Archive for Oct, 2008
Get Started in Animation || Mary Murphy
Posted by Henry in Author: Mary Murphy, Publisher: A&C Black, Subject: Animation on Oct 31, 2008
Subtitled “All you need to get started in moving pictures”, this relatively slim (128 pages) paperback looks at first sight as though it must be superficial.
I’d better make it clear that I’m not an animator (though I can get pretty worked-up when I want to), so what follows isn’t based on experience but, rather, inexperience and that’s no bad thing, because I think that makes me exactly the target audience.
The first impression on a quick flick through is that there’s a lot of ground covered here. Delving further, I can tell you that the author deals with clay, cut-outs, pixilation, 2D, stop-motion and puppets as well as props, cameras, lighting and production cycles. That’s a lot in a short book, so don’t expect a masterclass – indeed, that’s the strength of the book: it’s a taster, an introduction, it’s not weighted down with more technical detail than you can digest at this early stage.
I didn’t go out and make a film before I wrote this review, but I did come away feeling I knew a lot more than when I started about a wide variety of techniques and with a feeling of wanting to have a go. There’s a freshness and enthusiasm about the book that’s really rather inspiring. I’m going to pay it an odd compliment I’m going to have to explain: it’s a children’s book written for adults. By that, I mean that it’s simply laid out and illustrated in the way that guides for younger people are, but it talks directly to the reader in a grown-up way. I think you could give it to anyone from the age of about 10 and they’d come away with a decent amount of useable knowledge. Would they be a Nick Park or a Ray Harryhausen? Well not yet, I mean, come on; but everyone has to start somewhere and you never know. When you’re collecting that Oscar, remember you read it here first.
Calligraphy Alphabets For Beginners || Mary Noble & Janet Mehigan
Posted by Henry in Author: Janet Mehigan, Author: Mary Noble, Medium: Calligraphy, Publisher: A&C Black, Subject: Letterforms on Oct 31, 2008
There’s no shortage of letterform guides for aspiring calligraphers, so you might ask whether the world really needs another one. Stop right there, because this is the one that renders all the others obsolete!
Although it’s not published as part of the Artist’s Bible series, this well thought out little book is in the same format, with spiral binding that lays flat without having to be weighted down and pages that are designed to be viewed as a set of spreads. This layout has proved to be the answer to a great many subjects and media and this is no different.
The authors give is a generous selection of alphabets including Uncial, Roman, Carolingian, Copperplate and Gothic and they also include a short guide to basic working methods and some advice on choosing which letterforms to use for a given job. This section is concise and isn’t intended to supplant a general guide to calligraphy, allowing the book to concentrate on its main job, which is to show the reader how to form the letters they actually want to use.
For clarity, attention to detail and not being diverted from the avowed purpose of the book, you’d have to give this 12 out of 10.
The Fantasy Artist’s Figure Drawing Bible || Matt Dixon
Posted by Henry in Author: Matt Dixon, Publisher: A&C Black, Series: Artist's Bible, Subject: Fantasy art on Oct 6, 2008
The Artist’s Bible format is ideally suited to this character-by-character guide to populating your fantasy art. There’s everything from Hobbits (here called Halflings to avoid the obvious copyright issues) and Trolls to Amazons and Warriors. Each character is given 6 pages showing a completed painting and basic aspects of design and personality and then ways of developing individuality and the shapes used in the construction of the final drawing.
By no means intended as a masterclass, this is nevertheless a very handy source of reference and even experienced practitioners may find useful tips on dealing with characters they are not immediately familiar with. For the beginner, it’s an invaluable way of learning the many tricks of the trade, although you should be aware that a general manual of drawing and a more basic introduction to fantasy art would be desirable additions to your library.
This is a nicely done little book that manages to be entertaining and amusing as well as instructive.
Benedict Rubbra: point of balance || Jenny Pery
Posted by Henry in Author: Benedict Rubbra, Author: Jenny Pery, Publisher: Halsgrove, Publisher: Halstar on Oct 6, 2008
Any book about Benedict Rubbra is to be welcomed and to find something so completely researched, written and illustrated as this is sheer delight. “I first saw a painting by Benedict Rubbra in the house of my friends … I was spellbound by the beautiful colour chords and the unusual combination of movement and stasis within the picture frame”, writes Jenny Pery in her introduction, where she also records that she has made the artist’s acquaintance, adding, “My thanks go chiefly to him for the patient exposition of his life and his art over many long recording sessions”.
All of this tells you most of what you need to know about the book: that this is more than just a book project, perhaps something of a labour of love, that the artist’s own words and views are incorporated in the text and also the background of musicality to Rubbra’s work: his father was the composer Edmund Rubbra. Jenny Pery also explores Rubbra’s depiction of natural forms and the rhythms and harmonies of nature. There is maybe a very slight hint of hagiography here, but it is balanced by the scholarship and the depth of research that has gone into the book and by the sheer quality of the illustrations; this is Halsgrove at their absolute best.
Drawing Index || David Webb
Posted by Henry in Author: David Webb, Medium: Drawing, Publisher: David & Charles, Series: Index on Oct 6, 2008
In the past, I’ve been fairly (well, OK, extremely) dismissive of books which are made small to fit a perceived pocket-book market and which would really be so much better if someone would just give them space to breathe and the page size to allow you to see what’s going on. Not to put too fine a point on it, I’ve had quite a go at them. I probably need The Little Book of Calm.
And that’s the point; they sell very well, there’s a demand for them, they meet a need. So I’m not going to tell you that I can’t quite see the point of a book of drawing techniques that’s 6 inches by 4 inches and would sit nicely in the pocket of a reasonably substantial jacket. And which has a flexible cover that won’t crease or dog-ear as you carry it about. This format worked very well in the same publisher’s Colour Mixing Index, but I have to admit that, while you might well want to have a guide to colour mixing about your person, I’m not sure that you’re going to sit down in the middle of a field and start consulting a textbook in order to decide which drawing technique to use.
But, like I said, I’m not going to say all that because you’ll love it and it’ll sell by the truckload and then I’ll be wrong and I am Never Wrong. What the limited page size does do is make sure the author keeps things simple and it does have to be said that the writer, editors and designers involved with this book have understood the concept perfectly and work well within the format they’ve given themselves. Each technique gets a single two-page spread and no more, with example illustrations and a minimum of text (so you won’t have to strain your eyes to read it) and it doesn’t mess about. OK, maybe it’s not a book to carry about, but neither is it one you have to keep putting back on the shelf. Keep it beside you and it won’t get in the way and you can pick it up and dip into it at any time, which is probably the best way of using it. It won’t tell you something you don’t know all the time, but it will do that often enough to justify the purchase price.
David & Charles
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Terry Harrison’s Complete Guide Watercolour Landscapes || Terry Harrison
Posted by Henry in Author: Terry Harrison, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Landscape on Oct 6, 2008
This not insubstantial book started life as four smaller volumes on Trees, Flowers, Mountains Valleys & Streams and Sea & Sky. It was pretty obvious from the outset that a bind-up was the obvious way to go from there and here it is.
Terry is very good at explaining what he does and even if some of the finished results may not win prizes at an exhibition, you can always see what’s going on and what the author has done. The flowers section is particularly good at showing flowers in a landscape rather than as an individual subject in themselves and fulfils a long-felt need that other flower books simply don’t cover.
If you’ve already got the individual books, then you won’t need this but, if you only have two, then this one is cheaper than completing your collection. I suspect that if you’ve already discovered Terry Harrison, you’ve been buying his books as they come out. If not, this is a very good place to start. Although he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, Terry is an excellent guide for the beginner because he explains things fully and concisely and, more importantly, he won’t lead you into bad habits you’ll have to unlearn later.
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A Picture of Devon || Ray Balkwill
Posted by Henry in Author: Ray Balkwill, Publisher: Halsgrove, Series: A Picture of, Subject: Devon on Oct 6, 2008
It’s a good many years now since Ray Balkwill was first recommended to me as a good local artist in the South Devon area. At the time, he was unpublished and it’s been gratifying to see a number of books appear with his name on, including Halsgrove’s Ray Balkwill’s Exe Estuary, which exclusively featured his paintings.
This attractive new volume, however, covers the work of a great many different artists as well as Ray himself and he acts as the overall editor, describing both what he refers to as, “An English Eden” and introducing the artists and the individual paintings. It’s worth the rather laborious process of listing the contributors in order to give you an idea of what a treasure-trove there is here:
Lionel Agett, Stephen Brown, Colin Allbrook, Alan Cotton, Alwyn Crawshaw, Stewart Edmondson, John Hammond, Judy Hepstead, Michael Hill, John Hoar, Robert Jennison, Paul Lewis, Michael Morgan, Tina Morgan, Robert Mountjoy, Martin Procter, Keith Stott, Richard Thorn, Barry Watkin and Tony Williams.
It’s a wonderfully varied selection and covers many different styles of painting and of subject, giving a very real sense of the county. I’ve been a visitor for many years and I’ve genuinely found this to be something to enjoy. If there’s a small niggle, it’s that some of the reproduction is maybe not up to the standard Halsgrove is capable of. This is almost certainly down to less-than-perfect transparencies and to not having the option of going back to the original paintings but, if you’re a perfectionist, it might be a slight fly in the ointment. One worth getting over, though.
80@80: The Paintings of Michael Morgan RI
Posted by Henry in Author: Michael Morgan, Publisher: Halsgrove, Publisher: Halstar on Oct 6, 2008
Following on from Halsgrove’s earlier book on Michael Morgan, this new volume adds 80 new and previously unpublished works to form a celebration of the artist’s 80th birthday. There are in fact 130 illustrations in all, some of them from earlier periods of Michael Morgan’s life, making this a book that very much stands on its own as well as being a must for any lover or collector of the artist.
The necessary biographical and introductory text is in the original book and, apart from a brief foreword, the text here consists of short appreciations from a variety of artists, writers and critics. As this is a tribute these are, of course, wholly complimentary.
Even the most cursory glance at these pages is going to provoke a comparison with the work of John Blockley. This isn’t something we have to skirt round, the embarrassing admission we’re all too polite to mention, because John Blockley was the artist’s friend and mentor for many years and Morgan has deliberately built on and developed his style. Look more closely at any of the paintings and the differences are more numerous than the similarities.
This is a sumptuous volume produced with all Halsgrove’s usual care and attention to detail.
Halsgrove/Halstar 2008
£34.99
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