Artists Books

I had originally wanted to get Steve Wright's other book, Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition, but read another review of this book make mention that it is geared more towards a beginner. At first, I thought this to be what I needed and when I got the book and scanned through it, it just seemed like an overview of the variety regarding compositing. I was a bit disappointed, until I started to peruse through more thoroughly.

What I liked (and am liking) is that it is geared towards more of a primer in the sense of the fundamental operations involved in digital compositing. And ironically, it was also what I did not like. I expected to have a more thorough or at least a methodical approach (not necessarily step-by-step) towards teaching basic compositing principles. That is what the aforementioned book describes. (And I say this based on the Table of Contents.)

So, I give a 5-star review to let people know that if they want to get a handle on "essential" concepts, that is easy to understand and comprehend, then get this book. Even if you have no interest in making movies or working in a VFX field, this will be a fun read to see the tricks the pros build upon to create some truly imaginative results. However, if you know what bluescreen compositing is, multi-plane compositing, premultiplication, etc., then this book might be redundant for you.

Once I'm done with this book, though, I'll be moving onto his other text and will be better prepared to absorb more detailed techniques.

I have not actually bought this book. But I recommend it anyway based on the superb quality of Steve Wright's other book, "Digital Compositing for Film and Video". That book is intermediate to advanced, whereas "Compositing Visual Effects" is for beginners. Mr. Wright's writing is clear and succinct, with years of experience behind every paragraph. I recommend you get the book appropriate for your level--either way, you'll be learning from a master.

I first bought the other book from Steve Wright and I found it quite difficult. This book, 'Essentials' is just as it says. very clearly written with lot's of pictures. It covers every compositing aspect so it's very valuable.

So far I have read work through the 6 chapter of this very easy read book.I recommend this book to anyone who want to start in the art of vfx.Mr.Wright has a great teaching style that takes technical jargon and simplifies the visual effects for the total beginner with a lot of examples.Great job on this book looking forward to see other books written by this author

I was paid a lot for this book and it was well worth it. I am a photographer and find art books useful. This is one of my favorites!

This book is the perfect follow up to Brown's "Eternal Truths." He tells what he endured to find those truths. He talks about being kicked out of art school, dealing with acute shyness, addiction, barely able to support his family. Even more important, how he soared above all the hair raising tales with the right attitude. As an artist I've made some bad decisions that have bogged me down; this book helped me understand my insecurities and take better control of my life. I've never read a more honest, and because of that helpful artist's autobiography in my life. One more thing, there's a killer step by step demo that I wasn't expecting. My colleagues and I are discussing this book like few others. It's the one to get. Harley Brown, thank you again.

Halfway through the book I decided I must seak him out and take a class or workshop from him. Unfortunately he no longer teaches. So the book is all we have and I must say it is absolulely essential for any artist. Or any creative person who ever doubted themselves or just needed a kick in the pants to make them try a little harder and enjoy the heck out of what they're doing.
Thanks Harley, for sharing.

I knew Harley Brown wouldn't let me down after having read his first book and numerous articles. His first book is from the mind but this one comes right from his heart. I ejoyed it thoroughly - enough to briefly reveal to you some of the stories he tells:

1. The moment he decided to become an artist. At the age of seven. Parents take note.
2. There's a story about an enigmatic woman named Paula. Where is she? I'm in love with her!
3. How he dealt with what he felt were his plain physical features and his shyness. I can relate.
4. Going on an alcoholic bender for 15 years. How did he stop?
5. Why he got kicked out of art school. It really made sense.
6. He even makes a toothache into a monumental saga. Soon to be a major motion picture.
7. Selling his art door to door. It was that or "work" for a living.
8. Establishing his first art gallery just a few minutes after staggering out of a bar.
9. Down and out in London, England. But not for long.
10. Dealing with the pompous of the art world.
11. How he tried to get his wife to "take the rap." This took courage to reveal.
12. "The General Theory of Mary" gives all newcomers in the art world extra hope.

These are only a few of Harley Brown's one of a kind stories. It is not your typical autobiography. This book really connected with me and others. I was a student of Harley's many years ago at the Scottsdale Artists' School. I learned so much from him in just two weeks. I hear he teaches no more. This book brings him alive again.

I'd originally given the book a 4-star rating, but it really does rate a full 5.

Consequences in the third novel in the Retrieval Artist series, following Extremes. In the previous volume, Miles Flint discovered that a murder during the Armstrong Marathon was committed by a psychopathic Disappeared. When she fled the Moon, he chased her in Paloma's yacht and caught up while she was delayed in destroying a space cop ship. In the ensuing encounter, they shot each other, but Flint survived. Meanwhile, Noelle DeRicci had also learned the real identity of the murderer and discovered the plot to release a deadly virus into the Armstrong Dome. She managed to quarantine the Marathon before the virus could spread to the Dome itself and thus saved thousands of lives.

In this novel, DeRicci has been promoted to Assistant Chief of Detectives and is assigned to a murder case with political implications. She discovers that Flint has a connection with the case and goes alone to talk with him. Flint refuses to discuss his professional relationships with the victims, but offers to work on the case as a detective for his usual fees. DeRicci declines this offer, due more to budget problems than otherwise.

After DeRicci departs, Flint remembers his efforts to retrieve Carolyn Lahiri for her parents after she has been pardoned. Unlike most Disappeared, she had been fleeing a human government. She and four other college students had joined the rebels in the civil wars on Etae, an alien world that had been invaded by other aliens for its resources and later settled by humans. Ten years before, the rebels had conquered the planet and established an unaligned human government. Now they are negotiating for inclusion into the Earth Alliance and the talks are being held in Armstrong.

While investigating Carolyn's parents, Flint had inserted taps into their security system. Using his backdoor, he viewed the crime scene and then checked the log files. Although most of the relevant logs had been scrambled, one redundant backup file shows the actual murder. The act had been committed by a hired assassin using killing enhancements not detectable by standard weapon scans.

In this story, Flint searches for the assassin, but DeRicci soon finds herself dealing with the political situation. Anatolya Dobryn, the Butcher of Etae, is the Etae representative to the negotiating session. The Earth Alliance diplomats are biased against admission of Etae into the alliance, so Armstrong has been chosen for the conference just to inconvenience the Etae delegation. However, this inconvenience turns into riots and deadly violence against the Etae party. Then a former Etaen settler escalates the violence to disaster level.

This story shows Dobryn as a talented propagandist who has only done what she considered to be necessary to achieve justice. It is surely no accident that her name invokes Balkan associations, for the Etae situation strongly resembles that of Bosnia. As the author points out, most governments were founded in violence -- as was the United States -- but the rebels later changed their image to that of peacemakers. How, then, should successful revolutionaries be judged, as butchers or heroes?

Highly recommended for Rusch fans and for anyone else who enjoys police procedurals with good characterization and unexpected plot twists.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Rusch's multi-racial galactic civilization is enthralling, and she also knows how to tell a compelling story. Flint, the Retrieval Artist who specializes in bringing people back from being Disappeared, is an interesting mix of noir private detective and high-tech hero, constantly weighing his actions in the moral scales, thinking through what he does. In this case, events spin out of his control rather quickly, and dire happenings are revealed. First I've seen of Rusch's work, but I'll soon be reading everything she's written.

Rusch loves to write characters, both protagonists and antagonists, in shades of gray. And the reader, often used to choosing sides and rooting for or against characters always ends up, like her characters, with niggling doubts as to the choices they've made.

Consequences continues the tight suspense of the entire Retrieval Artist series by drawing us into the lives and motivations of complex, richly drawn characters, including Miles Flint, a good man forced to make dark choices, and DeRicci, a reluctant hero who believes in only one thing: that she will always fail.

This book, nay the entire RA series, belong in any serious sci-fi reader's collection.

In the far distant future, mankind has spread throughout the stars colonizing worlds and making treaties with alien species to trade goods. Part of each treaty includes a clause that when humans deal with aliens, they must obey alien laws and if they don't they will be punished according tothe penal code of those they have beleaguered. Many humans who break alien laws become the Disappeared, changing their identity and going to planets to escape alien justice.

Caleb and Mimi Lahiri go to Retrieval Artist Miles Flint to hire him to find their daughter Carolyn who has been pardoned by the new ruling government of Etae who were once considered rebels. It isn't long before he locates Carolyn and reunites her with her parents but soon afterward the police on Armstrong, the domed city on the moon, find all three Lahiris murdered. Mike's former partner officer Noelle DeRicci wants his help but he has to work alone due to the nature of his job. He learns that he is being set up for the Lahiris murders and must find a way of clearing his name by solving the case without getting himself killed.

Part science fiction, part mystery and pure enjoyment are the words to describe Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest Retrieval Artist novel. What makes CONSEQUENCES stand out is that the Etae are humans although they are not part of the Earth Alliance because they are considered uncivilized warmongers who practice genocide on their own people. Though not enough attention is paid to the alien races except for a few very serio-comic scenes, this is a strong murder mystery in outer space story line

Harriet Klausner

Ritch Rand made a hat for me in 1994 and I'm still wearing it today. His book is like his hats- authentic, of the excellent quality and dedicated to the history of the Old West. If you believe that a hat says something about the person who wears it, if you are of the opinion that a hat is more friend and traveling companion than garment, then this book is for you. Read the book then get yourself a hat!!

If you would like to know any, and everything about cowboy hats this books for you.

Bought this book for my Dad who always wears a hat. It was a big hit!

This coffee-table type book contains a detailed history of the cowboy hat, specific information about how to choose a hat, measure properly for fit, clean it, store it, travel with it, and much more. Even discusses "hat hair!" Numerous historical photos show the development of the cowboy hat across the west and around the world. Exceptional photos of famous hats (who doesn't recognize Festus' Gunsmoke hat or Hoss Cartwright's 10-gallon monster on sight?) and great hat-wearers such as James Garner, the Duke, Henry Fonda and Clint Eastwood. A must for Western lovers, cowboy buffs, and everyday folks who own their own Stetson and want to know how to keep it nice!

The book is the next best thing to actually visiting a working ranch and smelling leather, sweat or burning hair -- or visiting Willie's gallery on a fine December evening for a showing of new works.

Collected here are 100+ watercolors of mostly cowboys and western themes by painter William Matthews. First inspired by readings at the Elko, Nevada, Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985, Matthews became fascinated by the lives of working cowboys, their manner, attitudes, and spirit. Unlike the more dramatic renderings of Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington, Matthews' cowboys are often quietly at work or caught in moments of contemplation, often astride their horses. His images focus attention on the body language of cowboys, their clothes and hats, and rarely on faces.

A number of paintings are beautiful landscapes, rivers, ranch buildings, a rodeo grounds against a sunset-colored outcropping of rock. The book includes a remembrance of cowboys from his family's ranch by writer William Kittredge and an accounting of the buckaroos of the Great Basin. Another essay by Dyan Zaslowsky tells of the career of William Matthews, born in 1949 and growing up in San Francisco. This is a handsomely designed oversize book, and an excellent addition to any bookshelf of Western art and literature.

Willie Matthews does wonderful work depicting the lives of cowboys today. Much of my family have been in the cattle ranch business for generations. Being a cowboy is hard work and generally low pay. They work so hard day in and day out, with little vacation time. It's people like Matthews who appreciate this profession and record it for the world to see. My brother also happens to be one of the cowboys in this book. This is a great book of selected paintings of a dying trade

This is a BEAUTIFUL book!! I've had it for several years and I never put it away. I keep it out within easy reach so I can look again and again at the stunning watercolors within. In fact, the reason I was looking at Amazon for this book was to send it to friends for a Christmas present.

Nita Leland's book not only gives ideas to develop your understanding and appreciation of art, but quotes artists' thoughts about their art and even their difficulties in achieving what they were looking for. She gives"tips" to release the creator in you, encourages hard and constant work as a way to loosen up and discover your skills beyond shape and color. She explains how after an accidental stain or assemblage of papers, fabrics and objects, you can get to artistic creation by emphasizing and developing the "accident" by means of color knowledge, tehnique and sensitive approach.

This book has been a great inspiration to me in revisiting my talents in art and many other things such as graphic design & music. The Creative Artist has opened my mind and helped me to reach farther goals through its guidence and activities. There is also some very inspirational quotes. I highly recomend this book to beginners and those who have gotten caught up in daily life and need to refind themselves.

I haven't been able to put this one down. This book has given me the courage to begin making my art again. Every time I pick it up, I get ideas for paintings, drawings. I like how it is written like an art class, and has activities to get you unstuck. The activities are just vague enough to get you thinking of possibilities. This is far and away the best book to get you going!

I have been painting in watercolor & teaching watercolor for over 15 years and find this to be the most inspiring, motivational, & instructional book on the market.

This is the best book on a major contemporary artist and belongs in the library of anyone at all interested in his work. Truly exceptional illustrations of many works in large format, with over 300 plates, virtually all in full color (!) including fold out pages showing close-ups of some of his paintings, allowing one to see individual brush strokes, pencil marks, etc. The reproductions extend to the edge of the page in many instances; the detail shots are particularly rewarding.

When this first came out, it seemed fully priced at $75 after Amazon's discount. In retrospect, it was a bargain and if you can get one of those copies offered at $100 now, new in hardcover, jump on it. Those people asking $500 and up are telling you this is a book that sells well on Madison Avenue. Books on Cy Twombly wind up selling at high prices, as O.D.Jones pointed out in his review. I suspect this is a book like the Guggenheim's tomes on Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly and David Smith that not long after going out of print (and being recognized as the best book on a major artist) wind up selling at large premiums to their original price.

This is not a book which is bought for the text, which yields space to allow more illustrations. Good idea. You can read the Varnedoe book if you want insight and in depth analysis; he's one curator/critic who actually made sense when he wrote and is sorely missed for that reason. Buy this book principally for the aesthetic delight of looking at the work.

Cy Twombly is the typical "my-kid-could-do-that" artist...and yet being face to face with one of his best paintings is always a mysterious, entrancing, exhilarating experience. This book, through its many high-quality reproductions (close-ups even succeed in rendering the thick brushstrokes, a trademark of the artist), manages to convey some of this experience to the reader. It is a very well written work which deciphers Twombly's art better than any other publication on the artist as far as I know (I own more than 20 books on the artist...).
I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the work of this great artist.

Basically, works on Twombly seem to come and go out of print, and become rather pricey collectors items quickly. This book contains an excellent selection of reproductions, including foldouts, of all phases of his career. The only thing that prevents this from being a five star book is the rather pedestrian (although well researched) text, in the usual obfuscating artspeak that passes for deep insight today. The out of print Varnadoe book from the major restropective of the 90's has a far more lucid outline of the works in question...but, really, you're probably buying the book for the reproductions anyway, and there are plenty of them, including some nice full page close up details of the often massive works. Not an inexpensive book, but well worth it for anyone interested in this "painter's painter" works.

Cy Twombly is an artist who remains on the playing field, creating much the same type work over the years, yet still inspiring artists and audience alike. There is something gloriously spontaneous and innocent about his seemingly random 'scribblings' on canvas or paper. Perhaps he connects with the nascent artist in each of us: 'if this man can do this, I could, too!'

Perusing this well constructed monograph quickly suspends delusions of being able to recreate Twombly's art. In generous foldout pages and richly reproduced examples of works from 1950 to the present we find hints of symbols, fragments of words that hold as much mystery as cave paintings or hieroglyphics, just variations on themes that serve to nurture excitement for the idiosyncratic work of this fine artist.

The visuals are what make this book. The essay contributions by Richard Leeman who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Twombly are a bit on the dry side but as secure information as one is likely to find on this fascinating artist. Highly Recommended for all who have fallen under the spell of Twombly. Grady Harp, December 05

If you're looking for a book of a photographer who single-mindedly captures fashion, portraiture, landscape and still life flawlessly with his unique style, Albert Watson's Cyclops is the book for you. Included in the book is a brief overview of Watson the man who since birth has had only sight in one eye and has been given the gift of dazzling every other eye known to man. In the interior you can indulge yourself with black and white photographs that can instantly give rise to a feeling of sensuality, pain and pleasure. Whether it be celebrities or artifacts Watson manipulates the subject to create a vision only he can see and we can enjoy and recognize as his signature style. The book is a bit small but beautifully made.

When I first saw the book, I was transfixed. I must have spent quite a number of hours going through the pages, standing up, the world dissolving around me. My particular favorite is one picture of Gary Oldman lying in a coffin. It captured him perfectly. I don't know much about photography, but the beauty of his works is that it can be understood and loved by anyone - there is a human association within every shot. For a while I was reluctant to buy it - the price was a bit too much for me, but I kept on returning to the bookstore to see it, taking a half an hour bus ride each time at the other side of the city. I grew restless when I didn't take the ritual visit. Eventually I did get it - and I finally feel complete. He captured perfection.

Cyclops is more than a vision, but some of the most emotionally moving frames one will ever look upon. He is a genius and can capture beauty, pain, anger, and delight all in one single image.

Albert Watson's images in this book are quite simply some of the best images of Black & White photography in any book! They are technically perfect and arrestingly beautiful. His images are powerful, moving, creative, and always well composed. Furthermore, the printing in this book is one of the best I've ever seen.

If you appriciate masterful black & white images you would probably be happy with this book even if you had paid 5 times what this costs!

This book is truly a must-have for anyone who appriciates great photography

This was the first time I had ever ordered anything from the web and I found Amazon's service to be very good, the item arrived within 10 days, well packaged. The item itself is of the best quality and I am very pleased with the service I received. Indeed I ordered another book recently which arrived within 48 hours. Full marks!

If you have any space left on your coffee-table, this is the perfect art book for you! Rarely do you ever find a more complete presentation of Dali's works, both popular and private, in a single volume. This collection presents both the whimsy and the nightmares that are characteristic of his work, giving an accurate depiction of his range. If you thought Dali was just another haunted artist, the paintings in this book will reveal his gift for humor as well. Filled with insightful comments by Lubar, this book is a great compilation for anyone interested in Dali.

i bought this book at the amazing salvador dali museum in st.petersburgh florida which i strongly recommend in itself.this the book of some of salvador dali's works on display at the museum is a detailed look into the life of the man and the myth. with each work is a detailed explanation describing their meanings and what dali was up to during the time of their production.i am grateful for having read this book as dali is my all-time favorite artist.with this book i've learned more about him and his works' meanings,in which i'm sure all of us have taken for granted.i knew that alot of dali's work is based upon sexuality but never knew before how freudian it all really is.the book explains dali's deep fascination with sigmund freud's writings and beliefs and they come out within his work.if you've never experienced THE man before and appreciate art than this is a good source.if you have the chance visit the salvador dali museum in st.pete,fl.with any look they will be showing the brilliant short film that dali made with another brilliant mind luis bunuel called,"Un Chien Andalou."

On a recent family visit I had the great fortune to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. This excellent book cataloguing the museum's collection then makes for a very nice souvenir, of course--but it easily stands outside of this immediate context as a fine art book in its own right.

The main feature of the book is definitely the 94 large, carefully reproduced color illustrations of Dali's paintings held by the museum. These range from some of his earliest works in the late 1910's to his large scale masterpiece "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" of 1969. I had never seen the earlier works before, and these show some of his first halting steps and experiments as an aspiring artist and the gradual evolution of his distinctive style. Among all 94 illustrations there is a good mix of famous classics you've seen a million times and lesser known gems that are equally intriguing. And each illustration comes with a commentary by Robert Lubar that clarifies the painting, its significance and symbolism, and its context and place within Dali's artistic development over the years with great eloquence without explaining the picture away.

Lubar's Introduction (with 9 interesting black & white illustrations) makes for a nice, brief overview of the artist's life and career, and the Biographical Chronology in the back includes several photographs of Dali through the years (including him with the founders of the museum). There are other useful tidbits too for the serious art historian and Dali specialist.

In short, even if you haven't been to the Dali Museum, this is an excellent coffee-table book of weird, whimsical, and wondrous surreal art by one of the twentieth century's greatest and most eccentric artists.

My daughter and I absolutely LOVED this book when she was growing up. The story is beautiful and the drawings are fabulous. A book about the longings of a younger sister, who in her heart is ready to dance, even though she is told she's too little.
This is THE book I give to [kid] girls!! Their mothers will love it too.

Little Tanya loves to dance. Like her sister she practices plies, pirouettes and arabesques and the two often practice together, but as of yet Tanyette (as she is sometimes called) is too young for lessons.

This all changes one day when her family, celebrating the performance of big sister as a flower in Swan Lake, finds out that little Elise is no longer the cute toddler mimicking the actions of her older sister, but a little girl that is ready for academy

Five Stars. A delightful book that shows two sisters who share a love of dance. My five y.o. daughter loves the talk of `first, second, fourth and fifth' positions. Good read-aloud, the artwork is pleasing with it soft watercolor drawings.

A sample of text follows:

And while nobody was looking, Tanya found her tutu,
and her scarf. And Tanya danced too. All alone.

The music played loud and sweet, and she did a plie
and arabesque and five grand jetes right across the floor.

"Dance, Tanya," her sister said, and her mother held her breath.
Grandma looked over her glasses. "You have two dancers
in your family," she said. Everyone in the room clapped. Elise did too.

This was a childhood favorite of mine, and the pages are tattered from reading it over and over. A young girl wants to be a dancer and is saddened because her older sister can take lessons, but she is too young. She looks up to her graceful old sister and dances with her, but wishes she herself could be in the spotlight...The book is a wonderful story for all ages, young and old.

My 3 and 6 year old daughters enjoy the story for the talkabout dancing and for the "little sister looks up to big sister" and "little sister feeling left out" themes. The adults in the family get misty-eyed over a little girl's discovery of the beauty of dance (if you've ever shed a tear of joy when Linnea is finally atop the bridge in Monet's Garden, you'll know what I mean). This will be one to save for the next generation :-)

Beautiful water-color-ish illustrations appealed to all ages in our family.