Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations Review

The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations
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The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations ReviewThis slim volume covers a few areas of image-processing. Some areas are covered nicely, while others are considerably weaker.
Harold Davis excels with his backlit images of flowers which have all the delicacy of water color. His technique (he calls it 'hand hdr') of combining multiple exposures is covered in detail. He also describes his unusual compositing techniques, which have given him strange and beautiful images. He enjoins the reader to experiment with different color spaces, particularly Lab Color. Virtually all of his transformations are accomplished without the filters (pastel, gesso, brushstrokes, etc) used by first-timers. This is all valuable information.
Where I feel that Davis falls short is in his actual use of Photoshop. While his techniques work, they barely touch on more recent developments in PS. For example, Davis recommends layering varied conversions of the same RAW file. But he doesn't touch on the subject of smart layers, which both simplify this process and confer greater flexibility. Nor is there any mention of adjustment layers, which I believe would accomplish many of his effects with less fuss. Much of his compositing (I'm thinking particularly of his Escher-like staircases) would be much easier with the new puppet warp feature. He also uses a brush to paint over many problem areas; while he's good at it, it's devilishly difficult to do and shows too little faith in judicious use of the new context-sensitive features of CS5. The section on glamour retouching should have been excluded. Many of the problems could have been eliminated by more careful studio lighting. Most of the remaining touch-up looks artificial. All in all, it feels like Davis's knowledge of Photoshop has not been refreshed in quite some time.
For an overall sense of good PS workflow, I still feel that the books of Martin Evening are in a league of their own. Once the user has an up-to-date feel for the program, there are still some nice tidbits in this book.The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations Overview

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Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil Review

Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil
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Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil ReviewRefining your pencil work starts here. Hillberry pushes his medium and he pushes it hard. If you love the subtle, moody, sensitive qualities of pencil drawings and are working to take yours from the realm of rough diamonds to stand alone works of art, you are going to love this book.
Very well photographed, Hillberry gives detailed, progressive steps of many of his drawings and is very forthcoming about the techniques he uses to get his results. Hillberry's work is photo-realistic, but even if that is not your goal he spends the first third of the book discussing how to develop the skill necessary to create the even, shifting tones of graphite vital to effective pencil work. The photorealistic sessions are important for everyone as they hone your awareness of what you are seeing and your ability to relay it. His finished examples are beautiful and inspiring.
I love pencil, and there isn't a better book on the topic out there (after 15 years of collecting, I may just have them all). If you feel the same way, get this book. Then quit shopping and get back to your studio and work.
PS--Another interesting book is Robert Zappalorti's "Drawing Sharp Focus Still Lifes" (Watson-Guptill) but it is out of print and you will have to search hard to find it. I feel Hillberry's book is superior, but it's always instructive to see how different artists approach their work.
Good luck, draw hard.Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil OverviewYou won't believe the incredible drawings you can create using common pencils and the special techniques illustrated in this book. These methods are so easy that anyone - from doodler to advanced artist - can mater them in minutes! Step by step, you'll learn how to capture the look of metal, glass, weathered wood, skin, hair and other textures. Two detailed start-to-finish demonstrations show you how to use these textures to create drawings that look so real they seem to leap right off the page.

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Avalanche Review

Avalanche
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Avalanche Reviewfor the moment I saw the reprint at the NY Art Book Fair i have been drooling to get a copy of this gorgeous and rich collectionAvalanche Overview

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Surfaces: Explorations with Sliceforms Review

Surfaces: Explorations with Sliceforms
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Surfaces: Explorations with Sliceforms ReviewI bought this book to explore if I could make some of the designs myself. Have yet to try, maybe in the future when I retire and have more time.Surfaces: Explorations with Sliceforms Overview

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In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein Review

In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein
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In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein ReviewThis comprehensive account of the life and work of one of the founder members of the Taos Society of Artists demonstrates the artist's role not just in Taos or Western art, but also the influence he brought to bear on the wider American art scene.
The various essays look at the artist's background, his early work as an illustrated, and his development as a painter. They consider the influences on his work including his musical training, and his part in the preservation of the American Indian culture.
This is a substantial, authoritative and well documented study. The book includes a chronology, bibliography, exhibition check-list, copious notes to the text, and a full index. It is also well illustrated with around 100 full colour plates of the artist's not too prolific output, along with numerous monochrome pictures and photographs.
This substantial tome is beautifully designed and produced, and claims to provide to most comprehensive assemblage of the artist's work ever published. It is certainly a handsome and informative book.In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein Overview

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Charles Deas and 1840s America (Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West) Review

Charles Deas and 1840s America (Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West)
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Charles Deas and 1840s America (Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West) ReviewCarol Clark's CHARLES DEAS AND 1840S AMERICA is a fine pick for any college-level arts library: it packs in over 150 illustrations - some 70 in color - and is the first book exclusively devoted to Charles Deas. From his Indian scenes to his hunting expedition themes drawn from facts and his own imagination, Deas' work captured and represented racial tensions as much as a powerful artistic display of 1840s American history. A rich visual treat for art and American history holdings alike!Charles Deas and 1840s America (Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West) Overview

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Dessau Aid Bauhaus (Architecture in Detail) Review

Dessau Aid Bauhaus (Architecture in Detail)
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Dessau Aid Bauhaus (Architecture in Detail) Reviewname and location of 6 most important projects thier art and architectural influenceDessau Aid Bauhaus (Architecture in Detail) Overview

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Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon And the Pre-raphaelites Review

Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon And the Pre-raphaelites
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Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon And the Pre-raphaelites ReviewThe career of Simeon Solomon was complicated by certain personal difficulties
which have inhibited the study of this artist until quite recently. In these
days of Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol, a scandalous life should not
exert an embargo on the serious critical study of an artist like Solomon
whose style, while unique in many ways, was securely situated in the
mainstream artistic currents of the Victorian era.
However, it is unfortunately true that any academic person who contemplates
writing a book about an artist with a tarnished reputation must consider the
effect of such a book on her or his own career. To put it more plainly, a
professor at a small college in the Midwest will hesitate before investing
a lot of effort in publicizing an artist who was hounded out of society
because of a homosexual scandal.
One way around this problem is to create an important critical study of a
problematic artist that is disguised as a record of a retrospective art show.
This book presents itself as the record of a Simeon Solomon retrospective
at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. That sounds very respectable indeed,
But hidden in this innocent suit of clothes is a frank and penetrating critical
assessment of a controversial artist concerning whom no other modern critical
studies are available.
I had never seen a photograph of Solomon before I opened this book. But
on p. 179 two very remarkable photos are presented. One image, Plate 148a,
shows a dapper young man about town with a gaze of incredible sympathy and
intelligence. This was Solomon before the blow fell. The other image,
Plate 148B, shows a shockingly changed man, prematurely aged and balding,
staring defiantly into the camera while hunched over a drawing, as if to
say, I am what I am and if you don't like it you can go straight to hell.
Most of the paintings discussed in the book are well reproduced in full
color and amply justify Solomon's contemporary reputation as an innovative
colorist. Many paintings by a variety of contemporary artists are also
reproduced, and show that Solomon was not so very far away from other
artists of his time. I am preaching to the converted here, so I won't go
into Solomon's art in any further detail. If you know about him, you know
about him. This is perhaps not a book for little children, and that's as
far as I'll go.
If you order this book, you should tell the seller that you want to receive
a complete copy with all pages present. This is the kind of book from which
people will be tempted to remove pages with a razor blade, either because
they like certain pictures, or because they wish to destroy them. So please
be warned! Also, don't give this book to your Aunt Pittypat as a birthday
present, because she might get a severe attack of the vapors.
If Solomon interests you, please let me also recommend the recent book
"Gustave Moreau, Between Image And Dream," by G. Lacambre. This book
presents itself as the official record of a Moreau exhibition at the Art
Institute of Chicago, and the main section of the book is entitled
"Catalog." But there is hidden dynamite here as well. This is a grand book
and you'll probably love it, but once again, don't let Aunt Pittypat into
the room while you're reading it.

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My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits Review

My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits
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My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits ReviewIt seems like children have already headed back to school this week in many states, though not here in Michigan. We start back after Labor Day so we can snatch those last few tourism dollars. Even still, we are still being hit with back to school fever, hitting the school supply sales for fifteen cents notebooks and quarter glue sticks. Hanoch Piven puts those school supplies to use in a whole new fashion, making up all sorts of funny classroom portraits.
The main character of this book, a little girl, grows a bit weary of her grandma's incessant questions about school. Instead of giving the same old boring answers, she decides to spice it up a bit with some unique homemade illustrations. She gathers up all sorts of supplies from around the house that exemplify the people in her life.
On each page, she answers one of her grandma's questions by describing who she will be illustrating by naming their characteristics and laying out the supplies she will be using. With a flip of a page, we see the assembled creation! We loved looking at the finished projects and noting where she used each piece. Magnifying glasses become eyeglasses, a handful of colored pencils are transformed into a wild hairstyle, and walnuts form a turtle shell.
This is the sort of book that strikes me as being incredibly clever. Kids can learn how to apply descriptive adjectives - happy as a balloon, graceful as a ballet slipper, etc, to the people in their own lives. Plus, there is a great use of color, so the outcome is a really happy, imaginative type of book. We loved it!
But when the author's previous book was "My Dog is as Smelly as Socks" - we knew to expect good things. Hanoch Piven has received countless portraits from classrooms all over the world that have been inspired by his collage portraits. His artwork has appeared in the New York times, Entertainment Weekly, and Rolling Stone.My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits Overview

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