5 comments about Drawing the Human Head (Practical Art Books).

1. Burne Hogarth takes you through his technique of measuring human proportions. Beware, at times you will feel less like an artist and more like a mathmatician. Hogarths work is better suited to my sculpture than my drawing as he tends to show all the planes in his work as very defined surfaces. For a beginner trying to draw you can do a lot better.



2. This book is excellent! This is first and foremost a book on drawing no fat, face composition "blanks" of human face types. This is the most complete basic face composition book out there. Changing this into a certain person comes later on. If you're looking for a book on how to draw certain people, this is not a book for you. If youre merely looking for in depth info on aging this is not a book for you. If you're merely looking for a book on how to draw faces simple and easy, this is not a book for you. But if you have the desire to know what the form is really like, not just lines, this is the book for you. The illustrations are to be understood, not to be copied. This book is for understanding, not remembering. It's logic, not like a phone number. An instant classic.



3. I absolutely love this book. I learned a lot from it in a short period of time. Most definately I would recomend it to anyone who has an idea about drawing that is interested in drawing portraits.



4. ...A popular, intermediate-level effort- It's definitely *great* for memory drawing, and it's recommended *mainly* for this reason...
   
   In recent decades there have been 3 main teachers in learning to draw heads from memory. For cube-based construction we have George Bridgman. For ball/sphere-based construction we have Andrew Loomis. And for oval/ellipse-based construction, we have the famous teacher of the Dynamic Drawing series- comicbook artist Burne Hogarth. Many of today's Japanese animation & comicbook instructionals are using these very same principles, along with some of the teachings by the Famous Artists School. My current interest is in oval & cube-based construction, and it's exclusively *oval-based* construction that is emphasized in this book.
   For me, the *best* section in this book is the 2nd of its 6 sections- which is oval-construction simplified. It's just 21 pages out this book's 160- but it's actually worth getting if you're interested in drawing from memory. The rest of the book, in my opinion, is mainly filler- to justify an entire book on this subject. In fact, Burne Hogarth's 1st book, Dynamic Anatomy, gives us a *very* brief intro into this exact same oval-based construction, and I think many people will prefer getting Dynamic Anatomy for this reason. I highly recommend getting the *original* version of Dynamic Anatomy- since I'm not a fan of the new, 'revised and expanded' version available today.
   
   Really, the *main* sections in this book that seem interesting to me are that 2nd, 5th, and maybe 6th sections. In the 5th, many different head-types are depicted and compared, including about 30 specific ethnicities- giving this book a somewhat 'international' feel. The 6th section is a 'gallery' of heads as shown in ancient sculpture, as well as more modern western art. It's interesting information overall; just not really necessary in learning to draw heads from memory. In short: For *beginners*, I highly recommend Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm in addition to this. For everyone else, this book is *moderately* recommended.
   P.S. For photo-reference of different ethnicities, check out Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference For Artists; also here on Amazon!



5. I picked up this book while taking a drawing class on portraiture, and I found it to be an excellent supplement to the material I was learning in class. Hogarth takes the reader through the basics of measuring facial proportions, shadow and light planes, and anatomical details that are important to keep in mind when trying to draw realistically. While some of it may seem like overkill at first, with practice it becomes clear how paying attention to such small details (such as the various areas of light and shadow on a nose, or around the eye socket) can help improve one's ability to create a convincing human head in any medium of artwork.
   
   There are reasons to be critical of the book, however. As my art teacher pointed out, Hogarth's illustrations are extremely high contrast, emphasizing light and shadow for teaching purposes much more so than they should be in a realistic drawing. Some sections are more filler than actual useful information as well, such as the "Gallery of Great Heads"; I could have used more detail on taking the anatomical information of the earlier sections and how to apply it to portraiture and creating a specific likeness.
   
   Overall, though, this is one of the better books I've found on the subject and I do find myself using it as a reference when needed.

5 comments about Manga Mania Magical Girls and Friends: How to Draw the Super-Popular Action fantasy Characters of Manga (Manga Mania).

1. An Outstanding book that teach you how to draw cartons in detail. I bought it for an 8 years old girl, she likes it too. (but, it seems a little bit hard for her) However, I borrowed the book and draw once and find out it's a great book. I highly recommend for teenagers who love Japanes Cartoon.



2. This book is GREAT for getting ideas; the anatomy parts are not anything particularly spectacular, but it's great for getting ideas and concepts going, as well as what to DO with these ideas. I recommend it for those who like fantasy and/or the 'Magical Girl' genre



3. I've never been fond of Chris Hart's books. The illustrations tend to be overtly generic with very little detail in my eyes, so I tend to push them to the side when I'm scanning the local bookstores for new art books and How to Draw tutorials. However, when this one came out, the cover caught me by surprise. THIS was Hart's work?
   
   Well, in truth, it wasn't. Hart only did maybe five to six pages of drawings while the rest were done by a legion of other artists. Artists who I believe have a much stronger grasp of composition and balance than Hart does. (If I remember correctly, it was Nao Yazawa who created the most breath-taking images.) For those who grew up watching Sailor Moon as a kid, the nostalgia will hit you like a train, but in a good way. Everything about this book was pure classic.
   
   The instruction is mostly visual, as in while there is text I certainly didn't need to read it. It's easy to pick up and easy to practice the techniques the artists are trying to teach. I highly recommend this book, as it is one of the few non-Japanese books where the drawings truly feel authentic.



4. Manga mania magical girls and friends: how to draw the super popular action fantasy characters of manga is really just a book i can turn to for refrence. When it comes to the magical girls costume, he does not tell you as much as you would need to know. He says somthing like, to make it look like a school uniform. I don't like that. I want to see more pizzaz, more color, more style. But thats just me. Over all, this is a great book. But if you want to know how to draw a magical girl uniform filled with everything i mentioned above, I suggest reading up on your manga(Sailor moon, Card captor Sakura, Tokyo mew mew, etc.)



5. I love this book!!! It has fantastic art work and is very helpful. This one of Christopher Hart's best books besides Chibi and Furry.
   My mother says this is an awesome book and I recomend it for you!!!

5 comments about Hotel Design, Planning, and Development, New Edition.

1. This a book that be should always be close to you if you work in the hotel development industry.



2. I am an Interior Design student and found this book very helpful in completing a hospitality design. It provides a breakdown of the areas of the hotel, the different types of hotels, and the type of customers that use them. It really helped me in laying out the floor plan. There are also some awesome color pictures of fabulous hotels in the world. I highly recommend for anyone interested in hospitality design.



3. The work of hotel design and planning is different from other architectural works; it requires an indepth understanding of hotel business. Therefore, the hotel architecture became one of the toughest job for architects. (Another job is the hospital architecture.)
   
   However, this book proposed design guidelines for a hotel fit to the business pattern. First, it explains various types of hotel properties. Second, it shows not only design guidelines for facilities but also planning approach methods for location selecting and size determination. Finally, if you read this book, you can consider efficient management system of the property from the early phase of design.
   
   Among numerous books on hotel architecture, I think this book is the most outstanding resource.



4. I was assigned to teach at the Master Degree class on "Facility Management" subject focusing on Hotel Facility. I have gone through several books regarding hotel design. I think this book is the best of all. Any designer who reads this book back to back will certainly understand the whole concept. It is not only about how to design the hotel as an architecture piece, but the reader will also understand the hospitality business. This book also covers the design and management issues of related topics such as "Restaurant", "Entertainment Venue" in the hotel. It is the 'must have' for all architects who want to design a hotel efficiently. It can also be a good book for anyone who is in the hospitality business and currently in charge of renovating or upgrading the hotel space; or the hotel's representative who need to communicate with architects or interior designer. This book can be the great tool to evaluate the result of the hotel construction project or even to 'correct' it. The tables and formulas for space calculation in this book are easy enough for anyone to understand. This book can be of great use to all building design professionals. It can also be a valuable one for any people who is interested in hotel business.



5. This book is filled with rules of thumbs,tables,charts, and drawings to help any architect to design any type of hotel. I can say after reading this book, one will walk away with a general knowledge about the hotel industry and how to design a hotel.

4 comments about The Art of Portrait Drawing: Learn the Essential Techniques of the Masters.

1. I just watched the video that comes with this book. I would higly recommended both. As a beginner it was inspiring to watch an artist actually doing the technique described in the book. I can only imagine that if someone has more experience, it would be very usefull to see someone highly skilled perform their technique. I have read many books on this subject and find this to be the best.



2. The author works from life and covers most the kinds of things you'd want to know about successful portraiture. The step-by-step was most interesting to read as she takes you through a process and how to resolve some issues you may run into. It doesn't offer a lot to beginners because she assumes you know how to see and do basic drawing and toning. I'd say this is a book for the intermediate artist who needs to reenforce existing knowledge with some very useful tips you probably never thought of, particularly for drawing from life.
   
   I only have a few small critical things to say here. Although she reviews some basics on composition such as the golden ratio, she doesn't actually seem to practice them much in her examples. For example, she shows you how to "center" the head and says the "full face" portrait is the most common. Well I've heard alot of arguments against centering and full face views so it seems a contradiction to talk composition then not practice it in reality. I believe the 3 quarter view is most common, and you do not want to center the head for reasons I can't give here because it is too detailed. But perhaps she didn't want to overload the reader with composition theory since that's a much more complex issue.
   
   But this is very worthwhile to read and she seems to have done a great job with the structure and language of the book.



3. The "Art of Portrait Drawing", a hard cover beautifully printed book, is a fine addition to any beginning or intermediate artists library. Joy Thomas is a highly skilled artist and the book is filled with "hands on" demonstrations and practical tips on approaching this subject. Personally
   I find portrait drawing/painting to be an extremely challenging and intimidating task. Indeed there are many "celebrity" artists in the top galleries who couldn't paint a good portrait if their life depended on it.
   While this book may not be the definative work on Portrait Drawing, it is very well done and well worth the investment.



4. This is a great book for the newbie and intermediate. Those that have not found there style or zone yet. I notice that as you become better you adopt your own style. But it's still always good to get tips from a true pro like Joy Thomas. The DVD that is sold separately, is a great resource because what she describes in the book is not always easy to visualize. This book reads like you are sitting down in a classroom with her. This book is well worth the buy.

5 comments about The Eleventh Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack: Contains: Garfield Strip Numbers 31, 32, and 33 (Garfield Fat Cat Three Pack).

1. Great book! It was a great buy and if you're thinking of buying it, don't hesitate! Garfield makes me laugh a lot from his attidude and his interest in all the things that people love to do.



2. This fat cat 3-pack (like the others) is not only entertaining to read (like the others), but it is also a great reference book of Garfield comics (like the others), because from the point the book starts to the point it ends it has every daily comic in the order they were in the newspaper without skipping any days.



3. With "The Great One" Charles Schultz's passing (RIP Mr. Schultz and thank you!), this leaves Garfield as the only current comic strip that remains consistantly funny. This review is a pretty universal review for all of the books. If you're a Garfield fan and you don't have them: Get them!!!



4. It is good, but i expected more of it after reading the tenth fat cat 3-pack



5. As always, it was pretty funny! The only thing I thought was a problem (A too common problem) was that the strips started to fade into each other, and into the strips from earlier books. All of em funny, all of em following the old formula. I guess when you've written thirty books you run a little low on ideas, so I can't really blame Jim Davis. Entertaining comic strips with everybody's favorite fat cat.

5 comments about The Book as Art: Artists' Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

1. One of the best! This book should be on your bookshelf if you are interested in the books as an art form. I would suggest it for any school or college media center. I would not include it on a list for coffee table books but if you have a serious home library which leans toward the book arts,artist journals and sketchbooks; by all means, put this out on the reading table.
   The next best thing:Visiting the Museum in person!



2. Turning the book making into an art can make a book more attractive and collectible. This book demonstrates a lot of outstanding examples. Readers are completely satisfied by the books in this book.



3. This is one of those products which is true to its theme from the moment you unwrap it.Being a book about the beauty and creativity of books it has itself to be worthy, which it certainly is. It is a pleasure to hold and to explore, as the design and concept have been carefuly considered.
   The examples chosen are rich and varied and are divided thematically.The problem is that so many of the books are enormously intriguing that one wants to handle them to discover their mysteries. However the descriptions are usually very good and do allow one to at least understand the concept of the creator.If you love books as art, this is a truly wonderful possession.



4. This book is a wonderful review of the art of books as contemporary sculpture. As a fiber artist-bookmaker-handmade paper maker, I bought a copy for my own library, then gave another copy as a gift to a fellow artist who was interested in using books and book images in art. Inspirational as well as informative. I look forward to seeing the actual exhibition.



5. Terrific book that is a keeper. If you can't get to see a portion of these works of art exhibited, at least you can enjoy what is being created out there by this wonderfully photographed and informative book. An added bonus was that it arrived sealed in plastic in mint condition!

1 comments about Interior Design Visual Presentation: A Guide to Graphics, Models & Presentation Techniques.

1. Awesome book. Great for all interior design students. Great for your library. Makes learning how to do models, etc., much easier than trying to learn from your instructor's brief instructions.

5 comments about How to Draw the Human Figure: Famous Artists School, Step-by-Step Method (Famous Artists School : Step-By-Step Method).

1. Lots of good excercises for those new to drawing the human figure.



2. THIS IS A VERY GOOD BOOK BUT NOT ONE FOR THE "AVERAGE" BASIC BEGINNER. WAS HOPING FOR A STEP BY STEP.



3. I found this book to give me all I was looking for, how to draw gesture drawing,anatomical proportions,figure, and it gives you practice pages to draw on and then comparison pages to go back to so you can see your errors and correct them. this is a self teaching book that works



4. good price. a bit disappointed with the book itself. no reflection on the seller.



5. This is a good book for those beginning figure drawing.I found it less complicated than others out there and the method is sound.There are photos you can draw from if you want to do that and the explanations are very clear.Keep it simple and have fun.

5 comments about Perspective for Interior Designers.

1. This is a great book to have. Easy reading, nice illustrations, great information.



2. I really like the book!...
   The content of this book it's easy to understand.



3. This book is a helpful tool for those of us struggling with perspectives. Page by page written and visual instructions assist in not just drawing perspectives, but really understanding how they are put together! Even for those who are new to the world of drawing and explaining concepts via drawing! THANKS!



4. When I first started looking at the explanation for perspective I thought it was pretty good. But as it went on, I thought no one is going to pay me to take this much time to do a rendered drawing! This book could be good for developing your eye and understanding of perspective but there are short cuts that will give you better than acceptable results. There are also books that have more to offer in terms of rendering the presentation. I have found that no one singular book completely communicates everything you need. This one, I could have done without.



5. John Pile presents the two point perspective in a simplified, clear, concise manner yet it's very extensive in content. I would highly recommend it for any Interior Designer wanting to know more about perspective drawings.

1 comments about Master Builders: Skyscrapers (Master Builders).

1. If you have kids, if you love architecture, if you love modelbuilding (or character building), or if you ever wondered why so tall and how they did it, this is the book/activity for you. Follow the latest Hollywood craze and indulge your habit for crafting by builiding five scale replicas of some of the greatest tall buildings ever. That's right, ever -- these are the ones that defined the skyline of every city in the world. And, for those of us who not only like to use our hands, but also our minds, the well-researched articles on each tower, with archival images, really gives a short (but in-depth) history of the lives of those who made them. What you will need: Fresh baked cookies, scissors, glue, red-wine and several hours away from the TV.