Illustration Books

When Fate put a beautiful puppy on my lap I was delighted and at the same time worried by my bottomless ignorance on "dog care".
So I started a research on books addressing this issue. I found many useful ones and profited from them.

Mr. Morris' "Dogwatching" is a very special book. It is not a traditional "How to take care of your Dog"; it's constructed as a series of questions & answers including many different topics that neophytes are willing to discover.
Some themes are serious as "How often do dogs feed?", "Why dogs pant so much?", "At what rate do puppies develop?" or "How does a mother-dog deal with her newborn puppies?"
Some other chapters focus on rather comic issues, but not less important for will be "dog parents" as "Why do puppies chew slippers?" or "Why do dogs try to sleep on their owners' bed?"
Lots of miscellaneous items are discussed in this very short and entertaining book.
It really gave me an overall picture of the "hows" and "whys" of canine mind and eased my apprehensions.

I recommend this book to anyone who's going to raise a puppy. It's also a fun reading for any pet lover and general public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Gustave Doré was a frustrated painter. Forced by circumstance to produce illustration illustrations for a number of literary works, he primarily longed for fame and success as a painter. But while shooting for fame as a painter, he inadvertently achieved immortality as arguably the greatest illustrator in history.

Most illustrators of the classics fall far short of the efforts of the works they are asked to illustrate, but Doré almost always managed to eerily echo visually the genius of the original authors. After reading the first half of DON QUIXOTE, I discovered this Dover collection of Doré's illustrations of the work, and I found them to be completely stunning. Doré had a genius for precisely visualizing events in the novel and transferring them precisely into his illustrations. No scene is too much of a challenge to him. The famous moment when Don Quixote attacks the windmills, mistaking them as giants, is depicted brilliantly by Doré. Every famous scene and many less famous scenes are all depicted, and I can honestly say that not once does Doré disappoint me in his imaging of how the scene occurred. One can, if one wants, make minor quibbles with Doré, such as his drawing Quixote wearing the wash basin helmet even in section later in the novel where he is said to have worn a sallet helmet. But this truly would be mere quibbling, for throughout Doré perfectly captures the spirit of DON QUIXOTE.

I'm convinced that this collection of illustrations is not nearly as well known as it deserves to be. Graphic novels are an extremely popular genre today, and it is impossible to imagine anyone interested in the visual aspects of those stories not being fascinated by Doré's far more complex and classically organized illustrations. Likewise, no one interested in graphic art or the history of art could not find these less than riveting. Most of all, anyone who loves DON QUIXOTE will adore these drawings, and to work through the various illustrations is to relive all the glorious events of the novel once again. Indeed, one could almost argue that while other translators have managed with more or less success to translate Cervantes's masterpiece into English or German or French, Doré managed to translate the novel into a purely visual language.

It was in great condition

Beautiful, lyrical,and sensuous images from the Crusades.I am enraprured by the scope,graphic power and compositional greatness of this largely forgotten artist. Though we may look at the politics of the Crusades differently than the Victorians, this book is sure to please any fan of 19th century art. One look at Dore and you see where Cecil B. Demille got much of his inspiration.

This is an excellent retrospective of the art of Dr. Suess (Theodor Geisel), published for the first major exhibition of his work in 1986. Written before his untimely death, it covers everything from his earliest student sketch books to _You're Only Old Once!_.

While the cleverness of the good doctor's prose is sampled, it is really his artwork that steals the show. The book is filled with both glorious full color, as well as black and white, examples. There are also reproductions of most of the cover illustrations. The truly rare aspect of this book though, is the biographical insights that it gives into the artist's life. The struggles that he went through with underemployment and just trying to survive in the 1930's are especially inspiring these days.

It is fascinating to see the artist's early magazine (Judge and Life) and advertising work (Flit and Esso.) The only noticable omission is his early Hollywood collaboration. There is absolutely no mention of the early Horton cartoons, or of "5000 Fingers of Dr. T."

I especially enjoyed this book because of an incident that happened to me in grade school. I was always fascinated by the art in these books, but when I tried to look at them in third grade, I was told that I couldn't because they were below my "age level." That is a lie, these books, and this art, transcend any bureaucratic, mindless, age grouping. They are ageless and timeless.

The illustrations are bright and detailed, very interesting to study. The layout is great and very useful for writing in things.

This book is the section about drawing dragons of the excellent book The Art of Drawing Dragons, Mythological Beasts, and Fantasy Creatures: Discover Simple Step-by-Step Techniques for Drawing Fantastic Creatures of Folklore and Legendin the larger version of the how to draw series of Walter Foster books. This also has the step by step
instructions and outstanding artwork of the author Micheael Dobrzycki.
If this book is of intrest to you I would also recommend these other excellent books about drawing dragons.Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy CreaturesGreat Book of Dragon Patterns: The Ultimate Design Sourcebook for Artists and CraftspeopleHow to Draw Dragons (Drawing Fantasy Art)Drawing Dragons and Those Who Hunt Them

While Draw Science Fiction is meant for a juvenile audience of aspiring cartoonists, it's featured for its ability to appeal to many an adult who may want to try their hand at drawing aliens, spaceships and space adventures. Step-by-step line drawings impart the basics of how to put together common monsters.

Earle Bowden: Drawing From an Editor's Life. More than Forty Years of Editorial Cartoons, Caricatures and Illustrations, Pensacola News Journal, 1950s-1990s

Art and text by Jesse Earle Bowden
Father & Son Publishing, Inc., November 1996 publication
8x11, 472 pages, softback, $19.95
1,250 drawings

It's rare for a newspaper editor to draw his own editorial cartoons. But Editor Emeritus Jesse Earle Bowden of the Pensacola News Journal has been his own cartoonist for 55 years.
The politics, personalities and many editorial page crusades of the News Journal Editor and vice president, chairman of the editorial board and cartoonist--more than 1,250 cartoons and caricatures from more forty years at the drawing board--spill over 472 pages of this historic graphic treasure. The journalist/illustrator presents drawings from his sportswriting /cartooning years of 1950s to more than thirty years of his editorial-page cartoon commentary from the early 1960s to the 1990s.
Among the many humorous and satirical images are the strong symbolism of the American heritage and patriotism and the native Floridian's devotion to the region of his birth. Here are graphic symbolism of Bowden's many editorial dreams and two-barreled approach to his editorial persuasiveness. His editorials and editorial cartoons demonstrate his convictions about Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola's historical preservation movement, the Pensacola bayfront and downtown redevelopment, preservation of Scenic Highway, University of West Florida and quality education, the cultural arts and the many emotion-charged battles to reform Escambia County government.
Bowden's cartoons demonstrates his love of history; he has opened his many scrapbooks of pen-and-ink memories--some drawings never before published--from the presidency of John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton, from the Florida governorship of Haydon Burns to Lawton Chiles. The cartoon images chronicle the history of the people in the public arena of political change in Florida's First Place City, the western Panhandle, Tallahassee and in Washington.
Along the way, meet many Pensacolians, Floridians and national figures--ably caricatured--from Bowden's sketchbooks who peopled the cartoons that have appeared on News Journal sports, news and editorial pages since 1953.
Bowden includes many News Journal personalities from the eras of Publisher Braden Ball and Editor Marion T. Gaines in the 1950s to Publisher Denise Bannister's years of the 1990s.
Besides his text for a historic timeline of the four decades--the books show the busy left hand of Bowden--the other serious interest of the journalist, author of eleven books and teacher of writing at the University of West Florida. Partially retired in 1998, Bowden continues as a News Journal editorial page columnist and cartoonist.

To anyone who admires and enjoys the informative images of Paul Hogarth this book is an absolute must ! I personally bought this book as a valuable guide for an aspiring illustrator such as myself. We all aware that this man is a genius when it comes to interpreting places around the world. This book allows us to follow his foot steps in achieveing his goals in a colourful exciting read.

The book includes images that Hogarth has created all around the world through his many visits abroad.

A bible for all his fans !