Best Digital Art
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout® 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim®, welcome you to the world of Fallout® 4 - their most ambitious game ever, and the next generation of open-world gaming. Creators of the 2006 'Game of the Year', The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® , the 2008 'Game of the Year', Fallout® 3 , the 2011 'Game of the Year', The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® , and most recently the highly-anticipated upcoming title, Fallout® 4 , Bethesda Game Studios has earned its reputation as one of the industry's most respected and accomplished game development studios.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It has the exact same quality as a school textbook build and paper wise."
"By far the best video game artbook I have seen."
"The size, detail, and quality of this book can't really be described, you have to purchase it for yourself. For those of you who purchased the Collector's Edition Game Guide, and were impressed by that, let me say...the Art Collection will blow you away. High quality, high definition, colorful prints of every aspect and facet of Fallout 4 is detailed through the pages of this book."
"I particularly enjoyed going over some of the pages with a magnifying glass to see all the little intricate details of things like costumes, weapons, and robots, and seeing details that could never be included in the game without ballooning the already massive file sizes to something impossible to load. Some of the costume design and weapons seem similar, more so in the concept art than even in the game itself, between Fallout and Star Wars. It is obvious from their descriptions despite knowledge that many of their detailed brainstorms and concept art wouldn't make it into the final game that they were having fun just making them."
"I adore video game art books, and this was no exception."
"I've been a Fallout fan for a while now, and I've always admired the design work that goes into the games regardless of how good the games themselves are."
"Some art books have very thin paper and it feels like you're going to tear it, or it won't soak up the ink correctly. Which if you've spent the money on an art book of this nature you don't need the story retold. Thousands of images of concept art, from matte paintings for setting of cities and the wastelands down to comic book covers. The paper of the book is so good and stiff that it ended up hurting my finger after turning the pages on the way through!"
In addition to hundreds of games created for arcades, home video systems, and computers, original artwork was specially commissioned to enhance the Atari experience, further enticing children and adults to embrace and enjoy the new era of electronic entertainment. "For me, revisiting the beautiful artwork presented in this book is almost as good as taking a trip in Doc Brown's time machine back to that halcyon era at the dawn of the digital age. "Having worked in the entertainment field as a consultant in Pop Culture, I have seen with my own eyes the destruction of original assets in favor of digital conversions to save corporations time and money on long-term storage. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Museum of Video Game Art (MOVA), and is dedicated to chronicling the intersection of design and pop culture.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The perfect coffee table book and one I won't be putting down for a while. Oh, Also there is also small bios on the artist and a quick history of the Atari consoles with some industrial design art of the models."
"I worked at Atari for a few years in the 70's and 80's and this book has alot of Atari art that I remember and some that I don't."
"The artwork on the boxes, the game manuals, the stories to pull you into the game just made it an incredible experience all around."
"There is so much more here than simple cover and manual art (mock-ups, unreleased takes, creator profiles, and a truly outstanding section on prototypes which highlights the Cosmo holographic console."
"Brings back tons of childhood memories, I was always enamored by the excellent artwork on the old titles and this coffee table book covers virtually every 2600 game and extends well into the 5200 and the early 400/800 series."
"I had an instant geek moment when I pulled the book out of the hardcover case and felt the texture that matches the classic Atari games."
"Great book, great read and tons of nostalgia!"
"Spending all of my spare change in the arcade during the days, I'd come home and play my Atari for hours before bedtime: Dodge 'Em, Night Driver, and Combat were my first."
With this video book, you'll learn how to instantly find any picture in your library, fix common photography problems, clean up your images, add pop to boring pictures, retouch portraits, make gorgeous prints, create photo books, and even edit your home videos. If you prefer reading, the book is concise and practical, and each chapter links to relevant videos when you want to understand a topic more deeply or see it used in the real world. You can learn more about Tony by following him on Twitter (@TonyNorthrup) or emailing him at tony@northrup.org.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A while later, and mostly out of curiosity, I also decided to get Tony's LR book, the predecessor to this one, and WOW, what a difference! Tony's speaking/writing style is conversational and, with the video parts, you just feel like you are sitting in the room with him while he explains things with hands on examples. In the ebook there is enough text to clearly explain the function Tony is teaching but also the examples are well done. Sure, it covered everything the previous book did but it also clearly notes and teaches the changes in LR6 so you don't sort of have to start over to find them. The original book (with those great, linked videos that double cover each point of learning LR) is reasonably priced, especially in comparison with a couple of the more popular LR books. This book is well written, covers LR very well in a knowledgeable but conversational style, AND has the linked videos. If Amazon let you use an occasional "Super rating" on maybe a 10 star scale, this book gets a 10 on quality, content, features, and value."
"Tony's folksy approach makes this a good choice for non-professionals wanting to learn this product that has a lot of options, many of which weekend shooters can focus less on."
"I am only just getting into it but it seems to be a great book for learning how to use Lightroom."
"This Lightroom book is spot on and truly helped a novice like me get started with organizing and editing my photos."
"This book is very easy to read and comes with tons and tons of videos that compliment the book."
"if you are not familiar with Lightroom this won't take you all the way but will put you in a good basic standing."
"A really good Lightroom tutorial especially when the video are included in the price of the book."
"very informative book....very detailed...and you can go online to see any particular section."
Best Digital Photo & Video Editing
Since Lightroom 1.0 first launched, Scott’s Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers has been the world’s #1 bestselling Lightroom book (it has been translated into a dozen different languages), and in this latest version for Lightroom 6, Scott uses his same award-winning, step-by-step, plain-English style and layout to make learning Lightroom easy and fun. This is where Scott dramatically answers his #1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: “Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in?” You’ll see Scott’s entire start-to-finish Lightroom 6 workflow and learn how to incorporate it into your own workflow. Scott is a photographer, designer, and award-winning author of more than 60 books, including Photoshop for Lightroom Users, Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop, Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It: Learn Step by Step How to Go from Empty Studio to Finished Image, The Adobe Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers, and The Digital Photography Book, parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. His books have been translated into dozens of different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Taiwanese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Arabic, Swedish, Turkish, Hebrew, and Portuguese, among others, and he is a recipient of the prestigious ASP International Award, presented annually by the American Society of Photographers for “…contributions in a special or significant way to the ideals of Professional Photography as an art and a science.”.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"For example, tonality is one of the key steps in post processing images and the author provides enough detail so that you will not only be able to follow his instructions for dealing with the sample images, but also to understand how the process works. For long-time users of Lightroom, there are a few new functions, and Lightroom is so user friendly that the operation of some of the new functions, like panoramas and HDR, will be intuitive and not require explanation, so that those long-time users might think they don't need this kind of introduction. Experienced users may also find something they didn't know in this book."
"Here's the summary if you're in a hurry: Pros: -Easy to read but very good and detailed information. -Well laid out and organized. -Word searching in the digital version makes finding things a breeze. -A full photo shoot (for the cover of the book) is laid out and described, including the Photoshop editing. It is laid out in the order of things you would encounter if you were a first time user new to the program and to organizing your images. It works for me and I would especially recommend his books to beginners as they have a lot of information in small chunks. The beginning is dedicated to good organizational practices which I partially followed from the last edition. I used to be very casual about my hard drives and use them for a lot of stuff and lost pictures several times. There are a LOT of small tips, which makes reading through the book worthwhile even for those who have used Lightroom before. I found this book full of good ideas and techniques easily explained."
"Lightroom is primarily for professionals who make a lot of photos per day like the author Scott Kelby."
"Very good book for someone who switched from another program to Lightroom 6."
"I cannot find any reference for Window diagrams and this is disappointing as the little blue pull down boxes shown throughout Chapter One do not exist on Windows LR and this would be too confusing to my students."
Best Fractal Mathematics
From the gyrations of IBM's stock price and the Dow, to cotton trading, and the dollar-Euro exchange rate--Mandelbrot shows that the world of finance can be understood in more accurate, and volatile, terms than the tired theories of yesteryear.The ability to simplify the complex has made Mandelbrot one of the century's most influential mathematicians. Benoit B. Mandelbrot is Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University and a Fellow Emeritus at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Laboratory.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As others have said, the author has posed several questions regarding the validity of financial practitioners' existing tools in corporate finance (valuation), options, and portfolio theory."
"I read this out of curiosity."
"Mandelbrot does a good job of describing the inadequacies of the efficient market hypothesis and CAPM and other sacrosanct theories in finance, and he offers for our consideration an alternative view. His view is based on his assertion of reality; namely that the world of finance is turbulent (as indeed, the world is turbulent), and linear tools relying on reliability and rational man will never tell the full story."
"This book does a great job providing a lot of information about why fractal theory is interesting and useful and it does so without using any complicated equations throughout the text."
"It does take him a little while to get to the point but you could also make a strong argument that he's just being thorough in laying the groundwork for the arguments he's making, which contradict a lot of modern finance."
"People don't like false alarms but still use smoke alarms because all they do is beep annoyingly when you burn toast and have little cost impact."
"Lots of postulated contrarian thinking as to what doesn't work in the market analysis."
Best Conceptual Arts
An extraordinary and surreal art book, this edition has been redesigned by the author and includes new illustrations. “…the book really does live up to its reputation: The drawings are in turn hilarious, disturbing, bizarre and, sometimes, just flat-out incomprehensible, but all of them are annotated in Serafini’s script.” - Dangerous Minds “It’s not the sort of thing that easily lends itself to classification, but probably the most accurate way to describe it would be as an encyclopedia of an invented alien civilization…the Codex is still a disorienting and provocative vision of inscrutable otherness.” - Slate.com “ Codex Seraphinianus is an art book in the most direct sense—there are big, beautiful drawings accompanied by indecipherable letterforms--and it is impossible to “read” in a literal way. " Codex Seraphinianus : History’s Most Bizarre and Beautiful Encyclopedia, Brought Back to Life...a weird and wonderful masterpiece of art and philosophical provocation on the precipice of the information age....Undoubtedly one of the most intricate and beautiful art books ever created."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The true author, Serafini claims, is a white cat he found some day as he went back home and lay on his lap as he wrote and drew the codex. It is the kind of object Jorge Luis Borges imagined in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, an artifact from another world that for some reason passed through the cracks of reality into our own. This is how he says the crazy calligraphy of the codex was born: “It was the writing that contained the dreams of several other writings.”. The book is divided in 11 chapters, with themes that can more or less be inferred by the images: flora, fauna, biped creatures, chemistry, culture, mythology, games, architecture, technology and so on."
"My campus library had a copy briefly a decade ago, but foolishly left it open to general circulation."
"A weird and wonderful calendar, and the printing is outstanding."
"Beatifully done calendar based on this amazingly mysterious book."
"Drawn & painted in some alternate n ancient universe where dear reader shall be inthralled in its mystery n excellent paper of that of kings ."
"If you've gotten this far, you know what this book is, but perhaps where I can add value is in describing the Rizzoli (white cover) edition. Though i would prefer a black background over white, it has the red circle ladybug illustration (one of my favorites) on the cover instead of the alligator bestiality illustration that the 1st edition has."
"Transports to a new world."
"You can't help but admire the genius to create a whole civilization, with language, geography, religion, culture and science."
Best Prints Art
The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel's prints, still influence artists and designers to this day. Haeckel was a passionate student of the evolutionary shaping of biological forms, and Art Forms in Nature captures both his artistic sensibility and the scientific rigor he applied to all his studies.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a beautiful and fascinating book."
"Well written and illustrated."
"Love it."
"Gorgeous."
"Nice quality prints of beautiful, trippy, highly impressive artwork."
"The otherworldly art of Haeckel is absolutely mesmerizing in its intricate detail and beauty."
"i wish there was a large print version."
"Very nice book, coffee table size."
Best Glass Art
Tracing the connection between Chihuly’s art and botanical life, Chihuly Garden Installations shows how the exchange between art and nature can shift from the harmonious and tranquil to stunning juxtapositions of scale and color. Also Available: Chihuly 2018 Wall Calendar (ISBN: 978-1-4197-2599-9), Chihuly 2018 Weekly Planner (ISBN: 978-1-4197-2598-2), Chihuly 2019 Wall Calendar (ISBN: 978-1-4197-3093-1), Chihuly 2019 Weekly Planner (Engagement Calendar) (ISBN: 978-1-4197-3094-8). Dale Chihuly is an icon of American art and cofounder of the renowned Pilchuck Glass School outside Seattle.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are lucky enough to see one of his creations in person or visit his 1 "retail" museum/ shop in Florida (or now his very own glass house in Seattle) then you realize how hard it is to capture his utterly unique visions with a camera."
"If you are going to get 1 book from Chihuly, this is it!"
"It is heavy, a perfect coffee table book and my guests have been enthralled with the photos."
"This is an absolutely beautiful book."
"Nice thick quality coffee table book full of beautiful pictures of Chihuly's installations around the world."
"Beautiful book on a coffee table, a lot of colors."
"This was a gift for my daughter, so I haven't actually seen it and my stars are based on her reaction: "It's really big and beautiful.""
"This is a fantastic book."
Best Public Art
An addictive collection of new full-color postcard secrets and app secrets from the author of the smash the #1 New York Times bestselling PostSecret books—with more secrets than any previous PostSecret book! Included in this compelling new book are dozens of the best archived secrets from the original PostSecret app; inside stories about the most controversial secrets Frank Warren has received; moving text from the new PostSecret play, foreign secrets, "puzzle" secrets, and much more!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I've been a MASSIVE fan of Frank Warren and PostSecret long before he started putting "our" secrets together in book-form."
"I've been reading Frank's posts since the beginning and they never fail to amaze, amuse, encourage, and inspire."
"I only wish that Frank Warren would continue publishing books: I give them as gifts annually...except when he doesn't publish them at annual intervals!!!"
"Love the concept, loved hearing Frank Warren speak in DC in April 2016, but this book's binding is awful."
"the post secret books are wonderful."
"If you've read the previous books, you know this is the best."
"I bought three copies of this book this year to give to friends."
"I have enjoyed all of the Post Secret books."
Best Mosaic Art
Discover the magic of mica powders and the regal look they can give to mosaics Learn quick and easy ways of adding paint to handcrafted and commercial tile See how easy it is to create molds and cast your own relief tiles Find ways to add personal meaning to your work with the addition of text tiles Experiment with the addition of beads, jewelry and other embellishments by embedding them right into the tile! Mika has also appeared on HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast and the DIY network's Craft Lab , and has taught workshops at Artfest in Port Townsend, Washington, Art Unraveled in Phoenix, Arizona, and Art and Soul in Dallas.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In all, it's a great bible for polymer clay mosaics, and a really good resource on what materials work in what projects, and where to find them."
"If you are not looking for a mixed media book that is mostly polymer clay projects, then this is not for you."
"It is very clear and perfect for someone who has never worked with polymer clay before - as well as providing inspiration for those who have moved on to more advanced techniques."
"Highly recommend the book and the art of Laurie Mika.Mixed-Media Mosaics: Techniques and Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads & Other Embellishmentska."
"I personally do use a pasta maker to roll my clay, the thin tiles work just fine,I use a water based acrylic varnish and before stamping images into the clay, I "paint" on a little baking soda to eliminate sticking."
"I'd never been particularly interested in mosaics, even though I have extensively explored many of the various components on their own...stained glass, beadwork, polymer clay...I just never thought to put all of them together in this kind of expression."
"I love it!"
"Even seasoned artist will find this book to be a source for renewed and fresh ideas for projects and techniques."
Best Ceramic Art
When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire. In this family history, de Waal, a potter and curator of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, describes the experiences of his family, the Ephrussis, during the turmoil of the 20th century. A somewhat rambling narrative with special appeal to art historians, this account is nonetheless rich in drama and valuable anecdote.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"His efforts with the innumerable German, Viennese and French words in de Waal's book go from bad to comically miserable to utterly mystifying."
"I dread it - but I want to know how some of this family survived and managed to save their one bit of art - a collection of over 200 netsuke.The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss."
"A set of over 200 Netsuke, Japanese figurines of animals, plants and more, hold the souls and voices of his family history – that of the storied Jewish Ephrussis who in late 18th century Odessa started one of Europe’s greatest financial houses that led to enormous wealth and stature in Vienna and Paris."
"The author's quest to personally reclaim the family history of a collection of antique netsuke (of which he is the current owner), is a real page-turner."
"Instead of a predictable tale from Mitteleuropa about lost grandeur, the author takes a (slightly Proustian) shortcut that leads to unexpected and sometimes deeply moving places. One of the illustrious ancestors collected tiny but incredibly intricate Japanese carvings called netsuke used in early modern Japan as toggles for purse strings. Through this device, De Waal manages to both narrate the story of the rise and fall of the Ephrussi and also sketch the myriad objects they owned and collected during their century and a half of eminence."
Best Installation Art
The Art of Seeing explores traditional and contemporary art and artistic media focusing on art as seen from the artist's point of view . Extensively revised and expanded, this best selling exploration of traditional and contemporary art and artistic media focuses on art as seen from the artists' point of view treating artistic techniques and introductory aesthetic principles.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Now I love art and feel no intimidation when approaching forms of art new to me."
"I like this book enough to keep it in my personal library even after the class is over."
"All good: Item ad described, promptly delivered, carefully packaged, correctly billed."
"This is a great book...there is a lot of rich history and beautiful artwork."
"This arrived as promised in great condition as described."
"Highly recommend this to any one involved with the Arts."
"In almost perfect condition, really happy with my purchase!"
Best Video Game Art
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"As a Zelda fan it's wonderful to have a physical book of all game events (from 1986=2011), concept images and developer interviews."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
Best Illuminations Art
Noted authority Christopher de Hamel invites the reader into intimate conversations with these texts to explore what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and about the modern world, too. He traces the elaborate journeys that these exceptionally precious artifacts have made through time and shows us how they have been copied, how they have been embroiled in politics, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and as symbols of national identity, and who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell). And in producing such a gorgeous object, Christopher de Hamel’s publisher has had the courage of his convictions, because its physical and visual delights mirror its commercially unlikely subject matter…[De Hamel] is voraciously completist, recording impressions of each journey, place, building and reading room, as well as every coverage detail of each manuscript’s creation, content and existence as a physical object through time and space… On this archival odyssey, I lost count of the things I learned…[ Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts ], like the volumes that are its subject, is a book of wonders.” - The New York Times Book Review. Little wonder that in Britain this extraordinary book has already won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Duff Cooper nonfiction prize.” – Washington Post “De Hamel is a man of extraordinary erudition and easy charm; his book asks many questions of the past, and invokes many mysteries.” – The New Yorker. [and] details each document’s idiosyncrasies while contextualizing its time and place of creation…De Hamel’s delightful book is bound to inspire a new set of medievalists.” – Publishers Weekly , starred review “Interested general readers will appreciate de Hamel’s lucid treatment of the themes and literary techniques that mark these manuscripts as cultural milestones…But they will marvel at the lavish reproductions of the masterful calligraphy and dazzling illuminations that have long made the manuscripts irresistible to collectors. A former librarian of Parker Library at Cambridge and cataloger of illuminated manuscripts for Sotheby's, de Hamel brings extensive expertise to his meticulous examination of 12 celebrated manuscripts created from the sixth to the 16th century…The book is sumptuously illustrated…A rare, erudite, and delightfully entertaining history.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review. Beneath his urbane manner, Christopher de Hamel is a formidable scholar.” – Jonathan Sumption, Spectator "With scholarly elegance, Christopher de Hamel opens the door and invites us to join him for the intellectual expedition of a lifetime...This is an endlessly fascinating and enjoyable book." – Neil MacGregor "Erudite and enthusiastic...de Hamel has catalogued more medieval manuscripts than anyone in history; everyone, not only academics should listen to what he has said." De Hamel, the librarian of Corpus Christi, has spent a lifetime handling, cataloguing and interpreting these gorgeous objects....If I could walk you to your nearest bookshop, take £30 from your wallet, and place this wonderful book in your hands, I would." – Peter Thonemann, Sunday Times One of the cultural highlights of the autumn...Christopher de Hamel has turned a lifelong obsession with ancient literature into a book that critics are comparing to A History of the World in 100 Objects and the wonderful The Hare with Amber Eyes ." ... De Hamel makes an informative, entertaining book (the most suitable medium, after all), and no one but he could have written it."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Christopher de Hamel is a dear friend for over 30 years, and I am honored to know someone who combines erudition with accessibility in his many studies of manuscripts, creativity, and the obsessive pursuit of these treasures. We settle for photographs, high-priced facsimiles, or an exhibition in a darkened room with mere moments in front of an original manuscript. We learn to study the history, the construction, the meanings, and the variants as we explore the scribbles, the calligraphy, the painting, the binding... everything."
"If you enjoy looking at old manuscripts, love calligraphy or illustration, and aren't already a palaeographer, or if you are just looking for a really engaging romp through medieval European history, this book is a wonderful adventure."
"After reading the e-book, I was going to get a hard copy for myself but first I ordered the hard copy from my local library as I wanted to have a good look at the illustrations of the manuscripts described in the book, so glad I did as I was very disappointed with the quality of printing of the illustrations, very mediocre, almost as if they were done in the early 1930’s and this was a first attempt colour book printing; or the print house was using their new mud lens to take the photos!"
"This text is a compact interesting book of many manuscripts and I am very pleased that I purchased this remarkable meetings book."
"What is present in his writing, but even more so in his speaking is his unquenchable enthusiasm for this area of history, combined in a non-condescending way with his encyclopedic knowledge of art history, theology, currents of cultural influences, and above all his generous humility. As much as I looked forward to "Meetings" in print, this version really fulfills the fantasy of sitting with the expert while we figure out how to get into the Library, how to hold the object, how to obey the sometimes stringent rules, and how to seek genuine pleasure from the experience."
Best Graffiti & Street Art
Banksy, Britain's now-legendary "guerilla" street artist, has painted the walls, streets, and bridges of towns and cities throughout the world. His identity remains unknown, but his work is prolific, and now for the first time, he is putting together the best of his work — old and new in a fully illustrated colour volume.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very interesting book, mostly great pictures."
"If anyone supposes they have a sense of humor and a little bit of irreverence, or is it reverence, for the human condition.... this book will sure to make that anyone a banksy fan."
"This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who either knows Bansky's art or wants to explore a new genre and learn how wonderfully bold and beautiful his artworks are."
"so many awesome Banksy pieces in this book."
"Interesting book & a must have for any Banksy fan."
"The shipping was faster than expected, coming at least 5 days early."
"I especially like having this book because so many of his works have been removed, painted over and stolen."
"This is more of a picture book, the written content is minimal, but still a worthwhile purchase and thought provoking."
Best Body Art & Tattoo
Tattoo Johnny to the rescue! Tattoo Johnny is the largest supplier of designs to professional tattoo studios around the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Gift for son, and he loves it."
"Excellent variety and quality stencils!"
"Excellent fun tattoo designs."
"Awesome book great pics of tatoos."
"Great book."
"Absolutely love this book."
Best Mixed Media
Each exercise includes new tangles to draw in sketchbooks or on tiepolo (an Italian-made paper), teaches daily tile design, and offers tips on related art principles, and contains an inspirational "ZIA" (Zentangle Inspired Art) project on a tile that incorporates patterns, art principals, and new techniques. She began her career with the first graphic rubber stamp company in the U.S., and has worked as a full-time mixed media artist ever since.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Attached pictures are from my first tangles ever done (the single picture is Tangle no 1, the others are done in the order displayed in the book). If you are starting out.. you could not buy a better book!"
"I have many, many books about zentangle - this is the BEST by far!"
"I am an artist, have been for many years, but I have been struggling with an essential tremor in my dominant hand (the left) which has forced me to start training myself to use my right hand for things like eating soup or bringing a glass of water across the room without spilling it. Instead of doing one Zentangle a day, I have been using my left hand for one Zentangle the first day, and the next day I do the same lesson (using the assigned pattern but not the same composition) but I use my right hand. I had never been able to draw or paint with my right hand."
"She has thoughts about what makes an interesting Zentangle and tries to communicate them through examples of her own work, that of guest artists, and suggestions. Unfortunately, her command of written English is poor enough that in several places I really didn't understand what she was trying to explain, including her suggestions for interesting Zentangles. In others, I was merely annoyed: she uses "transcend" when she means "transition" and calls established rules about what is a Zentangle "historic' or "traditional", which is a bit pretentious for an art less than ten years old. Several squoosh a couple of steps together, others are unclear as to which aspects of the example are basic to the tangle and which are just the artist's whimsy."
"I realize I've been creating a rough version of Zentangles most of my life...without knowing what it was called..Just taking a black magic marker, making random designs and coloring in the spaces with markers or colored pencils...But this book is so much fun....it makes sense out of the virtual scribbling I was doing before."
"This book takes you through one zentangle a day (as it says), with each drawing being just a little more difficult as the previous one."
Best Art of Film & Video
In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Richard Williams has won more than 250 international awards for his animation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"One of the best well written art books I have read in a long time, Mr. Williams is full of knowledge, which he generously shares with others."
"This is a must have for everyone learning animation, it could be used by yourself or by teachers to teach about animation principles, and the amount of knowlege in the content of the book and animation exercises is amazing."
"It has so much detail to it that it still blows my mind every time I. open it."
"If you are getting into animation this is the book for you; in depth information on all the necessary topics that you need."
"An excellent book."
"Bought this as a gift for a friend when she started her Animation degree."
"This is one of the most useful animation books I have every purchased."
"One of the most detailed animating books I have purchased so far, it is really helpful."
Best Erotic Arts & Photography
The work was gathered from collections across the United States and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and features many drawings, paintings, and sketches never previously reproduced . The elegant oversized volume showed the full range of Tom’s talent, from sensitive portraits to frank sexual pleasure, to tender expressions of love, and haunting tributes to young men struck down by AIDS, and was completed by eight commissioned essays on Tom’s social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham , and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith . Dian Hanson produced a variety of men’s magazines from 1976 to 2001, including Juggs, Outlaw Biker, and Leg Show, before becoming TASCHEN’s Sexy Book editor.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the same calendar available from the Tom of Finland Foundation."
"A great collection of his works from early years to the latter ones we are more familiar with."
"Great Book and worth the price."
"Possibly the greatest purchase of my entire life."
"WAY beyond what I expected."
"It's waaaaay much more bigger and heavier than i expected."
"the book its perfect just i spected to be im in love with it."
Best Calligraphy Guides
Chalkfulloflove was created to encourage, inspire and make you giggle, so just pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in to start your own unique, adorable lettering creations! Hardcover, oversized gold wire-o binding and gold corner protectors Step by step instructions on how to create various fonts and designs Thick premium paper, perfect for lettering Beautiful coffee table book and practical workbook. A day in her life looks like taking a crazy number of photos, dancing in the garage while packaging up orders, and cuddling with her pups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is beautiful!"
"I just started brush lettering and already trashed one pen on another book, so this book is perfect in my opinion."
"Love this!!!"
"BUT, the blank pages.... About 45% of the book is blank pages, not to mention all the white space. Pages 96-110 are ENTIRELY BLANK but for the page number, and so is almost half of the book."
"In purchasing a $30.00 book I expect more inside information, tips and tricks and showing me HOW she achieves her style of lettering, etc... For example, the flourishes pages literally just tells you that flourishes and illustrations are great to add to your lettering then shows you a 2" x 2" example of the author's own "Bless Your Heart" design (with zero instructions on how she achieved it) and has about a 6"x3" area next to that design that says "Practice Here.""
"I should have listened to the other people who reported that this book was full of nothing, but I was encouraged by the the claim that additional content was added."