Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas. Advice Projects from 50 Successful Artists


Danielle Krysa - 2014
    No longer! This chunky blockbuster of a book is chock-full of solutions for overcoming all manner of artistic impediment. The blogger behind The Jealous Curator interviews 50 successful international artists working in different mediums and mines their insights on how to conquer self-doubt, stay motivated, and get new ideas to flow. Each artist offers a tried-and-true exercise—from road trips to 30-day challenges to cataloging the medicine cabinet— that will kick-start the creative process. Abundantly visual with more than 300 images showcasing these artists' resulting work, Creative Block is a vital ally to students, artists, and creative professionals.

Drawing with Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too


Mona Brookes - 1986
    Her unique drawing program has created a revolution in the field of education and a sense of delight and pride among the thousands of students who have learned to draw through her Monart Method.This revised and expanded edition includes: - Information on multiple intelligence and the seven ways to learn - An inspirational chapter on helping children with learning differences - An integrated-studies chapter with projects geared for reading, math, science, ESL, multicultural studies, and environmental awareness - A sixteen-page color insert and hundreds of sample illustrationsThis invaluable teaching tool not only guides readers through the basics, but also gives important advice on creating a nurturing environment in which self-expression and creativity can flourish. Both practical and enlightening, Drawing With Children inspires educators and parents to bring out the artist in each of us.

Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo


Chris McDonnell - 2014
    Packed to the seams with concept art and storyboards, this lavishly illustrated tome offers an all-access pass into the Emmy Award–winning show team’s creative process. The Art of Ooo traces series creator Pendleton Ward's early influences and work, then reveals how the writers, storyboarders, animators, and voice actors work in tandem to bring this wildly inventive series to life.  Fans will pore over early character sketches, as well as background paintings and rare glimpses into the series' show bible. This visual treasure chest is gilded throughout with commentary from all the show's key creative talent. The Art of Ooo is the perfect companion to and celebration of this groundbreaking, award-winning series.

Oil Painting Secrets From a Master


Linda Cateura - 1984
    This is such a book. For more than two years, Linda Cateura has pursued teacher / artist David A. Leffel, notebook in hand, as he critiqued the work of students. Linda Cateura's succinct notes capture his insights, philosophy, painting hints, and general comments.Leffel's classic, painterly, twentieth-century old master style, much in the manner of Rembrandt or Chardin, affords ample illustration of the ideas expressed - through his many paintings, details, demonstrations, and diagrams, almost all in color.No matter what your level of ability, there is something here to apply to your own work, ideas that will cause you to rething your own ways of painting, hints to save you effort, or solutions to persistent painting problems.

What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in a Nutshell


Will Gompertz - 2012
    Rich with extraordinary tales and anecdotes, What Are You Looking At? entertains as it arms readers with the knowledge to truly understand and enjoy what it is they’re looking at.

Pictorial Composition: An Introduction


Henry Rankin Poore - 1976
    Composition is the harmonious arranging of the component parts of a work of art into a unified whole. Henry Poore examines the works of old masters and moderns in this book and uses these examples to explain the principles of compositions in art.All the paintings that the author analyzes are illustrated in the text — 166 illustrations, including 9 in full color. Thirty-two diagrams by the author accompany his textural discussion of such topics as the importance of balance, entrance and exit, circular observation, angular composition, composition with one or more units, and light and shade. Balance is the most important of these topics, and it is considered in the greatest detail — balance of the steelyard, vertical and horizontal balance, and so on. A complete index enables the reader to locate his own specific areas of interest.To see how a painting by Cézanne, Goya, or Hopper, for example, follows definite principles of composition allows the practicing artist or art student to learn composition from the finest instructors — the artists themselves. This book is also very useful to the art devotee, who will find his appreciation of the subject greatly enhanced.

Beginner's Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop


Nykolai Aleksander - 2012
    Whether you’re new to this artistic medium or simply looking to improve existing skills, this book offers up a wealth of suggestions and advice to get you started, improve workflows, perfect techniques, and produce stunning images.The step-by-step tutorials within this book don’t just describe techniques, but actively demonstrate how these techniques can be applied to an artwork. Industry veterans including Nykolai Aleksander and Richard Tilbury share the benefits of their years of experience in a clear and methodical fashion. They examine the various basic Photoshop tools on offer, shedding light on these features and establishing ways of successfully integrating them into an artistic workflow. Fundamental art theory is also covered, including classic topics such as composition, story-telling, portraying emotion, lighting, and color, leading to a thorough understanding of the components that make up a successful image.Instructive and inspirational, Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is an ideal resource for anyone taking their first steps into the digital painting world.Nykolai Aleksander is a UK-based freelance character illustrator and portrait painter, who has been working in the CG field for the past eight years.Richard Tilbury is a freelance artist from the United Kingdom who works in both 2D and 3D and has been featured in a number of popular publications.

Art Forms in Nature


Ernst Haeckel - 1974
    This volume highlights the research and findings of this natural scientist. Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel's portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments, is described in the opening essays. The plates illustrate Haeckel's fundamental monistic notion of the -unity of all living things- and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and -constructive- aspects, document the oness of the world in its most diversified forms. This collection of plates was not only well-received by scientists, but by artists and architects as well. Rene Binet, a pioneer of glass and iron constructions, Emile Galle, a renowned Art Nouveau designer, and the photographer Karl Blossfeld all make explicit reference to Haeckel in their work.

Painting Portraits and Figures in Watercolor


Mary Whyte - 2011
    Going beyond the practical application of techniques, Whyte helps new artists capture not just the model's physical likeness, but their unique personality and spirit. Richly illustrated, the book features Mary Whyte's vibrant empathetic watercolors and works by such masters of watercolor as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

The Sketchbook Challenge: Techniques, Prompts, and Inspiration for Achieving Your Creative Goals


Sue Bleiweiss - 2012
    Imagine a supportive community of artists sharing the innermost pages of their sketchbooks and offering you tips and techniques for overcoming creative blocks. That's what The Sketchbook Challenge is all about, and the popular blog of the same name has already inspired thousands. Inside this book, you'll find:   · Themes that will motivate you to start your sketchbook—and, more important, keep at it · Tutorials spotlighting such mixed-media techniques as thread sketching, painted papers for collage, digital printing, and much more · Strategies to get off the sketchbook page and start creating inspired art—whether you're into painting, collage, fiber art, or beyond. · In-depth profiles of artists who have taken the Sketchbook Challenge and used it as a launching pad for their own meaningful artwork

Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art


Jennifer New - 2005
    Still, only a few of us have the discipline to make it past the first few entries, and fewer still manage to create diaries whose insight and visual beauty can inspire anyone but their authors. Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art is an exploration of these exceptionsbooks of obsessive wonder filled to their borders with drawings, sketches, watercolors, graphs, charts, lists, collages, portraits, and photographs. Jennifer New takes readers on a spirited tour into the private worlds of journal keepersan architect, a traveler, a film director, an archeologist, a cancer patient, a songwriter, a quiltmaker, a gardener, an artist, a cyclist, and a scientist, to name just a fewillustrating a broad range of journaling styles and techniques that in the end show how each of us can go about documenting our everyday lives. Excerpts from journals by such artists as Maira Kalman, Steven Holl, David Byrne, and Mike Figgis give us a peek at how creative souls observe, reflect, and explore.For those who already keep a journal, Drawing from Life will be an inspiration. For those who have always wanted toor tried and failedit might just be the motivation needed to get past that first week.

Just Draw It!: The Dynamic Drawing Course for Anyone with a Pencil & Paper


Sam Piyasena - 2013
    It is organized as a series of exercises, all of which will provide you with essential practice for your brain, eye, and hand. The result is a powerful drawing course that does not feel like a course.

Bold Visions: The Digital Painting Bible for Fantasy and Science-Fiction Artists


Gary Tonge - 2008
    Artists will learn to create a wide range of subject matter from futuristic spacescapes and revolutionary vehicles to medieval landscapes and beautiful maidens. An in-depth materials section introduces all the equipment you are likely to need, from computer hardware and software to more traditional art media. A detailed basic techniques section caters to both newcomers to the digital medium and those who wish to brush up on their skills.

Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice


Otto G. Ocvirk - 1981
    This eleventh edition has been carefully revised to expand and clarify concepts throughout the text, while adding new material on developing ideas, critical thinking, and time and motion.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art


Scott McCloud - 1993
    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.