Art Books

I bought up a bunch of puzzle books of all types to keep my mind active after having foot surgery. By far this is my favorite. I have never seen anything quite like it. If you like the games Clue or Masterpiece both of which I do then this is the book for you.

You get to learn the history and facts of very famous works of art. You then become a dectitive and have to figure out which prints are fakes and which are real and who forged them.

It comes with a plastic magnifying glass. You make a chart and head out to find who done it. It is challenging enough for an adult to have fun but I am sure very doable for children too.

Adults don't think these are just for kids. Great for keeping your mind sharp.

Perfect gift for the child with an interest in art and a love of reading.

Our kids love solving mystery games. They seem to be having a lot of fun with this book, but getting them started was a little slow: there is a clue-tracker sheet that one must create before moving on with the book and, for some reason, our girls (9 and 12) seemed a little put off by this task. But, now they have done that and seem very engrossed in the art scandal.

My only recommendation is to 1. Maybe plan to help your kids create this clue-tracker sheet or, 2. The publisher should include it as a tear-out item in the book (which probably adds to production cost).

I have found that this book sets the stage for helping children to really look at art. The "fraud puzzle" presented in the book makes the children really spot unique techniques of the artists in several different styles. They are able to see what makes one style of art unique from others over the centuries as styles changed.

This book was a lot of fun for my son and I. Readers are told that four gangs of forgers have replaced most of an art museum's paintings, and only we can help figure out which are real and which are forged. Using a magnifying glass, you compare 8" by 5" four color paintings to 4" by 4" originals, looking for changes (such as missing items or objects with different coloration). This allows you to fill in a chart which allows you to deduce the forgers, the snitch and the unchanged paintings, thereby saving the museum. 34 painintgs are here, by Van Eyck, Piero, Uccello, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo, Gossaert, Massys, Holbein, Marinus, Brueghel, Avercamp, Brugghen, Rembrandt, Steenwyck, Velde, Hooch, Vermeer, Chardin, Perronneau, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, Watteau, Os, Delaroche, Ingres, Morisot, Degas, Monet, Rousseau, Seurat, Van Gogh and Picasso. Each painting is accompanied by a couple of paragraphs about the artist and the painting. We both enjoyed finding the mistakes, filling out the chart and solving the puzzle; the game also stimulated a discussion of painting and artists. It took us a few sessions to solve everything, but it was enjoyable time. I would buy other books by this author.

Ken Hultgren's animal drawing book is by far the best I've ever seen. The drawings are not only beautiful and full of life but rich in anatomical information as well. Studying and copying these drawings, combined with a few trips to the zoo and a horse ranch, enhanced my awareness of animal anatomy and movement enormously.
I used this book as my primary resource for modeling, rigging, animating a horse in Maya. It's a great asset for animators, modelers, sculptors -- artists of any sort-- or anyone who loves animals and good drawings.

Excellent art reference for the developing artist who wants to understand animal anatomy and motion.

The book has lots of great drawing. I wish it had more explanations. But I still love it.

if you are studying animal drawing, this is one of the best books ever. this concentrates on the motion and line of action, as well as the construction!

This book is somewhere right between a "How to Draw Animals" book and a detailed anatomy book. It gives you the basics of the muscles for each animal in beautiful, dynamic sketches that take you from drawing static (but proportional) animals to leaping, rolling, fighting animals. If you're really serious, you'll still need a more detailed anatomy book, but for movement (especially of horses and deer and their running patterns) this one is awesome. Just a warning though, the section on dogs is awesome but smaller than the horses, the section on cats is extensive but focuses mostly on big cats, and the section on wolves/foxes/wild dogs is pretty brief - much more of the book is spent on the larger herbivores and some less commonly studied animals like kangaroos, camels, rabbits, and a big section on bears.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R52EG2F6D2TTZ This cover is the most beautiful one of all the Pixar artbooks I've owned. That pastel drawing was done by Ralph Eggleston, production designer.

This book will only enhance that feel-good feeling you have after you watch the movie, probably several times if you have kids.

There are a lot of pastel storyboards drawn for lighting studies. They are incredibly beautiful and you can almost feel the texture to them. The colour theory used for the movie is explained to you by Ralph Eggleston.

The pages are filled with character studies, set designs and lighting studies. Most of the panels were captioned to explain the art direction behind. You'll feel as if you're going on a tour at the Pixar studio, looking at art with artists talking to you.

This book gives you the movie.

This is almost a required purchase if you like Finding Nemo or just beautiful art.

There are some pictures of the book on my blog. Just do a search on "parka blogs finding nemo"

I loved the movie, loved the book. Buy it. Don't hesitate. In years to come this is going to be a classic movie and the book will be valuable as well.

lots of storyboards, beautifully colored concept art and cool character sketches. It's definitely a great art book.

This is another great addition to the Pixar library, great for colour andlighting reference too for artists.

This book does a beautiful job of showcasing the concept art behind the movie. The majority of the art uses pastels as a medium, but there are also examples of pen and ink, pencil sketches, sculpture, digital wire frames, and more. But, if you're looking for actual frames of the finished movie, this is not the product you want.

The thing that sets this title apart from the other "Art of" Pixar books is the quality of the narrative text. All the "Art of" books have wonderful imagery. But, in this book, the text truly immerses the reader into the world of concept art. Conversely, the text in The Incredibles book often goes off on tangents about the director's personal life and events at Pixar. I like how this book keeps the focus on the art.

This is a wonderful book that puts hand and feet to people's caring, sympathy and empathy toward those who are hurting. So helpful in many instances - deaths, divorce, miscarriage, loss of job; this job will tell you practical ways to help, what is helpful to say and do - and what is not. A must read!

Easy to read advice for occasions when one is at a loss for words and how to be truly helpful.

Not knowing what to say or not to say at the right or wrong time is very vital. This book is more of a reference book to minister to others in their time of need. It is especially great if you are talking to others in need on the phone because you can actually read it in your own words what they suggest you say without becoming tongue-tied. It is a great book and that is why I purchased 10 of them for my Bible Study group and they too, all love the help they now have at their fingertips.

This is a must-have book for everyone, but especially every church library. It's a goldmine of information and I include in every chronic illness ministry start up kit because it's so valuable. It's perfect for all of us who want to help but don't know how. Now we know how... we just need to do it!

It's broken down into sections, so is great for a quick reference for any situation. It also includes some of the lesser-talked about losses in life, such as the loss of a pet, or the loss of an unborn child.

I was blessed to have the opportunity to contribute to the section on chronic illness a great deal, but still find myself flipping to that chapter for some fresh ideas when my reaching-out ideas have run dry.

Often in a difficult situation such as divorce or infertility or with elderly parents or any type of loss, the right words don't seem to be there. You are trying to write a brief note and have nothing to say. What do you do? You want to reach out to this friend or neighbor or family member but you are stuck.

Here's the perfect reference tool. Get this book and have it on your shelf for these types of situations. Everyone needs a copy of Lauren Briggs' book. She will help you know what to do--and what not to do in these key situations of life.

I highly recommend this book.

Is the second time I order a book from amazon and I'm satisficed with the service, I live in other country and i never had a problem.

The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a large, hardback book, and is chock full of information and pictures from the amazing movie by Hayao Miyazaki.

This book begins with hundreds of concept sketches by Miyazaki, containing location scenes and characters with notes. The concept sketches go in order of appearance from the movie, so the concept sketches for Sophie come at the beginning, for example, while the concept sketches for Human Turnip show up near the end. There are thousands of gorgeous location scenes as well plus short bios on some of the creators of the movie and a few articles that discuss the creaters' experiences working on the film. Also, at the very end is the complete final screenplay to read through. The screenplay has a few minor changes in it from where the English actors improvised a little (especially Billy Crystal), but otherwise, is exactly from the movie.

Being a student of film and the arts, I found this book extremely helpful and interesting, because it showed the creative process of a huge movie. I would definitely recommend it to any film or arts students to browse through if they wan to get an idea of what kind of work it takes to create such a monumental film!

The only qualm I have with this book is that there were hundreds of screenshots. Not that that's bad, especially if you want to buy this book to revisit the movie, but I would like to have seen a few more sketches and whatnot, or at least a few more articles on how the particular scenes with the screenshots were made.

That aside, I fell in love with this book and was enchanted from front cover to back cover.

This book opens a world of anime art like none other. Primary characters & secondary characters are carefully drawn out and walk through a world & story created for them. As a professional artist, I found great interest in the prelimiary drawings straight through the setting concepts. This is also a great book for fans of the movie. If you loved the movie, you will love this book.

I totally enjoyed the layout and discussion in this book. I have been a Miyazaki fan ever since, "My Neighbor Totoro" which I saw when I lived in Japan. If you relish animation and all the details of this art form, you'll like the format and attention this book gives.

Janine Bolon, Financial Coach, Radio Talk Show Host, author of "Money...It's Not Just for Rich People!" available on amazon. Money...It's Not Just for Rich People!

If you loved the movie, you will love this book, The Art of Howl's Moving Castle it's hard cover, with original sketches, storyboards and the final screenplay!

The book explains every step of the complex story, from the original book adaptation to the final movie. Also have quotes and articles from creators of each process (designers, art directors, supervising animators, etc.) It's like seeing the movie scene by scene with artist commentaries.

This is a great book for all people trying to pray without ceasing. I could not read this though cover to cover, I had to take it a little at a time. For me, it answered questions I had about the Jesus Prayer. If you do buy this book and are not familiar with the Jesus Prayer I highly reccomend first reading "The Way of the Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way."

Beautiful, simple, instructive, and wise, this is one of the books you want to open daily... and should! An invaluable and sure guide for the life of prayer.

A beautiful book full of amazing treasures of spiritual insight.Reading this book and books of today on prayer do not seem to be even about the same subject. This authur is communing with God not looking for "a personal relationship with Jesus"

This is a classic book on how to pray with mind and heart. It is used by our church for a weekly class discussion and review. The popularity of this class is highly rated by those attending.

For getting prayer from the heart in your life, this is a great beginning.

in as few words as possible i would like to say that this is like a bible for me - i have just started reading it and already i can feel the sheer power in its utter humility - the way in which the use of prayer is explained to be the essence of any method or practice is unique in it's directness - i have not read a book on Christian Prayer or any Christian book for that matter which covers simply and unswervingly, what i call, the Heart of All Religion - i have always been scared by the word 'orthodox'...until now - now i understand what the word means to me - i recommend this book over any other like it - i guarantee you will not be displeased - now for the practice...

"Pray without ceasing" (5:17)

Having read most of the other books about Audrey Hepburn, a woman whom I respect and admired since my youth, I chose this particular one by Mr.Paris as the most engaging (besides the book by Sean Ferrer which I thought was essential). I could never tire of anything A.H., with that being said it was important to me that I had a sense of how she lived. This book was hard to put down and wasn't full of colorful writing like some of the other so-called biographies done on her. For me, it brought me closer to this person as if she were someone I knew personally and combined with her son's book provided me with an insight into the world that was Audrey. She was and still remains a huge inspiration for me, and this book should be read by every young 'actor' out there today. Kudos to Mr.Paris!

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was born in Brussels the daughter of a Dutch woman and an English father. She was raised in Arnhem Holland suffering through the Nazi occupation. Audrey was a thin, sensitive child who excelled at ballet.
As a young woman she migrated to London appearing in British films until she was exploded into fame with her first US film
Roman Holiday (for which she won as Oscar as Best Actress)
Hepburn appeared in such films as "Charade"; "My Fair Lady"
(her singing voice being dubbed by Marni Nixon"; "Two for the
Road"; "Breakfast at Tiffanys"; "Sabrina: "Robin and Marion" :
"Wait Until Dark" and several other films.
Her gamin pixish face and figure was a revelation in the 50s era of Monroe, Ava Gardner; Sophia Loren and other well endowed film goddesses.
Audrey had a long but troubled marriage with stolid Mel Ferrer and had other husbands and a few affairs along the way most notably with film star Albert Finney.
She worked with such noted directors as Willie Wyler, George
Cukor and Stanley Donet. She lived in Switzerland in an isolated
village where she raised children and loved animals.
There is little dirt to plow in these pages1 Audrey was an
adorable and kind person! Her work with starving children on behalf of the UN is heartwarming.
Barry Paris (previous biographer of Louise Brooks and Greta
Garbo) does a fine job in this well documented biography.
The most exciting chapter deals with life in Holland during
the horrible Nazi occupation,
This is a good biography of the film star.

A book so well researched and written that it flows like a meandering river. The prose is wonderful. Very difficult to stop reading the book until the reading is completed.

May Audrey Hepburn be in the Kingdom of God as I surely want to meet her and talk with her.

A biographer shouldn't lower your opinion of the person they're writing about (as if you could ever
have a low opinion of Audrey Hepburn!) and Barry Paris certainly does a brilliant job of depicting
Audrey's life from age 15 until her death (age 64). The author blends his words so you don't loose
interest even once. The book has lots of quotes, from and about Audrey, and several pictures of
her throughout her life. There isn't a down side to this book, except for a few subjects where the author
should have elaborated on a bit more than he did. You can clearly see that Audrey was a truly
wonderful person, a real lady. After you read about what a hard childhood she had, in the middle
of WW2 and the miscarriages she suffered and basically being deprived of love from her parents,
it is amazing that she was still such a beautiful person, a beautiful soul. She traveled to countries to
help dying people and did things that few other people would do...she seems to have been an
angel, and certainly was to several people. This is a book that you don't need to read before buying, it's wonderful.

What is the true test of a biographer's skill? Creating a riviting, insightful book about a subject who had no scandal in her life and who seems to have be beloved by everyone. Material that, in lesser hands, could have been saccherine or written with the usual "movie star bio" template is instead moving, wise, very informative, and beautifully written. Check out Mr. Paris' other biographies of Garbo and especially Louise Brooks for more great writing.

I dont want to ruin the book for you. If you loved the show then buy the book. I got it for my wife as a birthday present. Enjoy its funny.

This book is super fun! It has tons of awesome details about the writer and the story's background. Lots of pictures from the show. And I really enjoyed reading the whole script! It's all in here! From "It Sucks to be Me" to "You Can be as Loud as the Hell You Want" to "For Now"! The entire script is there so you can make sure you didn't miss anything from the show!

The only problem with this book is: you may be picking monster hair out of your mouth when you read it! This book is super hairy! But it's all part of the fun!

After seeing the touring version of AVE Q, I had to get this book. It has become my favorite show ranking over Phantom of the Opera and Les Miz. (I nerver thought that would be possible.) The book is colorful, full of fun information and most important the full text of the show. Lots of pictures and interviews including other casts besides the original Broadway cast.

As for the mentions of the orange fur shedding, I immediately sprayed both covers with a couple coats of hair spray and it has not shed at all.

Only fault I have is the book was published before the tour so no pictures of that excellent cast headed by the wonderful Rob McClure.
Don't wait BUY THIS BOOK!

Fun and whimsical, this book servers as a great "coffee table" companion to the play itself. It contains the usual info about the creation of the show and its original cast, as well as the full script. If I've any criticism, it's with the "furry" orange cover, which, though fun, tends to shed.

The show was great - the book is wonderful with the lyrics and such. The key downside to the book is that it sheds.

this book is great.You know My auntie just sent me this book and just handled it.You know i can't buy books about backstreetboys,(but maybe i do,but it's hard for me to find one because i'm from the philippines) but luckily i've had a nice auntie in the U.S. who've sent me this book.But you know i'm really worried 'coz my auntie sent it through mail,so i'm afraid it won't come because some BAD people(philippines) just get it if they found it beutiful for them,so i kept on praying and hoping that the book will be sent to me,and luckily i did. I really recommend this G-R-E-A-T B-O-O-K

this book is the best book on the Backstreet Boys that i have ever read. there is a bio on each of the guys, LOTS of hott pics-including younger pics and shirtless pics- and behind the scenes stuff. there are also stories of the pranks that they play on each other and of accidents and funny stuff that happened onstage. every BSB fan should have this book. it is worth every cent and worth getting! i love Brian soo much, he is soo hott and soo sweet! keep the Backstreet pride alive ya'll!

This book is the best!!! I'm a AJ fan and all of the pictures of him are great!!! A must have for any BSB fan!!!!!!!!

i love this book as i said, i realy love the pic's on nick they are soooo beautiful and i love the info, and the pic's on the others of coures but nick most, you must get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best book i have ever read.It tells you everything you need to know about Backstreet. It also gives you their biography,and some of their secerts.So if you haven't read it you better get it=)

This manga is unsophisticated in its artwork, storytelling, and politics. Yet that very lack of sophistication seems to me to be what gives it power that probably could only otherwise be generated by poetry, or perhaps opera.

You might as well go ahead and buy the four volumes in this series now, to save time & postage. Then you can wait, like I am waiting, in the hope that Project Gen manages to publish the next six volumes in the series.

Note: there is at least one prior English edition of Barefoot Gen, and the volume contents are not the same as in the latest edition. So if, for example, you buy volume 3 of the earlier edition (1979), you will find that it overlaps the latter part of volume 2 of the current edition (issued in 2004.) The volume titles seem to be the same in each edition, so things can get confusing if you don't stick with the same edition. If you buy used, pay attention to which edition you are getting.

According to Wikipedia, these are the published & projected volumes in the current English translation series of Barefoot Gen:

* Barefoot Gen #1: A Cartoon Story Of Hiroshima (ISBN 0-86719-602-5)
* Barefoot Gen #2: The Day After (ISBN 0-86719-619-X)
* Barefoot Gen #3: Life After The Bomb (ISBN 0-86719-594-0)
* Barefoot Gen #4: Out Of The Ashes (ISBN 0-86719-595-9)
* Barefoot Gen #5: The Never-Ending War (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195967)
* Barefoot Gen #6: Writing the Truth (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195975)
* Barefoot Gen #7: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #8: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #9: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #10: (Not published in English)

Barefoot Gen - I grew up with this famous comic series by Nakazawa. It's about a boy called 'Gen' and his life in Hiroshima during the WWII and soon after the atomic bomb. Volumes 1 & 2 are probably the most important ones. After I read them in English, I just had to lend them to everyone I knew. If you read this story, you'll realise how silly to hear some popular opiniton 'Dropping two atomic bombs in Japan was necessary to end the war'. The author Nakazawa says that each and every event illustrated here is a true story. You'll see, for example, that two young brothers fight against each other for a little grain of rice. Gen trying to encourage a girl who used to be dreaming about one day becoming a professional dancer, but now her face was badly burnt by the bomb, although she still didn't know it - he refuses to let her see the mirror.

The bombs were dropped onto civilians in the two cities, and, in Hiroshima alone, 100,000 people, including children, elderly people and western prisoners of war, were killed instantly, and the pain they suffered from it was tremendous. The way some of Gen's family members, including a new born baby sister, were slowly dying is simply too sad to look at. But the reality is that it actually took place and was caused by human hands.

I sincerely hope that many people will find the opportunity to read this book at least once in their life-time, and I strongly believe that this book will enlighten the whole world with the message: 'What really happens when a nuclear bomb is dropped onto humanity', which hasn't really been talked about in history books for some reason. But I think it's time to face reality.

The manga form of presentation makes reading about the prelude to this event easy and fast. The book seemed to be reasonably accurate with historical documentation and the visual format allowed the author to include detail that might otherwise have become difficult to work into the story. The clothing, clogs, air raid hoods, etc. that are be depicted add depth of information to a quick read.

Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen (New Society Publishing, 1983)

Keiji Nakazawa's four-volume graphic epic Barefoot Gen has become legendary in the field of graphic literature, and also, in no small way, out of it. While many Japanese artists working in every medium have examined the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their aftereffects, Nakazawa, who lived in Hiroshima at the time the bombs were dropped, has an understandably closer perspective than most others who have tried it. For sheer power, Barefoot Gen's only rival in the subgenre is the similarly legendary Grave of the Fireflies.

This eponymous first volume takes us through the life of Gen, an elementary school student, and his family in the months before the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Gen's father, while not a pacifist, is notorious in town for his speaking out against the war, which gets him and his family branded traitors. Because of this, they don't have an easy life. The family members try to find various ways to survive in the face of shunning at best, and aggression at worst, from the rest of the townspeople.

Do you need to be told that this is a book that's going to hit you in the face like a sledgehammer with its message? The artistry, or lack of same, in the delivery is the place where Grave of the Fireflies is clearly superior to Barefoot Gen, but while Nakazawa is not above letting his message get in the way of his story on occasion, it never happens for too long a period of time. Nakazawa's characters are well-drawn, and the story spends more time focused on its characters than on its message. There is a lot to be liked here, and a good deal to be mulled over, as well. Well worth your time. ****

In our present time this portal to the topic of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and our nature as the only nation to build and to use nuclear weapons, and against strictly civilian population centers may inform our moral consideration of the present failure of our total war alone against civilians to establish a peaceful and stable and democratic society.

This present volume serves as an excellent introduction to the topic. Centering on Hiroshima, as may supplement this strong introductory reading with the recent study by Prof. Takaki, or the new Racing the Enemy, which explores the lack of military reason for dropping the Bomb against an already defeated Japanese Empire. We may also read on this specific event of crisis the moving Letters from the End of the World, or HIroshima Diary, written as was Gen by eyewitnesses and civilian victims of this our nuclear holocaust. Hershey is also important to read of course, and the reissue of Hiroshima Mon Amour, but I keep returning to this child's eye view in Barefoot Gen.

We are fortunate in this reprinting for the informed and astute introduction by Art Spiegelman, the creator of the Maus series which does a similar though more symbolic treatment of the Nazi Holocaust. Art strongly recomends this first person account of a small boy on the morning of the Bomb, and its immediate effects upon himself and upon his family. Please read this book and remember. Our Popes continue to visit the Peace Park at Ground Zero in Hiroshima, to pray for peace and nonviolence and for the development of peoples.