Post some books that have helped and inspired you as an artist.

[noxartemus]

Everyone has their own list of books amongst the main things we share between each other, such as the Andrew Loomis series, that have guided us, and given us invaluable information. So why not share these too, considering it's an often asked question?

Some of my own books are:
Drawing the Human Body by Sterling
Fantasy Art Workshop by John Howe (Very informative.)
Drawing Wrinkles and Drapery by Hogarth
Anatomy for the Artist by Tom Flint
and lots of random magazines for general referencing and learning.

In here, just for information sharing amongst us, and for those who are looking to expand their library, let's all list some books and sites that have helped us sharpen our painting, our sketches, compositional values, etc.

[Justin.]

Sargent and italy
http://www.amazon.com/Sargent-Italy-Jane-Dini/dp/0691113289

Sorolla
http://www.amazon.com/Joaquin-Sorolla-Blanca-Pons-Sorolla/dp/0856676055/ref=pd_sim_b_18

Sargent Watercolors
http://www.amazon.com/Sargent-Watercolors-Watson-Guptill-Famous-Artists/dp/0823046419/ref=pd_sim_b_17

Turner
http://www.amazon.com/Turner-His-Time-Revised-Updated/dp/0500238308/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214620161&sr=1-1

Not sure if this is the right book or not, but Tadema rocks socks.
http://www.amazon.com/Lawrence-Alma-Tadema-Edward-Swinglehurst/dp/1840134178/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214620202&sr=1-6

[Alex Chow]

Character Designs: An Artist's Resource (www.characterdesigns.com)

Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form (book) (http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195052064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214622080&sr=1-1)

Pose Maniacs (http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html)

Bobby Chiu's books

[Mirana]

Use the search forum function and you will find several healthy threads of this nature. Artists love themselves some books. :)

[HunterKiller_]

In no particular order.

The Illusion of Life - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

The Animator's Survival Kit - Richard Williams

George Bridgeman's books (That's a no brainer)

An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists - Fritz Schider

Andrew Loomis' books

EDIT: I just came across this book, Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators (http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452/ref=pd_sim_b_6). Seems to be rather good.

[waranghira]

That book by Loomis about Illustration is pretty helpful, like compo and stuff.


but for inspiration... these:
The Art of Metal Gear 1.5
The Art of Metal Gear 2

..and sure, browsing teh internets

[Flake]

Harold Speed- The Practice and Science of Drawing
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14264

Harold Speed- Oil Painting Techniques and Materials

Andrew Loomis- Creative Illustration
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/

Hereward Lester Cooke- Painting Techniques of the Masters (out of print but well worth grabbing a used copy)

Harvey Dunn- Lecture Notes
http://www.robolus.com/H.Dunn-EveningClassroom.pdf
http://e-pix.com/ArtMuseum/Dunnclassno.html

[LORD M]

Anything by Burne Hogarth.

[MidgardSerpent]

Look! 13 pages for people to browse through, I know I did at the time. :)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22558

[JParrilla]

That book by Loomis about Illustration is pretty helpful, like compo and stuff.


but for inspiration... these:
The Art of Metal Gear 1.5
The Art of Metal Gear 2

..and sure, browsing teh internets

I second Metal Gear art.. Shinkawa's work is insane

[ALH]

I'm really into dinosaurs and creatures, so my two favourite books are-

The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island-

http://www.wetanz.com/collectibles/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=27

I came when i first saw it on the shelf in forbidden planet. The whole book makes my eyes mist up, its such a joy to look through. Very inspiring, if not for creatures than for the awesome examples of digital art.

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-Kitty-Blount/dp/0756638364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215390632&sr=8-1

This one i adore. Its the best dinosaur/natural history book i've ever found.* Most just have rubbishy, anatomically innacurate watercolours. This has CG models (kinda dated now, but still not too bad),diagrams, actual fossils and a tonne of photos of museum display models etc. I've yet to find* a book which covers such a broad spectrum of life within its pages too, it really is a must for anyone who is into creatures.

You cant really go wrong with DK books when it comes to reference in general tbh. They always have great diagrams and photos and are very picture heavy. I've had a DK pocket visual encyclopedia for 10 years or so now, which covers everything from volcanoes to the inside parts of a rotary telephone. Its a fantastic starting point for a chain of research, or just to flick through for a refresher every now and then. It gains bonus points for being portable, and for being heavy enough to weigh down the lid of my dreamcast so the thing would actually work.


* I say 'find'- i only casually look in bookstores for new additions, and rarely find anything worthwhile on this spbject. Looking on amazon now there are a bunch of books which may have even more to them than this one- but they sure as heck dont have any of them in the physical book shops ive been to ;_;



lol i posted this in the wrong thread just now..oops.

[Vermis]

Arghh.... the DK dinosaur book has terrible CG images! I don't like the same old blobby watercolours myself but these aren't a great alternative. If the book didn't have so many great photos of fossils I'd've stuck it on ebay ages ago. One of the authors of the book isn't too happy about it (http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/01/how_not_to_keep_dinosaurs.php) either.

For dinosaur illos, I prefer Kingfisher's (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingfisher-Illustrated-Dinosaur-Encyclopedia/dp/0753405369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215879225&sr=1-1) version. (Just need to get the Holtz book to complete the set) Not as wide in scope, has few fossil photos and no feathery raptors, and has it's own share of illustrative honkers; but on the whole it's chock-full of big beautiful illustrations by John Sibbick - a man with few serious rivals in his field, IMO.
'Course, I was inspired by his works in the London NHM book and Dinosaurs! partwork magazine, years before I got the Kingfisher book.

For more dinosaurs: semi-technical popular books like The Horned Dinosaurs, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, and Scientific American Book of Dinosaurs.
Guys like William Stout and Ricardo Delgado; The Dinosaurs and Age of Reptiles respectively. I don't like many aspects of their styles and decisions, but their work takes a more lively and narrative route than the usual single (even stiff) dino illustrations, which fires my imagination.

For animals extinct and extant, old National Geographics from a second hand bookshop are pretty good.

For fantasy and sci-fi:
John Howe's Myth and Magic and Fantasy Art Workshop
The Art of Star Wars books; Episodes IV-VI for Ralph McQuarrie's concepts among others, and Episode I for Terryl Whitlatch's creature concepts, among others.
Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 illustrations; mostly those by the likes of the Kopinski brothers, Paul Dainton, John Blanche et al in the wargaming rulebooks at the heart of the bloated monster. Some of the artists who used to work on the old Warhammer Monthly comic too, like Tiernan Trevallion, Kev Hopgood and Anthony Williams.
But not Clint Langley. He's admired, but IMO he must be related to the guy who did the DK dinosaur images.

For more general art and techniques: Hogarth, Will Eisner, and Gary Martin's inking books.

Midgard Serpent: yeah, but a little rehashing never hurt anyone.

[Black Spot]

Wandering around galleries I find much more inspiring than any book. Never understood the fascination with Cézanne until I saw one in the flesh so to speak and it hit me over the head with a loud thwack. Books don’t inspire me – artists do.

[ALH]

Arghh.... the DK dinosaur book has terrible CG images! I don't like the same old blobby watercolours myself but these aren't a great alternative. If the book didn't have so many great photos of fossils I'd've stuck it on ebay ages ago. One of the authors of the book isn't too happy about it (http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/01/how_not_to_keep_dinosaurs.php) either.

Some of them are tolerable,if not just as a quick starting point for further research. Personally, I'm so used to being disappointed by these kinds of books that i tend to look these things from a ' how can i make this better' point of view- an exercise which really isnt that difficult in some cases.

Though i can understand why the author would be pissed off. The T-Rex in particular is a special kind of suck...i've flicked through that 'how to keep dinosaurs' book too...*shudder*. It offended me if i'll be honest.

Thanks for the link to the kingfisher book btw, ill be sure to check that out :)