Friday, October 31, 2008

Planes & Aviation Infographics 2005 - 2006

Planes & Aviation Infographics 2005 & 2006

These are planes and aviation infographics that I collected for the year 2005 and 2006 from newspagedesigner.com. I use them for brainstorming and coming up with inspiration.

There are 142 graphics in this package, mostly jpg files viewable in any OS window.

These graphics are NOT created by me, and are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Download links: Planes and Aviation Infographics

Find all the 16 categories here.

Drop a comment if you find them useful.

Thanks.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Nature Infographics 2005 & 2006

Nature Infographics 2006 A

Nature Infographics 2006 B

These are nature infographics that I collected for the year 2005 and 2006 from newspagedesigner.com. I use them for brainstorming and coming up with inspiration.

There are 356 graphics split into two packages, mostly jpg files viewable in any OS window.

These graphics are NOT created by me, and are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Download links:
Nature Infographics Package A
Nature Infographics Package B

Find all the 16 categories here.

Drop a comment if you find them useful.

Thanks.

Book Review: The Art of Bond

In my opinion, the book title is deceiving. This is not an art book.

This book is about the history on the making of James Bond movies, up until Casino Royale. That's all 21 films if you're counting.

Included are lots of on-set photographs, some concept artwork consisting mainly of storyboards. There are also interviews with key talents like Michael G.Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Ken Adam, John Barry and Martin Campbell.

In essence, this book is about the history of James Bond and how it made it to the big screen. Many production stories are included in the interviews, like how they fix up the set, cast characters and choose music. These stories come in the form of interviewees' quotes. There is no narration in the book.

The book could be thicker given James Bond's long and illustrious history. I just can't help thinking about how much stuff they left out. I guess they may be covered in other James Bond books.

It's a good read overall, but mainly for James Bond fans.

Here's the list of chapters:
  • Bond Words: the novels, the screenplays, the dialogue
  • Bond Worlds: sets, locations, gadgets and cars
  • Making It Real: the team, the actors, filming the action
  • Bond Scores: the music, the songs, the title sequences
  • Bond Takes On The World: the marketing, the release
  • James Bond Will Return
  • Picture Captions



The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

The Art of Bond

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Check out other books I've reviewed also, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list

Book Review: The Crafting of Narnia

The full title of the book is "The Crafting of Narnia: The Art, Creatures, and Weapons From Weta Workshop".

Weta Workshop is the Academy-Award winning special effects house that has also created the world for Lord of the Rings and King Kong. That's Middle-Earth and Skull Island. I've a book review on the World of Kong on my blog also. That book is very good.

Many books have been released in companion to the Narnia movies. If you're looking for the art book, this is the one.

This book contains the concept art done in preparation for the two movies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

There are detailed photography, never before seen drawings, sculptures, props, minatures and paintings. All these are created for the characters, weapons, armour and the set. Movie stills are few.

Particularly interesting are the character designs because they show the evolution. Several designs are shown for each character, including sculptures. Weapons and armour designs are also heavily featured. The designs are intricate and many high resolution photos are provided of the actual weapons used on set — the swords, shields, axes and the like. There are few drawings for the landscapes.

The commentary that follows along explains the ideas and background story relating back to the book. It works essentially like a tour guide explaining to the tourist in a new place.

Fantasy concept artists should like this book, and also fans of Narnia. It's an enjoyable read.



The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

The Crafting of Narnia

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Check out other books reviewed on this blog, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Marine Infographics 2005 & 2006

Marine Infographics 2006

These are marine infographics that I collected for the year 2005 and 2006 from newspagedesigner.com. I use them for brainstorming and coming up with inspiration.

There are 49 graphics in this package, mostly jpg files viewable in any OS window. Expect sea, ocean, fish and other marine related topics.

These graphics are NOT created by me, and are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Download links: Marine Infographics

Find all the 16 categories here.

Drop a comment if you find them useful.

Thanks.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Maps & Cartography Infographics 2006

Maps Infographics 2006 A

Maps Infographics 2006 B

Maps Infographics 2006 C

These are maps and cartography infographics that I collected for the year 2005 and 2006 from newspagedesigner.com. I use them for brainstorming and coming up with inspiration.

There are 548 graphics split into three packages, mostly jpg files viewable in any OS window.

These graphics are NOT created by me, and are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Download links:
Maps & Cartography Infographics Package A
Maps & Cartography Infographics Package B
Maps & Cartography Infographics Package C

Find all the 16 categories here.

Drop a comment if you find them useful.

Thanks.

URBANsketches Has Some Great Urban Sketches

URBANsketchers

Here we have a very cool blog called URBANsketchers. One that features sketches and water painting in an urban setting.

Artists living in cities all over the world contribute their sketches here, documenting life and the things they see. Oh, and they draw on the spot, not at home.

And if you happen to live in Seattle, check out Seattle Sketcher too.

Funny Sharks

Whenever I'm not using my second LCD monitor at work, I'll run a slideshow on Flickr for certain keywords. Yesterday, I ran one slideshow for sharks. These 4 made me hit the pause button for laughs.









And this which had linking disabled.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Siggraph Asia 2008 in Singapore on 10 Dec

Siggraph Singapore

Siggraph 2008 will be held in Singapore on the 10 Dec, at Suntec City.

Crime Infographics 2006

Crime Infographics 2006

These are crime infographics that I collected for the year 2005 and 2006 from newspagedesigner.com. I use them for brainstorming and coming up with inspiration.

There are 42 graphics in this package, mostly jpg files viewable in any OS window.

These graphics are NOT created by me, and are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Download link: My deviantart page

Find all the 16 categories here.

Drop a comment if you find them useful.

Thanks.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Book Review: Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

There was a time when I thought this art book was too expensive. That was more than a decade ago when I was still a student. Not so now.

What I have here is the 23rd edition of Inoue Takehiko Illustrations. I'm glad that it's popular enough for 23 editions.

Fans of Slam Dunk should be familiar with who's on the cover. Yes, this is an art book containing illustrations for Slam Dunk. Most of the illustrations are from the manga book covers and chapter splash pages. There are also a few other paintings that were not found on the manga comic books.

I'm a big fan of Inoue Takehio's ink strokes. Every line is not wasted, every line represents something. That is probably why his characters are unique and style so strong. I love his marker and water paintings too.

Amazon Japan still stocks it, that's if you know enough Japanese get to the checkout page.



Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Inoue Takehiko Illustrations

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon.com. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

If you're interested in art books, there's a complete list reviewed, with pictures, on my blog.

There are also some design book reviews too. You can see the design book list here.

Book Review: Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

cowboy bebop illustrations the windWhat caught my eye about this book is the drawing of Spike on the cover. It looked so much like a live actor, except it's manga.

This 142-page soft cover book is a collection of sketches and commissioned paintings by Toshihiro Kawamoto. The illustrations come from before the TV series were released, all the way up to the movie. Art of computer games, soundtracks and magazines are also included.

The first few pages are devoted to character designs. There are captions for every illustration and they explain the back story. This is essentially the planning stage before the TV series were finalized. I found out that the anime was actually known as "Shooting Star Bebop" during production, which thankfully was changed afterward.

Thereafter the character sketches is where manga mode kicks in. Full colored gorgeous manga art starts filling the pages. The commissioned art are of quality much higher than the anime. There are character portrait drawings in different settings, each trying to convey a different mood, each trying to display the character's unique traits. Each painting is stunning, well composed and executed.

For fans of Cowboy Bebop, this book should be a satisfying collection.

The copy I have has captions in Chinese and English. I've also seen a Japanese hard cover version of the book. This art book was published in 2006.



Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~ The Wind ~

Well, the art book sold, currently, at Amazon Japan. The link by the side is to the re-released Cowboy Bebop DVD collection for 2008. Visit it to read some reviews.

If you're interested in art books, there's a complete list reviewed, with pictures, on my blog.

There are also some design book reviews too. You can see the design book list here.