| Here are some art books that I recommend. I only recommend books or movies that I own or I intend to buy. |
| Some of them are out of print and may be very hard to find.: |
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John Singer Sargent was arguably the best American painter ever. It would be far better to see the original paintings, but not many of us will be able to travel to France or around the country at the drop of a hat. This is the next closest thing. |
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This book might be hard to find. But for color and value Sorolla was the man. You are more likely to find this book in Spain or at a Museum. |
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This is easily the best book on how to paint. It isn't so much a "paint just like me" type of book as "this is how I get things done and why I make the decisions I make."
He talks about the importance of value and color and breaks it all down in very simple and easy terms. This book is great for beginner and advanced alike.
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I had the library order this book. It is available for you to check out but I recommend getting your own copy. Before this book was reprinted, it was selling for between $800 - $1000+ dollars because professional illustrators valued the contents within. |
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Here's a book on Sargent's drawings. At this price, you can't beat it. |
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| Out of Print/Hard to Find |
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Anders Zorn was another European Badass painter. I got lucky finding this book on a shelf at Carter Sexton. |
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This book may be easier to find. Most people regard Fechin as a master draughstman more so than as a painter, but I still like his paintings. If you can't buy this book, there is a gallery on Main St. in Scottsdale, AZ that is/was selling a bunch of originals. |
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This is easily on one of my favourite books. Mucha has been a huge influence on many artists. |
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| Methodology/How To Books |
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This book contains methods used by professional illustrators. |
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This book contains more methods by other illustrators. |
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Here is a great book on art materials. Caveat: There are very few pictures. This book will be of most use to someone who has a lot of mileage in various mediums. |
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| Figure Drawing |
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This is a classic book on drawing. Hogarth was one of my instructors at Art Center. |
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Hogarth's Anatomy book. |
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| Concept Design |
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This book contains some student work done for a class at Art Center. It's better than the text book for the Character Design class that I'm forced to use. |
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This book is the sequel to Skillful Huntsman with work by more students.
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This is another solid book on car design. |
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This is a great book on airships and hovercraft with many different approaches and techniques. |
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This book is on car drawing. It's by Scott Robertson who was the instructor of the students who did Skillful Huntsman and In The Future |
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This book isn't out yet, but is more work by Scott Robertson's students. It is available for Pre-Order. |
| Comic Books & Graphic Novels |
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The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky & Kent Williams. Kent Williams, Jon Muth & George Pratt are my favorite illustrators for graphic novels. |
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This amazing book by Jon Muth is what you don't see anymore in comics. |
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This was a joint project by Williams and Muth. Williams did all the Wolverine paintings and Muth did all the Havok paintings. |
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This was done by George Pratt. I would love to do a graphic novel like this. |
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Bill Sienkiewicz is one of my favorite illustrators. If you had my life drawing class, I brought in examples from his sketchbook. |
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| Digital/Software |
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Don Seegmiller's book on character design and Corel Painter. |
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From what I understand this is the updated version of the same book on character design. The character section remains unchanged, but the tutorials are for Photoshop. |
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| Career Advice |
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Now as most of you reading this are students, you probably will have no experiece of this or what it is like to work in a corporate environment.
In reality, TRUE PROFESSIONALS ALWAYS SEAL THE DEAL. There is nothing professional about being a day late and a dollar short.
And many of you know that that statement applies to you.
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This book contains information on pricing your freelance work and what kind of salary you can expect based on the region you live in.
I refer students to this book all the time when they ask me how much they should charge on a job.
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