Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the secret world between the panels, through the lines, and within the hidden symbols of a powerful but misunderstood art form.

    Art as Therapy is packed with 150 examples of outstanding art, with chapters on Love, Nature, Money, and Politics outlining how these works can help with common difficulties. For example, Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter helps us focus on what we want to be loved for; Serra's Fernando Passoa reminds us of the importance of dignity in suffering; and Manet's Bunch of Asparagus teaches us how to preserve and value our long-term partners.De Botton demonstrates how art can guide and console us, and along the way, help us to better understand both art and ourselves.

    Highly recommended.” — Scott McCloudDrawing Words and Writing Pictures is a course on comic creation – for college classes or for independent study – that centers on storytelling and concludes with making a finished comic. With chapters on lettering, story structure, and panel layout, the fifteen lessons offered – each complete with homework, extra credit activities and supplementary reading suggestions – provide a solid introduction for people interested in making their own comics. Additional resources, lessons, and after-class help are available on the DW-WP website.

    Art Starts with a Line is approachable for artists of any skill level, no prior drawing experience needed! This form of art requires minimal tools, making it both affordable and portable.   Following a brief introduction to tools and materials, as well as some easy exercises and techniques for warming up to basic drawing tools, you will explore a variety of subject matter. You'll draw plants and flowers, architecture and cityscapes, animals, and everything in between. These projects aren't restricted to black and white either! You'll find techniques for adding color with colored pencil, marker, pen, even digitally.  Art Starts with a Line presents everything you'll need to know to learn how to successfully create line drawings of all types. Whether your goal is to create a custom logo for a client, or to simply decorate your planner, it's all here.

    It contains hundreds of examples as well as step-by-step examples for artists to follow in order to build up their confidence and skills. All the major subject areas are covered, from simple object drawing and still life, to landscape drawing, portraiture, and figures. The book also explores the wider challenges of drawing facing all aspiring artists, such as how to break down visual information, recognize form, and apply perspective. Author Barrington Barber is a renowned authority on teaching drawing and a practicing artist.

    The exercises become more difficult, developing greater and greater skills until Ruskin feels his reader is ready for watercolors and finally composition, which he treats in detail as to the laws of principality, repetition, continuity, curvature, radiation, contrast, interchange, consistency, and harmony. All along the way, Ruskin explains, in plain, clear language, the artistic and craftsmanlike reasons behind his practical advice — underlying which, of course, is Ruskin's brilliant philosophy of honest, naturally observed art which has so much affected our aesthetic. Three full-page plates and 48 woodcuts and diagrams (the latter from drawings by the author) show the student what the text describes. An appendix devotes many pages to the art works which may be studied with profit.

    Consider this a superscript above all other entries.”—Booklist. “Encourages those who hesitate to start in on the pristine pages of a nicely bound blank book.... Lively and interesting illustrations make this a good selection for public library collections.”—Library Journal.

    Containing 4,789 photographs, it illustrates some 163 different types of action: elderly man lifting log, woman sweeping, woman climbing ladder, men boxing and wrestling, child crawling, man lifting weight, man jumping, and 155 other types of action, some of which are illustrated by as many as 62 different photographs. Taken at speeds ranging up to 1/6000th of a second, these photographs show bone and muscle positions against ruled backgrounds. Almost all subjects are undraped, and all actions are shown from three angles: front, rear, and three-quarter view. These historic photographs, one of the great monuments of nineteenth-century photography, are reproduced original size, with all the clarity and detail of the originals. As a complete thesaurus of human action, it has never been superseded. Muybridge was a genius of photography, who had unlimited financial, technical, and scientific backing at the University of Pennsylvania. This volume presents the final selection from more than 100,000 negatives made at an expenditure of more than $50,000. It has never been superseded as a sourcebook for artists, students, animators, and art directors. "An unparalleled dictionary of action for all artists, photographers." — American Artist."Impressive and valuable collection." — Scientific American.

    This work helps you learn to analyse paintings in terms of colour shapes of value, hue and intensity - the elements that make a painting. It also includes before/after examples to illustrate how use the rules for good composition.

    . . just haven't gotten around to it. No Plot? No Problem! is the kick in the pants you've been waiting for.Let Chris Baty, founder of the rockin' literary marathon National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo), guide you through four exciting weeks of hard-core noveling. Baty's pep talks and essential survival strategies cover the initial momentum and energy of Week One, the critical "plot flashes" of Week Two, the "Can I quit now?" impulses of Week Three, and the champagne and roar of the crowd during Week Four. Whether you're a first-time novelist who just can't seem to get pen to paper or a results-oriented writer seeking a creative on-ramp into the world of publishing, this is the adventure for you.So what are you waiting for? The No Plot? approach worked for the thousands of people who've signed up for NaNoWriMo, and it can work for you! Let No Plot? No Problem! help you get fired up and on the right track.

    Guided by their instructor, the artists create original design solutions for the environment, characters, props and much more.

    This profusely illustrated book teaches serious beginners the fundamental skills of graphic design as an introduction to their formal study in fine art, illustration, computer game design, interior design, animation, and virtually all other avenues in the visual arts. The author advises on setting up a proper workspace and assembling the needed materials--everything from sketchpads and paints to affordable computer software. Chapters that follow present themes and related projects that instruct readers in The basics of line art for illustration and lettering Understanding color and tone and using color media Texture in art Spatial relationships and perspective Creating shapes and relating them to other elements of composition More than 200 color illustrations demonstrate art principles and practical techniques, and show students how to apply what they are learning in a wide range of media.

    This complete guide helps you build your understanding of perspective to an intuitive level so you can draw anything you can imagine. Inside you'll find:Complete instruction on drawing in one-, two- and three-point perspective and four- and five-point curvilinear perspective (where "straight" lines are drawn as curves). Curvilinear perspective has not been taught in any other perspective book - until now!Full-color, step-by-step demonstrations move you beyond the theories and let you practice the techniques in real scenes.A special chapter on drawing curves helps you break out of the box and draw cylinders, ellipses, cars and, most importantly, people in perfect perspective.Shortcuts and tips show you how to create believable perspective in no time flat.No matter what your skill level, Vanishing Point offers you a new way of looking at perspective and lets you draw as though you have decades of drawing experience - even if you don't. You'll learn everything you need to know to pour your imagination on the page with power and confidence.

    Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible, and this enlightening and highly entertaining book sets out his ideas about visual, graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday. Lamps, road signs, typography, posters, children's books, advertising, cars and chairs - these are just some of the subjects to which he turns his illuminating gaze.How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.Bruno Munari (1907-1998), born in Milan, was the enfant terrible of Italian art and design for most of the twentieth century, contributing to many fields of both visual (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non-visual arts (literature, poetry). He was twice awarded the Compasso d'Oro design prize for excellence in his field.If you enjoyed Design as Art, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'One of the most influential designers of the twentieth century ... Munari has encouraged people to go beyond formal conventions and stereotypes by showing them how to widen their perceptual awareness'International Herald Tribune

    Now updated to include the results of new research, together with significant contributions from the 1990s. Includes writings by critics, philosophers, politicians and literary figures. The editors provide contextual introductions to 340 texts. Complements Art in Theory, 1648–1815 and Art in Theory, 1815–1900 to create a complete survey of the theories underpinning the development of art in the modern period.