For the full list, visit http://www.parkablogs.com/content/upcoming-art-books
All descriptions below are from Amazon.
Samplings and Dabblings serves as an 80-page retrospective of Sam Kieth's work, coinciding with a major exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and featuring scores of gorgeous art, all scanned from Sam's personal collection and archives. Also included is an in-depth interview with Sam as conducted by comics historian and Cartoon Art Museum Curator Andrew Farago.
Sam Kieth: Samplings and Dabblings - A Cartoon Art Museum Exhibition is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Dark fairy tales and legends have been passed down orally from generation to generation for centuries. Today, these tales have penetrated every aspect of pop culture and media—from cinema and TV shows to books and theatre.
While fairy tales have often been sanitized and tweaked for children, their true origins are dark, edgy, grisly, and often full of malevolence. How to Draw Grimm’s Dark Tales, Fables & Folklore guides artists through the process of drawing, painting, and digitally illustrating the dark and mysterious characters of legend and lore—good and bad. Beginning with information on the necessary tools and materials, artists will learn basic drawing concepts and techniques for achieving proper proportion and perspective, shading, creating volume, and rendering such textures as skin, hair, fur, and fabric. A variety of step-by-step projects provide clear, easy-to-understand instructions for drawing well-recognized characters, including the Big Bad Wolf, a wily Rumpelstiltskin, a gothic Snow White, a sinister witch, and many more. Along the way, art tips and techniques provide insight and inspiration to enhance the learning process.
Throughout the book, informative sidebars and introductions reveal the history of each character, as well as the origin of their grim tales, symbolism, and variations in their stories. How to Draw Grimm’s Dark Tales, Fables & Folklore is full of creative resources and encouragement for beginning and intermediate artists alike. With its varied cast of characters, comprehensive instruction, and fascinating peek into the tales themselves, this book is sure to kindle artistic imagination.
How to Draw Grimm's Dark Tales, Fables & Folklore: Unlock the mysteries of drawing and painting the dark characters of fables, legends, and lore is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Creating stylish sketches by hand is easy and fun with this inspiring guide. Freehand breaks down basic drawing techniques into bite-sized chunks, and reveals their practical application in dazzling examples by today's coolest artists.
Over 200 innovative works of art demonstrate all the fundamentals—line, tone, composition, texture, and more—and are presented alongside friendly text explaining the simple techniques used to achieve each stylish effect.
The final section of the book offers aspiring artists essential reference materials to hone their drafting skills and practice what they've learned.
Petite in size but comprehensive in scope, this hip handbook will teach artists of all skill levels how to find their personal drawing style and start making amazing sketches.
Freehand: Sketching Tips and Tricks Drawn from Artis available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, Art Escapes provides the ideas and encouragement you need to discover greater creativity and artistic confidence, even when you're short on time. Professional artist and instructor Dory Kanter shows you how to:
Experience more fun and greater confidence drawing and painting.
Express yourself and experiment everyday with an art journal.
Reinterpret daily life with simple, beautiful sketches.
Find painting inspiration in unexpected places.
Paint freely, intuitively and passionately with a simple four-step approach.
Create new forms of art, including watercolor mosaics, paper weavings and found object collages.
You'll also find 13 drawing, watercolor, mixed media, and assemblage projects, plus several "page-a-day" ideas.
With Art Escapes, you'll learn how to build an art "habit," one that brings joy with every stroke of your brush.
Art Escapes: Daily Exercises & Inspirations for Discovering Greater Creativity & Artistic Confidence is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Experience the thrilling action and astonishing visuals of Marvel Studios’ Superhero blockbusters with this exciting new poster collection. Assembling stunning images from six action-packed movies, this colorful collection showcases spectacular poster art and stills from Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers, and more. Featuring forty fantastic removable high-quality posters, this ultimate collection of imagery is a must-have for fans.
Marvel Heroes and Villains Poster Collection is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
This is the story of one of the world’s most iconic images. Martin Bailey explains why Van Gogh painted a series of sunflower still lifes in Provence. He then explores the subsequent adventures of the seven pictures, and their influence on modern art. Through the Sunflowers, we gain fresh insights into Van Gogh’s life and his path to fame. Based on original research, the book is packed with discoveries – throwing new light on the legendary artist
The Sunflowers are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
In 1941 the Swiss art critic Pierre Courthion interviewed Henri Matisse while the artist was in bed recovering from a serious operation. It was an extensive interview, seen at the time as a vital assessment of Matisse’s career and set to be published by Albert Skira’s then newly established Swiss press. After months of complicated discussions between Courthion and Matisse, and just weeks before the book was to come out—the artist even had approved the cover design—Matisse suddenly refused its publication. A typescript of the interview now resides in Courthion’s papers at the Getty Research Institute.
This rich conversation, conducted during the Nazi occupation of France, is published for the first time in this volume, where it appears both in English translation and in the original French version. Matisse unravels memories of his youth and his life as a bohemian student in Gustave Moreau’s atelier. He recounts his experience with collectors, including Albert C. Barnes. He discusses fame, writers, musicians, politicians, and, most fascinatingly, his travels. Chatting with Henri Matisse, introduced by Serge Guilbaut, contains a preface by Claude Duthuit, Matisse’s grandson, and essays by Yve-Alain Bois and Laurence Bertrand Dorléac. The book includes unpublished correspondence and other original documents related to Courthion’s interview and abounds with details about avant-garde life, tactics, and artistic creativity in the first half of the twentieth century.
Chatting with Henri Matisse: The Lost 1941 Interview is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Keep that big muscle inside your skull flexible with this handy Zentangle card deck! Inside you’ll find 40 unique cards, each presenting an original named tangle pattern. Easy-to-learn steps for completing each design are provided on the back of each card. Nine bonus cards introduce basic tangling methods—flip these cards over to assemble a mind-bending puzzle!
The Zentangle method, created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, is a fun and relaxing way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. People of all skills and ages can enjoy Zentangle, and no special artistic talent is required. You can tangle any time, any place, using just white paper, a Micron pen (not included) and this card deck.
Sandy Steen Bartholomew, CZT, is an illustrator, mixed-media artist, and author of popular Zentangle books including Yoga for the Brain, Totally Tangled, and The Tangled Fashionista.
Yoga for Your Brain Totally Tangled Edition: Tangle Cards is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Plein Air lets you see the scene as the artist sees it. The book has over 50 completed paintings along with a photograph of the scene being painted. There are also step by step photographs of several of these paintings with suggestions on equipment used in painting outside.
Plein Air: The Art Of Creative Observation is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
2013 is officially Frans Hals Year, marking exactly 100 years since the Frans Hals Museum opened its doors to display the work of this key Dutch artist of the seventeenth century.
The most important exhibition in this jubilee year is Frans Hals: Eye to Eye with Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian, in which key works by Hals are presented alongside paintings by such famed colleagues as Titian, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Jordaens and Rubens.
In this eponymous publication, all the works in the exhibition are presented side by side, enabling the reader to compare the masterpieces and see just how the artists inspired one another. These unique comparisons and juxtapositions of master painters lead to a far deeper and more nuanced understanding of seventeenth-century painting and its tight web of artistic connections. Famous painters, after all, often produced their works in response to one another, with the aim of proving their creative and technical mettle--while also aiming to surpass (and perhaps even intimidate) their fellow artists. This painterly swordsmanship spurred individual artists--and art as a whole--to ever greater heights.
A selection of distinguished international specialists casts new light on Hals' virtuosity, his central role in seventeenth-century culture and his artistic relationship with his contemporaries in Antwerp (Rubens, Van Dyck) and Amsterdam (Rembrandt).
Frans Hals: Eye to Eye with Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
All of these are embodied in the premier edition of Incite. The 93 artists behind these incredible works (more than 120 total!) share their stories of artistic visions fulfilled, lofty goals achieved and daunting obstacles overcome.
From persevering through personal struggles to mastering difficult mixed-media techniques, from collage and encaustic to assemblage and jewelry, the stories and art in Incite, Dreams Realized will inspire you to think big, never give up and dare to realize your own dreams.
Incite, Dreams Realized: The Best of Mixed Media is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
For anyone who loves creativity and contemporary art, or who simply loves the joy of coloring, comes Outside the Lines, a striking collection of illustrations from more than 100 creative masterminds, including animators, cartoonists, fine artists, graphic artists, illustrators, musicians, outsider artists, photographers, street artists, and video game artists. With contributions from Keith Haring, AIKO, Shepard Fairey, Exene Cervenka, Keita Takahashi, Jen Corace, Ryan McGinness, and more, Outside the Lines features edgy and imaginative pieces ready for you to add your own special touch.
Outside the Lines: An Artists' Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the world’s most captivating artists. Renowned for his sublimely beautiful depictions of everyday Dutch life, Vermeer created exquisite paintings that are sought out by any art lover. Music was a key facet of 17th-century Dutch life, in both public and private. Of Vermeer’s thirty-six surviving paintings, twelve depict musical themes or a musical instrument. These include the magnificent Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, The Music Lesson, and The Guitar Player, all featured in this book.
The book also includes paintings by Vermeer’s contemporaries, such as Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681), Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667), and Jan Steen (c. 1626–1679). Vermeer and Music provides new insight into the cultural significance of these images. A historical overview of musical instruments and entertainment in the Dutch Republic, including the abundant publication of songbooks filled with love songs and poems, some richly illustrated, contextualizes the fascinating relationship between music and the visual arts.
Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure (National Gallery London) is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Water lilies, reflecting ponds, a Japanese footbridge, and blankets of glorious flowers: Nothing evokes Claude Monet’s Impressionist paintings quite like images from his gardens at Giverny, about 50 miles northwest of Paris.
Monet discovered a profound source of artistic renewal in these gardens, a motif that appears in hundreds of his works. In Claude Monet’s Gardens at Giverny, Dominique Lobstein’s dynamic text introduces us to the many personalities that have strolled through these gardens and the role this setting played in Monet’s life, while Jean-Pierre Gilson’s lush four-season photographs offer a tour through the literally thousands of flowers—daffodils, irises, poppies, tulips, and more— winding pathways, arching trellises, cherry trees heavily laden with blossoms, and, of course, the iconic water garden.
This book brings to life critical moments in Monet’s biography, presenting a vivid glimpse into the beloved artist’s personal experiences and creative universe.
Claude Monet's Gardens at Giverny is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Combining four distinct watercolor tips and techniques books, this richly illustrated, highly informative compilation explores how to paint skies, water, trees, mountains, and more through 20 projects. It is packed with essential tips, practical advice, and detailed demonstrations from four leading watercolor artists. Simple instructions for each project and helpful hints for how to capture all the elements required to create beautiful landscape pictures are also included.
Handbook of Watercolour Landscapes Tips & Techniques is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Flower fairies, water spirits, enchanted forests, Victorian ladies and more! Immerse yourself in timeless stories inspired by nature, myths, legends and literature!
With Fantasy Fashion Art Studio, you'll learn the basics for sketching and watercolor painting; you'll also learn to draw and paint beautiful, ethereal characters!
Inside you'll explore:
Lessons and tips for sketching characters--proportions, heads, hands, feet, hair, wings and more.
Drawing and painting tips for fashions from the medieval, Renaissance and Victorian periods as well as traditional Japanese, Steampunk, folk and gothic influences.
10 fully stepped-out demonstrations for drawing and painting a multitude of dreamy characters, including mermaids, enchanted princesses, fairies and more.
18 mini step-by-step demonstrations to help you create dreamscape scenes, including the night skies, forests, architecture, flowers and leaves.
A fashionable trip through a fantasy landscape, Fantasy Fashion Art Studio will help you bring all of your fantasies to life!
Fantasy Fashion Art Studio: Creating Romantic Characters, Clothing and Costumes is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
This beautifully illustrated, delightfully informative collection of 100 of the world's most significant paintings covers nearly every period, culture, and style.
What makes the Book of Kells such an extraordinary example of the illuminated manuscript? Why is Dürer's self-portrait so iconic? How did Turner's Rain, Steam, Speed turn the art world on its head? What's so great about Jasper Johns's Flag? And who was Whistler's mother, anyway?
Art history is filled with paintings that shocked, intrigued, enraged, and mystified their audiences--paintings that exemplified the period in which they were created and forever changed the way we think. Here, 100 examples of these icons of art are presented in beautiful, high-quality reproductions. Each spread features comparative illustrations and details as well as an engaging text that explains why that particular painting belongs in the pantheon of world-changing art.
The Paintings that Revolutionized Art is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
This groundbreaking publication, a companion to Van Gogh at Work (see opposite), shows how the artist experimented with an enormous range of materials and techniques in his paintings and drawings. The result of an extensive research project carried out by the Van Gogh Museum, Shell, and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, this book discusses the artist’s decisions to work with certain supports, priming layers, pigments, and inks, all of which had a profound effect on his final works. Also included are vast amounts of new information concerning van Gogh’s resources, working conditions, and methods as well as potential influences on his work.
Presented in detail is an overview of art that Van Gogh saw in exhibitions, handbooks he was able to acquire, and the materials and tools available at the time. The combination of art historical, scientific, and technical knowledge provides a better sense of how Van Gogh’s artwork originally looked, encouraging reconsideration of future conservation efforts.
Van Gogh's Studio Practice (Mercatorfonds) is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
In 1930, renowned Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) journeyed to Beijing, where he studied with the Chinese brush-and-ink painter Qi Baishi (1864–1957). Qi, greatly admired for his dynamic brushwork and calligraphy, had a profound impact on Noguchi. As he later said, “All Japanese art has roots in China.” Isamu Noguchi/Qi Baishi/Beijing 1930 brings together the work of these two artists for the first time. Published to accompany a traveling exhibition, this volume features some 65 drawings by Noguchi and ink painting and calligraphic works by Qi. Noguchi’s drawings suggest a keen observation of Qi’s masterful skills and artistry with free-spirited lines, bold brushstrokes, and a purposeful use of void space.
Isamu Noguchi/Qi Baishi/Beijing 1930 is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
A seminal artist of the Gilded Age, Louis Comfort Tiffany is the best known and most widely collected figure in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American decorative arts. The splendid objects from the Driehaus Collection, installed as the inaugural exhibition of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, showcase a wide variety of Tiffany’s work in an architectural setting of the period.
Newly commissioned photographs by John Faier highlight the subtle detail and rich coloring of each object, revealing why Tiffany is so revered as a designer. Essays by Richard H. Driehaus and David A. Hanks explore the collector’s vision and Tiffany Studios’s largely unknown legacy in Chicago.
Vividly colored, enriched with ornament, and boldly scaled, the book provides an intimate look into the artistry and craftsmanship of Tiffany, and is a unique opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts alike to experience the objects as never before seen.
Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
This book harkens back to the halcyon days of photographer and filmmaker Richard Kern's youth.
Edited by Jesse Pearson, editor of Nudity Today and Apology Magazine, Contact High couldn't have a simpler premise--it's all about naked girls smoking weed. This cheeky and playful collection of portraits recalls a time in Kern's life when, he says, "I spent a lot of time with my friends smoking pot, listening to music, running around in the woods and sometimes swimming naked. Back then, when I was around a naked girl, weed was either about to be smoked or had been smoked."
In 1999, Kern met a model in Los Angeles who reminded him of the girls he used to smoke with back in North Carolina. So, seizing the moment, he "went down to Charleston to shoot her at her house and in the swamps around there. Her ambition at 18 years old was to open a head shop. She had a small gro-lite farm in her bedroom."
This carefree and sexy series of images from 1999 to the present is charged with an atmosphere of freewheeling, optimistic hedonism. Readers will undoubtedly get a real buzz from the beauty and sensuality of the images--perhaps tinged with a bittersweet hint of nostalgia for the sexy abandon of their own carefree youth.
Contact High is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Seventy-two views of Mt. Tamalpais In a new collaboration by the authors of the bestselling The High Sierra of California, readers are introduced to the unique mountain overlooking San Francisco Bay.
A source of story and myth since time began, Mt. Tamalpais has inspired conservationists, trail builders, botanists, artists, and poets for more than a century. With freshness and sustained delight, Tamalpais Walking explores Mt. Tamalpais's natural, cultural, historic, and spiritual dimensions. It is a book shaped by two master craftsmen collaborating on an enterprise nurtured by long and passionate involvement.
The artwork is the product of Tom Killion's decades of depicting and interpreting the mountain's many moods and aspects. Gary Snyder has been hiking Mt. Tamalpais since 1948, and through poetry and a new, revealing essay he offers his thoughts on the mountain, its history, and the practice of walking meditation.
Further enriched with Killion's essays on the mountain's history and selections from the work of Jack Kerouac, Ina Coolbrith, Kenneth Rexroth, and Lew Welch, Tamalpais Walking takes us deep into Mt. Tamalpais's pathways, offering original, revelatory views of a mountain prominent not just on the landscape but in the history and imagination of the West Coast.
Tamalpais Walking: Poetry, History, and Prints is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Radical Presence chronicles the emergence of black performance practices in contemporary art. Where hegemony has tended to define black performance art as an extension of theater, this publication provides a critical framework for discussing the history of black performance within the visual arts over the last 50 years. Over five decades of performance art practices by such artists as Benjamin Patterson, David Hammons, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O'Grady, Adrian Piper and Ulysses Jenkins are presented along representatives of subsequent generations such as Carrie Mae Weems, William Pope.L, Terry Adkins, Sherman Fleming, Danny Tisdale, Lyle Ashton Harris, Clifford Owens, Kalup Linzy and Adam Pendleton, among others. This publication includes a DVD compilation of performance excerpts and is an essential tool for any understanding of the field.
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
From delicate roses to majestic animals, from steampunk to Celtic, from fairies to Mayan warriors, this comprehensive collection of original artwork presents all of today's most popular tattoo subjects. If you're inspired to make a permanent personal statement with artwork that is truly artwork, these tattoo-friendly designs are just what you're looking for. Nationally recognized graphic designer Lora S. Irish looks at the human body with an artist’s eye, to create designs that look great on skin. Her exquisite patterns strike the perfect balance between artistic vision and the practical demands of needle and ink. With over 500 images here to choose from, the Great Book of Tattoo Designs is the only tattoo design book you'll ever need.
Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Revised Edition: More than 500 Body Art Designs is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
Mastering Oil Painting is the perfect resource for beginning and intermediate artists to build proficiency and expertise in the art of oil painting. With its slow drying time, oil paint allows artists to layer and blend deep, rich colors that retain their vibrancy when fully dried. Mastering Oil Painting will demonstrate how to work with this classic medium that has been a favorite of professional artists for hundreds of years.
The book opens by covering the basic tools and materials for getting started in oil painting, including brushes, mediums, supports, palette knives, and palettes. On the pages that follow, artists will discover valuable information for understanding basic color theory, color mixing, and working with oil mediums, as well as how to master a range of techniques, including blending, stippling, scumbling, drybrushing, sponging, painting thickly and thinly, and others.
With the information offered by an accomplished, professional painter, aspiring artists will also learn how to select subject matter, set up a balanced composition, create textures, and use reference photos, all while learning how to paint a range of subjects, such as a landscape, a still life, and a floral arrangement—step by step!
With easy-to-follow instruction and breathtakingly realistic artwork to inspire, the combination of tips, techniques, and engaging oil painting lessons in Mastering Oil Painting offers a comprehensive resource for artists of all skill levels desiring to put their newfound painting knowledge to practical use by painting realistic, detailed works of art in oil, from start to finish.
Mastering Oil Painting: Learn Simple Techniques and Practical Applications for Mastering the Art of Oil Painting is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
To select the never-before published color photographs for this vast project, Elliott Erwitt sifted through his ample archive of nearly half a million 35mm slides. Then he began the mammoth task of whittling it down to this epic collection of roughly 450 pages. For most of these images, the color managed to stay miraculously preserved and every evocative detail is as crisp as the date of its creation. Whether world leaders or sassy showgirls, the subjects reflect Erwitt's own wry and eclectic sensibility. To say the juxtapositions are intriguing would be an understatement. From marketplaces to military camps, Vegas to Venice, there's a rich mixture of public pageantry and carefully observed private interactions. English/German/French/Italian/Spanish edition.
Kolor is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
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