_{Prices indicated are as marked on my copy. Actual price may vary with edition and reseller.}

TRADITIONAL ART or DIGITAL ART > DRAWINGS > PEOPLE



Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm
_{120 pages, b&w, $9.95}


There is no book I have recommended more on this site. I really believe this is the ultimate book to learn to draw the human figure, completely unsurpassed in clarity and quality of information, not to mention a price that makes it affordable by all. I used several how-to-draw-anatomy books when I was beginning, but it's when I chanced upon this one that the quality of my drawing suddenly leaped and anatomy became relatively easy for me.

The secret is in not telling readers what to do, but explaining how and why body parts fit together the way they do. Hamm doesn't just show, he explains every detail of the human anatomy, empowering the reader to later on draw without aid. The abundant text is merely a support for the even more abundant illustrations, which suggest different ways of thinking of, and constructing, each part of the body. Beginning with the head and the proportions of facial features, we are given detailed pointers to draw the eyes, mouth, ear and nose (male and female), men and women's hair. Foreshortening the head from the side is covered, as are profiles – also male and female. Actually all the material considers both genders and points out the differences between them. Children's heads and elderly faces are brought up briefly (perhaps too briefly, but one is quite able to make do with this plus personal observation). We then move on to the figure, with many different approaches. Arms and legs are examined separately, as well as how they join the torso, but there are also sections on the pelvic region, the back, the neck, shoulders, how bones and muscles show on the surface, how hips and shoulders cooperate... The hands and feet are detailed and there are even a few pages on women's and men's shoes, and clothing folds.

Hamm's style is very "americana" – after all the book was first published in 1963. In no way is this a problem, however. The approach used is quite independent from style – in 10 years of referring to this book my style has never tended to Hamm's. It's one thing that sets the book apart from many drawing books oriented towards, for instance, manga or Marvel-style characters. Anybody can use it and clothe the theory in the style(s) of his/her choice.

There is of course room for nitpicking. The abundance of material makes its organisation less than linear, so Hamm's pearls of wisdom are scattered all over, making it useful to read the book cover to cover a few times to grasp it all (there's a table of contents but no index). The muscles could have taken some elaboration, especially in a figure in action; he does favour static poses or light action, nothing dramatic. Finally the figures and faces are exclusively those of fit, generic Caucasian men and women, something for which Hamm can't really be blamed since that was all commercial illustrators were asked to draw at the time. The material here is still a necessary basis, but artists will need to look elsewhere for multicultural references once they are familiar with generic anatomy.

To reiterate, however: this is an indispensable book for illustrators of all levels.


ARTISAN CRAFTS > MISCELLANEOUS



Cover to Cover Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals and Albums by Shereen LaPlantz
_{144 pages, full color, $16.95}


I own other bookbinding volumes that are more beginner-oriented, and others that are more specialised and offer more techniques. Cover to Cover, in my opinion, strikes a happy middle between too simple and too complex, with a presentation that is both attractive and immediately graspable. The basics are covered: paper, fabric, boards, adhesives with their pros and cons (including a recipe to make your own), required tools and basic techniques, although the lack of illustration in this section makes me feel the author takes for granted the reader's visualisation skills. There follows several different types of binding with variations, clearly illustrated step-by-step, from simplest to most complex. Then the book ventures into unusual bindings, and does explain a few, but that chapter turns out to be quite short and tantalizing: now that we've warmed up with the better-known simple bindings, we feel ready to take on more exciting projects! Then again, interspersed throughout the book, are pictures of really unusual and stunning books created by book artists. They are not commented, but they do open one's mind to the incredible possibilities bound only by one's imagination.

I'm an infrequent bookbinder, and as I need to refresh my memory every time I start a new project, I tend to avoid my more specialised books on the subject unless I have time for a full re-immersion. It's Cover to Cover I always pick up again, as it can get me back to work in only a few minutes, if I don't end up drooling enviously over the art books pictured. If like me you want to enjoy some basic (but not stupidly basic) bookbinding, this book could be all you need. It is a good tremplin to more ambitious binding books later on. Seasoned binders may not find it so useful.

DESIGN AND INTERFACES > MISCELLANEOUS



Designing for Children: Marketing design that speaks to kids by Catharine Fishel
_{160 pages, full color, $40.00}


This attractively laid out volume draws a detailed picture of how a child's mind looks upon the world and what sparks its interest. A number of successful children's designs (toys, literature, media, places, consumables) are studied to illustrate principles of designing for children. False starts are included, giving a good idea of what NOT to do as well. Experts are quoted, but there are also quotes from the children themselves who were asked why they liked the products, providing some unexpected insights. Chapters are arranged so that they loosely evolve from the youngest children to 12 years old. Each ends with a very welcome "Age Cues, Design Clues" spread that is a quick and clear reference to the physical and psychological development of each age group, and therefore what they like, can and need to play with.

It would be a mistake to approach this volume as a collection of reliable recipes for catering (and selling) to children. The author obviously wishes to provide the basic psychological theory while letting the examples show for themselves that you can't pigeonhole children that easily. Whether she has achieved this balance is a matter of personal opinion. I do appreciate the fact design for children is treated not as "how to make kids buy buy buy" but as a tool for the development and stimulation of young minds.

One problem with the book is its steep price for what it is, with no softcover edition available that I know of. My main concern is, how relevant is it to my culture? I have no doubt that it is spot-on for the (Western) society in which the author has obtained such experience, but what of more traditional cultures, places where children are brought up with a different visual baggage, and where the relationship of society to children is altogether different? Such factors made the book less useful to me than I had hoped. Many of the examples made me think: "That wouldn't work here, because..." Readers dealing with non-Western children should be aware of that limitation. That doesn't mean I regret buying the book. Many of the insights are universal and it is up to us to adapt them to our work environment. At times it helps identify pitfalls of children design in my own country and how to initiate a change for the better. In that sense, it is a great volume to start from.


ARTISAN CRAFTS > JEWELRY



World Beads: An Exploration Of Bead Traditions Around The World, With 30 Projects To Create Your Own Jewelry by Janet Coles and Robert Budwig
_{160 pages, full color, $19.95}


The author is an expert on the history and use of beads around the world, and this book is a treasure for anyone who loves beads, ethnic jewelry, or world cultures. It is literally a trip around the world, concise by necessity yet substantial, examining bead-related customs and even beadmaking techniques. The book is crammed with stunning pictures of people wearing traditional jewelry, artisans at work, maps locating bead types, and finished pieces. Every other spread presents a project from the part of the world examined. Each is based on an existing piece and the author has tried to reproduce or approximate the original technique.

This is not, therefore, a book to learn a variety of beading techniques (many are simply the string-and-knot type), but an introduction to different cultures' approach to jewelry making, design choices and preferred materials. What the projects require is not skill so much as the appropriate beads, which can be quite exotic (praise heavens for online bead shops). As far as I'm concerned the DIY projects are secondary to the research and tremendous inspiration World Beads provides for both jewelrymaking and illustration. And if I haven't made that clear enough: the book is plain gorgeous.

TYPOGRAPHY



The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
_{352 pages, b&w, $29.95}


Put succinctly: this is the typographer's Bible.
Warning, this is no "typography for dummies" or even a simplified approach to good type work, it is a very dense volume that leaves nothing out. if you really want to understand typography down to the endless details it involves, Elements will enchant you. It doesn't hurt to be a bit of a geek either (*cough cough*).

A typographer himself with vast experience in the old school (that is, pre-computer typesetting), Bringhurst set out to compile working principles and ended up with 350 pages of such principles, the historical reasons for their existence, and how to apply them practically. Topics covered are discussed in general then the author really gets down to specifics, technicalities even, making this a workbook just as much as a textbook. The book answers questions you would never think of asking until you run into the problem and then you can't think of whom to ask. For instance: "If a text in parentheses is in italics, should the parentheses be italic as well?" Such details may appear meaningless, but the secret to making a text optimally legible lies in them.

This is going to be a little long but I would like to give an overview of the contents. After general principles of typography, the proper use of kerning, leading, hyphenation, pagination etc are discussed in detail, as are numerals, small caps, ligatures, font families. We then "zoom out" a bit as we get into guidelines for dealing with blocks of text, titles, headings, superscripts etc. I particularly enjoyed the chapter examining analphabetical symbols (:&/-§ and the like), how they are meant to be used, and how to make them look extra good. Then we learn what to look out for when combining fonts or different alphabets (and things to avoid), something that is also priceless to designers who routinely need to adapt non-Latin scripts (such as Arabic in my case) to existing Latin fonts. Then follows a historical interlude, and we learn how to shape a page, proportioning it and its margins to fit our aesthetic needs.

The second half of the book (all this was just the first!) focuses on fonts. A number of "classics" are discussed in detail: their history and visual characteristics, and even their faults and what figures can be foudn in the family. This was very useful in helping me build a font library that is actually useful. Like everyone else, I have thousands of fonts on my harddrive, 90% of which can only be used for titles or the like. When it comes to body text, we need something tried and true, and the selection offered (which includes serif, sanserif, blackletter, uncials, even greeks and cyrillics) saves us much time and headaches.

Appendix A provides the names and story of a few dozen characters (bet you didn't know the # symbol is called an octothorp); B is a glossary of terms; C is a biographical index of type designers; D a list of typefoundries.

Obviously this is not a book you pick up if you're just curious about working with type. Beginners will find it intimidating – it's a LOT of reading, for longer attention spans, and it's more info than most beginners will have bargained for anyway. On the other hand, font and/or layout designers (professional or serious amateur) will really benefit from it.

TRADITIONAL ART > MIXED MEDIA



The Artful Dodger: Images & Reflections by Nick Bantock
_{224 pages, full color hardcover, $40}


I feature this book as a source of inspiration. I love looking over artists' shoulders, reading what they have to say about their work process and finished pieces, seeing the progression of their work over a long span of time; for all this, even though I had only vaguely heard of Nick Bantock when I came across this book, I grabbed it and was glad. It is autobiographical in nature, Bantock speaking of his beginnings, experience in the field and works in progess, but the emphasis is entirely on the work, and the book is generously illustrated with it. Bantock is exceptionally versatile, so this volume makes my illustration senses tingle everytime – so much to try, so many ways of using a medium, so many directions into which to push one's personal style. The text really is interesting, discussing creative processes of works by him known and less known.

Considering its price, this book will mostly interest Nick Bantock fans and serious illustrators building a library of big names in the field.




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