Illustration Books

Some of the buildings documented in the 1970's work are gone, and some others are scheduled to disappear this year. Others gone condo, but still beautiful. Great resource for Seattle history buffs.

This surreal and funny artist's book is a collaboration between conceptual artist Terence Gower and writer Monica de la Torre, who have created an anthology of meaningless book marketing blurbs, reviews of dubious exhibitions, evil-spirited notes by editors rejecting manuscripts, and obsessional letters addressed to a psychiatrist. Presented as an appendix of ancillary material to a fictitious book, the texts take referentiality to a level of Borgesian absurdity. The humor is dry and understated, and it is only after rereading these pieces that the uncanny thread uniting these seemingly found and disjointed fragments becomes apparent. For anyone whose day-to-day encounters with discourse include texts riddled with jargon and psychoanalytical babble, "Appendices, Illustrations & Notes" offers a homeopathic antidote of sweet revenge on the slayers of language.

Very helpful. Actually shows examples of artifacts, how they were drawn, computer programs used (when applicable), what medium they used. The book also makes a point of showing artifacts made of different components ie: glass, wood, metal, bone, etc. Very well written, excellent! Also comes with a list of Arch. Ill. Soc., clubs, etc.

This art book shows brilliant medieval Gospel manuscript illuminations by renown Armenian painters. The quality of the art is world class and the quality of the reproductions is excellent.

I've decided to get back into professional photography after many years. I bought many photography books, DVDs, online courses so that I would get a feel for the market and customer tastes. A lot of books and DVDs are outdated, not only on equipment use (film vs digital), but also on portrait styles, and marketing techniques.

This is the most informative book that I've read on corporate photography, people portraiture, ligthing techniques and location challenges, equipment use, and a definitive guide for the business end - a major weakness for most artists. You can hunt the Internet to find what other photographers are charging for their services, but apart from obvious talent, you will not know why they charge what they charge. This books tells you how to calculate your costs and price your services for economic growth.

Although this book concentrates more on the corporate or business niche, the ligthing techniques and strategies exposed will serve you well for other types of photography. Ligthing set-ups and equipment used are explained in detail. The author even indicates timelines for set-ups and actual customer shooting time. This will help you in being realistic when you price your contracts. The high quality photographs can inspire your own creativity. A must read.

The author is also a coach for new and seasoned photographers. Check out his site at: www.photocoach.com I've never met Andre Amyot, but I've heard of him through other successful photographers.

More than 500 color plates...

Art in Nature brings together a superb selection of plants from all over the world in illustrations dating from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. These beautiful hand-colored plates, executed by such talented botanical artists as Sydenham Edwards, Walter Fitch and James Sowerby are taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, which is now The Kew Magazine. This publication holds a unique position among journals for the influence it has had on gardening, and has become renowned for its long history and the scientific accuracy of its illustrations.

Begun in 1787, The Botanical Magazine sought to popularize and encourage the cultivation of rare wild plants, by illustrating new and ornamental species that were being introduced into England. Many of these plants, which had been discovered by botanists and natural historians, such as John Tradescant, Mark Catesby and Francis Masson had never been described or named in any publication before. As new regions of the world were explored, the emphasis changed from plants discovered in the Americas to those of the Cape of Good Hope and India, and later the Far East. Therefore, The Botanical Magazine charts the developments of botanical exploration and changing interest in the wide range of flowers that grow in the gardens around us.

The majority of the plates reproduced in Art in Nature are taken from the early years of the magazine when exploration was particularly concentrated on Europe and North America. There are, however, also a vast array of flowers from all over the world. Many of these plants, which at that time were considered to be great rarities and only grown in the gardens of nurserymen and collectors, are now our best-loved garden plants, for example, primulas, irises, gladioli, sweet peas and crocuses.

Arranged in alphabetical order by family, the collection of plates in Art in Nature displays over five hundred exquisitely accurate color plates plants drawn mainly from specimens at Kew Gardens, London. Spanning 150 years, the plates demonstrate the changing techniques in botanical illustration from hand-colored engravings to lithography in the mid-nineteenth century. With the work of some of the finest botanical artists Art in Nature is a work to be cherished by all gardeners, botanists and lovers of natural history.

This book on Art Nouveau not only gives a historical account of this monumental discovery of a new style of artists' personal expression, but also presents full-page some of the most beautiful works of the moderns of their day. The images seem lifelike as each subject draws his or her admirer right onto the canvass allowing us outsiders the opportunity to escape to a by-gone era of simplicity and glamour in a changing Gothic world of abstract and fantasy.

This is an excellent book containing many different art nouveau animal patterns. The paper used is excellent. All the patterns contain a rich blend of color and the designs are wonderful.

This book was everything I hoped it would be. One thing, it is more of a 'magazine' type book, but still has fabulous pictures in it. I have used two of the beautiful, unique designs in this book as TATTOOS! It has fabulous ultra-feminine desigs that are much better than the run-of-the-mill tribal art or celtic art designs. I also use the designs for scrapbooking. At the price this is offered for, you can't beat it!

This is probably one of the better, and certainly one of the most comprehensive collections of the art produced by Beatrix Potter during her life time. The bulk of this work consists of 167 reproductions in color and 73 in monochrome, in addition to examples of Potter's handwriting in story-letters, manuscript and miniature letters. There is also a collection of photographs of Hill Top and Sawrey which gives a good look a the setting for Potter's life and her work.

The book is broken down into several distinct sections, starting with her early work, which includes drawings in black and white and in color going back to when she was about nine years old. There is a section on interiors (houses and barns), Houses, village scenes and landscapes, Gardens, Plant Studies and Still Life, microscopic work and fungi drawings, animal studies, imaginary happenings in the animal world, early ideas for illustrated books, and then extensive drawings and water colors of her actual art which she created for her many wonderful books.

The "Appreciation" or introduction by Anne Carroll Moore is quite well done and quite informative. The book is extremely well organized and of high quality. Each work of Potter's is well labeled and dated. All in all, this is a very useful book and an absolute delight to read and own.

This is one you will probably want to own as the material in it is more visual than written and is the kind of book that you will want to gaze at over and over again. WARNING: When you purchase one of these books, BE SURE you find one that does not have pages removed! I have found quite a number of copies in used book stores, and indeed, libraries where some swine has taken a razor and removed page after page. These pages are suitable to frame and hang and I guess people cannot resist. Do be careful when you buy.