the brush with a paper towel, but the heel of the brush that came with the kit is sealed, so THAT won't work...When your holding the brush with the tip towards you, should your hand be palm up or palm down?It's the questions like these that aren't even addressed, which is sad.If you're just starting out, try a different book.Trust me.

great introduction to chinese watercolor
I recieved this kit as a gift, and read through the book and I think it is a great introduction to Chinese brush painting. Stunning Projects?
I was a bit stunned when I received this book.It comes with the minimum materials necessary to make your first strokes of Chinese painting, but the "stunning" projects appear to be at the 6th grade level.Thebrush, ink stick, and ink stone are the primary expenses here, so thereisn't much in the way of instruction.The best thing I can say is that thebook and supplies will probably allow you to decide if you like Chinesebrush painting or not.As such, it is probably a good "first"book for most novices. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Study & Teaching    4. Techniques - General    5. Techniques - Painting    6. Techniques - Watercolor Painting    7. China    8. Painting & paintings   

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. Art And Society    3. Art in education    4. Arts    5. Education    6. Social aspects    7. Study & Teaching    8. Study And Teaching Of Specific Subjects    9. Study and teaching    10. Teaching Methods & Materials - Arts & Humanities    11. Teaching teams    12. United States   

Reviews (5)

review from a learning "artist"
My instructor has many books but suggested this one over all for new students. I found it very helpful and suggest it as a good start for learners. I like the colors used and had good results with the various exercises.

One of the Best!
Besides being an excellent overview of watercolor techniques helpful to the experienced as well as the novice, this book provides valuable guidance for enhacing the "seeing" skills we need for being better artists, no matter what medium is used.Purcell's book is among my favorites and I refer to it frequently.

WASTE OF MONEY - get Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
This is a poor knock-off of the classic book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. Save your money and go back to the original!And if you are a painter, try the new book she has written, called, simply, COLOR.It's fabulous ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Study & Teaching    4. Techniques - General    5. Techniques - Painting    6. Art techniques & materials    7. Painting & paintings   

Reviews (10)

Messy Art is great.
I am a special education teacher and I am always looking for new ideas to enhance my sensory awareness program. This book has some awesome ideas and I can't wait to start using them this year.

More like Adventurous!
This book is my kids' favorite! Everything is either very LARGE and exciting, or SILLY and exciting, or ADVENTUROUS and exciting, or extremely INTERESTING and exciting. Don't buy this if you want your child to sit in a corner with crayons for the rest of her/his life and never look beyond the expected. This is for the kids that will challenge their imaginations and explore art from a new view, building who they will be as adults.

OUTRAGEOUSLY FUN FOR KIDS
THIS BOOK IS A FOR-SURE WINNER.IT ENABLES THE KIDS TO HAVE FUN AND GET DIRTY AT THE SAME TIME.I AM NO LONGER AFRAID FOR MY CHILDREN TO GET DIRTY! IT'S CLEAN UP IS EASY TOO.IT'S AN ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR FUN. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Artists' materials    3. Crafts & Hobbies    4. Education / Teaching    5. Elementary    6. General    7. Handbooks, manuals, etc    8. Hobbies/Crafts    9. Study & Teaching    10. Teaching Methods & Materials - Arts & Humanities    11. Technique    12. Art techniques, equipment & materials    13. Crafts & Hobbies / General   

Reviews (1)

Painting Wildlife with John Seerey-Lester
The layout of this book is clear and concise making it easy to follow.However, I did feel that the author relied on some known artistic knowledge of such things as tonal values, lighting, etc.As a beginner, I found there were many words and ideas that I did not understand which I floundered on.Nevertheless, in fairness the demonstrations were excellent and some of the best that I have seen.I liked the way the colours to each painting were shown which I found a great help.If you already have some wildlife painting experience then this book is ideal for furthering technique. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animal painting and illustrati    2. Animal painting and illustration    3. Art    4. Art & Art Instruction    5. Study & Teaching    6. Technique    7. Techniques - General    8. Techniques - Painting - Specific Subjects    9. Wildlife painting    10. Animals depicted in art    11. Art techniques & principles    12. Nature in art, still life, landscapes & seascapes    13. Painting & paintings   

Reviews (11)

more or less useless
However unfairly, I believe that it is necessary to be able to draw manga before publishing a book instructing others how to do it.
As an instructional volume...it's pretty mediocre.
I've been hosting anime drawing workshops at local libraries, and I've always been on the lookout for books I can recommend to kids interested in continuing to draw in the anime and manga styles. So I checked out this book at a library recently withthe intention of compiling a new list of drawing books that I would recommend to the people attending the workshops this summer.
Helpful if you Already Know How to Draw Anime/Manga
I'm a manga artist myself. I don't make them, but I do a lot of fan-based art and such.
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Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Comic books, strips, etc    4. Comic books, strips, etc.    5. Drawing    6. General    7. Japan    8. Study & Teaching    9. Technique    10. Techniques - Cartooning    11. Villains in art    12. Art techniques & materials    13. Comic book & cartoon art    14. Drawing & drawings   

Reviews (18)

Excellent Book for the Fine Artist
This is an easy-to-follow guide on how to establish a serious career as a fine artist. The first edition released in 1998 was excellent and the second edition has been appropriately updated to reflect how the Internet has influenced the business of promoting an artist's work. A significant strength of this book is its description of the business practices followed in the fine art field. Understanding how galleries operate and select art is a critical aspect of establishing a career. It is also important to know the best way to establish an artist's credibility with respect to the marketing aspects. The author's tone is very respectful of artists and the creative process and her approach is to inform artists on how to best establish a presence for their work in contexts that enable an artist to maintain a living as a professional artist. Readers should be advised that the focus of the book is fine art. It does not discuss licensing practices for commercial art or how to set up and run a booth at crafts fairs.However, if you are interested in a career as a fine artist, this is a genuinely excellent book.

Comments on Cay Lang's Taking the Leap:Building a Career as a Visual Artist
I found the book to be well-organized, full of excellent advice and an easy read.She goes through all the pitfalls artists meet in unlocking the gates leading to a gallery association. Her advice is punctuated with humor and fun.I'd recomment it to anyone in the field.

Too Little Too Late
I was very dissappointed with this book.First of all the title is a little misleading ... Taking the Leap.I was more interested in a book that would help me switch from my current job to a career as an artist.This book is designed more to help the artist just starting out in his/her career (presumably just out of artschool) to set realistic goals, build a body of work, and guide the artist through the business side of the artworld, ie approaching galleries, selling, copyright and other legal stuff etc.
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Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art Media (General)    3. Career Planning (General)    4. Careers - General    5. Careers / Job Opportunities    6. General    7. Reference    8. Study & Teaching    9. Vocational guidance    10. Advice on careers & achieving success    11. Business & Economics / Careers    12. The Arts: General Issues   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. European    4. Individual Artist    5. Study & Teaching    6. Techniques - Printmaking    7. Art / General    8. Individual artists    9. Prints & printmaking    10. Winter sports   

Reviews (1)

Late in Coming - Graduate Students Read This
This book was assigned for a required graduate seminar in art history and studio arts. Discussion of the professionalization of the fine art degree through university art education systems results in a glut of MFA artists and terminal MA art history graduates with degrees that do not hold equalavancy to the Ph.D. in the competitive realm of academia.By the time we read this in the final semesters of the degree curriculuum, everyone wanted to change majors but it was too late.Try reading at the BA level before spending thousands of dollars on a graduate degree. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Education / Teaching    3. Graduate work    4. History - General    5. Study & Teaching    6. Study and teaching (Graduate)    7. United States    8. Universities and colleges    9. Art / General    10. Cultural studies    11. History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900    12. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    13. The Arts: General Issues    14. USA   

Reviews (1)

Basics
The Basics of Artistic Drawing is an OUTSTANDING book.I have learned so much and whenever I review the materiel I learn even more.There are so many helpful hints.It is a book that keeps teaching; if you have any questions just review the section on that topic and your question will more than likely be answered.With the step by step instructions anyone can learn how to draw, shade, and paint.I am very impressed.This is a well thoughtout course with the student in mind.A lot of course books have the teacher in mind, this book is definately made for me as the student.THANKS!!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Drawing    4. Study & Teaching    5. Technique    6. Techniques - Drawing    7. Art / Drawing    8. Drawing & drawings    9. Teaching of a specific subject   

Reviews (1)

Excellent guide for a young, developing artist
I purchased this book for my daughter who is twelve years old.She has always had interests in art, and drawing in particular.This book clearly demonstrates techniques that will allow her to develop her existing skillsas well as add new ones.I wish that it was one of a series of booksrather than a single publication.She loves it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Drawing    4. General    5. Juvenile Fine Arts    6. Juvenile literature    7. Study & Teaching    8. Technique    9. Techniques - Drawing    10. Biography & Autobiography / Literary   

Reviews (10)

An Abundance Of "Happy Old Trees"
Good old Bob Ross! I used to watch his series in high school and his shows were great. This book conveys their tone and has the added bonus of giving us his finished landscapes to look at as long as we want. I got this book so I could see the paintings, but under his step by step instruction I've also tried my hand at creating my own---and making art this nice isn't as easy as Bob makes it look! Whether you want to use this as a how-to guide for your own time in front of a canvas, or you simply like Bob Ross' artwork, this is a friendly visit with everyone's favorite PBS guru of oil painting.

The Joy of Painting
I actually purchased this book as a gift. The comments I received were: Good book but, not much variety in details of paintings.

Ideas for the budding artist.
I found this book full of ideas and gives the brain the chance to see Beauty in this sometimes sad world.I have found that each book I have bought, including this one, gives the artist a sure fire way of producing something...even though I now tend to use imagination .Simply illustrated and easy to follow,you will be happy to follow Bob in his Wonderful Lessons.Excellent and instructive for the beginner and the established painter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Landscape painting    4. Oil Painting    5. Painting    6. Study & Teaching    7. Technique    8. Techniques - Painting    9. Art techniques & materials    10. Crafts & Hobbies / Painting    11. Painting & paintings   

Reviews (1)

The young Rubens
The greatest achievement of this book is its numerous large, high quality color prints (No annoying B&W reproductions).There is not a page in this book wihout a reproduction, whether it be a painting or one of the many drawings, there is always something of Rubens' to amaze your eyes.The text is acceptable though it gets a bit redundant and mundane at times, and its main concern is explaining the ontogeny of Rubens' work in his early career.The book continually maps the creation of works from drawing to oil sketch to final painting and also compares the different treatments of the same subject in Rubens' youthful ouvre. For example the three different versions of The Battle of the Amazons that Rubens painted. The book is primarily concerned with the "making of a master" and know that it only presents works from early in his career beginning just before his eight year peregrinations through Italy and Spain to about 1617.Despite some of the texts shortcomings this book is well worth having for its beautiful prints and infomative discussion of Rubens' creative process and some of his major influences. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Individual Artist    4. Study & Teaching    5. Art / Individual Artist    6. Biography: general    7. Exhibition catalogues and specific collections    8. Individual artists   

Reviews (10)

What's not to like?
As a budding digital artist myself, I've come to realize that you can actually learn a great deal from "prefab" material.That being said, this book is fantastic in it's handling of prefab female 3d form in this age.It has a few tutorials on creating the female form from scratch using Maya, Max and others, but the book is heavy in Poser and Bryce...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
One of the better cyber-chick art books
I can't stand Japanime, so I was glad to see none of that in this book.This book focuses very much so on creating realistic looking women rather than on cartoony chicks with huge eyeballs, very tiny mouths, and flat faces.
DOES NOT TEACH HOW TO MODEL.
I bought this book thinking it was going to teach me how to model a Female Character...I WAS DEAD WRONG!!This book DOES NOT teach anything about modeling,the only thing it says to do is create a box and extrude following the sketch outline.The programs covered in this book are mainly Poser(50%) Maya(15%) and Photoshop(35%)..They should call this book "How to pose and texture a character in Poser" because that is really all this book tells you to do..But if you want a book full of pictures of nude 3D Models then by all means buy this book.. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Female nude in art    6. Study & Teaching    7. Women in art   

Reviews (3)

The absolute BEST oil painting instruction you'll find in a book (for direct painting)
Reading and doing the lessons in Sovek's book is like having a year of art school. I know, because I went to art school.
The best practical painting book.
I have purchased many oil painting books which unfortunately are long on theory but short on sound practical advice. Charles Sovek's book guides the beginner through many structured projects in which the essential buildingblocks of good painting technique are mastered. No book I have come acrossoffers this instruction in such a clear concise manner. Living in a countrywhich offers few oil painting courses, this book more than makes up for thelack of live classes. I highly recommend this book to budding oil painters.

probably the best book on this subject out there
i ve learnt an approach to paintingwhich is practical andhas caused great improvement.if the exercises are followed as laid out in the book there is a lot to be gaine ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Oil Painting    4. Study & Teaching    5. Techniques - Oil Painting   

Subjects:  1. Education / Teaching    2. Elementary    3. Study & Teaching   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Study & Teaching    4. Techniques - Cartooning    5. Techniques - Drawing - Specific Subjects    6. Comic book & cartoon art    7. Japan