4 comments about Draw 50 Monsters: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Creeps, Superheroes, Demons, Dragons, Nerds, Dirts, Ghouls, Giants, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Curiosa (Draw 50).

1. This book is only so-so as a drawing book, whether for beginners or more advanced artists. The pictures are weird, and not aesthetically pleasing, even for monsters. However, this is definitely not a book for kids. The pictures are frightening enough to give kids nightmares. Think horror. Not a very useful book.



2. I ordered the library editions of this book for my grandson and another little boy and I was surprised that a "draw your own monster" book would come with a pink cover! I was also a little disappointed in the array of superheroes, but I'm sure copyright restrictions made it necessary to exclude Superman, Spiderman, Batman and so on. This is a case where actually seeing the book before purchasing would have been a help. Vona Van Cleef



3. I can't draw very well, so I bought this book to improve my drawing. This is a Great book for beginners! Gives you an idea how to start off and how it should looked finished! Awesome book as a "get started guide type". And After you got the idea of how to start to draw the monsters you can create your own. Perfect idea for kids that love to draw!



4. Lee Ames does another excellent job, as he does with his entire "Draw 50" series. His step-by-step format is easy to use and quite rewarding as well. Ames is the only drawing artist that simplifies the drawings so that anyone can follow and become adept at drawing intriguing figures. This particular edition contains a great variety of characters to draw and will be on and off any doodler's bookshelf for years

5 comments about Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China.

1. I agree with reviewers who think there is a lot of stereotyping going on in this graphic novel. The book is more a demonstration of a serious clash of cultures and things not meeting the author's expectations (based on the things he is used to through living in France and Canada) rather than a story with any deep insights into life in Shenzhen or even broadly about Chinese culture. I can see how suddenly landing up in a foreign city, especially one that due to its language, food, and other constraints is difficult to adjust to, can be a rude introduction to a Westerner and can be shocking at times; especially when it comes to food, concept of individual space, cleanliness, etc.
   
   That said...it gets 3 stars still as I think it is worth a read and worth even a chuckle or two... but definitely do not read this as an introduction to China or its culture! Note that I am not saying that anything Guy said is false. It might be a 100% perfect reflection of how life goes on in the city but the problem I had was with the sarcasm (covert mostly but sometimes not so tacit) inherent in the way he deals with these surprises. Also, not to say I wouldn't be pained or hassled by some of these aspects that trouble him myself -- in fact, he is quite enterprising in trying some of the more exotic foods, etc.



2. Let me just indicate that I am an avid fan of artist Guy Delisle's graphic novels and short stories. I have since purchased his newest book "Burma Chronicles" after reading his wonderful, insightful and caustic "Pyongyang", which details the bizarre, communist "hermit" nation of North Korea.
   
   "Shenzhen" by no means, was the author's first book of its kind, and the predecessor to "Pyongyang". In thisblack-and-white graphic novel, Delisle chronicles his stay in the province of Shenzhen, a region near other major cities in communist China, and the more liberal nations Hong Kong and Taiwan. Personally, I had high expectations for this book despite the somewhat mediocre reviews already up on Amazon. I bought it together with "Burma Chronicles" and read it as soon as it was shipped to me from America. As my first review on Amazon, it saddens me to give this book a 2 out of 5 stars.
   
   First of all, I must compare "Shenzhen" to Delisle's "Pyongyang", because expectations precedes my opinion of the book here. Where "Pyongyang" succeeded as a highly-intelligent, witty, satirical and insightful graphic novel (which this comic genre rarely does) about the absurdities of North Korean life under the dictatorship of Kim Jong-Il, "Shenzhen" does little to inform, to humour, or to intrigue the readers much. Delisle's Shenzhen travelogue merely focuses on his personal boredom, alienated state of being as a foreigner whom knows nothing about the Chinese culture and way of life as he does his job as an animator consultant in an outsourced studio (which does animation series for TV). Through his drawings, narrative boxes and speech bubbles, we are brought into a totally new environment of China and the way of life of the Chinese people as Delisle interacts with his people from various businesses, from strangers, as well as fellow colleagues, along with translators helping and following his footsteps. However, this merely brings us a glimpse into the China culture through a foreigner's eyes, from how some Chinese food is revolting to him, to how a public toilet (arranged in 2 columns of squats with no form of barriers at all) ludicrously resembles an altar of sorts. Personally, most of these "glimpses" are interesting, though trivial. They aren't really superficial per se, but it all seems too spontaneous, and at times frivolous. At one moment in the book, Delisle himself even admits that "[he] keep[s] at [writing] without real conviction. Going in circles in a hotel room, even if it is in China, doesn't seem like the kind of trip anybody would want to read about." First of all, although he may be plain honest about his disparate connection with the Chinese' way of life here, but to admitting it would nonetheless be disengaging himself with the enticing readers. Secondly, Delisle deviates from the main setting of his story as he makes occasional trips to Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong. Instead of making explicit, tangible comparisons between these supposedly more democratic and liberal nations with China, he bragged about how bored he was in Shenzhen and makes flippant comments and jokes about how he enjoyed his shopping spree in Hong Kong.
   
   There are no specific chapter divides in "Shenzhen", except each segment begins with a full-page, realistically rendered drawing of some random building or skyscraper under construction, before moving on to his different sojourns and trips to various locales in Shenzhen. As compared to Delisle's follow-up "Pyongyang", which details much more about the draconian, authoritative control that is exerted on the North Korean people, from the robbing of their liberty, to the disparate class of wealth between the elites and peasants in the communist nation, "Shenzhen" does nothing significant of this sort. Like "Shenzhen", every chapter in "Pyongyang" begins with a full-paged drawing of places/monuments (such as the Juche Tower or the emblem of the Marxist-Communist party), but it further serves the purpose of revealing, one after another, interesting facets of the plight of the N. Korean people and its deplorable culture and practices. Again, "Shenzhen" does nothing of this sort.
   
   The drawings in "Shenzhen" are mostly etched with charcoal, along with other varied styles such as ink or scanned pictures from real sources to represent different times and situations. Most of the charcoal drawings however appear somewhat skimpy and sparse, and often messy, which is inherently different from "Pyongyang", which is more clean, neat, consistent and candid. Perhaps, this adds to Delisle's treatment of the city as one that is blighted or heavily polluted.
   
   As a Singaporean Chinese (not China-Chinese) who knows how to speak Mandarin, also, it is somewhat offensive for Chinese readers like me to detect the incongruity in the speech bubbles of the Chinese characters depicted in his book. Delisle, to his convenience, chose to inscribe nonsensically-pieced words picked from god-knows-what passages that absolutely make no meaning at all, at least to readers who knows Chinese. To English and other foreign readers, this is an otherwise trivial note, and one which adds to the obliviousness of Delisle's experience in China and his blatant disregard for the Chinese audience and language.
   
   In short, "Shenzhen" offers a fresh but limited perspective of life as a foreigner in China. For this reason, along with an identical price tag to the successful book "Pyongyang", I had expected more from Delisle, and was highly disappointed in the end. I hope his latest work "Burma Chronicles" does more, like "Pyongyang", to reveal more interesting facets of life and culture under authoritative regimes, and not fall into the trap of bemoaning about his boredom or alienation, or detail flippant activities and non-enticing monologues.



3. Deslisle spent three months in southern China working for an animation company. During that time, he ate at some of the same places over and over, didn't learn any Chinese, and took one sight-seeing trip to Hong Kong. While Shenzhen isn't the easiest place for a foreigner to fit in, Delisle doesn't make much effort to learn the culture and frequently laments that he's "bored." If you've been to China, though, you'll laugh with recognition at many of his observations. As the lead character in this autobiographical work, he's a bit too passive to be engaging unfortunately.
   
   Guy Delisle is a gifted artist and animator, but the artwork in "Shenzhen" is not as clean as one would hope for. It's rendered with a chalk or pastel, and can sometimes be unclear. It works, though, because it reflects the confusion and uncertainty that he feels in China.
   
   At the end of the day, three months (or 150 pages of a comic book) is a brief and unsatisfying look at a country as complex as China. I would recommend this to travelers who have been to China, but there are more in-depth looks at the country for those unfamiliar with it.



4. I have read both Delisle's travelogues, Shenzhen and Pyongyang. Pyongyang was on enigmatic North Korea and interested me even purely because so few information come out of that country. To be able to see (weird) North Korea from a regular traveler's standpoint (even though Delisle was on a work assignment, which he was again at Shenzhen) was curious and very refreshing. On the other hand, Shenzhen, while Delisle's keen attentions to cultural details still shine through his wonderful drawing, somewhat lacks that curiosity factor. The story is filled with more of the portrayal of his loneliness in a foreign land, where he can hardly communicate with anyone. I feel Shenzhen is a sort of a more realistic version of the movie "Lost in Translation." The book still receives a very high mark for its artistic value, but if I were to choose only one between two of Delisle's travelogues, it has to be Pyongyang.



5. This is an absorbing traveller's tale which I began reading late at night and couldn't go to bed before finishing. Not only didn't I find it boring but I disagree with most of the criticisms in Thy Tran's review. Firstly, Delisle made it clear that he tried hard to converse with and get to know his translator but received no encouragement, which he found quite disheartening. The incident where they only begin to talk a short while before he leaves, when the formality and apparent awkwardness inherent in their situation fall away and parting is suddenly close at hand, is entirely true to life and happens to all sorts of people both within and across cultures. Also, Delisle obviously tried several places to eat and a variety of dishes with varying success and for him to settle on reliable favourites, as a semi-permanent resident, is quite natural. We all do it both at home and abroad while keeping our curiosity and options open. It seems to me that Delisle does all this in an understandably human way and I cannot see how this reflects badly on his attitude. He is obviously frustrated by many things and makes no bones about it, but he remains curious about the world he finds himself in and tries to find a way into it through the thing he knows and loves best, drawing - and by seeking out the work of Chinese artists that he has a powerful response to. I also fail to see any of the stereotyping that Thy Tran seems to infer from the book and on another flick through it I cannot readily see any of the "buckteeth" he finds so annoying. Like Delisle's "Pyongyang" this is a highly enjoyable and very human book and I recommend it.

5 comments about Typographic Design: Form and Communication.

1. The book is great and if you're into graphic design or even want to understand type.If you're a teacher there are many creative exercises you can get out of this book too that students should enjoy.



2. Got the book for a class im taking. It has a decent history of type and is a good book for a graphic designer.



3. I am so happy that i can buy my books and many many things from amazon with good price and amazon surprised me by sending them to me sooner than i expected it .nice job amazon keep going



4. I had to get this book for school and I have to say it is a great book. It is packed with content and examples. Examples are kept to a minimum instead of plastering every page with 90% examples and 10% text. The content is solid and all of the examples have their place. If you are interested in typography don't pass the book up, it is probably one of the best I have seen.



5. I am taking a course right now with Rob Carter. So at the risk of this sounding like a biased review, please know that I'm not the kind of person who allows personal feelings to stand in the way of my opinion on what's good and bad.
   
   Professor Carter's ability to effectively communicate is carried over to this text remarkably. Any obscure questions that I've had regarding typography and design have been answered by him personally and he nearly always pulls this text out to illustrate exactly what he means.
   
   Point is, I'm in my third year in a design program and even the "random, not covered by other professor" topics, are covered in this text.
   
   This is a text that designers will be going back to long after they've obtained their degree and are working in the field. It's a fantastic investment.
   
   --s

3 comments about Chromophobia (FOCI).

1. I picked up this book from a list of gotta-haves for a class on aesthetics and I gotta say this enormously eccentric work of journalism/philosophy/strange-spooky, kaleidoscopic-microscopic assorted collection (loosely connected?) on art and its psychological reception is worthy of many, many more clauses weighed down with much, much praise.
   
   Anyone with a theoretical interest in aesthetics will find this book packed with gems begging to be peeked at.
   
   A quirky and compelling read. And short too (+).



2. Fascinating and readably well-written argument that western civilization has a long-held prejudice (though not one shared by the author) against color, especially bright color.

   Batchelor is highly literate and informed, plus has an impressive knowledge of contemporary art. His suggestion that color tends to be seen as frivolous/minor/feminine/or even evil is backed up with wide-ranging references to culture (contemporary and earlier), art history, lit., and more. (Including an unexpectedly timely observation that historically, evidence of the decadence of Islam included its profusion of color and pattern.)

   Just a few other examples:
   --the white space as sign of seriousness and quality in the modern gallery or collector's home
   --the art historical ranking of disegno as superior to colore
   --in French lit, the symbolic association of rich hues and precious materials with decadence
   And much more.

   As for me, I almost had to buy this book for its hot pink cover alone




3. Batchelor's own take on color theory is not only a well-researched overview of color in art, architecture, cinema, and literature; it is also a call to action of sorts for artists to reclaim color from its minimalist bastardization in art and its commercial bastardization within the market culture. Batchelor uses the terms "chromophobic" and "chromophilic" to characterize to what extent this bastardization takes place and cites examples from (mainly contemporary) art history as to where the shift from color-as-representation to color-as-color took place.

   That discussions of color as secondary to drawing (or design) are neither prevelant in the industry nor in academia proves how engrained into art theory the secondary status of color is. Also of interest is the chapter on the role of semantics and color interpetation. How for example some colors in the abstract such as green-yellows are univerally more difficult to convey than others.

   Every serious artist should read this book to reintroduce the importance of color to his/her concerns and to adress contemporary concerns over the loss of color by its oversaturation in less artistic settings.

3 comments about Design Secrets: Products 2: 50 Real-Life Product Design Projects Uncovered (Design Secrets).

1. Got this as a birthday present for my fiance (who is studying industrial / product design), and he loves it. It takes you step-by-step through the design process, and includes pictures/illustrations. It includes a variety of products (from kitchen products to snowboarding products), which he appreciated.



2. I was actually looking for a book to help me with my portfolio development... though it doesn't cover rendering techniques (it doesn't claim to) this book actually gives you such a clear idea of the entire design process, there are hardly any doubts left in your head after that. and it's so well written... oh and the pictures! they are just fantastic. This book is the second in the design secrets - products series... so it is very up to date and covers very recent products. I recommend this to anyone, not just aspiring designers, if products in general interest you. you'll never look at anything you buy the same way! it's just a brilliant book. and as for anyone looking to pursue design, you NEED it. if its too expensive for you, at least get a used copy!



3. I recently purchased this book for one of my design drawing classes. The teacher had specifically asked us to find examples of product design sketches. After looking everywhere for books on the subject this one turned out to be the most up-to-date in terms of techniques and the most complete. I also think it's a great reference book and gives a good overview of the product design process. I recently purchased this book for one of my design drawing classes. The teacher had specifically asked us to find examples of product design sketches. After looking everywhere for books on the subject this one turned out to be the most up-to-date in terms of techniques and the most complete. I also think it's a great reference book and gives a good overview of the product design process.

5 comments about Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings.

1. Almost every tourist who has ever climbed to the top of the North Tower of Notre-Dame de Paris has taken a photo of his or her companion leaning over the balustrade between two gargoyles (technically 'chimeras'), and surveying the streets below. It's the ultimate gargoyle photo-op. I'm surprised this author was able to photograph the gargoyles without a tourist leaning between them. I was only slightly disappointed to learn from this book that much of the stonework on this tower is nineteenth-century restoration by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, "started in 1845 to repair damage done to the cathedral during the Revolution." However, he did attempt to use molds of the originals.
   
   Basically gargoyles are waterspouts, but to me they are proof that medieval stonemasons had a lively sense of humor--which they might have inherited from the Etruscans or the Egyptians, who also used animal-shaped stone waterspouts. Strictly speaking, gargoyles that do not spout water are known as 'grotesques' or 'chimeras.'
   
   It surprised me to learn that gargoyles used to be brightly colored--oranges, reds, and greens were favored--and sometimes gilded. The author believes that "gargoyles may be survivals of pagan beliefs...incorporated into church decorations for superstitious reasons." I've read many a horror story based on this assumption, most notably "The Cambridge Beast" and "The Sheelagh-na-gig" by Mary Ann Allen.
   
   Encounters between gargoyles and people are unique to the Cathedral of Saint John in Den Bosch, the Netherlands: "As a monstrous creature leaps out from the top of the buttress, the people cringe in terror, each one leaning back in an attempt to escape the attack of their horrible assailant." Americans tend to make pets of gargoyles, but that was not their original purpose. After all, midair is the reputed realm of demons (Ephesians 2:2).
   
   Some of the gargoyles pictured in this book are laughing at us. A carved gargoyle-monk of the Old Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Toul, France appears to be emptying the contents of a barrel onto his unsuspecting colleagues below. "Some [gargoyles] are so appealing that it is hard to imagine they were intended to be regarded as anything other than good creatures. Indeed, the gargoyles of Notre-Dame in Paris are even said to keep watch for drowning victims in the Seine."
   
   This book is an enchanting collection of photographs, legends, and travelogue. If you ever intend to go gargoyle-hunting in Europe, make certain a copy of "Holy Terrors" is stored in your carry-on.



2. ...I got the two books Holy Terror's and American Gargolyes... it was a great deal. The book is loaded with pictures of gargoyles from across america and desrcibes what type of gargoyle and where it is located in america. The photographs are beautiful and descriptive through out the book. If you gargoyles get the two books for the price of one. Highly Recommended!!!!



3. This book is one of the best books I got from [amazon.com]. I got the two books Holy Terror's and American Gargolyes... it was a great deal. The book is loaded with pictures of gargoyles from across america and desrcibes what type of gargoyle and where it is located in america. The photographs are beautiful and descriptive through out the book. If you gargoyles get the two books for the price of one. Highly Recommended!!!!



4. "Holy Terrors" is that rarest of books, one that is of genuine value to adults curious about art and architecture, but also very much capable of holding the interest of children. My five-year-old son loves the pictures--especially the "Hairy human with animal head" that adorns the cathedral in Burgos, Spain. We also both appreciate the excellent selection of medieval illustrations, such as Schongauer's "Temptation of Saint Anthony." Skimming through "Holy Terrors" is a fun way to introduce kids to one of the cultural treasures of Europe.



5. After searching several times for a book that gives the true meaning behind what gargoyles are, and where to find them, it has been found. This book combines a great number of detailed pictures with excellent writing. Way to go Janetta Benton!!!!

1 comments about Bruce of Los Angeles: Inside/Outside.

1. This book is HOT! Finally a book that does Bruce Bellas justice. Not only are the photo reproductions incredible, but the dvd is beyond sexy. I thought he photographed only in B&W and was shocked to find this book in color. Amazing. This man was a real artist... what a great eye. Some of the hottest men I have ever seen. Left me happy & horny.

No comments about Art Jewelry Today 2.

5 comments about Celtic and Old Norse Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. I bought this book looking for inspiration for a Celtic or Viking tattoo design. Hearing what a revered artist Courtney Davis was, I thought I couldn't go wrong with this book. Unfortunately, all the drawings were incredibly unsophisticated and they remind me more of an amateur's work (perhaps at copying Courtney Davis). All of the designs were in black and white and many of them were just plain - and I *do* mean plain - knotwork patterns better suited to tablecloths than tattoos. There is none of the beautiful intricacy you find in real Celtic art - almost all of the patterns have huge unfilled or "blackened" spaces.
   
   If you're looking for inspiration in Celtic design, buy a reproduction of the Book of Kells. I know that will put the shoddiness of this work to light. I suspect this was just a cheap attempt at making money and that Courtney himself does not prize this work.
   
   The good news is - it's cheap, so it wasn't a total waste.



2. I purchased this book as an artistic tool. In the process of ultimately developing my own designs in this stylistic vein, I wanted to be able to refer to line art renderings of actual ancient Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Nordic designs. This book has proved to be an excellent resource. The representations featured here make up a top-notch selection, and I appreciate the basic geographic and chronological labels for each piece. The renderings are nicely detailed, but they're not so intricate as to prove impossible to mimic in a sketch book.



3. Most of the designs in CELTIC AND OLD NORSE DESIGNS by Courtney Davis appear to have been copied from items found in and around archelogical sites that date from around 1,000 B.C.E. to about 1,000 C.E., now housed in museums. Davis does not inform the reader of the specific aspects of these pieces. In fact, her text is almost non-existent.

   Some of the items shown appear to match items that precede Roman times, others seem to coincide with Roman and early Christian times, and others are very similar to items discoved in Anglo-Saxon tombs like Sutton Hoo, or Viking sites in Scandanavia and are thus contemporary with the early Middle Ages. Some designs are found on spoons, horse collars, or weather vanes, while others are taken from church sculpture or graveyard crosses.

   As the elements shown are not categoried by historical period, or referenced or sourced, this is not the scholarly work that I hoped it might be. However, if you don't care it does not matter. I will be using the book for children's artwork projects this summer (i.e. coloring books).




4. This is a great resourse for those looking for charted scrollwork, knotwork and other Celtic or Norse motifs.



5. STRONGLY recommend this book as THE best source for Norse type designs! Bold and true, this book is highly usable to impart the Nordic of Old flavor to your work!

4 comments about Color Your Own Modern Art Masterpieces.

1. I bought this book for its completeness and thoroughness, the very nature of which provide variety, for use in an applied study of color theory for people who work with color and are not necessarily graphically/two-dimensionally oriented. The line drawings are well done and "relevant," in that they are neither of the color-by-number variety nor are they too broad and general drawings of shapes.
   
   Personally, I prefer to color on a smaller scale with prismacolors, just for fun (and do academic experimentation with color just for fun), and like to have a lighter line than black indicating the shapes and color areas, as it shows through the prismacolors. The paper is, however, thick enough to be painted on with opaque paints. For my purposes, then, I scan these, reduce them in size, and then lighten the black to a light grey.
   
   This review started out as a shocked response to a post below, in which the reviewer states she/he had been "looking forward to using this with . . . art students" and didn't give it 5 stars because it didn't "provide a brief intro before each piece:"
   
   Her/his review was mitigated by later posts from "amiemv" and The First Lutheran Church "Bookfairy" who got it right: the information is there, the teacher should have the background already and be able to provide the connections by integrating it into lessons/lesson plans.
   
   These are reinforcement activities and/or enrichment activities when applied in an educational setting. For home use, they are those same kind of activities as well as springboards to finding out more about the artists. It is not an illustrated book, as that first reviewer might want; it is a collection of images made ready to color and to be used by people who have a use for those images for reasons of their own.
   
   For that reason, no introduction to each artist is provided; it is assumed that people buying this book would already have that knowledge or would be motivated to find out the information.
   
   A generic introduction to an artist and a coloring sheet for one of his/her pieces is no more than busywork if they are employed in the "art" classroom or in the general classroom for an "art activity" without connections to other knowledge bases being made, the least of which is the background knowledge of the artists and pieces being a part of the teacher's understanding, or a part of research assigned to accompany the busywork.
   
   As mentioned at the start, these can be used as springboards to the exploration of design elements, color theory being an application I have found for them, the details of which are too long to go into here.
   
   However, in response to that surprising 4-star post, I went on to suggest a use to which one of the images might be put in the art classroom, in the hopes that it would stimulate her/him to think more about how to use these, rather than see a fault in the lack of text. The "you" in the paragraphs below are, then, the personal "you" directed toward that poster; the content, however, of the use to which one image in the book may be put, is addressed to the general "you," as in the more formal "one" or as a substitute for the passive voice.
   
   If anyone does apply this lesson plan, please contact me and show me some process images and finished product images.
   
   This is a very fun activity to use in the classroom; I have used it in varying forms from 5th grade on up (I wouldn't go into the pointillism detail for students below high school level; other images with other ways of producing color -- even artist-specific in terms to technique (van Gogh and oil pastels, for example) and color selection -- would be more appropriate, and the research step might be a presentation by the teacher after the initial "free-style" approach, dealing with the artist's focus, followed by the grid/scale activity as reinforcement of that artist's choices in technique, color, paint application . . . .)
   
   Here is what belongs more in this review than as a response to that post, and remember, don't take pointed comments personally: they are specific responses to one particular reviewer, and meant to be helpful:
   
   For some ideas on how to apply artists' coloring sheets in the classroom, see back issues of _School Arts_ (your school library should have them; if not, at least one school in your district will have them), and by all means, secure yourself a subscription to this number one art educators' resource.
   
   Just for one example, if you were to use George Seurat, would you introduce him as a pointillist and then suggest the students follow suit? Would you hand out the sheets first and have them color them, pin up the group, and then assign them research on Seurat after completion? Would you then, after completion, ask them to do another, using what they learned? Who knows.
   
   What I would do, after completing individual images and pinning them up and having them do research, is explain the concept of pointillism and its relationship to the impressionist's concepts (light, changing light, and perception of light and color), grid and cut the coloring image up into squares, one for each student (or two -- depending on the number of students you have; if you have a lot of students, perhaps you would need to grid and cut up more than one copy and divide the class into two or three teams for this project). After the grid is cut, glue each square to the center of a square white paper or a 5" x 7" white index card and pass them out to the students, along with a blank white square 4" to 6" big. Then you will ask them to duplicate, in pencil line, the abstract image they have on those small squares on the larger square. When they have done that, tell the class that they are to color the abstract image they have using pointillism to make the colors.
   
   When everyone is done, have them paste their squares onto a heretofore unveiled master grid (one for each team or for the class), making sure the top is up and the letter and number match the letter and number on the master grid. You will have a large pointillist painting of "Sunday Afternoon on the Grand Jatte," which is the image in the book, I believe.
   
   Alternately, after they have made the line drawing that duplicates the layout on the uncolored line square, you may have made a color copy of the painting in the exact size and scale of the line drawing, and you can grid and cut this out into squares that exactly match the little black and white ones, and then you can hand out color squares pasted on index cards for the class to duplicate in pointillism: it will give them a starting point. Better yet, you could color in one of these yourself, matching Seurat's colors exactly, but in prismacolors, blended in the traditional color pencil blending technique. Then you could cut this (or those, if you need more than one for your class size) into squares and have the class duplicate the colors on their larger white squares, using pointillism to give the impression of the colors there.
   
   If you are teaching art, you should have a working knowledge of all the artists and works in this book, from only your three general Survey of Art History classes: Prehistoric through Pre-Renaissance/Early Renaissance/Renaissance, Renaissance/Baroque through beginning of 20th century, and 20th Century/Contemporary Art History. These classes would have been completed before you received your B.A. in Art or in Art Education. If for some reason* you managed not to take them, go back to a community college and take them just for yourself; the knowledge you gain from these classes will serve you well in all fields throughout your life.
   
   As to devising lesson plans, you should be able to pull these out after your two practical Art Education classes, in which you have had practice devising lesson plans. These classes would have been completed in your fifth year, before your student teaching.
   
   *(some reason being perhaps being having taken Art Appreciation as a substitute or a specialized area of art history, Women's Art, for example, or even attending a school with a lack of oversight and stringency in standards)



2. I was looking forward to using this with my art students, and it is a really interesting way to introduce them to art pieces. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I've seen other books provide a brief intro before each piece that talks about the artist... not this one.



3. There are 30 different modern art masterpieces represented here, so it is definitely worth the price. All pieces are shown in color on the front and back covers, and each individual page has the name of the artist (years of their birth-death), title of the work, date created and type of medium used. So, it's educational and fun. I recommend it for all ages. Some of the artists included are: Picasso, Miro, Klee and Mondrian.



4. This is a fantastic resource for any children's art program. Whether you are writing your own lesson plans or connecting art with literature. This inexpensive resource is a must for your collection.