Another excellent collection of fantastic art
350469
I always look to the Digital Art Masters series as a form of inspiration and encouragement. As a  3D artist myself, I think it's always good to challenge yourself. So when I look through a DAM book, I know I will always find wonderful art that I can enjoy and appreciate. While simultaneously finding inspiration and ways to push my own skills to a higher level. I highly recommend Volume 8 and all previous volumes of Digital Art Masters. I can always pull one of the volumes off the shelf and find new inspiration and enjoyment, no matter how old (or new) the volume is. Enjoy.
1871892
First, I have to comment on just how much I love the artwork in this book. The watercolor style and mix of hard and soft line width is outstanding and unlike anything else I've read. The storylines are good and the characterisation and voicing of Conan is spot on. Great series and highly recommended.
853129
Anyone who is familiar with R.Cuumb's art is in for a surprise with this collection of his drawings.
 In this book we are treated to a lot of portraits of his family as well as others. We are also familiar with his drawings of,who must be his greatest love and favorite subject,Aline,and we are not disappointed with what is included here.
 But for a real change of pace,we get wonderful landscape drawings from Southern France. Then, there are the still life drawings "Broken Teapot"and "Pizzeria".Crumb also shows his understanding and compassion of the terrible injustice in his "Failure in Sudan".Music fans will be surprised with portraits of several artists including Country Music greats,"Uncle Dave Macon" and "Charlie Poole".And how about the illustration for a tale from the late 1300's in England. One of my favorites in the collection is an untitled drawing of a Woodcutter surrounded by a very concerned group of "Little Folk" trying to decide what is the meaning of all the "pitchfork' shaped trees in the enchanted forest. This drawing begs the question,"Is there a story or legend that Crumb ie working on here?"
 And just to show us that Crumb is facing the ravishes of time that is the lot of all of us,we get a self portrait from August 26,'05.
 A wonderful,but different addition for your Crumb collection.
1475128
It is just great and the artwork is fabulous.
938864
Ron Tiner is one of my favorite artists.  I haven't read much of his work, being American and his published works largely British, but I have seen some of his work that crossed over.  What I am wowed at is the scope of his work and the sheer volume.  Thank G-d for modern computers and the internet or I'd break the bank paying "Comic book guy" a scalper's price to get some of his stuff imported.

Remember "Encyclopedia of fantasy art techniques"?  It features his art heavily and IMHO sold it to most people, especially me.  He did another volume which this seems a follow-up to, "Figure drawing without a model" and one I consider equally worth buying.

This is a good book to get for an aspiring illustrator and/or hobby/fantasy artist.
4035759
The art is so good in this book. There is a real effort to ink Trimpe like Kirby in some of the stories and it's interesting to see that style (of inks) over Trimpe. Trimpe is drawing very very well in these books. Before he got tired and right after he got good. This art is fantastic.
This book is well written (for Hulk books) and presents Herb Trimpe at apogee. Perfect silver-bronze age art. The inks and layouts and action sequences are great. The later Hulk (middle 1970's) is not nearly as fun as the run from this time period. The Sandman stories and Doc Samson, just to name two are fantastic. This and Essential Hulk #2 are the best of the Hulk run. Trimpe at his first and perhaps best peak.
For inkers this (book contains) is a text book of inking styles. Stipple, slick, pen, some amazing and wonderful inking.
A super fun read and worth the money.
4746550
What I love about these collections by YOE Books is that these have artists names who I have heard throughout most of my adult comic book reading life but never had the opportunity to actually see, let alone read, and now they are being collected in these high quality collections. Jack Cole and Bob Powell have always been mysteries to me that I just figured I would never have the chance to find out about because their comics were too old and too expensive to really just dive into. Now I finally get to find out what these guys are all about.

Jack Cole is a superb artist with dynamic compositions and dramatic brushed inks, but I would add that Cole was probably not an innate horror writer. His skill and ability to visualize a story is top notch, but the grip of how to write a weird horror tale wasn't exactly a natural part of his writing chemistry. Because of this, books like "Bob Powell's Terror" is a superior collection strictly in the sense of being "horror", at least in story. Jack Cole is still way above the profusion of mediocre hacked out horror of the 1950s, and Cole's kitsch factor is high in this collection with a broad fare of B-movie type elements. This collection is completely worth buying, but not quite as good as a lot of the EC comics stuff or Bob Powell's collection. When it comes to pre-code horror, it's all about how much of a bizarre edge it has. When Cole is at his best he really rocks it, and his art is second to none, but his knack for horror isn't always as compelling. Still, this probably some of the very best of the genre.
343909
What a bargain and what a joy. This art book gives you a detailed and thoughtful walk through the evolution of the cover artistry of CEREBUS, a powerful reminder of how good comics can be. It is so rare to find a comic that is both well-written AND so beautifully and intelligently drawn. This treasury is really a testament to how Dave Sim and Gerhard kept pushing themselves in pushing the limits of the comics medium. These pages make clear that they sit next to Will Eisner in that regard.

I'm really delighted by the physical dimensions of the book; it's about an inch wider across and two inches taller than the phonebooks of Cerebus, so you really get to enjoy the covers in all of their detailed glory. The witty commentary throughout is the icing on the cake. Here's to IDW taking up the mission of publishing a follow-up, perhaps a hardcover book that collects material from Following Cerebus or the Cerebus Archives.
3808814
An excellent collection of inspirational art work. Tons of creative, outside the box, ideas to draw from ( pun intended ). Also, the available digital download is superb bonus too. Love it!
436109
Superb art work by the greatest fantasy artists to walk the earth. A must have for all fantasty art fans!
129039
In my space travels i've collected many-a-art books, and have a vast collection. Of my large collection of probably 60 some-odd art books ranging from Skillful Huntsman to various Disney/Pixar art of books, i'd have to say this one is definitely one of the better ones you'll find. It's super thick, has color work as well as sketches, all the great start to finish stuff thats great to check out, and yeah it's by Joe Mad who by the way is an amazing comic book artist. I highly reccomend this book, i doubt it will disappoint.
3713501
Beautiful detail, wonderful art and a great mix of different paper types.
3658773
Once you get past the first few mini stories of Pat Boyette's art , you'll see  artwork that is quite similar to that of THE PHANTOM newspaper comic strip of the mid 60's (Sy Barry). Wow! Lignante's art is absolutely awesome in the GOLD KEY and KING books(which I read in comic books as a boy); Aparo was very good in the first CHARLTON book; and Pedrazzi, D'Amico, and  Bolle are excellent in this new CHARLTON edition. Really took me back to reading the Sunday  comics as a kid in the 1960s.  This volume returns to stories longer than the seven page stories of the last two CHARLTON volumes; and while Mr. Boyette's art is just fine, it is quite different in style to what I consider the "true" look of the Phantom I remember from my youth. Pedrazzi and D'Amico  recall that great period of Phantom art in this volume. Silver Age fans won't be disappointed.
1171272
The story continues and in color too! A brilliant third volume from the curator of the Photorealist art movement and made more enjoyable because the six hundred plus paintings are all in color. I have the two previous books and good as they were I always felt they were let down by having too many of the 2,323 pictures in black and white but here's an interesting point, the first book had 710 color and 493 b/w, the second book had 560 color and 560 b/w, this latest book has 620 color and no black and whites, does this mean the Movement is on the wane? I hope not because I feel that Photorealism is somehow a uniquely American art movement.

The format follows the same style as the others, an upfront essay (in this case Linda Chase writes about the use of photography by artists over the last century or so) followed by hundreds of illustrations from the featured artists, twenty-eight in this book. These artists are continuing to record 'the fascinating in the familiar' as Ms Chase succinctly puts it and this is one reason I love these paintings, they record Americana so wonderfully. It's worth remembering that when these paintings, many of them huge, are reproduced a few inches wide it tightens up all the detail and they become even more 'photographic'. On page seventeen of the first volume twelve artists work was shown (unfortunately in black and white) the same size as the original painting and you can see how different their brushstrokes are.

Of the artists, some of my favorites are Davis Cone for his movie theatres (and if you like him too, have a look at a lovely book about movie theaters and his paintings, eighty shown in 'Popcorn Palaces') Robert Gniewek for street scenes at night, Charles Bell the pinball wizard, Linda Bacon for her toy tableau's including one called 'Crash' which has a three toy car pile-up and artfully uses Grant Wood's painting 'Death on the Ridge Road' as a backdrop. Perhaps the most amazing paintings in the book are Don Jacot's 'Retro-Active' (it took most of 1998 to paint) and 'Garbo's' (2001) both show shop-fronts with the windows crammed with nostalgia antiques. I sometimes think these artists do their best to make the painting as hard to do as possible!

So, a lovely book to enjoy over and over and thank you Mr Meisel for your faith in these artists and the Photorealist movement. I'm looking forward to the fourth volume around 2010.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
745509
This collection is a veritable art gallery within a book, showcasing a variety of original styles as as different as the artists who created them.  At 130 pages, this book serves a superbly talented yet oft-maligned community, as many people don't take seriously the art created by tattooists either behind and sans the machine.  This collection proves that their art is worth consideration.

Jo Waterman, the author, includes a solid introduction describing the purpose of this collection.  On the pages that follow, she showcases the work of 26 tattoo artists from around the globe and provides a brief interview with each one.  The styles reflected in this book range from portraits to still lifes, from abstract designs to intricate etchings, from the psychedelic to the realistic.  You can see the influence of classic tattooing themes in many of the works (but not all).  The presentation is beautiful: about half the pieces are displayed on their own page, and the others are grouped with aesthetically similar works by the same artist.

I love that eight of the artists in this book are women, not to mention the author herself.  Although the focus of this collection is not flash but rather the art created outside the shop, it's important to note that tattooing as a profession is not yet widely attributed to female artists -- so I was pleased to see some sisters represented here.

This book would be an excellent gift for open-minded art enthusiasts and those who appreciate the often overlooked multimedial talent of tattooists.
4822501
I like the generous offerings of art subjects like this set available on Kindle. One can obtain a broad overview of an artist's work for an extremely reasonable price. This collection has many images of a new favorite artist for me. I never heard of the Russian painter Illya Repin before and I like to think I have some arts background. He combines the realism style with impressionism with a very satisfying mastery. Many of his portraits show so much of the personality, they look as if they were just photographed in a moment ago. Lighting, anatomy, and compassion, too are well expressed in his works. Repin's works are so good, I think he has taken a top place in my personal taste, among Matisse, Sisley, and the realism phase of Dali, and yes, Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth. They are all masters. And I got a Sisley collection from the same compiler on my Kindle, too!

The scanning is ok for the ebook, I think the files were saved in jpeg, so in zoom, the pixilation blurs details that maybe a png format might have worked better, but, for 533 images to fit, that may not have been technically useful. I can definitely afford this ebook to become acquainted with the artist, and decide if I want to get a better detailed but no doubt more expensive and less extensive set. I have it on my Kindle, and when I am waiting for appointments, it passes the time quickly. I recommend this set, it's just too good for the price--and I think the School of Wandering Artists which included Repin that was set up to provide art to the working people near their home towns, would find this Kindle edition to suit their purpose.
2681098
Maybe a few of my favorite cartoon are missing in this collection, but that's not enough to decrease a single star. Not only the included cartoons are great, but the way they are sorted and grouped is brilliant. The bonus material is wonderful, too. And not a single complain in the entire buying process.