Graphic Design Books

GRAFFITI JAPAN is another fine book on contemporary art and design from Mark Batty Publisher. As with all of their books this volume addresses art in a specific place and assures the reader/viewer that the cultural background of that location is woven throughout this richly illustrated volume to add to the pleasure of encountering fresh art forms as a meaningful experience.

Remo Camerota, an artist and photographer, traveled to Japan, not knowing the language but with a desire to study and understand what makes Japanese graffiti unique. In a vivid introduction he paints the scene for his visit and after his preface he turns to one of the graffiti artists (KRESS) to open the path for examining Japanese graffiti. Fifteen graffiti artists are presented in full-color reproductions of their art and the variations among these artists' works are gradually identifiable through the superb photographs, most of them by the author and investigator Camerota. As each artist is reviewed a conversation with Camerota is presented and this writing is both sensitive and humorous, and always shaped by the honest convictions of each artist's intent. The book then approaches the graffiti as it differs among four cities - Hiroshima, Osaka, Kanagawa and Tokyo.

That is the background description for this book. But the importance of the volume lies in the fully saturated illustrations and design that allows the viewer to appreciate graffiti in a completely new light. The quality of art from these street artists is pristine in execution, highly innovative in design (there is a major influence of one of Japan's own contributions to the art world - anime), and in many ways competes with the huge murals that have long been a part of our universal artistic heritage. Japanese graffiti artists may have 'borrowed' the concept of graffiti art from the USA, but the works represented in his magnificently illustrated volume are uniquely their own. This is a beautiful book that not only dazzles with color and design, but also makes for a terrific nidus for roundtable discussion on the role of graffiti as an art form. This book IS art! Highly recommended for students and art collectors alike. Grady Harp, September 08

When I was teaching high school in the Los Angeles area in the early 1990s the subject of graffiti was contentious. People on the right saw it as defacing public and private property and promoting illegal lifestyles. Those on the left tended to be more tolerant. I had some taggers in my classroom, one of whom was very talented. I had him to do a magazine style report on "writing." It was very good. But I was advised by a colleague not to "reward" such behavior. I found it interesting that KRESS in his introduction states that he began writing "around 1994 and was influenced by the graffiti in Los Angeles."

It seemed to me at first that "bombing" was just marking territory such as when a tiger sprays his domain. And perhaps that was the case. But today many of the taggers are artists, and some are not only very talented, but hardworking and creative. Remo Camerota, who is originally from Australia, took thousands of photos of graffiti in some of the major cities of Japan while befriending and working with local artists. The result is this beautiful compilation.

I had to use a magnifying glass on some of the artwork. There is a lot of intricate detail in Japanese graffiti and a clear emphasis on color. I liked the flow and the movement of the writing. The style is bold and expressive with hints of something underlying and secret. Remo says that he would not have been able to find a lot of the graffiti without the help of the writers who showed him their hidden places.

The way the book is put together with interviews with the various writers along with glossy photos of their work brings to life not only the world of the writing "crews" but of modern Japan itself. Each city has its own scene and style according to KRESS.

This isn't your father's graffiti. These artists have taken tagging to an entirely new level in terms of artistic expression and achievement. The photography in this book serves not only to show us the art, which will weather and eventually disappear, but to capture it for generations to come.

I have been practicing art, mainly pin-up art as only a past time for the last year or so. I have bought many books and gone through various methods. I really dig this book. In the introduction he mentions all of the past artists that should be researched and the importance and style of pin up art. He addresses throughout the accetuations that separates a pin up girl from a life portrait. He also tries to keep up with modern times with where 'sexy' art is.

His methodology was great, I wish there was more, but with his great examples you get plenty. He has some nice break downs, from pencil to paint, all the while pointing out key ingredients. He deffinitely has inspired some good art out of me already.

A book filled with great girls by the amazing Chiodo. It was exactly what I expected and I am doing some great work referenced from this book, good stuff.

this book is great to leaf through, it is filled with brilliant illustrators such as David Choe and James Jean, amongst many, many others. The page format allows the images to breathe without the book being too cumbersome to hold. If you are a fan of contemporary illustration, you should have this book already.

I am a big fan of the magazine and this book is just mind blowing, Page to page full of artworks and different artist, some featured in the magazine and some new comers never seen before. If you love juxtapoz get the book you wont be disapointed. The makers of Juxtapoz really have out done themself's this time. Even if you have never heard of the magazine or don't like the magazine you will love this book.

Even if you're not a subscriber to the legendary Juxtapoz magazine, this is a must-purchase for anyone even mildly interested in the modern 'pop surrealism' or 'low brow' art movements. Some of my very favorite artists appear in here.

All in all, this is chock-full of absolutely stunning works of art. Buy it now if you have any unusual artistic aesthetic tastes whatsoever. This is dirt-cheap for a nicely hardbound book with great printing and sturdy paper.

Disclaimer: One of my main goals is to have my work appear in the magazine or the Great 'FSM' willing, an esteemed publication such as this, so if I sound like a fan-boy, I must admit the shoe fits... ;)

PS: I plan to pick up the other books in the series too, they have a tattoo one out now as well but others are on the way. Check 'em out.

Anderson's style is so impressionistic that you would have to know the basic facts of King's life and career to get much out of it. That being said, this book is not another hagiography of King as a non-threatening figure whose message was that we should all be polite to each other.

Anderson's King gets angry, gets hungry, gets horny, has periods of crippling despair; in other words, he was a human being. But he also stubbornly held onto what he felt was right, often in the face of powerful opposition. And make no mistake about it: charlatans and dolts like Bush II may invoke his name now, but Anderson makes clear that when he was alive, not everyone was standing around applauding.

The King we see here is almost as polarizing a figure as, well, Jesus. After reading it, I understand anew why M.L. King was a great, if not a perfect, man.

The starkness of Ho Che Andersen's artwork is fitting in that it serves to heighten the mythological feel of King's life, which contrasts with the intimate portrait we get of the man and his daily struggles. The mixture of photography montage, black and white sketch work and the occassional, startling splash of color is mezmerizing.

I don't know enough to comment on the historical accuracy of Andersen's work; the first volume of King was released in 1993 and it took the author a decade more to finish. This is a labor of love foremost, and the author's passion manages to leap off the page at you. That Andersen has avoided the pettiness of humanizing King is no small miracle - the biography genre routinely suffers from trivializing those it portrays in an effort to make them seem more familiar.

My only complaint is the paraphrasing of much of King's "mountaintop speech" given the night before his death in Memphis. The speech is too long to be included in its entirety, but having listened to the audio clips of that speech too many times to recall I found Andersen's version lacking. I suppose this is only to be expected, but nonetheless I would have loved to have seen a few more pages devoted to what I consider a rhetorical masterpiece, and easily one of the greatest speeches ever given in America. If you've never heard it before, do your best to download it or otherwise listen to King at the height of his power; it is a speech much informed by the gift of sight and of prescience, and is all the more moving and remarkable for the last stanzas.

If you are as fascinated with Martin Luther King as I am, I cannot recommend this work enough. Go out and buy it, and marvel, and remember one of the most pivotal figures of the twentieth century whose message should be heeded no matter the era.

With some different art, we see the Grimmer (and Cynosure) caught up in a corporate war, and even worse, the return of The Dancer, and some of Grimjack's arena history. Desperate times for a desperate men. Outstanding stuff, with a great supporting cast as usual.

Not to mention everyone's favorite watch lizard, Bob.

The trade-paperback of the original GRIMJACK comic series. This volume reprints issues fifteen through twenty-one, published in the mid-80's, this is when the book really finds it's voice and takes off. Grimjack is the original "hard-boiled Barbarian"in the deadly PAN-DIMENSIONAL city of CYNOSURE, where reality is changed like underwear, where guns work someplace, magic other places, but swords work everywhere!

In this volume Co-creator TIM TRUMAN leaves the series (only to return better-than-ever in 2005's KILLER INSTINCT, see my review)so we have stunning art by TOM SUTTON and inks, finishes by STEVE ERWIN who also does art in MUNDEN'S BAR segments which are finally included in vol.4. Traditionly the Munden's backstories were light filler/shorts, but here they are included because they are important to filling TRADE WAR plot gaps.

"THIS WHEELS on FIRE" starts the TRADE WARS storyline rolling with the return of PROF. ALTHEA MUELLER who had hermind re-intergratedwith her new body in GRIMJACK 9 (or Legend of GJ vol. 3). This is followed by WOLFPAC which delves deeper into JOHN GAUNT'S history in the ARENA, as agladiator known as THE DANCER plots and his return. GAUNT and BLACKJAC go to free the child-gladiators and end up in arena facing the children themselves. Then the Dancer's plans come to fruitation using Gaunt to set events in motion than begin the TRADE WARS. The Alpha Centauri Commercial Empire had taken over Cynosures ruling body, putting them in a position to force their competitors out of the city, once it is revealed to the other congomerates, the corporate war erupts in a very real sense. GRIMJACK and his partners are in the middle of it, all the while Dancer and his servants wait to kill Gaunt when the timeis right.

This collection contains some of the best storytelling yet in the series. All of the characters that make Grimjack such an interest series, are at their best:NOLESKi, the hick biker-cop, ROSCOE, gaunt's ex-partner, SPOOK, the lady as beautiful as she is dangerous, BLACKJAC, who fought w/ Gaunt in the ARENA, and more. We learn how Gaunt gets his scar in this collection and in the last and best story reprinted we see a badly wounded Grimjack, an easy target for his enemies and any other killer wantin' to make a rep. Sutton's new look for the series sets an amazing new direction for the series unbound by convensional comic style.

I can't wait for tne next set of reprints in volume 5, Gaunt's Death and more.

As Paul said, a great book. I first met Paul out dancing out at the Limelight. I trust him with my life. You can trust him with this book review.

A nice solid spark if you do identity work. Untitled Books in Soho and Amazon are the only places I've been able to find it, a good inspiration-resource and a refreshing alternative to the overflow of tacky pretentious desin books like Flatness Is God and 007 License To Design.

This book gives an excellent overview of the problems and solutions to level-of-detail rendering. Few books in the computer graphics field are this well written.

A few things to note:

- Though there's plenty of material on simplification of polygonal meshes, there doesn't seem to be much on volume (tetrahedral) simplification. My impression is that volume simplification is kind of hairy, though, and might require its own textbook.

- If you wish to do your own level of detail rendering, you may end up reading the papers referred to in the book. Most of those papers are available online (try google).

- The terrain chapter is great, and even deals with real-world issues (geospatial file formats, terrain data on the web, what a geoid is, etc) in addition to an overview of different approaches to terrain simplification.

If you're doing level-of-detail stuff, it is basically your duty to buy this book. I only wish I'd bought it eariler.

This is clearly one of the most outstanding Level-of-Detail-for-3D-Graphics-algorithm-survey books currently in print. However I find Luebke, et al.'s choice of a subtitle puzzling. Clearly it should be "Level of Detail for 3D Graphics: Theory and Application", rather than "Level of Detail for 3D Graphics: Application and Theory". If Luebke, et. al. wanted to emphasize the applied nature of their work, it would've been more appropriate to title it "Level of Detail for 3D Graphics: Application, then Theory, and finally some more Application".

Frankly this oversight ruined the whole experience for me.

This is the latest in a series of books that consist of collections of essays about the theory and practice of graphic design. The essays in the first two volumes were mostly from contemporary sources, particularly the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design. This third, retrospective volume is of even greater value in the sense that it gathers under one cover some of the most important historic writings on design from the late 19th century to the early 1980s, arranged chronologically. It contains over fifty hard-to-find articles by prominent figures in graphic design, among them William Morris, W.A. Dwiggins, El Lissitzky, Varvara Stepanova, Gyorgy Kepes, Alexander Rodchenko, Ladislav Sutnar, Beatrice Warde and Wolfgang Weingart. Graphic designers need to know where they came from, in order to better decide where to go. A substantial contribution to that effort, undoubtedly this is a book that should be on the reading lists of all designers, design students and teachers. (Copyright by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, Autumn 1999.)

An excellent text survey, Looking Closer 3 provides an anthology of classic writings on graphic design. This is a 'must' for any who would study the foundations of graphic design theory: it's the first to gather early critical writings from the turn of the century to modern times, grouping rare essays under one cover.

This book gives a detailed account of Tiffanys works in most of the mediums he chose. The photographs are gorgeous.

This is truly the most fabulous book on Tiffany's works,including many illustrations of works not previously seen.  As a Tiffany book collector, I know that Nuestadt's book may have more lamps illustrated, but none have the incomparable colors and qualities as the images in this book.  They are truly magnificent pictures (over 400 color plates)on a black ackground and are of the same quality as Sotheby & Christie's catalog pictures.  Tiffany at Auction by Alastair Duncan may be a collectors item, but having seen it, most of the pictures in that book are in black and white and do not begin to compare with this book.  While the Sotheby and & Christie catalogs display beautiful pictures, they only show what people choose to sell, unlike this book that shows treasures that I have never before seen in any of the books or catalogs that I have collected.But this book has so much more.  Almost every lamp picture has a close up of the actual pattern.  As a stained glass worker, these close ups are sufficient for you to reproduce the design.  The outstanding and superlative index at the rear contains small thumbnails of each work of art in the book with illuminating information and page number shown for easy access to the item.  Actual copies of the Tiffany factory workbooks,similar to Nash's new Tiffany Notebook book, are included in this book.
Of course, this book also has the requisite biography of Tiffany.  One third of book is biography and windows, second third is lamps, and last third is vases, index and bibliography.
You will NOT be disappointed in this book - it's the best that is available as far as I am concerned.

Ideal for OS 9.x Converts & New Mac Users alike.
My deepest gratitude to the Design Graphics Guide Series authors at Wiley Publishing for an exceptional guide to Mac OS X (Jaguar 10.2). Mac OSX Illustrated has the most user-friendly an organized Layout, Glossary & Index I have ever encountered for a computer publication. I have introduced it to many students, colleagues, and clients who have found it to be an indispensable part of their libraries.

Key Features:
Colour Coded chapters: Visible when book is closed
Chapter Reference on all relevant pages: Graphic Key
OS 9.x to OS 10.x then & now comparisons: Reference for those familiar with OS 9.x & earlier
Very clean full colour graphics: Suitable for visual thinkers.

Even though I've been a Macintosh user since 1995, when I got my new iMac I knew from the first time I plugged it in that I was entering a totally different territory. The lustrous Aqua interface, the fact that it now supports different user profiles, the organization of the System in general, iTunes, iMovie, iCal... I knew at once there was much to be discovered. I started to look around for a guide that would tell me about the new Mac OS X without boundaries, and when I came across "Mac OS X Illustrated", by the people of Australian "Design Graphics" magazine, I knew I had found it.

This is an awesome book. With realistic, full color drawings, superb print quality and minimalistic text, it achieves its purpose: to provide a wholesome tour of Apple's new system in a way deep enough for one to be comfortable with it, but at the same time basic enough so that users interested in learning more about a particular subject, can use the resources and suggestions given to get further answers. The book uses color not only for illustrative purposes but to catalogue its subjects in ways that makes them easier to find when we need a quick reference. Everything here is explained: Apple's new iApps, the new finder, the new online resources (such as iDisk), how to customize each profile, etc. The second part of the book introduces us to the Unix language, which is at the core of the new Mac OS X system, and it is altogether a whole new animal. This is one of the areas where further research is required, but the book does instruct us on the basic commands (including what not to do in order not to mess your system up).

Something I really liked about this guide is that it's not only restricted to Apple's new system software, but it also recommends third parties that are essential in every possible area for a Mac user, such as graphics, creation of documents and presentations, utilities, etc. So even in this area, one gets the benefit of expert advice on the type of software that will run better on Apple's new computers. An excellent tool to keep beside your new iMac or G4 at all times and refer to again and again.