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Recommendations for ILLUSTRATION books?
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17 posts in this topic

I'm going to order some illustration books shortly and was wondering what people have enjoyed.   I'm considering the following and wonder how you all have enjoyed them, and if there are other recommendations?

For my part I want to recommend the J Allen St John books.

Considering:

- Art of Pinup (Martignette)

- Elvgren (Martignette)

- Frazetta Icon (classic material but might be a bit boring to read about for the same reason?)

- JC Leyendecker (Cutler)

- Sorayama (complete works)

- Noriyoshi Ohrai (I have one but its in japanese - any avail in english?)

- Amano:  Illustrations

 

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8 hours ago, Pete Marino said:

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but you can't ever really go wrong with and edition of spectrum.

FWIW, the guy that started the Spectum Annual art books (and show) is the guy who did the Frazetta: Icon, Frazetta: Legacy and Frazetta: Testament trio of books.

I know I read all of Icon, and I enjoyed it. Arnie used to be in the publishing industry and spent a long time in the field as an illustration rep/editor for several publications. He knew frank and he worked on the Icon book with the Frazettas, so it's not some guy writing a book about an artist. It's a friend of the artist writing the book and being able to go back to the source for anecdotes, information, and history. It's been a long time since I read the volumes, but I've got at least the first two slipcased volumes sitting on the shelf at home. I can't remember if I ever got around to buying the 3rd. I recall reading the whole thing, and that's not something I can say about all artist collections of this sort. Often they are very dry and schoolbook-like. I found Arnie's writing to be very personal, insightful, and some fun stories included. 

 

Also, FWIW, Arnie participates in the Muddy Colors blog, run by illustrator Dan Dos Santos. Muddy Colors is a blog about the illustration industry, and it's contributors are a virtual cornocopia of illustrators and industry movers and shakers of all types. They all take turns posting. The main target audience seems mostly aimed at other illustrators, either pro or aspiring. Sharing info, and knowledge and how tos. But lots of good stuff for people interested in how the Illustration industry works in today's world, and also people who just like to keep an eye on the sorts of news happening that world. I've found it alternates between topics I easily skip, to very interesting. I don't read it religiously, but I do check it out from time to time. And he doesn't run the Spectrum books anymore, that's been handed over to John Fleskes (Art book publisher and illustration fan), but the Spectrum art shows have been pretty awesome in my limited experience. They don't happen every year, and they've moved it around a bit, but the first couple in Kansas City were really fantastic. Not unlike the IX illustration shows (more heavy on sword and sorcery fantasy), so very well attended by artists of all stripes in the Illustration world, but light enough as a fan that it's not a problem to not only meet some great illustrators, but not uncommon to get to hang out with them, ask questions and have a relaxed chat. IMO far superior to the comic shows. Maybe more like one of the COmic Art specific shows, but not really dealers. Mostly attended by the artists themselves. They bring originals. They sign stuff. They hang out with fans.

 

...and if you don't follow David Apatoff's Illustration Art blog, what's wrong with you? Especially for those who are interested in the merits of Illustration art and how it compares to the "fine art" world. I've mentioned it here before, and IMO it's a must-read. Sometimes even the comments are as fascinating as David's articles. He's a lawyer, but also sometimes art historian/writer. He's done some fabulous books about Bernie Fuchs, Robert Fawcett, Richard Thompson and Albert Dorne.

 

 

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Some of my favorites are out of print, but I would highly recommend any of the Flesk publications on Franklin Booth or Joseph Clement Coll. I also recommend 41 Illustrators and How They Worked as a good look at a lot of different and some not so famous illustrators.  The Leyendecker book by Cutler is very good. I liked the Underwood publications book "The art of Jeffrey Jones"  and the book on Everett Raymond Kinstler by Jim Vadeboncoeur. The complete "Various Drawings" by Mark Schultz is excellent and there was a recent book on famous Dinosaur and naturalist illustrator Charles R. Knight that I liked quite a bit. Sorry this was a bit disjointed, but hope it helps

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13 hours ago, Bronty said:

...and if there are other recommendations?

Are you interested in out-of-print (not necessarily $$$$ though)? I have a lot of recommendations but don't want to waste the time if you just want new from Amazon, etc.

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41 Illustrators and the Coll books. The Matania book. The Mark Schultz books. Red Rose Girls is very interesting. The Walt Reed books -- Illustrator in America and his Coll books. I found the St. John books meh.

Here's a few on my bookshelf...

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Somehow the rest of my Alan Lee and Kinuko Craft books ended up down at storage where I have a lot more odds and ends.

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You MUST get all of IMAGES magazine. And also Illustration Quarterly and Illustrators are amazing.

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For comics... all of the Comic Book Artist and Modern Masters series are incredibly informative. And Terry Moore's How To book.

It's like I've waited my whole life for this thread! lol

The main problem is I live just a few blocks from Strand Books.

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1 hour ago, vodou said:

Are you interested in out-of-print (not necessarily $$$$ though)? I have a lot of recommendations but don't want to waste the time if you just want new from Amazon, etc.

Well you guessed it I am looking to just order on amazon.   Another time - thank you!

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1 hour ago, Bronty said:

Well you guessed it I am looking to just order on amazon.   Another time - thank you!

Always double-check the ISBN from Amazon on Bookfinder.com, you may get a better deal "shipped" on some books elsewhere. Doing this myself, I'm only ordering about half of what I enjoy from Amazon.

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