Arts & Photography Books

Save A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:13:00 +0000

Wide-ranging look at nations' quest for "the perfect red," and the immense impact that a simple INSECT can have on an entire nation's econmy.

Good intertwining examinations of the parallel stories of the economy, empire, espionage, piracy, trade, labor conditions (including slavery), racism, the "old" and "new" worlds, etc. Lots of good detail about the personalities involved and the twists and turns as researchers tried to discover the source of the "perfect red" at the heart of Spain's economy.

Fun aside: While you're reading the book, you find yourself noticing colors more. The book gives you an increased appreciation for the use of color in everyday life and a gratitude that in contemporary times everyone can afford colors of every hue, as opposed to centuries past when certain colors were only for the royals or other upper classes.Get more detail about A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire.

Discount The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

This book is full of great pictures and better ideas and concepts. I read it cover to cover and it helped shape my thoughts and plans for our next, and last, house. Thank you!Get more detail about The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live.

Cheapest Nikon Capture NX 2 After the Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

Hagen's book is well written, easy to follow and very helpful. He explains all the options in NX2, offers suggestions for settings, examples, and recommendations for workflow. If you're looking for a useable hands on guide, then this is an excellent book that gives context to the NX2 manual and help feature. Reading this book as given me the courage to shoot RAW and is taking my post processing to the next level.Get more detail about Nikon Capture NX 2 After the Shoot.

Cheap Hubble: Imaging Space and Time

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

This book is absolutely wonderful for anyone remotely interested in space exploration. Not only are the photos beautiful but the book itself is an informative and detailed guide to the Hubble Telescope project. Years ago a friend worked on the Hubble beginnings and all I can say is that anyone who wonders about the value of our exploration program should have this book. I plan to use some of the images for my artwork (with full inspirational credit to the Hubble Telescope project).Get more detail about Hubble: Imaging Space and Time.

Buying Architectural Graphics

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:13:00 +0000

All of the man-made architectural wonders that we see around us began their lives as just seeds of ideas. Before being built, these seeds must be crystallized and nurtured through drawings. Architects depend on drawing to bring their ideas to life.

One book that has become a trusted source for teaching architects how to do it right is Francis D.K. Ching's //Architectural Graphics//. Now in its fifth edition, it offers the essential drawing tools, principles, and techniques that architects use to communicate their ideas. It expands upon the wealth of illustrations and instructions that have made this book a classic, and guides readers through the subtleties of translating architectural ideas into vivid visual representations.

Readers will learn Ching's renowned methods through: coverage of multiview drawings, paraline drawings, and perspective drawings; techniques for drawing section views of building interiors; strategies for rendering tonal value, enhancing pictorial depth, and conveying the illumination of spatial environments; approaches for developing the layout of architectural presentations; freehand sketching and diagramming; and so much more.

This beautiful fifth edition of //Architectural Graphics//from Francis D.K. Ching clearly represents the complexity of architectural concepts in an intuitive graphic manner that benefits anyone interested in maintaining the highest standard of the profession of architecture.

Reviewed by Dominique JamesGet more detail about Architectural Graphics.

Buy Alla Prima: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Direct Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Great book for the price, but not the real Alla Prima. (Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting by Richard Schmidt)Get more detail about Alla Prima: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Direct Painting.

Purchase The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

If you are interested in fine art then you will love this book. They talk all about the big art sales, dealers, galleries and auction houses. How they operate, sell, and entice large art sales. Must read for any art enthusiast!Get more detail about The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art.

Order David Busch's Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

When I get the time and focus, I will continue reading this book and learning to use my camera. These computerized cameras are for the birds! Amazing that we have to purchase books to learn how to use our cameras. The reason I gave this review a "3" is because it's just so detailed and long.... and I want to learn my camera NOW!
I wish there was an easier way to learn how to use my camera. Get more detail about David Busch's Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography.

Where To Buy Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:13:00 +0000

If you are creating products and services without a design process that produces innovative solutions; if you operate in a world of products and services where best in class is a must; if you are looking for real world methods for delivering break through content; if you want to hear from design professionals wired with design thinking; if you have heard colleagues and clients refer to "design thinking" and want to learn about it with the hopes of implementing it into your business then this book is invaluable. After reading many other books that touch on the design thinking concept; here is a book that provides a wealth of in depth information that examines design thinking from a number of perspectives. In my company we need to be both attune to our client's approach to design and integrating ourselves into their process while maintaining our own design disciplines internally. This book provides insights to these sorts of design challenges as well as more traditional ones such as building a design thinking process and the culture of design in a company. Great information and interesting to read as well. Very much enjoyed it.Get more detail about Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value.

Shop For City of Dreadful Night

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Starts off a wonderfully written poem, but draws its point out and eventually bores. Thomas is still a poetic and philosophical master, but this book is only for the diehards.Get more detail about City of Dreadful Night.

The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:13:00 +0000

This book is a delicious find. It undertakes nothing less than to gather into one source a wide variety of approaches to mapping the world of our imaginations. A wonderful collection with a wide range of points of view about how the world can be seen and understood. The wide range of artists, from well known to not so well recognized, each brings a unique vision to bear in the way of understanding their worlds. It's truly mind expanding in the various cosmologies and hypothetical what ifs that are represented between the covers. This book supports repeated immersion as one considers the different worlds that are conjured within. As an artist I find the contents to be wonderfully liberating while considering my own thoughts on the subject. Congratulations to Katherine Harmon on such a fine job of researching and assembling these images. Surely a labor of love as is shown to us in style and content. A great gift for the creative one in your life.Get more detail about The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography.

The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography Review

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

The Finishing Touch: Details That Make a Room Beautiful (House Beautiful) Top Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

This book contains beautiful pictures. It's really "contemporary meets traditional", in the sense that it's not totally uniform in style, and there are different styles that hint at either direction, all in very good taste.

I used this book to get a feel for accessories and colors. Someone else might want more particular advice within the book about the color they used, names of companies, and other more direct advices. In my view, the "practical" aspect is scarce in the book. However, if you want inspiring beautiful pictures to show you how colors, textures and furnitures can be combined, this is a great source.Get more detail about The Finishing Touch: Details That Make a Room Beautiful (House Beautiful).

ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy This instant

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

This is my second Scott Spencer Book. the first - ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting,set the standard, and this one exceeded it. The first book really impressed me, this second has blown me away. With both books, the accompanying DVD is worth the price of purchase. it is full of example files, sculpting demos and tutorials.
The book is big, thick and heavy. The reason for this is not its text content, It's the very large number of illustrations, all of which are printed in full color.
I own both The Atlas of human anatomy, as well as Bridgemans Drawing from life, and this book compares very well with those books. In fact i would recommended this book to any artist studying human anatomy, the instruction and illistration is that good.
The real wow factor for me on this book, is it is different from any other computer application text i have ever read. The book is far less about click hear and click there, or dated by just the current version of the software. In fact the vast majority of this book cover the timeless study of the human body. not only that, but its sculptural construction. This helps any artist, where they are using ZBrush, Mudbox, Modo, Blender or even traditional Clay to create characters. This is the first and only book Ive seen address the issue of more classical education for modern technical artists.
The only drawback to this book is also its strength. The model created in the book is of a Heroic Male. This model serves well for a good number of applications, but I would have really enjoyed a section on anatomical differences. For example, female, older, obese , and youth.
Overall i strongly recommend this book to any artist that wants to learn the figure, no matter what the application. It is one of the few books out there that helps not only with familiarizing yourself with a program, but will help you improve your art as well.
Get more detail about ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy.

Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design Immediately

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

So what if it's not a workbook. The content more than makes up for the misname. This book is designed for people that are annoyed by those books filled with "content", that really only repeat the same thing over and over again. This book was written in a brief concise writing style and, to me, that is priceless. That title says layout workbook, but in reality it deals with more than just that. It deals with design process, which is very important for every designer, the overall mentality of what a designer should think like, and most of the fundamentals that all designers should come to learn in their long and hard design journey. Most people that write 5 star reviews only say things like it's a great book or truly wonderful, which I find very useless. Nonetheless, it's a great book, and I strongly recommend you get a copy as it will change the way you view design, especially if you starting out, or find yourself being an auto-didactic person. Thanks to this book I'll be starting my freelance carrier soon.Get more detail about Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design.

House Beautiful The Home Book: Creating a Beautiful Home of Your Own (House Beautiful Series) Best Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

I was disappointed in this book. With a House Beautiful label, I expected much more high fashion and didn't get it in this book. It seemed very ordinary.Get more detail about House Beautiful The Home Book: Creating a Beautiful Home of Your Own (House Beautiful Series).

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling Get it now!

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

After being so impressed with Brunelleschi Dome I ordered this book almost immediately. I was not disappointed. I felt like an observer of Michelangelo's trial and tribulations. Extremely well written and engaging.Get more detail about Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide Buy Now

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

Good guide for $13.59. I am a klutz photographer, so any info is better than none, and the 'lil guide that comes with the 5D kit is clumsy to read. Some of the content relates back to the 20D and Rebels that I own in that the Canon line is related.Get more detail about Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide.

The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes Order Now

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

My student brought this book to my house. I was looking through it while she was painting and I loved it. I purchased it so that I could refer to it while painting trees and other landscapes. The book contains tons of exciting new techniques and some old techniques that I had forgotten about.Get more detail about The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes.

Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Business Decide Now

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

This book is thoroughly researched and beautifully written. It was exciting to read the histories of all of the favorite brands, but what really impressed me was how the author dealt with complex issues of gender and ethnicity in the beauty industry in such a readable way. He shows that global beauty products are more than skin deep, they go to the core of how we think about ourselves.Get more detail about Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Business.

Just a Geek Right now

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

I just finished reading this book. I devoured it in a little over 32 hours, front to back. I can't say cover to cover since I was reading it on my Kindle and in the e-world, there are no covers, only Zhul.

I'm new to Wil's website, his career today, and everything he's been up to his TNG. This book was a great way to get a sense of Wil has a person, see into his unique experiences as someone of middle-fame, get an awesome look at behind the scenes bits with the Star Trek crew, and catch up on a lot of the key moments in Wil's blogging career that I simply wasn't following him during.

Although from a craft standpoint the writing isn't amazing (lots of telling with only a hint of showing), Wil writes an honest memoir that is pure of heart, well-paced, and quite emotional.

A must-read for anyone interested in any of the many topics Wil has touched on throughout his career.Get more detail about Just a Geek.

Lowest Price I Never Saw Another Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

children art and poems that show their reality as lived everyday close to death , the loss of familiar, and the every day life , the unexplained hatred towards them and their people, just for being Jewish .Get more detail about I Never Saw Another Butterfly.

Low Price An Actor Prepares

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

My book took longer than expected to come but it was worth it because it was in excellent condition.. (brand new i'd say)...Thank you very much!Get more detail about An Actor Prepares.

Discount The Merchant of Venice

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:12:00 +0000

For those who study the historical events related to the history of religious anti-semitism, this Shakespeare play provides a character, Shylock the Jewish moneylender, and is portrayed as Christian folks of that era would relate and treat him through the lens of that prejudice, for them "it is not Shylock (his name), is the Jew," a devilish usurer in opposition with the antagonist character merchant Antonio who lends money to friends as an act of kindness without making any profit. Also Shylock besides being Jewish in a hostile environment, suffers other misfortunes, his servant leaves the house, her daughter wants to marry a Christian, his loan payment to Antonio gets difficult to get collected due to Antonio's financial troubles and things do not seem to work the way he expected
However, I see something positive in the Shakespeare description and is that Jews are people who strictly comply with agreements and abide by the Law
In the edition I read, the language full of old English words, idiomatic expressions and intentions used by Shakespeare were difficult to understand so it has references to help the reader to follow the text. I recommend an edition of this kindGet more detail about The Merchant of Venice.

Cheapest Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors

noreply@blogger.com (Petch) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

While this book covers basic color theory adequately, all the exercises are designed for acrylic painting. There was no information in the description of the book to indicate that ONLY acrylics were being used for the exercises. If there was and I missed it, it wasn't stated clearly enough. As a watercolorist working to master color mixing (not a beginner, however) I must alert people interested in watercolors that this will not be the best book for you. Color theory is based on certain rules true for all painters; however, when you start mixing colors, there's a big difference between acrylics and watercolors. In the end, this book wasn't of much use to me. I'll donate to library.Get more detail about Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors.