Illustration Books

One of the best books about media and its evolving role in tapping into our emotions about political candidates. Genuinely funny and sophisticated examinations here. But, Ed Diamond is a saint. Is Steven Bates, Satan Starr's author the handmaid of the Devil?

One of the best books about media and its evolving role in tapping into our emotions about political candidates. Genuinely funny and sophisticated examinations here. But, Ed Diamond is a saint. Is Steven Bates, Satan Starr's author the handmaid of the Devil?

The art in this is excellent. Big beautiful pages from Dark Horse covers, paintings, and panels. This is a MUST companion to the first volume. Or even stand alone, as a true coffee-table book.

Star Wars: Panel to Panel Vol. 2 is an interesting book. It's part comic book, part art collection, and part Star Wars Expanded Universe history all rolled into one gorgeous package. The book takes a look at the Expanded Universe of Star Wars as created by Dark Horse Comics since 1991. Since that time, Dark Horse has done a magnificent job in filling in the history both before, after, and even during the time of the two Star Wars movie trilogies. Dark Horse has released dozens of series over the year, further enriching and fine-tuning the Star Wars universe.

In Star Wars: Panel to Panel Vol. 2, you get a blend of traditional comic panel art along with full page cover and splash page pinups culled from the various Star Wars comic series produced by Dark Horse over the past 16 years. The book is formatted chronologically in terms of the Star Wars Universe timeline. Randy Stradley provides text captions for each piece of art.

The history stretches back five thousand years before the Battle of Yavin as depicted in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope. During this time the Sith were not limited to just a master and an apprentice but indeed, there was an entire Sith empire as depicted in Tales from the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith. The Sith Empire would eventually fall and lie dormant for a thousand years until the events in The Sith War, in which Jedi would battle Jedi.

A thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, the war between the Jedi and Sith all came to a head in the series Jedi Vs. Sith from 2001. Some of the events depicted in this book include the detonation of a Thought Bomb, the most terrible weapon of the Sith which killed nearly every Sith and Jedi on the planet. The dramatic page from this series is included which shows Darth Bane taking the young Jedi girl Zannah as his apprentice and forever after the Sith would only number two.

The Second chapter is Countdown to Empire and starts with a magnificent full page painting of the nefarious Darth Maul by Tsuneo Sanda. Much of this chapter deals with the Jedi hero Ki-Adi-Mundi and the Jedi-hunting bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Ken Kelly, one of the premiere fantasy and Sci-Fi artists around provides a breathtaking painting of Aurra Sing battling Ki-Aki-Mundi.

The Dark Times is that period between the time when Anakin becomes Vader and we first meet Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV. Dark Horse began to explore this fascinating period in the 2006 series Dark Times with stunning artwork by Douglas Wheatley. Boba Fett is also fleshed out in 2006's Boba Fett: Man on a Mission with art by Adam Hughes. Fett fans are sure to love the six pages of art featuring their favorite bounty hunter.

The Rebellion is the fourth chapter and is the era that fans are most familiar with, dealing with the original three Star Wars films. Although we know how the story begins and ends, that has not stopped Dark Horse from telling some outstanding stories that take place between each film and even side stories during each film. Biggs Darklighter, a minor character in Star Wars, finally gets fleshed out in dramatic fashion in the Star Wars: Empire series, perhaps Dark Horse's best Star Wars series ever.

As you read through this book two things hit you right away: The first is the care and reverence in which Dark Horse has treated Star Wars. Sure they may be under the careful eye of Lucasfilms but the license has become their bread and butter and they are not about to screw it up. Second, Dark Horse has always provided its Star Wars series with top flight artists and much of it is on display in this book. Panel to panel and cover to cover, this is the sweetest eye candy for Star Wars fans.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

art is goo

I was quite surprised with the prize when I bought it, but I take it all back... It is a wonderful book. I really admire Dave Dorman's talent. I really hope to see more of his art

Children will love this entertaining tale of a writer, an illustrator, and a duck. Besides being laugh-out-loud funny, this clever story introduces children to the basic elements of fiction: characters, setting, and conflict. In addition, it humanizes the people (authors and illustrators) who create books like this for children. There's nothing quite like this one on the market!

Kids, teachers, and parents will LOVE this delightfully nutty post-modern picture book that explores the art of creating a picture book. When an author loses her way while writing a new story, crazy things start popping up to keep her on her toes and inspire her creativity.

For elementary teachers and parents who like to talk about the books they read, "A Story with Pictures" will inspire great discussions of how stories are put together and what choices an author must make when writing. The writing and illustrations are light and whimsical and will keep the kids laughing while they learn.

I've been a huge fan of Sparth's work for years and have awaited the arrival of this book for almost as long. Sparth's work is warm and highly creative and his influence over a generation of digital fantasy artists is only beginning to be seen as his style is frequently imitated. It's certainly a great book and a must-own, especially for a concept art book at this price.

My only disappointment is is the format size (which is why I still give this 5 stars, as I don't think this is the fault of the artist). These works deserve a much larger format than the medium/smallish 9 x 9 inches. Also, and this probably has more to do with who owns the image licenses than anything, there is a bit of "sameness", a slight lack of variety, about some of the work that's not apparent when viewing his website.

Still, a great book by any standard and an essential addition to any fantasy/sci-fi/art lover's book collection.

Sparth brings a humanity to concept art and design. At this price, everyone interested in Movie and Games production should have this densely creative book in their library. The french designers are poignantly different from american designers, a gap which I appreciate and honor.

The work shown in this volume is mostly painted environments and vehicles. A couple pages of charcoal sketches and some plein-air digital work. It also has a good amount of robots and characters.

I was utterly inspired and awed by this book. It contains all my favorite illustrators and many more that I am glad to get to know. As an amateur artist/illustrator I had to get down to work as soon as I was first done leafing through it. Truly inspirational! If I had anything against it was that Jordi Labarda's work selection for the book was not a fraction of his talent and creativity. Great otherwise! Loved the bios at the end too.

this book is amazing!! all the illustrators are great!!! it is so inspirational and sensational and yes! this is my bible!!! you won't regret for buying this beautiful book!
I showed it to everyone i know even to my teachers and they LOVED it!!!
This is really one of the best fashion illustration books i've ever seen!!
satisfaction guaranteed!!! : )

I love this book for two reasons. First, I get to expose my children to literature from a culture they have never experienced. This book gives me an opportunitiy to teach them cultural awareness and tolerance at a very early age. Second, I get to expose them to universal life lessons and teach them how these lessons bind all of mankind. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Chidebelu-Eze is uncompromisingly overt in his quest to teach. The lessons are clear, fun, and understandable to even the youngest children. My 3-year-old loves them. Children's books are full of opportunities to teach children letters, numbers, colors, shapes, animals, and such. Shouldn't we add moral lessons to this list as early as possible? This book can make that happen.

This is an excellent book written for children that teaches key Christian principles that they can apply to every day life. The illustrations are great and stories I'm sure your kids will always remember. I look forward to seeing more publications from the author.

This is a beautifully drawn adaptation of the original story by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It faithfully follows the book and should leave every fan satisfied. The follow up book, "The Jungle Tales of Tarzan", is also as well made. If you can find it.

if you have followed the career of burne hogarth one of the most awesome exponents of the art of figure drawing,you would find that this album"Tarzan of the apes" represents a landmark, this book was drawn many years after he stopped drawing tarzan for the newspapers. he had put a phenomenal amount of work in each frame of this book .Anyone who has read his dynamic series of books will realize that this book is a very good example of what sort of work you can produce if you follow the principles outlined by him . burne hogarth was a michaelangelo in the field of comic book art.Sadly this great artist and teacher is not amongst us any more.

As a student who is interested in pursuing illustration, this book is a golden gem for it is a rather thorough journey that is fun to dive into. While many other books similiar to this would simply showcase all the artists' body of work, this book reveals the creative struggle that James McMullan went through with each poster to create an image that met his client's needs. Reference photographs of his models and early color and pencil studies depict the story that is accompanied with each poster that describes McMullan's process. Sometimes an early draft of one of his posters didn't hit the nail with the director of the play: the character depicted in the image needed to look older and more angry, less naive. Whatever the case, McMullan would have to go back and rework. And in some cases, he might even start over with an entirely new idea and take a different road with the poster. With each poster, there's a different story, a different process, a different challenge. And none of the posters that are shown in here have been neglected for the book reveals it all. Above all, I appreciate James McMullan's conceptual talent with his posters that manage to create an image that defines the play as a whole. With this book, it is a pleasure to find the process behind these posters as well as being able to gaze upon their beauty.

Rarely is one able to glimpse into the world of a well-known illustrator. But, in this book, the illustrator James McMullan, takes us into his studio and explains just how he has created the 36 posters, over a 30 year period, for New York City's Lincoln Center. The full-page reproductions of McMullan's posters combined with his lucid prose makes this a beautiful and highly engrossing book. When I went to buy McMullan's book the bookstore clerk said, "this is the most gorgeous book in the store." Indeed, he was right.

This interesting and beautiful book was designed by Heidi Haeuser.

Though it's an annotated translation of an Edo-period album, this book also makes a great introduction to the workings of Heian-era poetry. For each poem presented, the notes clearly and thoroughly explain the wordplays, associations and allusions it draws on.
Very well organized, and yes, the pictures are lovely.