Design Books

I was a bit disappointed in this book. Especially as compared with the book that precedes this one in time period. The Elizabethan period book has all sorts of YUMMY details (photographs) of actual garments. Those details more accurately illustrate how a technique was carried out, and should look when finished. This book has exactly TWO photos! And both are of finished modern replicas. ALL the illustrations are line drawings. Exceptionally done line drawing. Very well executed. But nothing holds a candle to a photograph.
The greatest covered fashion period in this book, is about 1750-1800. It is nearly bereft of 17th century examples. And there is only a handful of Victorian era (1830s-1860) examples. That was refreshing, as there are enough other books that cover Victorian decades.
All that being said, it is still a VERY INFORMATIVE and well illustrated book. You could certainly learn a lot about construction techniques and cut.

-- Metric conversion chart included.
-- List of source references
-- instructions on altering a modern dress form to work for period
-- Pattern layouts are not modern with PRECISE measurements. They are
period layouts that assume knowledge of drafting and fitting

My Wife is absolutely thrilled with the material in this book ....she has told me several times, in less that a month, that "I've learned something new !!! "

It doesn't get any better than that

thanx

It was with great reverance that I approached my first look at the Patterns of Fashoion. I have heard so many great things that I was almost afraid I would be disappointed. Not so, this book has exceeded my wildest expectations. I own at least a score of books on Tudor/Elizabethan clothing or general costuming and can resolutely say that there is no equal to this book when it comes to detailed exactly how a garment was constructed. Each piece of extant clothing is given multiple pictures and the most detailed descriptions of any book I've seen. While this is not a guide that may interest the average costumer ...if you're serious about period costuming this is your resource.

As everyone has said, this is a great reference, with details about each garment you can't dream of anywhere else. It has a great variety in here as well. The drawings are beautiful, the patterns are easy to draft and as far as the one's I've made, go together beautifully (it helps that the one's I've made so far are my size though!) It really is full of great information and beautiful, inspiring dresses and gowns. The two from the hoop era are just stunning, as are the regency and French Revolution era gowns.

I was very excited to receive my copy of Patterns of Fashion, Vol I by Janet Arnold. As a Revolutionary War reenactor, my interest in 18th Century clothing is continually deepened by more and more detailed research, and this book is a treasure trove of information. The specific details, such as a discussion of how saque-back gown sleeves were set into the body of a gown, are invaluable insights into garment construction, and equally invaluable how-to aids. Although the book covers a wider range of period garments than just 18th Century clothing, it seems to concentrate on the 18th Century,(at least, that's my perception!) and it's easy to use the book in order to put the Revolutionary War period into perspective in the timeline of fashion. The addition of useful tools such as the metric conversion chart are bonuses.

Even if each garment were not charted on a grid, making it possible to draft a pattern, just the discussion of the details of each garment would make the book a must for every seamstress' or shelf. If you can only afford a few books on historic clothing, this one is a must.

Anyone who fishes with a fly in salt or fresh water should consider this superb collaboration as fundamental reading. Seriously, I believe this book will together with G.E.M Skues's works, LaBranche and Pete Hidy's collaboration with Leisenring, will be referred to over the next century as fundamental revolutionary and rare works.

Again the applicability of the theories expressed extend well past the tidal zone up through rivers and trout streams to glacial lakes. The commentary on the evolution and stagnation of fly design in the first chapter alone are priceless, to those who seek to seek to imagine the timeless struggles of life below the surface.

With the vast and somewhat ridiculous glut of fly fishing books currently available, finding an honest, clearly understandable and sage guide may seem more difficult than landing one of Skue's day's of 5 brace of 3+lb wild brown trout. But beyond the finer works of Sy Nemes, Gary Borger and David Hughes, this work synthesizes a wealth of new tying techniques with cogent natural observation and clear theoretical principles. That is why it is one for the ages, and will forever remain next to Minor Tactics of the Chalkstream, The Art of Tying the Wet Fly on my tying desk.

THis book is everything I hoped for. Has good information, wonderful pictures. I know that I will reference it over & over.

Marvellous piece of art, to get really hooked on fly tying saltwaterflies. Also for Dutch and Korean people!! Jolly good...

Pop Fleyes is by far the best saltwater flytying book that I have ever owned.

This is a down to earth , excellently illustrated , well written and innovative book. Bob quickly becomes your friend and mentor , guiding the reader through each tying stage without prior assumption .Personally , and I,m sure for most readers , this book sets trains of thought in motion . What more could a fly tier want ?

This was one of the 1st books that inspired me in faux. It is a must have in any faux finish library.


We used some of these clasic techniques and principles in the famous faux house captured in the hot new book "The House that Faux Built: Transform Your Home with Paint, Plasters and Creativity" The House That Faux Built

If you can't decide what to do to that plain ole drab wall look through this book!! Shows step by step exciting and new techniques that maybe one wouldn't' have thought of ((or have the nerve to do)). If you get get stuck in what to do, just flip through and it will get your " creative juices" flowing!!

I was looking forward to this book but was rather disappointed due to the extensive written instructions but the rather sketchy illustrative photos.

I bought this book more than ten years ago, I have an almost complete collection of books on painted finished, especially of wood and marble. The "Professional Painted Finishes" is absolutely the best I have, it is oozing QUALITY throughout. It is not for beginners but is The reference to return to again and again. It is also lovely just to browse through.

I liked this book because it contained great illustrations and it also had helpful information about the business side of faux finishing. The text is compact, so each page contains alot of data.

I'm using this book as the text book for an Electronic Publishing course I'm teaching. Claudia's style is dry and humorous, which makes the complex material easier to digest. Lots of wonderful tips and insights. I highly recommend it for anyone trying to comprehend how design goes from computer to print.

I am a trainer in the graphic arts field and I recently read this book for a group of students I am working with that needed to have more of a printing understanding. It was such a great read and very informative that I had to buy it for my students. The information has proved very valuable to them. Anyone who wants to get their jobs on Press with the least amount of problems should read this book.

If you are new to the desktop publishing business, this book has lots of answers and even brings up questions I didn't know to ask. Ms. McCue is to be commended on her writing style, as well. Buy this book!

This was a great book and a tremendous resource for a designer. Author has engaging and straightforward writing style - didn't take long to read and will save numerous headaches at the printer.

I highly recommend this for anyone who produces digital media for print!

I have been a designer with an Ad Agency for 6 years. Where was this book when I was just getting started?

In today's design schools we are taught how do run the programs and how to make a good looking design but nobody teaches you how to build a proper file that won't drive your prepress guys in to screaming fits... until now. Learning how to do 1001 tricks in Photoshop/Illlustrator/Quark/InDesign/Freehand will do you no good unless the files you send to the printer will actually print. This is the book I wish I had read when I first started and I highly recommend it. This is money well spent. I use it to teach our newer employees on what to do and what not to do when sending files to the printer. It explains problems in an easy to understand manner.

The only flaw in this book... some things seemed to be repeated constantly.

I have over 50+ Oracle books from the last 5 years and have also taken all of the Oracle 8i/9i DBA training courses at Oracle. I have to rank this book even though it covers Oracle 8i it still is applicable, after all 99.99% of customers and companies with Oracle are STILL on Oracle 8i and have not even touched 10G yet I would definitely get this book along with Practical Oracle 8i: Building Efficient Databases by Jonathan Lewis, Oracle One on One by Tom Kyte and Oracle 8i DBA Handbook then you can become a real Oracle guru. No other book covers such a wide range of topics on Oracle in the clear succint method that this author does. Now cant wait for an Oracle 10G title soon.

A very rare book which explains Oracle internals, more practical than academic. Advanced topics like latch contention etc are explained lucidly. This is the only book that explains hashing technique with a simple yet neat example.

This book is not just for those interested in leraning about the way in which an oracle database can be designed for being scalable, but also for those who want to learn about oracle architecture.
If you are about to build your first big oracle based application, the reading of this book will help you saving a great amount of time and money.

Excellent book that highlights the fundamental building blocks of any VLDB from all perspectives. Instead of dwelling on information that is already available in the manuals, it highlights all components for architecting a large system and is a definite read for anybody who wants to understand not only the oracle but all the building blocks that make it possible namely, OS, hardware and storage.

Now a days there are lot of Oracle books which confuses the readers with inaccurate information. But this book gives 100% accurate and pracical information. And James knows about the topics he is talking. Not that just cut and paste from Oracle documentation or some metalink notes.

Great book and I have already recommened to most of my friends.

This book is very well written and is a great foundation for further study. I am very happy that I bought it. Ever since I was a kid jumping off the roof with home made wings I have been looking for a book like this one. I have gone through a lot of books since then. No other book I have ever found covers the basics of aircraft design so well. For me, the best part is that the author steers the reader in the right direction to continue studying areas the reader may be interested in learning more about. Buy this book!

A great intro to engineering your own aircraft. An easy read even for someone like me, who abhors formulas and mathematical equations (even if they are necessary evils in this case). It holds true to its name, so, if you are an engineer, you might want to go for this writer's more complex titles. If you are an ordinary joe like me, who is interested in homebuilt aircraft, this is just right.

This is another my favorite introduction-type book. Very useful from homebuilder's and pilot's point of view. The book is also written in so interesting way that it is hard to not to read it from cover to cover in one evening. After receiving the book, I was totally hooked and lost some sleeping time because of the book. Highly recommended. The topics do not go to very advanced level, so EADS-engineers developing fairings to A380 tail section don't bother. But if you are a homebuilder and into aircraft design and want to learn what it is all about, this is a good place to start from.

I think there are two teachers . One of them tells what he (she) read. Other tells what he (she) has experience. If they teach algebra it doesnt matter which kind teacher. But if they teach how you build an aircraft this time experience is golden. I am a turk. English is not my natural language. I believe I understood. If you dont hear that a turk died because of his own homebuilt aricraft's crashed then you can believe that I understood. thank you.

Most aircraft design texts are university textbooks or industry references, and out of hundreds of pages you might find a few dozen that are helpful for the amateur experimental aircraft designer/homebuilder. This book, however, wastes not a single page. After the obligatory "don't blame me if you kill yourself" intro (would sloppy designer/builders read a book like this anyway?), the book gets right down to business.

The first four chapters cover the most important question: "Why?" Why do you want to design an airplane? The answer determines the aircraft configuration, size, wing loading, fuel capacity, etc., and all these items and more are discussed.

Once that's sorted out, Chapter 5 begins the "How", starting with how to actually loft (draw) the overall airplane shape. This chapter has one of the most detailed and useful descriptions of conic and flat-wrap lofting I've seen in any design reference.

Chapter 6 is only a few pages long, discussing crashworthiness and flutter prevention. Important stuff, but basically punted to other references.

In Chapter 7 you analyze your drawing, calculate the basic aerodynamic coefficients and do a preliminary structural design and weight analysis. I commend the author for a halfway-decent overview of structural design--most of the aerodynamically-oriented texts seem to be afraid to touch this topic at all. Chapter 8 continues with range and performance calculations, and finally Chapter 9, titled "Let's Make It Better", covers the inevitable design reiteration when the analysis results indicate that your "How" and your "Why" are miles apart.

Finally, there is a brief but great appendix with useful tables and graphs, such as the weight and horsepower of most of the engines commonly seen on homebuilts and the weight and density of common homebuilt aircraft materials and components.

The foreword by Peter Garrison really summarizes this book nicely: an airplane designer needs to gather a disparate amount of material from a large number of different sources, and this book helps organize that task, and with a particular emphasis on the small planes of interest to the homebuilder.

Hint to this author or others: what I haven't found *anywhere* is a good structures text oriented toward small aircraft design. "Stress Without Tears" isn't bad, but a marriage of Bruhn with Nui's composites book, with a focus on small GA planes, would fill a *huge* hole for amateur designers. To really impress me, include examples of using open source CFD and FEA programs to assist the design effort :-)

It is a very thorough and well written book. Authors have introduced idea of perspectives (viewpoints related to cross-cutting concerns) and I totally agree with authors on benefits of using perspectives rather than treating them as viewpoints. My AD of new project is based on viewpoints and perspectives separation suggested by authors.

If you are a software architect or aspire to be one, you should read this book. Rozanski and Woods do an excellent job of explaining the whys and hows of creating software architectures. Their pragmatic, no-nonsense approach makes this book extremely readable. The book is divided into two main sections: an explanation of the viewpoints and perspectives concepts (208 pages) and a catalog of viewpoints and perspectives (195 pages). This makes the book a relatively quick read, but also very useful as a day-to-day reference. If only every software architect would read this book, we might not have as many software quality issues as we have today!

This is a really great book. Rozanski and Woods bring together in one text the information that is most important to know about software architecture. It is not filled with opinion but is based on research and ideas that have been proven in practice and that are widely accepted in the field. The ideas are straighforward and presented clearly and concisely. As a practicing software architect, author and professor on the subject, this is my recommendation as the first book on software architecture you should purchase for your collection.

I was impressed with this book's unique perspective of blending the business and technical needs into a single focus, and it continued to maintain the human considerations. It does an excellent job of describing how to support business decisions through architecture at a macro level in a style where "the rubber hits the road."

If you are a systems analyst or a software development manager, this shouldn't be on your book shelf - it should be on your desk for regular reference.

The authors give the reader detailed and useful suggestions about designing a software system. It should be made clear that this is not a programming book. Coding particulars are at a finer level outside the book's scope.

The book is addressed to the software architect. Which can be rather a vague job role. One merit of the book is that it can be used to define what a software architect does. While the authors might not claim to encompass everything in your job description, perhaps what is given here is your core responsibility.

So the text shows how to identify and use scenarios, to build sets of scenarios. And yet be able to construct inherently different scenarios. A vital feature of making the scenarios is how it involves the stakeholders very early in the design. Vital in preventing misunderstandings about undesigned or unneeded functionalities, before they get built into the system.

Then, given a system, the text explains how to document it using UML. The latter is extremely useful. Both for programmers who might have to design to it, and for the stakeholders. The visual nature of UML helps make it understandable to both parties.

This is my second purchase of spectrum books. 13 was the first one I brought. All I can say is this is one of the most stunning art books I have ever owned...that and after going through this one I may have to pick up all the other books. Every page is full of beautiful work from a wide arrange of different styles. I can't say how many times this book has saved me when It came down to me trying to complete a illustration. It constantly inspires me and makes me want to pick up a paintbrush or any drawing tool for that matter and create.

Spectrum deserves all the praise in the world for the great effort that they put into all these books. To top that off most standard art books like this go for itleast double the cost. Love these books!

These annuals seem to be getting bigger every year, yet there's not less quality involved. Great book for reference of what's going on in this field. Great stuff as usual. Digital art is gaining pretty fast these days, but it's still looking good.

This is the 14th volume of what I expected to be a short-lived series. So, it's long lived and hopefully that's the case for many years to come. The first thing to note is the sheer size of this book and the bargain it is at just uner $40. Reproduction quality, variety of skills and styles as well as the range of subject matter are all continuing highlights to look forward to year afer year. The large format makes this a sit-down-and-get-lost tome that has such a delightfully mixed bag approach to presenting artwork highlighting the width and breadth of the genre that encompasses SF, Fantasy and Horror. From institution illustrations to sequential art this book has it all, or at least as much range as it can present in one sitting. It's also a great place to showcase both old and new artists in an established format that does it's best to spread the wealth of ideas from cover to cover. The only downside is the fact that some of the images are produced full page while the majority have to share the page with two to four other artists. However, few artists would complain about that format.
Just being in the book lends itself to the artists' elevated status in the genre.
I'd love to list my favorites in this book but like every year they are too many and after all, what's the point?
Pick your own. Even listing the artists is such that it's an act of futility. From Martiniere to Manchess this is the book to own. If you don't know the artists I just listed, it's worth your time and money to find out what they do along with all the others.

I was wondering, who would review this and not like it. Anyway, Whenever I stumbled upon this series I was quite happy. Way back when, one of my favorite books was a compilation of Dragonlance art from the 80's I think. Great pics in this and wonderful works of art.

Fantasy and Sci Fi lovers and art lovers in general will be pleased with this.

Like Santa Claus, Spectrum only comes around once per year and is always highly anticipated. This annual collection of the world's best contemporary fantasy and Sci-fi art is always a favorite not only due to its sheer size and beautiful production, but also because of its diversity in scope. Spectrum presents the best art from the fields of books, comics, advertising, editorial, concept, and even sculpture into each year's volume.

As always, the book begins with a look at the year in review and the trends in contemporary fantasy art before getting into the opening category of advertising art and presenting the first of its gold and silver annual awards to the best in each category. This year's gold winner in the advertising category went to James Jean for his Retro-hip "Spacerace 2020" painting for Nike. This gorgeous pop-art piece is a tribute to Sci-Fi imagery of the `40s and `50s.

I'm not sure how they could have picked a winner in the book category as there are so many outstanding pieces. While Jon Foster's winning painting for Night Shade books was very good, Luis Royo's offering for his graphic novel, "Dark Labyrinth". Adam Hughes took home the Gold Award in the Comics category for his depiction of the sleek and sexy Scarlet Witch from Upper Deck. As a long-time comic book fan I love seeing the industry's artists getting their just due as the outstanding artists that they are. Other standouts included Gary Giannni's standout art from the Prince Valiant comic strip that is in the best tradition of Hal Foster, and Charles Vess/Mike Kaluta's work from the Vertigo Comics series "1001 Nights of Snowfall".

One of the categories I look forward to most each year is the dimensional chapter featuring the year's best sculptures and models and this year was certainly no disappointment. A. Brent Armstrongs mammoth 54" tall piece featuring King Kong atop the Empire State Building is simply breathtaking! The Alex Ross designed Superman resin sculpt by artist Karen Palinko features the distinctive look of Ross as Clark Kent rips open his shirt to reveal Superman's legendary logo. Shawn Nagle's "Tarzan and the Golden Lion" based on art by longtime Tarzan illustrator, J. Allen St. John, is another winner.

Spectrum never fails to deliver a little something for everyone's taste and Spectrum volume 14 may be the best edition yet. Grade A.

This book is pure pleasure. The artfulness in creating the spaces we live in with stone in pattern, an organic extension of this earth. This is not a 'paint by numbers' how-to book, rather, like looking at a
Rembrandt, ultimate examples of stone taken to true art.

Absolutely Wonderful Book! His art is amazing itself and understanding Lew French's connection to his work and how he works with rocks gives even more meaning to his designs.

I was disappointed by the quality of the paper and the pictures in this book. The subject matter was of great interest to me, but I don't think this book did it justice.

New Englanders are partial to the rocks that burst forth from the ground every spring and permanently bulge up like the tips of ice bergs floating beneath the surface of the earth. For more generations than most can count, those rocks have been thoughtfully piled into mortarless stone fences that "make good neighbors." Everyone has stopped at one time or another to admire one of these wonders that have outlasted their builders.

Lew French is an authentic son of that tradition with an innate love for stone and turning it into something more delightful . . . a rich context for wonderful living.

In these homes, you'll see stone transform rooms into warm retreats that you'll just want to snuggle into on cold winter nights, turn gardens into fairy tales, and extend your perspective by changing the very outdoors in novel ways. Whether by putting a window into a stone fence, by creating original art with stones and driftwood, or through evoking Stonehenge, you'll feel differently and better from seeing his work. His creations seem weightless like a good idea, despite weighing many tons.

Part of the magic is that he's meticulous about getting a tight fit between stones and hiding his mortar very well. So even a fireplace looks to be but a vertical New England stone wall . . . and a very beautiful one at that.

It's magic. Enjoy it.

I have seen pictures of this mans work before,and greatly admired his skills.He is truley a craftsman.The pictures were well photographed and there plenty of them. I have friends that are stone masons, and they
were all inspired by this book. I am keeping this book out so that any
one stopping by can enjoy it.

This is an excellent book for artists fo all kinds. Our company has a library we make available to Production Designers - this is a great addition.

A luscious collection of photographs of beautiful colors and textures to inspire any artist/designer and be used as reference again and again.

There are nice collection of the samples.You can enjoy to look through them.

This book is one of the best references for any designer and painter in the industry. Color Photos are amazing and complete. I have been wanting to purchase it for years now and am very glad to add it to my collection. All of her books are worth having in any artists library.

I think I was a little hard on Judy Juracek with reference to the included CD. What Ms. Juracek has done in the way of cataloguing is nothing short of miraculous and one should not expect that every image on the CD would be photographed dead on and shadow-perfect. I was just really irked by the image quality of a CD I had such high hopes for. I purchased this book when it first came out for a Hundred Dollars retail but the price I now see listed online seems almost a steal for the treasure trove contained within.

In any case, A recent search reveals that even more books in the series have been written by the author and I'm excited to purchase these as well--let's hope the image quality has improved on the included CDs for the new millenium we're in. I guess you could still expect "middlin'" quality for an image CD produced back in the "stoneage" of the 90's. The book is GREAT!