Illustration Books

Through Judith's verse and drawings, she is able to take you to another universe. She takes you to a higher plane of contemplation and awareness most do not find within themselves. Reading her poetry gives one a stepping stone for self exploration. Her drawings are something one could only imagine in dreams.Excellent book, I am looking forward to reading her new book Mortification Stew.

"Angels All About" by Judith Gayle Sherrouse is a deeply thought provoking yet enjoyable book to read. The drawings, while tending towards too much nudity, are tastefully moderated and show an uncommon natural artistic flair. The poems accompanying the illustrations are bizarre enough to cause the reader to reflect on their inner self. While at first appearing to have little meaning, upon contemplation they seem to reach into your soul. I would recommend this book to any and all that feel they are searching or are lacking in something.

Through Judith's verse and drawings, she is able to take you to another universe. She takes you to a higher plane of contemplation and awareness most do not find within themselves. Reading her poetry gives one a stepping stone for self exploration. Her drawings are something one could only imagine in dreams.Excellent book, I am looking forward to reading her new book Mortification Stew.

Mike is an artist, photographer and art director.

He can see great talent and know's how to put it to work. He has launched many careers in the process and has kept several great artists alive, by throwing them work, over the years.

Mike has worked with "The Best" in his 50 years of experiencs and has helped shape the present culture by utilizing his, and other's, talents.

This is a great collection of his work, presented with tongue in cheek humor. Totally entertaining and enlightening. Lots of smirks and laughs too. And... some cheesecake as well!

Mike Salisbury has long been one of my heroes, both for his innovative design work and strong knowledge of marketing. This book provides great insight into how Mike approaches a project and why he brings so much more than design talent. And the vivid examples from his extensive portfolio are inspirational, to say the least.

lotsa big bright pictures! An autobiographical account of this mike salisbury guy, a celebrity art director/graphic design type who came up with some of the most unforgetable commercial graphics and campaigns of the last 30 years (Joe Camel, Rolling Stone magazine, Jurassic Park, and even Micheal Jackson!). The guy's kinda pompous, but I guess that's the gig in the promotion and marketing game. Worth reading!

What a fabulous book!

If you paint flowers in watercolour or are enrolled on a course of Botanical Illustration, as I am, then this is the book for you.

Written by Margaret Stevens in association with the Society of Botanical Artists, the book takes the reader briefly through the beginnings of Botanical Art to a useful chapter on materials including paper, watercolours and brushes. Whilst it doesn't proscribe a palette of colours, the great majority of the illustrations detail the colours used. The chapter on plant anatomy is useful for the non-botanist as is the one on drawing technique for those new to this aspect of painting.

What gives this book a considerable edge over others of this type is that its other purpose is as the text book for a two-year diploma course in Botanical Illustration run by the SBA. (The author is the course director.) There are up to a dozen examples of work covered from start to finish over several pages produced by members of the SBA, some of whom are tutors on the course. There is excellent detail of watercolour technique and superb coverage of the production of varied coloured leaves and flowers and the colours used in their painting. The chapters on composition, working in the field and painting fruit and vegetables are extremely useful. All chapters are illustrated by high quality botanical paintings, mostly by SBA members.

A beautiful book to own, better as an inspiration to painting but best of all as a reference when painting flowers in watercolours.

I've bought all sorts of books on botanical painting but this is the best of the best. The illustrations are fabulous, the instructions clear and comprehensive. Have you ever heard of "botanical gray"? This book is something you can't live without.

It is a nice book and the explain it good the art of flowers. I recommanded on every the draw with flowers.

...and even if you are not a huge fan of Clyde Caldwell this beautiful book contains some very nice fantasy artworks and it is a great addition to my collection of books from prominent artists in this genre.

The front contains a biography about Clyde which was good because apart from having 2 large posters of his on my walls for many years I did not know anything about him. As well as English the text is in another language which at a guess i think might be Dutch, possibly German.

There is a good variety of works in this book too, again great for me to get to know what this artist is capable of. Works range from full colour paintings of dragons, women posing (Clyde seems to like big breasted women), action scenes, D&D module covers containing all those sorts of creatures, and book covers, to some acrylic wash images of women posing, which was a nice touch.

To fans of fantasy role-playing games and fantasy novels, Clyde Caldwell isn't just an artist, he is THE artist! For nearly 30 year's Caldwell's art has been featuring on gaming products, book covers, calendars and more. Caldwell has been the premiere artist for years for TSR/Wizards of the Coast's line of Dungeons & Dragons products. His work has been featured on countless book covers for publishers such as Avon, Baen, Ace, and Zebra and he's provided covers for publications such as Heavy Metal, Dragon, Dungeon, and Epic Illustrated. When it comes to pure fantasy art, it just doesn't get any better than Clyde Caldwell.

SQP presents this over-sized book with 128 pages of Caldwell's outstanding fantasy paintings from over the past 25 years, all in full color and printed on heavy stock, suitable for fans and collectors alike. Long-time gaming fans or fantasy fiction fans will recognize many of the pieces in this collection from some of their favorite books and modules over the years. A comprehensive index in the back lists the title of each painting and the medium in which he worked to complete each piece.

While not necessarily known for his nudes, the book provides several examples done in Acrylic wash from the Savage Hearts portfolio, also for SQP. Pages 20 & 21 feature one of my all-time favorite Caldwell paintings, the darkly gothic castle of Ravenloft with the vampire Count Strahd standing in full regalia on a balcony looking out over his lands. A thoroughly dynamic painting!

"From the Shadows" features a pair of dungeon adventurers fighting off a trio of spectral skeletons. This painting was from a Ravenloft module. Pages 72 & 73 feature two more paintings of the sinister Count Strahd, as they perfectly capture that mist-shrouded, gothic look of old Universal Horror films.

The Caldwell woman always evokes a sense of power and this is demonstrated beautifully in the painting called "Leopard and the Serpent" showing a warrior maiden posing proudly wearing a leopard headdress. Then there is "Amara Wintersword" sitting entrenched in a malignant looking old tree, dressed in red cloak and scantily placed chain mail. "Midnight Snack" and "To Pick a Rose You Ask Your Hands to Bleed" are two wonderful paintings of female vampires, decidedly different in their eras, but both equally foreboding. The latter piece coming from the Vampire: The Masquerade Player's Handbook for White Wolf.

Another of my favorite paintings is "Fiddler Fair" as a female bard plays her fiddle while the grim reaper hovers behind her. This was from a cover to a Mercedes Lackey book for Baen. "Forbidden Embrace" is also a great piece. A raven haired enchantress embraces a foul, tentacled creature that looks like it just walked out of a Lovecraft story. This was from a cover to Inquest Gamer magazine.

I say "favorites" in only the loosest sense of the word as it's literally impossible to pick a favorite from Caldwell's distinguished body of work. He truly is the gold standard when if comes to fantasy artists.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Since the 1980s, Clyde Caldwell's artwork has been used for books, games and so on. His artwork, dealing with everything from horror, fantasy and sci-fi, is one of the best. The focus seems to be on sexy, lovely ladies and it's even better when you realize he uses real models! A must for any library about art books or fantasy books.

This is a great way to show students the process of Eric Carle's art and create a picture of thier own.

Inspiration is the first word that comes to mind after reading about Eric Carle's successful life as an author and illustrator. This book contains information about his childhood, his books, but most important his art. I especially enjoyed reading the section about where he gets his ideas. What is so special about Eric Carle's books? Many people all over the world could answer that question. My favorite answer is from a little boy named Paul, he said: "One reason I like your books is they do special things."

I picked up this book, expecting to find essentially a picture book. However, this book is so much more...and it is lovely.

The book begins with an introduction by Leonard Marcus, the children's book reviewer for Parenting Magazine and a well-known book critic and historian.

Following this is an autobiography with many personal photos. I found the story of Carle's early years interesting: how he was born in the United States but then his parents returned to Germany when he was six. His father was drafted into the German army during World War II and Carle never saw him again for 8 years, when he emerged from a Russian POW camp weighing 80 pounds. Carle was a lackluster student, mainly because his creativity was stifled, but he did have some empathetic art teachers in Germany. In his early 20s he returned to the U.S. where he was promptly drafted into the army!

The next section of this book was by Ann Beneduce, the first editor to publish Carle's work. She first commissioned him to illustrate a cookbook. After that, she decided to publish his first book "1,2,3 to the Zoo" but could find no one in the United States who could satisfactorily produce it, so she had it done in Japan.

Next, Viktor Christen, a German editor, wrote about Carle's vision and what it means to children.

Takeshi Matsumoto, the director of an art museum for picture books in Japan, wrote an essay about Carle's use of color.

The text of a speech, entitled "Where Do Ideas Come From?", given by Carle at the Library of Congress was the next section of this book. He gave this speech to librarians and educators in 1990 at the International Children's Book Day Celebration.

Next was a photo essay on his technique of paper coloring and collaging, which also explained why he colors white tissue paper rather than buying pre-colored papers (they fade with age).

Lastly was a section of illustrations from his books, in chronological order. I found it interesting to see how his art had changed and become much more detailed in 30 years.

This is a fantastic collection by a truly masterful illustrator. A must for any illustrator's library or lover of children's classics. This is one to cherish.

Wonderful book. I was very excited to get this book and, oh, what a joy it was to look through the pages! My only wish was to see more and more and more... Beautiful edition as well. If you are looking for the full biography of the artist and the descriptions of her drawings and styles, this book is not for you. The book presents only visual homage to the works of the interesting illustrator filling each page with the magic of fairy tales. To my mind, Lizbeth Zwerger stands in line with some of my favourite fairy tales illustrators: Rackham, Dulac, Bilibin. Her work delights and inspires.
My only disappointment was to see some of the Andersen's tales illustrations in a very small format. I really hope to see larger, more complete edition of her works some day.

As an art student intensely interested in children's book illustration, I was excited to find this Lisbeth Zwerger book. If you are looking for a showcase of the artist's delicate watercolor style - and not especially interested in much text or biographical info on the artist, you will find this well-designed book to be a treasure. I am thrilled to add it to my collection.

This highly recommended introduction covering the life of the artist Richard Power opens to a full-page color-embellished survey of 120 of the artist's fantasy images and contributions to the world of paperback illustrative art. An outstanding survey of images is created in an excellent keepsake edition for fans of science fiction and fantasy art.

The best cover artist of all time. No exaggeration. Some of the later work becomes, unfortunately, exceedingly literal--it's as if someone forced Powers to put Boris-Vallejo-like human figures into his abstract scenes in order to satisfy some PR/marketing goal. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Finally, a book dedicated solely to the works of the late Richard Powers... a dream come true. I was tired of always seeing him presented as one of many entries in books of sci-fi artists, shoved between others who were obviously not as talented as he. This is a true deal.... page after page of his beautiful/haunting/otherworldly art (yes, all 3 adjectives, and more, exist in each painting!). The reproductions are of a very high quality and clarity, some taking up 2 pages, allowing you to see the textures within the images. The text gives some very good insight on Powers' inspirations and personality, with some very funny stories. My only objections are - 1. There are a number of works produced in a fairly small format (4" x 4" or less) , and I would've gladly paid more if the publisher had enlarged them and expanded the page count. 2. No photos of Powers at work, just two self-portraits. 3. The text tends to ramble a bit, especially the first chapter, and I would have loved to see more art in place of it.

What do you like in art? Art Nouveau? Art Deco? Japanese art? You'll find it all in here as you see how, in the first decades of the 20th century, the lowly post card could become a work of fine art in Japan.
This beautifully designed and printed book, really a catalogue of the Boston MFA's exhibition, has more than 300 color illustrations as well as related essays by well-known scholars. The history of the post card, the kinds that were produced, subjects covered...all discussed. And, illustrative of a difference between these and contemporary Western pc's, a section of bio's of artists involved in the designs.
Particularly interesting are the examples showing the impact of the Russo-Japanese War, of Western Art Deco, ... and even of baseball ( in the form of pc's made for New Year's Day 1932 ).
There is serious history in here as well as strikingly interesting art...need an idea for a great Xmas present?

Score another home run for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for recognizing the importance of the Lauder collection of Japanese postcards and then producing a significant book to commemorate the 2004 exhbition of these miniature masterpieces. The MFA has again assembled a cast of formidable experts to provide both historical and artistic perspective for the late 19th- and early 20th-century postcards produced by many of Japan's leading artists. It is thus the case that the text chapters that open "Art of the Japanese Postcard: Leonard A. Lauder Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" help guide the reader through the changes in graphic art and design that followed Japan's opening to the West and the death of the classic "ukiyoe"-style woodblock art.

The postcards themselves are stunning, meriting repeated voyages through this beautifully designed and printed volume. And there are numerous other reasons to savor the images. For example, the cards that appear as numbers 9 through 60 in the catalogue/book all reflect Japan's contemporaneous take on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. Then there are chapters that demonstrate the impact of the West's Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements on Japanese art sensibilities. Three other cards, my favorites, illustrate famous "haiku" poems, with the artist, Saito Shoshu, using the themes of the cards to stylize the calligraphy with which the poems are rendered. Delight here in a snail's slime trail blended into calligraphic brushwork, an underwater scene in which the calligraphy takes on a very fluid style, and a poem broken up to refelct the hopping of a frog.

The collaborative project of Anne Nishimura Morse, J. Thomas Rimer, and Kendall H. Brown, Art Of The Japanese Postcard is a gorgeous, full-color gallery of Japanese postcards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Far more than casual items to mail, most of these cards were designed by prominent artists and feature striking use of color and imagery. A few companion essays delineate the history of this unique art form as well as the immortalization of heart-stirring pictures meant to be sent and shared. Art Of The Japanese Postcard is an impressive and seminal work which is particularly recommended to students of Japanese Popular Culture.

APP Press International, James Thomas Winslow

Don't be misled by self-appointed niche critics who miss the point of this series of books entirely. This is a long overdue and most refreshing overview and retrospective on the sword and sorcery genre and the art of the barbarian--a fictional genre derived from actual historical events in Europe, which were then popularized as pulp novels and stories in the `30's, penned by writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. The genre has since seen two rebirths--one in the 70's in popular paperback and comics and the second today in '05 via comics as well.

As part of the third coming of the barbarian, this series of two books from Image and the hardcover from Heavy Metal cover the genre in depth, looking at the history, the authors, focusing on three of the better known sword and sorcery characters, and most auspiciously flowing around the art of one of the genre's recent artists, Arthur Suydam.

This approach of looking at the history of a genre with such a renowned artist's work as a backdrop is novel and appropriate, and it is interesting to hear from the line-up of contributors of the book on their take on the artwork and sword and sorcery, while giving a nod to creators of the past. This retrospective is achieved with in-depth and scholarly text from writer Peter Sanderson, coupled with reproductions of some of Suydam's classic covers, interior comic illustrations and sculpt designs, encompassing his illustrative work on Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan and Death Dealer.

One of the things that struck me most is just how refreshing this book is with its lushness--filled with pen and ink illustrations throughout, intricately detailed. Very classical in nature, reminiscent of works from the great age of illustration--artists such as Gibson, Cole and St. John. This is so nice to see in this current world of assembly line, digitally colored art that we see so much of today in comics and elsewhere.

Some of the stand out art included in these books are, the series of painted Tarzan covers, and a series of impressive red chalk illustrations that comprise a series of Conan studies from the REH story, "The Frost Giant's Daughter." (Speaking of Conan, I must confess that I have been somewhat disappointed by the various WWF depictions of the character. Not so here. The interpretation by Suydam is easily the best depiction of the character I've seen since Barry Smith's fine designs in the `70's.)

I was also particularly impressed with the Death Dealer artwork, which appears here for the first time in it's original format without the overbearing digital color, which obscured the art in its original printing. This collection of highlights forms Suydam's own personal homage to predecessor and sword and sorcery guru, Frank Frazetta. I enjoy it when an artist tips his hat to a past contributor as a sign of respect.

Don't be misled by naysayers. I have followed the career of this unique artist, who throughout his career, has made a point to unravel the secrets and techniques of masters from bygone eras and then, on occasion, display them openly in his own tongue and cheek fashion...if for no other reason, than to show that he can--A hobby that has earned him both praise of fans and sideways glances from hardliners and contemporaries who all too often miss the point completely. I am certain fans, however will appreciate the artist's personal homage to friend Frazetta.

One of the odd details of the Death Dealer art is that I don't recall ever seeing comic panels that look so finished and rendered as these! The panels seem to stand by themselves and remind one more of the Canaveral plates from one of the Burroughs novels than panels extracted from a comic book.

Of the two books from Image, "Chapter One" is 78 pages in length, while "Chapter Two" was disappointingly shorter at 64 pages. Both are black and white throughout. The Heavy Metal hardcover book is 98 pages, and is color and sepia, with a gallery. I like that the publisher provided duplicate art in the gallery section, so that if the gallery section is removed for mounting, the book is not minus some of its more impressive art.

Having seen all the books in the series, I much prefer the hardcover. Unlike its predecessors, the Heavy Metal book is a sturdy volume, the kind of book that I'd want to hold onto and then pass down.

One thing that history has shown us is that fads come and go, but good work is timeless. It is nice to see a creative pick up on the work of his predecessors and continue a time-honored tradition. Just as Michelangelo picked up on the teaching of Da Vinci and Raphael followed Michelangelo, so do these books show how writers and artists of the present have been influenced by past greats of this genre.

My review: If you are not into the "boy stuff," pass on these. But if you are a fan of Conan and the sword and sorcery genre, these books are a must.

Just want to clarify, as one of the writers of the book, this is not a comic book series, as one of the other reviews would have you believe. This is in fact new interview material and a retrospective of Suydam artwork in two volumnes, so I'm not sure what is meant about waiting "for the combined" series. Each volume is unique and we hope informative. If you have any questions about Suydam, you can always check out the website at: www.evainkpublishing.com

Make no mistake, this is a great comic series. So, where do these cheap bastards come off with splitting a six issue series into two different books? Are they really that cheap? Don't buy these trades until the creators give enough respect to release one cohesive volume.

This is a charming book to be enjoyed by all;young children, who will enjoy having this read to them, to aspiring artists, to older fans. Early work of these illustrators and pictures of some of them as children along with their stories give a picture of their development.This may also offer an introduction to new books and illustrators. Great for teachers and librarians when presenting a story.

This a wonderful book for inspiring budding young artists. Wonderfully illustrated with examples from all the artists (including fold-outs). A great way to learn about their lives and work.

I purchased this book for my 18 year old daughter, who is off to college next year to major in art. Her ambition is to be an illustrator, so I thought it would be inspirational for her. She loves that it features the illustrators of many of her favorite books from when she was small. A great book for anyone who enjoys illustration and picture books.