Graphics Books

This book is easy to read and very practical. It helped me a lot with one of my data charting projects. Highly recommended.

It delivers what it promises. You will be able to write printing code, make your own controls, etc., after reading this book.

GREAT BOOK! The book was by far the easiest to follow book for GDI+ and Custom Controls using C#. I am very pleased and highly recommend this to all who wish to learn GDI+.

If you are moving up from GDI, you will find that GDI+ is about 50 times slower, but 50 times easier to program.

This is the kind of book you want to read when you want to get started with GDI+ development, and custom controls in particular. Yes, there are a lot of things that are not explained, but they, GDI+ and custom control development is a huge topic and couldn't possibly be covered in one book! The information provided in this book is excellent. It covers the basics of GDI+, custom control development, printing, and even web related stuff you may not think of at first. What's missing is how to build input-oriented controls, such as as fancy grids or spreadsheets and other advanced topics. But then again, I wouldn't expect a book like this to cover these topics.

One of my first .NET ah-hah experiences back in 2001 was creating an .aspx file that I could reference as a graphic (!). The .aspx file received two query parameters which informed it of the file name of the jpg and the width that the returned image was supposed to be. So then in an IMG tag, I would simply put src="ShowPicture.aspx?file=product1343.jpg&width=100" and it would display a thumbnail of that picture 100 pixels wide and proportionally high. This is an excellent way to produce dynamic pictures as well as protect your online photographs (show thumbnails to visitors, full sized pictures to members), and the .NET GDI+ classes are straight-forward and easy to use. Ever since then I have been looking for a book which goes into deeper detail of creating graphics in .NET with the GDI+ classes. Wrox has finally produced this book! In chapters 1 through 10 you get the basics: pens, brushes, texts, fonts, image manipulation, paths, regions and printing. Then in the rest of the book you learn how to make custom controls which create custom graphics (I love books that teach two things at a time -- great for developers who do four things at a time). If you read this book, you will think about graphics differently, namely, as dynamic objects which your application, the user and the environment can manipulate at run time. Very exciting.

It was great to see the relationship between the characters develop and as usual Fumi Yoshinaga handled both the bitter and the sweet aspects of new love with wit, humor and a unique honesty. Obviously this is not a story about the French Revolution, just one using it as a backdrop and occasional source of danger for the lovers. The core of the story and where all of Fumi Yoshinaga's stories really shine is in the characters. They are charming and wonderful to spend time with. I enjoyed both Gerard & Jacques books and recomend them to anyone who is looking for a pleasant mix of romance, humor and dry wit.

Jacques undergoes confusion due to his attraction to Gerard during this Yaoi work, which is set during the French Revolution.

Full of character development and French history, this series wraps up in volume 2 with Gerard and Jacques confessing their love for each other. I really liked the characters, the setting, and the story line. Manga that makes you think...

Like the first volume, this yaoi is a little more explict then I usually read.

As wonderful as the first volume, this one lets us see Jacques experience his confusion and his attraction for Gerard. The surprising twist in Jacques history is quite bittersweet and I truly felt bad for him. I felt even worse for him when Gerard fell asleep! Of course, he was drunk... It was so touching watching Gerard try to protect Jacques, and watch Jacques re-humanize Gerard. And they're both so cute!

As beautiful as this story is, it's not without it's humorous moments. The times when Jacques exploded were laugh-out-loud, as was his confusion on why everybody were such big fans of Gerard's work (poor boy, he just doesn't get it).

The story is set agianst the French Revolution (like you didn't know that by now), and just the right amount is brought into the story without overshadowing...yadda, yadda, yadda - it's nothing every other reviewer hasn't already said. It's very true, but I'm not going to repeat it.

The finale is heart-pounding up to the very end for our seme and uke. I would have liked them to end up physically in the same place, but I guess I'll have to be grateful with the knowledge that Gerard was going home to Jacques. This is a wonderful yaoi and if you're a fan of the genre, you should definetly read it.

I liked this volume even better then the first. Both Gerard and Jacques must deal with problems from their pasts as well as their feelings for one another. Plus France is in turmoil and life becomes quite dangerous for our couple.

And poor Jacques is having a bit of a hard time, I felt a little sorry him, even as I was laughing at his "explosive" problems. I also got a chuckle from the fact that Jacques can't understand the popularity of Gerards writing.

Once again there is man/man sex, and it is explicit - hey, it is yaoi after all.

A wonderful story, a nice end to this series.

This is a beautiful book that takes us back to the time before the internet DVDs and laptops, and answer the question how do you educate the "user" of the increasing complicated machines of war that were being developed during WWII. This book is of Interest to the graphic artist and the WWII buff. You forget that no matter how awfully bad some of the machines were, and what death traps. They still needed a user manual. It is sobering to see the instructions for the Hampden bomber crews on how to bail out, (a feat that not many achieved) and you wonder how many owed their like to this graphic. The collection is exclusively Aviation, which raises the question of the other two Forces and their contribution (may be there will be a couple of sequels). I would have liked more translation of the foreign language graphics - but overall I have no complaints this was a great book.

Any one interested in the WW II planes will find this useful as well as gaining some history of the process by which this was developed. Less info and illustrations by American illustrators than I would have liked. But worth the investment.

World War Two was a highly mechanised and technical war, perhaps no more so than in the air. Development of increasingly more sophisticated aircraft meant a greater demand for technical and general arrangement drawings, as well as a wide range of training material. This lavishly-illustrated book celebrates the unsung and in many cases unknown artists and technical illustrators who created the many thousands of drawings and posters produced by the combatants during the war. It draws together samples of obscure, arcane artwork that in was either intended for a limited readership, or would be regarded as ephemera. This provides us with a glimpse into a special and little-known world of over six decades ago.

The first three chapters cover the life and contribution of artists who applied the skills learned in peace-time to the wartime production of aircraft, training and advisory material for aircrew and maintenance staff. The bulk of the 270-odd pages are devoted to examples of technical drawings and training posters from Great Britain, Germany, the United States and the Soviet Union.

Where else could you find the inner workings of the FN Type 64 under gun turret (complete with Type B, Mk II periscopic sight), how to dive-bomb with a Junkers 88, what the best-dressed aircrews were wearing, how the superchargers work on a Wright-Cyclone R-3350 aero engine, and why you should regularly burn off oil deposits from your spark plugs? These things might be only of historical interest now, but then they were matters of life and death.

The artwork is often very detailed and beautifully rendered, and is a tribute to the skills of the artists. This is assisted by the large format and high quality of printing. There is some explanatory text with each image, but they are mostly left to speak for themselves. The book will appeal to aviation history buffs, or to those with an interest in the development of technical drawing. It offers many fascinating hours of delving into the inner workings and operation of some classic aircraft. Highly recommended.

This fine book is cover-to-cover artwork, and descriptive text, of aviation documents produced during World War II. The documents include public information, manufacturer publicity, military training manuals, and conceptual views. There are quite a few aircraft cut-away drawings, but most of the pictures are solid view renderings intended to show what things looked like and how they worked/were used. Any student of historic aviation will find this book an exciting read. All other aviation enthusiasts will love it for the pictures alone.

The concept behind "Graphic War" is simple and intriguing. In 272 crisp, glossy 9-by-11-inch pages, author Donald Nijboer presents hundreds of superb examples of aviation-related World War II technical artwork from Great Britain, Germany, the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Most of the artwork comes from wartime training manuals, operations handbooks, aircraft production and assembly documents, posters, etc. Without exception, the artistic quality is stunning. Sixty-some years ago, when anonymous artists created these amazing works, computer-generated imagery (and, indeed, even the computer itself) was not even a gleam in the eye of the most visionary dreamer. Dedicated and talented artistic craftsmen turned out these exquisite pieces of technical art using "low-tech" items such as India ink pens, colored chalks, airbrushes, rubber cement, vellum and Bristol board. "Graphic War" shows that these artists not only succeeded in conveying complex technical information to the airmen who needed to know it--they also often created beautiful works of art in the process. Check out, for example, the intricate "Halifax III Main Structure" (pp. 78-79), the superbly detailed "Centaurus Aero-Engine" cutaway (pp. 156-157) and the colorful "B-17F Armament--Forward Compartments" diagram (pp. 210-211).

About half of the artwork in "Graphic War" is from Great Britain. The other half is about evenly split between Germany and the U.S. The Soviet Union gets only 14 pages, because wartime Soviet artwork is very rare and hard to find. While I marveled at the superlative illustrations, I also really appreciated the captions. Rather than describing the artwork itself (which is largely self-explanatory), each caption discusses the actual subject that the artwork depicts. For example, the captions for illustrations of aircraft torpedoes describe their use, reliability, warhead types, etc. The captions for aircraft cutaways cover performance characteristics, production numbers, variants, theatres of operation, etc. Thus one not only sees the illustration, impressive in its own right, but also learns something about the subject depicted. I found this to be an exceptionally interesting and effective way to combine visual and textual information.

"Graphic War," an homage to World War II's unsung "heroes" who helped "keep `em flying," deserves a prominent place on every aviation enthusiast's bookshelf. Graphic artists are also sure to find it fascinating and inspirational. I recommend it most highly.

This is a great book, with excellent color schemes and pallets, examples, and explanations galore. There are times that I can't find some of the themes I'm looking for, but this book makes it SOOOO easy and wonderful to see great examples of wonderful work in simple genres that so many clients are looking for.

I can't give this book rave enough reviews. I would easily rate this book up with the color index book.

Looking for a book to help you and your clients communicate and understand each other? This is it! You know when they say "innovative" and you are thinking one thing and they are thinking another thing? This is the book to take with you to your meetings, for sure! I am excited to do that with my next client! I can pull out the book, show them pictures, fonts, and groups of color, and say, "Is this what you mean by 'fast-looking' or is this?" Then my client can thumb through the book or look up adjectives in the back section and show me exactly what he or she means.

While the intent of this book is wonderful and in great ways succeeds in showing a great variety of design examples, I found the presentation to be less useful. Sure it gives super examples of designs that almost anyone would recognize, but it is difficult to share a book when the spine does not lay flat without cracking the binding and the print and page is so small that even right side up it is difficult to read and to one side or upside down it is impossible.
I'll use it more for a reference book than a hands-on tool.

The simple, precise organization of this book helped me to see the ruts I tend to fall into and how to branch out. I doubt I'll haul it around to meetings, but it's a wonderful reference.

You know what feeling you want your audience to be left with, but how?
This book is the answer.
Colors, type faces, questions, word index, and style, all provided with examples.
Thank your dear Author and designer!
This book showed me how......

Anyone who knows what it's like to lose love, not know quite what to do with your life, and having potential--but again, being beside yourself with what to do with it--will love this book. The story is beautiful, and the drawings are too! It's very cinematic, especially as the volumes go on. I also give Doha kudos for doing such a good job with the anthropomorphic animal thing. Not many graphic novelists can do it, but he does it, and well. Bravo! A must read!

I am an avid manga reader who has read over 200 manga books. I saw the cover of the book and I thought Wow I love the art! I had no idea what it looked like inside until I purchased it.

When I got it, the book was HEAVY! Twice as heavy as a manga from Tokyopop or VIZ. The pages are in beautiful color and in shiny magazine-like paper. Flipping through the pages, it looked like part cartoon and part poemy.

After finishing the first volume, I found out I really liked it. It is different than any manga I've read. The characters are cats acting & dressing as humans. The main character loses his girlfriend and tries to move on to a new one. There's talking balloons for when he talks and then words for when he's thinking. When he's thinking, it feels like you're reading a poem. The words are well written.

It's a great realistic love story! The characters are adorable! Glad I bought it! The story is complete at 6 volumes. I look forward to reading all of them.

i loooove love love this series, and i can't wait to read the last volume. the art is gorgeous, full-color, and alternately really poignant and really hilarious. the plot lines are simple, but still totally intriguing. i'm just as into houndu's story as catsby's, and it's rare that i find side plots to be as important as the "main" plot. read these books, you'll definitely fall in love with the characters.

The first book is a little depressing. Catsby is a sad, and pissed character, it is a great book. A lot of the situations are real life, and easy to relate to.

I just had to read the 2nd one, and I just ordered the 3rd and 4th

I've been around comics for a long time, and I have finally found something that is 100% good. In fact it's genious. The art is great and the story is constantlt realing me in. The best thing is that it realstes to real life situations with relationships, friends, and basically everyday life. Pick it up as soon as you can because it truly won't dissapoint. The best

this book cotains hundreds of photo's of paintings, drawings and refrences photo's of tim hildebrants artwork. It also cotains the original sketches of the paintings of lord of the rings paintings. highly recommended.

I hadn't actually heard of the Hildebrandt brothers,but got this book for the simple fact that it bore the name of Tolkien.I opened it up and there it was,scenes I pictured in my head were now right in front of me,in richly painted acrylic colors,with moods of sadness,fear,peace,and courage.I recommend this book and give it five stars!Get it come on you know you want to....

The Bros. Hildebrandt were *the* Tolkien artists of my youth, and even today, when I find my own artistic interpretion of the scenes varies so much from theirs, I still deeply appreciate what they did, and am thrilled to see their calendar work -- with the associated sketches and model photos -- reproduced here.

The childhood anecdotes by the author -- son of one of the Brothers -- are occasionally interesting, more often annoying. But the art itself remains glorious.

As any Brothers Hildebrandt fan knows, Greg and Tim's first Tolkein calender went on to become a worldwide bestseller. Some of the art,such as Unexpected Party or Gandalf with the Balrog was simply brilliant. Some of it looks dated today such as the hideous 1976 granny dress that Galadriel wears or the Sgt. Pepper mustache on Aragorn and the silly looking Fell beasts ridden by Nazgul who look like they're about to fall off at any minute. Oh well. Nobody got out of the 70s without some style howlers. Laugh at the funny stuff and be awed by the great.

One of the strongest and most charming elements of the book is the descriptions from Greg Hildebrant's son who was five when the brothers began working on the calenders. Young Greg's memories are full of wonder that's in keeper with what his uncle and father were working on. It's not all sweetness and light however, young Greg remembers that toward the middle of the project things got increasingly difficult in the studio. The pressures of the deadline, creative disagreements and artistic disappointments (Among other things the brothers didn't have time to do a huge battle scene that they'd planned) and the need to do separate projects are all mentioned.

Besides all three Hildebrandt calenders, the book has pictures of privately commissioned works (some of which are better than the orginal paintings), prelim sketches, and photos of the models. If you loved the work of the brothers or have just discovered it this will be a highly entertaining treat for you.

I loved the Hildebrandts' art as a kid, and I appreciate being able to revisit it in this handsome volume. Engaging scenes, fabulous detail, vivid colors, and some of the best Tolkien paintings ever (the Ring of Galadriel, Old Man Willow, the Pillars of the Kings, Saruman and the Palantir). Their influence can be seen in many subsequent interpretations of Tolkien (compare the Hildebrandts' "Eowyn and the [left-handed] Nazgul" with the same scene in the 2004 Ted Nasmith calendar) and in much "generic" fantasy art.

But... Some of the earlier works have odd perspective (check out the chimney in "Gandalf visits Bilbo"). The hobbits look like children (the 5-year-old Greg Hildebrandt Jr. was the model). Shadowfax just fell off the carousel. Treebeard is a cartoon. Rivendell looks like a gingerbread house. Smaug appears to be made of plastic. The Nazgul fly around on rubber chickens (really, that's what they used as the model). And Aragorn's mustache! Perhaps it looked majestic in the 70s, but now it's just laughable.

It is interesting to see the sketches (some of which are superior to the final painting) and reference photos. The text is annoyingly told from the author's perspective as a 5-year-old model, but contains some amusing nuggets like the rubber chicken fell beast. I didn't think much of the pullout poster -- it's certainly not their best work. Still, on balance I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Tolkien (unless you already have the calendars).

I bought this for my 10 year old son and he loved it. My 14 year old and I also read it and we agree, it's a winner. The pictures are great and its packed with information for any new hamster owner. If you are adding a hamster to your home, get this book!

This book is fun for children and adults. It gives much much information about caring for hamsters that can really be of use. Take it from me; this book has helped me so much! It talks about your hamster's needs and wants, "do"s and "don't"s, breeding, cage information and much more! This book is highly recommended by me.

I bought this book for my daughters 9th birthday because we decided to let her get a hamster. The book is very informative, has bright colorful pictures, and simply makes you want to read it! My daughter read the entire book in one setting, as did I. I liked the fact that each chapte focuses on the child reading the book, explaining everything in simple terms and then on the very last page of the chapter there is a just for parents list of everything that was covered in the chapter. I know I learned a few things from reading this book and I'm sure you child will too!

I'm huge Hamtaro fan (Anime and Manga). I had been a Hamtaro fan for about a year or more when my best friend decided to get a hamster of her own. I went to a sleepover and had met her new hamster "Harmony" named after Harmony in the 2nd Hamtaro game and future character in the Hamtaro Anime Series. With that her parnets had got her this Hamster Care Book. I only looked at a few pages and I really enjoyed it. A month later, after begging, my mom finally got me a hamster (Who's name is "Bijou"). She didn't get me any books because I had already researched about Hamsters and my brother had one a few years ago (But my brother didn't know how to take care of him). I decided to buy and borrow Hamster Care Books to gether more information about Hamsters. Along one of these books, I finally got the Hamtaro Hamster Care Book and I loved it more then the other books I had collected. My little cousin (Who's 5) who's planning on getting a hamster had looked at the book and understood it right away (Without me explaining any thing). I highly suggest this to any Hamtaro fan, hamster fan, animal fan, or someone who getting a hamster.

When I found a review of this book on hamsterific I thought it was a book about the cartoon Hamtaro, but I was wrong. It's filled with very good hamster information that's easy to read, but still more comprehensive than other hamster books I've read.
Hamtaro is just there as eye-candy.
This book is fantastic, the authors really seem to have a different, more serious perspective on hamster care.

"This book is intended for researchers, practicing engineers, and students who wish to understand and / or develop fingerprint-based recognition systems." So the introduction, and right they are. The authors have chosen a more informal style, but still give some of the Mathematics necessary. The references are extensive and ultimately the reader will have to go to them to make a contribution.

I would recommend buying this book with "Automatic Fingerprint Recognition Systems" by Ratha and Bolle (ed.) It would be hard for me to make a decision between these two books.

Lo recomiendo si desean implementar nuevos algoritmos para reconocimiento de huellas dactilares y/o una revision a profundidad de como funcionan los metodos existentes.

Imprescindible concimiento de gradientes y algoritmos digitales en el tratamiento de imagenes.. para comprender el contenido.

This book first describes the different biometric systems that exist. It describes different methods of acquiring the fingerprints and the advantages and drawbacks from each method. Then it handles the different analysis methods for fingerprints in depth. The matching algorithms that are known with their evaluation is handled throughly with their indexing and classification methods. It discusses methods for fingerprint evaluation with the databases of NIST on DVD and the software sfinge for artificially making the fingerprints.

The part that is really new is the multimodal biometric system and performance measures of these systems. It also handles the individuality of fingerprints themselves and finally it gives an overview of methods for attacking fingerprints systems (denial of service, fake fingers, trojan horses, replay but also the electronic storage systems behind them). If you are in biometrics and also in forensic science, you certainly should consider reading this book.

This book is a "must". Very useful for my research on Biometrics and Multibiometrics Systems. No wonder this book received the 2003 PSP Award (Computer Science) from the Association of American Publishers.

The applications of Biometrics technology range from federated identity management to digital rights management, time and attendance, background checking, and homeland security. None of the biometric characteristics has received more attention till date than fingerprints. Fingerprint recognition is the most cost effective and accurate biometrics, which is evident from its rapid deployment in the widest range of security applications.

This book contains a plethora of information on every aspect of fingerprint recognition technology - introduction to biometrics and fingerprints, fingerprint sensing devices, feature extraction, matching, classification, synthetic fingerprint generation, multimodal systems, secure design, fingerprint individuality - you name it. The DVD accompanying this book will save you a lot of money and trouble of collecting your own data to test your algorithms.

The authors of this book - Davide Maltoni, Dario Maio, Salil Prabhakar, and Anil K. Jain - are undoubtedly some of the most well known and respected experts in the world on the topic of fingerprint recognition. It is no surprise that such extraordinary researchers have produced such an exceptional masterpiece.

Whether you are an inventor, developer, practitioner, forensic specialist, or system manager in this field looking for an excellent reference or just a novice looking for basic information on biometrics and fingerprint recognition technology, you must read this outstanding book.

I'll have to say that this artist has a way with the graphic art form that I feel few others have demontrated thus far in the genre. The sincerity conveyed through simplicity in order to portray a wonderful series of elements that characterise the human condition is refreshing...not to mention that zombies, mummies and monsters in general NEED to be in our lives!

I just found a first edition of this wonderful story and I must say that after reading Dylan Horrock's small quote on the rear cover I was quite interested.

I lost my childhood friend to suicide three years ago and this story, while not similar in that fate, really helped me see what I have been holding inside. Guilt is a terrible suitcase, one not easily discarded, but it's nice to see no one is alone.

I knew little of the book before literally stumbling onto it and I am very glad I did. It now sits in my large collection of comics and such and will be one of my favorite conversation pieces in my local comic shop in weeks to come. I highly recommend it to all!

"Hey, Wait.." TP, is a book conceived and drawn both by Jason.This terse graphic novella uses no words,but all-pantomine.It is an allegorical genre, tackling by stretching out gradually the life of a young boy leading up, maturing & his becoming of a young man.

My givings of this short precis` is about two pubescent boys spending jovially on one of there school summer vacations. The twosome literally smell the happy air of there school-free environment, exuberantly eating the ticking time heedfully the rest of there holliday lives, & they just simply wallow the concurrent moments of what in store for them during these cherished times. However one day, a fortutious event diverges the path they both tread for the rest of there lives permanently. The other one simply could not accept the happenstance what predestined by fate. So he cope with it antipathetically as his life sinks spirally to the toilet, & as well, he tries to endure this guilt for the remainder of his adult life.

Essentially, this comic book is broken down to two halves. The first chapter is all about exploring fully the childhood lives of these two young boys. While the latter half shown us by sifting through the lives of the protagonists & that wretched and tragedic repercussions. By the way, this book utilizes anthropomorphic characters or in other words, uses animals as oppose to humans as way to smoothly deliver the story as what the author intended it to be.

Jason is a very talented & well-rounded comic book creator. he artfully etched out the story to life with his true-to-life and accurate rendition of diverse & realistic emotions of each circumstances upon dictated spontaneously by the story itself. The story turns out very profound in the dimensions of emotions and rich in psychological dealings,at least in reference to subtle, not blatant aspects. Likewise,the story is very poignant, dark & melancholic, heartbreaking and ultimately, heart-rending.

However, the grandest talent of Jason based by critique-ing this work, is his ability to leverage panels to his pluses per page (6 panels a page). He skillfully by fully delineating lucidly the essences to fruition such as those articulated prior, such as the psychological, emotional, and allegorical ranges. Most of the times, his panels do not even show people nor any interactions, neither a situation at all.Ironically, merely illustrated a tree or any object for that matter & completed, then presenting to us, only the tree & its environment for example, for all 6 panels, with the author sole purpose to starkly immersing the reader to every inch of significant emotions & other nuances of what Jason deemed neccessary & clever.

This slender graphic novella constitutes only for 64 pages, all in B&W & comic book format, softbounded & with sturdy frontage cover. A good buy and a "must own".

A bonafide, quasi literary piece of work. In the same breath alongside "Maus" by. Art Spiegelmann; "Four Women" by. Sam Kieth; "To the Heart of the Storm" by. Will Eisner & " A Jew in Communist Prague" by. Vittorio Giardino.

Highly recommended for story, price and Jason.

Jason's comic coming-of-age story has many gems. His simplistic style and steady pacing with the use of the same comic panels on every page forge a universe made of a very personal visual language. The lines between adulthood and childhood are clearly drawn (so to speak): adults are tired, working-class that rarely smile as they tread the streets on stilts; the two kids in the story have boundless imagination and their world is populated by undead bullies and comic monsters.

The second part does not read as cleverly as the first, though done with the same care. The symbolism of the first half is only seen when the main character hits his lowest ebb. Its not clear why this character is made to suffer so much as his guilt succumbs to an unsatisfying life. Jason's very linear narrative could have used a little more complexity on this end but is otherwise a work that strikes a dark chord in regards to lost innocence and lost life and the parallels between the two.

Jason, Hey, Wait... (Fantagraphics, 2001)

Graphic novel artist Jason made a huge splash with this slim volume when it first came out a few years back. It's pretty easy to see why; with a minimum of dialogue and a ot of abstraction, Jason paints a deeply affecting pastiche.

The story concerns two childhood friends who decide to start a fan club. While they're planning out the initiation, something goes horribly wrong, and the rest of the book deals with one friend's lifelong reaction to a life-changing event.

Hey, Wait... is unflinching. If you haven't yet come to the world of graphic novels, this is a great place to start; even the toughest critics of graphic novels, I should think, would be hard-pressed to deny the emotional power of this little tale (and it certainly puts to bed the idea that all comics are for kids). **** ½

"OVER 400 HIRSCHFELD DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS MANY NEVER BEFORE COLLECTED
Essays by Whoopi Goldberg, Arthur Miller, Mel Gussow, Kurt Vonnegut, Grace Mirabella, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, and Nina!

Commentary by Hirschfeld Throughout.
[from the book of the back cover of the jacket]

What a joy of a book. Not just the great grafics but very interestng information about the Great Hirschfeld

I really enjoyed looking through this book. I am absolutely in love with theater and I love seeing how he depicts all of my favorite shows and actors. He's been through the "Golden Age" of theater and has also done so much work for modern entertainment. I also have tons of fun looking for all the hidden "Nina"s. Just in case you might not know what I'm talking about, let me explain. After his daughter was born, Hirschfield began hiding her name in his drawings. The number by his "signiture" indicates the number of "Nina"s in the drawing. "Nina" is also written all in caps. Because of this, this book is not going to be just some ordinary coffee table book that only his fans might check out. It could also be a great deal of amusement for those who like to play the kind of "Where's Waldo" games.

Al Hirschfeld rose above titles like "cartoonist" and "illustrator", and every other tag specifically applied to visual artists who inject design and humor into their work. His intelligent blend of the caricaturist's eye and the designer's sense of the beauty in flat forms add up to an entirely unique contribution to twentieth century popular culture- and a highly influential one. His recent passing at age 99 marks the end of the century that he witnessed and commented upon so wittily and so stylishly. His legions of admirers (and imitators) will be well served by this 1999 book, assembled by the artist himself, with an excellent selection from his career, his invaluable commentary, and a fairly satisying selection of his amazing (and less celebrated) color work. The reproductions are fine here, and the volume is designed and presented well. It can only be hoped that more comprehensive releases and reissues of earlier books are in the near future.

Here is the indispensible Hirschfeld book - a must for any fan of his work, or of line in general. From his earliest pieces, all the way through his long career with New York theatre, his work is showcased - and done so through his eyes. Each piece is described by this great artist - his inspirations, methods, and thoughts. I cannot imagine a better way to present his wonderful drawings, and I am so very, very thankful that this collection was printed before his death. Although, yes, the work would show just as beautifully without, his commentary alongside each piece just opens up an entirely new viewpoint. This is a truly timeless book, and I highly recommend it.