No comments about Byzantium, 330-1453.

No comments about The Big Archive: Art From Bureaucracy.

5 comments about 300: The Art Of The Film.

1. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R17CYGSOMP6EJO This book doesn't explain much on the process of making the movie. Most of the art in the book lack captions. This book feels light in content simply for the fact that you don't get much information.
   
   There are plenty of conceptual art, 3D renders and storyboards. But there seem to a lot of movie stills as well, to the effect that it felt that half the book contained movie stills. There are also a lot of 3 penciled storyboards that take one page to themselves. Certainly they don't deserve those sizes.
   
   For a movie based on a graphic novel, I was expecting much more paintings to be included in the book. The movie was shot too stylistically that it's hard to imagine that there are not much more storyboard paintings.
   
   There are more pictures on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for my blog's link.



2. Great. I've complained 3 times cause I haven't received my order and now you ask me to review it? How the hell do you want me to review something I've never seen. Send me the bloody books and I'll review them.



3. Translating a graphic novel into the world of cinema can be a tricky business.
   
   And the first step is concept art -- creating basic images of the characters, costumes, and important, visually-striking scenes. "300: The Art Of The Film" is crammed with such images, detailing virtually every part of the movie... but it's very skimpy on explanations and information.
   
   It starts off with a couple of prefaces -- one by an expert on military history, and the other explaining the purpose of revealing the concept art. Then concept art itself: it basically outlines the story, beginning with the "inspection" of newborn Spartan boys and ending with another battle brewing between the Spartans and Persians.
   
   These include pages and pages of rough sketches and detailed drawings for the cinematogrpahers, some representing only a few seconds (a fist hitting a slave's face). Then there are plenty of costume sketches, depictions of unreal-looking monsters, tents, and the gorgeous sets for things like Xerxes' opulant golden litter. Actually, it's more of a portable house.
   
   But it has more than just concept art -- there are clay models, special effects shots, elaborate makeup and costume for things like the hunchbacked traitor, Xerxes' chain-porn costume, and things like knives stuck in a eye, and even green-screen shots before the CGI gloss was put on. And there are shots showing how they managed certain effects, like the people who controlled the animatronic "wolf."
   
   And with every sketch and behind-the-scene shot, they show the finished result as it appears in the movie. A lot of them have the original art by Frank Miller as well, to show us how close the movie actually is to its source material. Visually speaking, it's a feast of behind-the-scenes information.
   
   Buuuuut....
   
   "300: The Art Of The Film" suffers from a lack of background information -- they show us loads of information, but don't tell WHY they were done, or even the intricacies of HOW. Come on, they must have had some trial-and-error in this film. While we can see the art for ourselves, we're rarely told much about why they chose this costume, or that monster, and how they created some of the weirder visuals.
   
   So while the book is visually rich, it feels incomplete, like they left a lot of the text out to keep the guide from getting too long. Sometimes pages and pages will go by with only a few sparely-written paragraphs describing the intricacies of the movie. "300" is a visual movie, but come on, there's more to it than that.
   
   "300: The Art Of The Film" has loads of art, but not much explanation in how it got from art to movie. It stumbles badly as a behind-the-scenes guide, but it's still an intriguing visual read.



4. This book has quite a few photos showing the making of 300 but the biggest draw (to me) was the similarities to the 300 Graphic Novel. Size, shape and cover picture are the same. The book shows a lot of photos of how the digital images were added to bleak green screen sets, how things like the wolf were made, etc. Its a good book for 300 fans it's a must have for those who have the Hardcover graphic novel (to display them side by side).



5. It seems that some people are having a hard time realizing that the title of this book includes "The Art of the Film" and are searching for filming procedures, or sociopolitical explanations on behalf of the film when, in fact, this IS an art book. And for what it is, it does a great job revealing the artistic vision behind the film 300. From makeup effects to storyboarding to the comic conversion of the film, "300: The Art of the Film" makes a stylistic presentation that is worthy of the aesthetic care of the movie itself. Anyone who is interested in the artistic background in the movie 300 will appreciate the clean layout and complete presentation of this book.

5 comments about Thoughtless Acts?: Observations on Intuitive Design.

1. This was a good overview/introduction to leveraging observational research in design and innovation thinking, not an in-depth treatise on process nor a how-to instruction manual. Reading the negative reviews, I somewhat agree that there could be more "meat" in the book, or that the author could have positioned the insights/questions with the photos to create a more usable work. However, I realized that perhaps it was intentional that the observational photos were positioned without explanation in the first half of the book, with narrative in the back. That's how observations typically happen, relying on each one's personal reflection and evaluation first, unskewed by external opinion. I appreciated this book as an inspiration to tune into the obvious around us and by capturing the everyday, learn to gain insight into it's ability to shape the creation of future things. Good stuff.



2. A book that makes you aware instead of being in automatic pilot. Sit in a restaurant, at a park, or simply on a bus and start thinking about this book and how people behave. Great for account planners.



3. Overall concept is interesting. What we observe, how we are conditioned, how we respond to our environment but quality of book could have been taking further. Instead of being paperback size, it could have been a larger coffee table book with higher quality photos to illustrate points. Rather than having to refer to back of book to understand why image was included, it should have been on the same page as the picture.



4. Yet another lousy book by IDEO. The whole book is nothing but photos. The title "Observations on Intuitive Design" implies to me that they are Jane Fultons observations. Sadly they are not. They are YOUR observations from looking at the pictures. And I paid for this. No written content (to speak of). I'll save you some money; take your camera into a supermarket, a compusa, and a walmart and snap away. Then go home and review them. Done and I saved you some cash. The arrogance of these guys. They slap their name (IDEO) on a collage and call it observations?



5. Excellent book that illustrate the little things that miss our senses and observation day in day out.
   
   Opens up a world of thought for everyone around, expecially designers.

5 comments about The New Typography (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism).

1. When Tschichold wrote this text, the German foundation of typography was in upheaval, and Tschichold was clearly the first against the wall when the revolution came. As he was writing, the predominant typefaces in Germany were of the Fraktur type, which did not incorporate the advancements of transitional or modern typefaces. It is quite clear that Tschichold sought to completely do away with the old types and bring in the new sans serifs as a way of countering them.
   
   The first half of the book is filled with bombastic rhetoric, which gets tiring very fast. Still, there is plenty of good advice and there are excellent examples to follow. The second half is more technical, but perhaps too technical, as most of the standards that Tschichold discusses are either now well accepted or superseded and thus any appeal to use them is now moot in either case. The second half again provides good advice, despite the mooted standards discussion, and it is certainly something that any designer, of any printed matter should be acquainted with.
   
   Finally, the historical significance of this text makes it essential reading for designers. The various introductions and forewords give the reader a good idea of these circumstances, but at 60 pages (when Tschichold's introduction is taken into account), it occupies far too much of the text.
   
   All in all, I may have overrated this book at four stars, but it definitely deserves more than 3.



2. This is a nice handbook for creating stark minimal layouts but the dogmatic, unwavering theory of 'objective' design is best taken with a grain of salt. Reading this reminds me of when I took painting with Modernist painter Guido Molinari and everyone around me ended painting squares out of fear of retribution. But even with his strict approach, I don't think he would have quoted a text that says "The more primitive a people, the more extravagantly they use ornamentation ... To insist on decoration is to put yourself on the same level as an Indian." While this book has some great tips on reducing clutter and improving readability, reading the 'ideals of Modern Man' stuff is like sitting through a fire and brimstone sermon. Nice diagrams.



3. Typographic history, at least. This book was first published in 1928, and seems to have been the founding manifesto of the "Swiss school" of typography. This is a must-read for all serious students of type, and for a few others as well.

   First, the messages for typographers. The book itself is part of that message: sanserif body text, bright white paper, and geometric red and black graphics. Tschichold uses a few conventions that I quite like. Footnotes are indicated inline and at the end of the page by a heavy black mark. At first, it looked like a blot on the gray of the body type. After seeing it a few times, though, I realized that the heavy mark was very helpful for recovering my place in the reading after my eyes moved away to read the footnote. Emphasis is shown with heavy rules in the outer margins around text, much the way I mark books myself. My only complaint about the book as a whole has to do with indistinct paragraph breaks - there is clue from indentation or line spacing, so it is actually possible to miss a pragraph break altogether.

   The second half of the book shows a number of examples, good, bad, and (today) historically interesting. Almost all examples are bold red and black - the first two colors to be used up in most sets of crayons. It is easy to forget that these examples were often designed for letterpress, since photocompostion barely existed as we understand the term. Despite Tschichold's passion for modernity, the style now looks as dated as Bauhaus, streamlined locomotives, and Art Deco.

   The first half of the book is for typographers, but also for any modern student of polemic. Not many people have strong feelings about typography, so the ranting can be considered by itself. Tschichold's style is based on "the spirit of our age" somehow revealed to him alone, and on Germanic philosophical absolutes. It is ironic that, during the cultural purges of pre-WWII Germany, Tschichold was among those rounded up for politically incorrect artwork - another absolute in conflict with his own.

   Happily, Tschichold was able to emigrate to Switzerland before war broke out. He had a long and influential career, and later regretted the strident excesses of youth that this book captures.

   This is useful as a guide to typographic style, but beginners will probably get more from modern texts. It gives a very informative view of the DIN standards for paper and business correspondence. Most of all, however, it captures a time and a mentality that no longer exist, but that guided one strong school of typographic practice for over 80 years.




4. As other reviewers have written before me, this book surely has an historical value to it. It allows the reader to have a quick glance to a particular historical moment of typography in pre-WWII Germany, written in a Marxist tone. Also, the layout of the book is a beauty in itself, with its glossy paper and sans-serif Futura font. But that is pretty much it, unless you want to read it because you are a student in History of Typography. Do not expect to learn basic or advanced typographic elements here. If you want that, read "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst instead.



5. I'll confess I was expecting something more contemporary when bought this book. If you're not carefull the title will fool you. "New" in this case means early 20th century. Tschichold, as I came to learn, is one of the great names in typeface design. This book is reissued as his classic rant/manifesto on graphic design and type.
   
   Tschichold makes strong statements on what constitutes good typography, even going so far as to make philosophic natural law arguments in favor of san serif type. Serif fonts, particularly black letter styles, are the enemy. You have to take a historical leap in order to understand Tschichold's sour view of black letter. To us, black letter is a period typeface appearing outside pubs of the "Ye Olde Ale House" variety (or alternately to tattoo your back with gang symbols). But to Tschichold, black letter type was the Times New Roman of the day, plastered over every document and sign around. He argues correctly (in self-righteous, quasi-Marxist tones) about the unintelligibility of black letter type. He champions san serif styles, such as Futura.
   
   Strictly speaking, Tschichold's arguments aren't of much practical use to contemporary designers now that the scourge of black letter has fallen aside and Helvetica/Arial rules the world, but I enjoyed the reproductions of Tschichold's own Weimar Republic era work. It reminds me of the possibility of using a strictly typographic solution to a design problem. I think if you were ever a fan of Emigre's type and design philosophy, you'll find things to like about this book.

No comments about Art and China's Revolution (Asia Society).

No comments about KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art.

5 comments about The Ultimate Picasso.

1. For many years I've been a great admirer of Pablo Picasso's work. Whenever I travel I always look for Picasso's museums or General Art Museums where Picasso's works are displayed. As a result of these trips I've gathered panflets, brochures and many books focusing different phases of the artist. However something was missing! And that would be a comprehensive overview that could be able to explain and make sense of his imense and brilliant lifelong work and at the same time to show magnificent reproductions! congratulations to the author who was very successful in her enterprise!



2. This is a great book. It's chock full of illustrations--so many that they just quit offering text every few pages to let the images catch up. It goes through his entire life, showing the art he created for each section. It's great, insightfull, a huge folio-sized book and just an all around great read/see.



3. I took this book out of our university library to have on hand while reading Françoise Gilot's "Living with Picasso", in order to see representations of the artwork to which she refers throughout the book. "The Ultimate Picasso" proved invaluable. Not only does it contain Picasso's complete major works, they are also presented in chronological order which made look-up easy despite Gilot's often describing an artwork and the process used to create it but not always giving its title (she always gives dates). I ordered "The Ultimate Picasso" before the library due date because I couldn't bear to not have the book in my house!
   The photos of the artwork are brilliant and crisp, and the accompanying text is informative.
   You will not be disappointed by this book.



4. this book rocks so much it breaks the very laws that govern physics!! so much information, so many beautiful pictures, so dense. it seems to capture the very spirit of pablo picasso. it was give to me as a valentine's day gift, and it is one of my most prized books. this is a MUST purchase for any picasso fan.



5. To see tons of Picasso works in one book is nothing short of breathtaking. This is easily the best Picasso book that focuses on his paintings. What's incredible is to see the prolific amount of work he was capable of, and just what a inventive genius he was. Without a doubt the greatest Artist of the 20th century. Not all the works make sense, or are even recognizable as anything, but that was Picasso; his art was how he viewed the world, and how his own heart felt inside:confused, and out of place. His Cubism is nearly mathmatical, and very intriguing. IF you're interested in Picasso as more than that weird guy who made all those paintings i just don't get, come and check out this book to see all of what he was made of. You'll be amazed and inspired.

2 comments about The Optical Unconscious (October Books).

1. Kraus's "The Optical Unconcious" is a good companion, as it were, to Martin Jay's "Downcast Eyes." Both discuss the dilema of visuality in Modernist thought and then -whoa - bring out post-modernism just by speaking about the eye and seeing. While Jay gets technical with his notion of "occular centrism," Kraus lets us feel what it means to watch or be watched. Her approach to the male gaze, the fashionable term for good old fashioned voyerism, is that it is natural. Sure, it one can analyse it as a by product of the failure of the industrial revolution to liberate people from work and to bring about more leisure time for the masses (by implication create greater equality - fewer people watching each other in the negative sense). Krauss is right when she insists that looking is a normal, natural occurance in contemporary society. She is also on target about the obsession Americans have with time, and that sight is the quickest method of human understanding. A great book!



2. Through a carefully structured narrative agenda, Rosalind Krauss is able to foreshadow, a compromised and descriptive text, about the contemporary use of the word "understand", specially if applied to the modernist arts and its criticism. Greatly to the advantage of us, lesser audiences, every thesis is exhibited with both academic rigor and narrative richness, permiting thus, the emergence of rich and useful images, powerful to illustrate, vinculate, even sometimes explain, many of the contemporary works of other theorists, that come to the text sometimes to expose, sometimes to poison, the general arguments around modernist production and the understanding of arts. Great for abbandoning oneself into insomnia, it is common to find provocative images, greatly to the advantage of self-involment in the arguments, and to the further underdstanding of the actual state of simbolical exchange, in the present tense. The involment in contemporary thought and debate, and the well constructed historical narrative, provides the text with an surprisingly effective mirror to look at our culture at an compromisingly close viewpoint, in wich many constitutive arguments of contemporary culture today are reflected just as the many of the historical lies that are still at use now at the "explaining" of the artistic pulsions, and its assimilation by the artistic institutions.

1 comments about The Decorative Decoy Carver's Ultimate Painting & Pattern Portfolio, Series One.

1. I found this book to be better than any other carving book I have purchased. The painting guides are accurate and detailed, the patterns are realistic and proportionate, and each species has several different head poses included. I use this book while carving and painting more than all of my others combined.