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In Sketching Women, three professional studio artists (Kozo Ueda, PhD, Takahiro Okada, PhD and Minoru Hirota, PhD) join forces to show you how to sketch the female figure through 55 step-by-step drawing lessons.Each instructor walks you through their philosophy for croquis sketching. Croquis sketches are quickly-rendered drawings that capture the essentials of a subject's form and pose with relatively few expressive lines.There are four levels of sketching described in the book:1-minute croquis: very rapid gesture drawings that capture only the artist's impressions of the form, and where the pencil stays in contact with the paper for practically the entire session2-minute croquis: another quick sketch, but with more attention paid to the character and rhythm of the lines and how they help to express the essence of the form5-minute croquis: a more finished drawing where added tonal variations suggest volume and anatomical details10-minute croquis: more of a finished drawing than true croquis, the longer session allows the luxury of adding fine details such as the facial expression, the character of the hands and clothing textureLearn to sketch the following:Individual body parts (including faces) and their bone structure and musclesStanding and sitting posesNudes and clothed figuresLight and dark tonal variationsDynamic posesColor drawingsYou'll quickly hone your sketching skills with this life-drawing classroom-in-a-book. The expert advice and observations, dozens of poses to study, as well as easy-to-understand notes and tips make it easy to understand how the skeleton, muscles and posture all come together to express the uniquely female form.

Narratology in Practice opens up the well-known theory of narrative to various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Written as a companion to Mieke Bal's international classic Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, in which the examples focus almost exclusively on literary studies, this new book offers more elaborate analyses of visual media, especially visual art and film. Read independently or in parallel with its companion, Narratology in Practice enables readers to use the suggested concepts as tools to assist them in practising narrative analysis.

What do we mean when we say that we are bored? Or when we find a subject boring? Contributors to On Boredom: Essays in art and writing, which include artists, art historians, psychoanalysts and a novelist, examine boredom in its manifold and uncertain reality. Each part of the book takes up a crucial moment in the history of boredom and presents it in a new light, taking the reader from the trials of the consulting room to the experience of hysteria in the nineteenth century. The book pays particular attention to boredom's relationship with the sudden and rapid advances in technology that have occurred in recent decades, specifically technologies of communication, surveillance and automation.On Boredom is idiosyncratic for its combination of image and text, and the artworks included in its pages – by Mathew Hale, Martin Creed and Susan Morris – help turn this volume into a material expression of boredom itself. With other contributions from Josh Cohen, Briony Fer, Anouchka Grose, Rye Dag Holmboe, Margaret Iversen, Tom McCarthy and Michael Newman, the book will appeal to readers in the fields of art history, literature, cultural studies and visual culture, from undergraduate students to professional artists working in new media.

The Art of Ramona Quimby celebrates the artists behind Beverly Cleary's inimitable Ramona Quimby series.The adventures of her iconic heroine have been brought to life by five different artists: Louis Darling, Alan Tiegreen, Joanne Scribner, Tracy Dockray, and Jacqueline Rogers.Readers can compare multiple interpretations of iconic scenes (remember the infamous egg-cracking incident?), read letters exchanged between Cleary and the first illustrator, and learn the stories behind the illustrations.• Celebrates the timeless work by these five artists since Beverly Cleary published the first Ramona Quimby book in 1955• Includes excerpts from the books• Two essays illuminate the series's narrative and artistic impactThe Art of Ramona Quimby explores the evolution of an iconic character, and how each artist has ultimately made her timeless.For fans of illustration and design, and for those who grew up alongside Ramona, this richly nostalgic volume reminds us why we fell in love with these books.• Beverly Cleary's bestselling children's series has sold over 50 million copies.• Great for readers who grew up with Ramona and Beezus, as well as parents, grandparents, and anyone who remembers reading these books when they were young• A must-have for fans of Beverly Cleary and the Ramona series, as well as anyone interested in illustrated character art and development over time• Perfect for those who loved The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss by Theodor Geisel, The Art of Eric Carle by Eric Carle, and Literary Wonderlands: A Journey Through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created by Laura Miller

In Sketching Men, veteran art instructor Koichi Hagawa, PhD explains how to quickly capture the dynamic male form through two distinct styles of sketching:Very rapid (1-3 minute) line drawings that capture the essence of the subject's posture and movement--perfect for recording athletic action poses in the momentMore finished tonal drawings, which take a bit longer to render (7-10 minutes), but fill in lots of interesting texture and wonderfully realistic details and nuances, including the play of light and shadow, three-dimensional form and a sense of mass and balanceLearn to sketch the following:Individual body parts and their bones and musclesObjects held in the hands and with both armsStanding and sitting posesTransitions from prone and sitting poses to a standing poseBending, reaching and leaning posesPushing, throwing and dancing posesFolds, gathers and drape of clothingThis book contains hundreds of detailed studies and helpful examples. Your sketches will improve rapidly as you learn all about how human anatomy--the skeleton, muscles and posture--all come together to express the uniquely male form. When you hone your line and tonal drawing skills with this book, all of your artwork will improve as a result, no matter the application: storyboarding, cartooning and graphic novels, illustration, formal drawings, painting and more!

What is culture really for? How to find compassion, hope and perspective in the arts. Many people search for the meaning of life through music, film, literature and the visual arts. But how can we synthesize the emotions we feel through art? This book looks at how works of culture were made - that is, to improve the way we live. Connecting a range of (Western) cultural masterpieces with our own pains and dilemmas, we learn to better see culture as a resource, a way to address the agonies of being human. It provides us with enduring keys to unlocking culture as a way of transforming our lives. Using common themes - such as companionship, hope balance, compassion, knowledge, encouragement, appreciation, and perspective - and combining them with works from Bach to Renoir, The Beatles to Mel Gibson's Braveheart, Hamlet, Anselm Kiefer, and writers like Proust and Virginia Woolf, this book provides the key to unlocking culture. Indeed, the keys to transforming our lives.HOW MUSIC, FILM, LITERATURE AND VISUAL ART operate in our society and lives. EXPLORES CULTURAL MASTERPIECES and how they relate to our everyday lives. ILLUSTRATED with full color images throughout. THOUGHT-PROVOKING CONCEPTS that enhance any future visit to a gallery, theater or cinema. BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED premium gift format.

“Reflective maxims on life, death, sin, and emptiness, salted with luxury accessories of the Kardashian lifestyle...@KimKierkegaard is dross turned gold, redemption through absurdity in a hundred and forty characters.” –The New Yorker In “the ultimate meeting of the sublime with the ridiculous” (London Evening Standard) My Beautiful Despair blends the existential philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard with the superficial musings of Kim Kardashian West, based on the popular Twitter feed @KimKierkegaard. Kierkegaardashian shares thoughts on fashion, beauty, brunch, and the relentless waves of existential dread that wash over us day after day.A sample of the revelations include: – I have majorly fallen off my workout-eating plan! AND it's summer. But to despair over sin is to sink deeper into it. – Obsessed with protecting your skin, lips, hair & face from the sun? Close the cover of the coffin tight, really tight, and be at peace. – I like my men like I like my coffee: a momentary comfort in the midst of all my suffering. – What is the operation by which a self relates itself to its own self, transparently? Selfie. – What if everything in life were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears? Scared LOL!! – I've been going to bed a little bit earlier each night, to get a taste of death. In an age where the line between news and entertainment is blurrier than ever before, and the difference between a celebrity and the leader of the free world is nil, Kierkegaardashian's insights perfectly reflect our absurd, hilarious, and deeply disturbing new era. @KimKierkegaard has been admired, praised, and adored in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, New York, Buzzfeed, and more, and has amassed nearly a quarter of a million Twitter followers, including J.K. Rowling and Anna Kendrick. Now in a humorous, illustrated gift book, perfectly suited for our existential times, Kierkegaardashian's philosophical insights are juxtaposed for the first time with Dash Shaw's brilliant black-and-white illustrations.

In Dharma Delight, abstract artist and Zen practitioner Rodney Greenblat uses lighthearted narrative and vivid pop art paintings to celebrate the joys of living life from the inside out.Part graphic guide, part personal testimony, part art book, Dharma Delight illustrates how seeking the path of compassion and acceptance can be as zany and exuberant as it is profound. It is a happy exploration of Buddhist Enlightenment--what it is, where to seek it--and how to recognize the perfection in ourselves. A great option for Zen beginners and experienced practitioners alike, sutras (teachings), Bodhisattvas (enlightened beings) and jataka tales (parables) are presented in a way that's simple, upbeat and fun to read. The original paintings--some new, some already known on the New York art scene and elsewhere--are an imaginative and affirming mind's-eye view of Buddhist teaching. Together, the words and illustrations are a warm and cheerful invitation to newcomers and a cool splash of refreshment to any traveler on the road to enlightenment.

In America Noir David Cochran details how ten writers and filmmakers challenged the social pieties prevalent during the Cold War, such as the superiority of the American democracy, the benevolence of free enterprise, and the sanctity of the suburban family. Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone featured victims of vast, faceless, bureaucratic powers. Jim Thompson's noir thrillers, such as The Grifters, portrayed the ravages of capitalism on those at the bottom of the social ladder. Patricia Highsmith, in The Talented Mr. Ripley, placed an amoral con man in an international setting, implicitly questioning America's fitness as leader of the free world. Charles Willeford's pulp novels, such as Wild Wives and Woman Chaser, depicted the family as a hotbed of violence and chaos.These artists pioneered a detached, ironic sensibility that radically juxtaposed cultural references and blurred the distinctions between “high” and “low” art. Their refusal to surrender to the pressures for political conformity and their unflinching portrayal of the underside of American life paved the way for the emergence of a 1960s counterculture that forever changed the way America views itself.

A vivid oral history of how Andy Warhol and his superstars revolutionized the art world and the nature of celebrity in the mid-1960s. Spanning from 1965 to 1966, two years that could be considered the pinnacle of Andy Warhol's creative output, Speeding into the Future features firsthand accounts of life inside the Silver Factory. Powered by a steady supply of amphetamines, Quaaludes, and other drugs, the artists and misfits of the Factory crowd generated Warhol's controversial films and art while their own star-quotients rose and declined—and as they fell in and out of love with one another. During this period, Warhol created the notion of the “It Girl” by declaring debutante Edie Sedgwick the 1965 “Girl of the Year” and predicting her skyrocketing yet short-lived fame; he introduced German-born singer Nico to Lou Reed and John Cale of the Velvet Underground, hosting their rehearsals at the Factory; and codirected, with Paul Morrissey, his most commercially successful film, Chelsea Girls, featuring Nico, Brigid Berlin, Ondine, and other superstars. Speeding into the Future includes revelatory images snapped by Billy Name and other photographers as Bob Dylan visited the Factory, and goes behind the scenes of Warhol's films of Ondine, Ultra Violet, Taylor Mead, and Viva. In this powerful chronicle based on her documentary—newly available from libraries via the Kanopy streaming service—Catherine O'Sullivan Shorr captures the events of these dizzying, outrageous years through the words of those who lived through them.

Praise for The Best American Infographics “Represent[s] the full spectrum of the genre—from authoritative to playful.”—Scientific American “Not only is it a thing of beauty, it's also a good read, with thoughtful explanations of each winning graphic.”—Nature “Information, in its raw form, can overwhelm us. Finding the visual form of data can simplify this deluge into pearls of understanding.” —Kim Rees, Periscopic The most creative and effective data visualizations from the past year, edited by Brain Pickings creator Maria Popova The rise of infographics across nearly all print and electronic media—from a graphic illuminating the tweets of the women of Isis to a memorable depiction of the national geography of beer—reveals patterns in our lives and the world in often startling ways. The Best American Infographics 2015 showcases visualizations from the worlds of politics, social issues, health, sports, arts and culture, and more. From an elegant graphic comparison of first sentences in classic novels to a startling illustration of the world's deadliest animals, “You'll come away with more than your share of... mind-bending moments—and a wide-ranging view of what infographics can do” (Harvard Business Review). “This is what information design does at its best – it gives pause, makes visible the unsuspected yet significant invisibilia of life, and by astonishing us into mobilization, it catapults us toward one of the greatest feats of human courage: the act of changing one's mind.”—from the Introduction by Maria Popova Guest introducer MARIA POPOVA is the one-woman curation machine behind Brain Pickings, a cross-disciplinary blog showcasing content that makes people smarter. She has more than half a million monthly readers and over 480,000 Twitter followers. Popova is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow and has written for the New York Times, Atlantic, Wired UK, GOOD Magazine, The Huffington Post, and the Nieman Journalism Lab. Series editor GARETH COOK is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, and the editor of Mind Matters, Scientific American's neuroscience blog. He helped invent the Boston Globe's Sunday Ideas section and served as its editor from 2007 to 2011. His work has also appeared in NewYorker.com, WIRED, Scientific American, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing.

“I am completely an elitist, in the cultural but emphatically not the social sense. I prefer the good to the bad, the articulate to the mumbling, the aesthetically developed to the merely primitive, and full to partial consciousness. I love the spectacle of skill, whether it's an expert gardener at work, or a good carpenter chopping dovetails... I don't think stupid or ill-read people are as good to be with as wise and fully literate ones. I would rather watch a great tennis player than a mediocre one... Consequently, most of the human race doesn't matter much to me, outside the normal and necessary frame of courtesy and the obligation to respect human rights. I see no reason to squirm around apologizing for this. I am, after all, a cultural critic, and my main job is to distinguish the good from the second-rate.” Robert Hughes wrote with brutal honesty about art, architecture, culture, religion, and himself. He translated his passions—of which there were many, both positive and negative—brilliantly, convincingly, and with vitality and immediacy, always holding himself to the same rigorous standards of skill, authenticity, and significance that he did his subjects. There never was, and never will be again, a voice like this. In this volume, that voice rings clear through a gathering of some of his most unforgettable writings, culled from nine of his most widely read and important books. This selection shows his enormous range and gives us a uniquely cohesive view of both the critic and the man. Most revealing, and most thrilling for Hughes's legions of fans, are the never-before-published pages from his unfinished second volume of memoirs. These last writings show Robert Hughes at the height of his powers and can be read only with pleasure and a tinge of sadness that his extraordinary voice is no longer here to educate us as well as to clarify and define our world.

In our chaotic world of co-opted imagery, does art still have power?A fog of images and information permeates the world nowadays: from advertising, television, radio, and film to the glut produced by the new economy and the rise of social media... where even our friends suddenly seem to be selling us the ultimate product: themselves. Here, Nato Thompson—one of the country's most celebrated young curators and critics—investigates what this deluge means for those dedicated to socially engaged art and activism. How can anyone find a voice and make change in a world flooded with such pseudo-art? How are we supposed to discern what's true in the product emanating from the ceaseless machine of consumer capitalism, a machine that appropriates from art history, and now from the methods of grassroots political organizing and even social networking? Thompson's invigorating answers to those questions highlights the work of some of the most innovative and interesting artists and activists working today, as well as institutions that empower their communities to see power and reimagine it. From cooperative housing to anarchist infoshops to alternative art venues, Seeing Power reveals ways that art today can and does inspire innovation and dramatic transformation... perhaps as never before.

Year two of this fresh, timely, beautiful addition to the Best American series, introduced by Nate SilverThe rise of infographics across virtually all print and electronic media reveals patterns in our lives and worlds in fresh and surprising ways. As we find ourselves in the era of big data, where information moves faster than ever, infographics provide us with quick, often influential bursts of art and knowledge — to digest, tweet, share, go viral. Best American Infographics 2014 captures the finest examples, from the past year, of this mesmerizing new way of seeing and understanding our world. Guest introducer Nate Silver brings his unparalleled expertise and lively analysis to this visually compelling new volume.

Conversations began as a column for the Huffington Post where it initially featured fashion designers. Author Blue Carreon would ask his subjects to answer a fill-in-the-blanks type of questionnaire on topics that touch on many different aspects of our lives—from personal rituals to alternative careers to thoughts on Botox. Discover the fascinating truth on who has resisted and succumbed to Botox, and those who wouldn't admit to using it by their twist of words or vague replies.From Tory Burch, Carreon went on to ask a great mix of personalities to be part of the Conversations series. Among these include the style icons Ines de la Fressange and Olivia Chantecaille; fashion designers Diane Von Furstenberg, Rachel Roy, and Michael Bastian; decorators Charlotte Moss, Vicente Wolf, and Mary McDonald; and artists James Nares and Polly Apfelbaum. Through sixty selected interviews, Conversations stretches over the fields of fashion, interior design, and art.Delve into the fascinating lives of some of the world's most creative minds and see just how many turns of phrase can be added to a single open-ended word like Happiness…Read their answers and you'll be surprised at how the subjects jump so quickly from clever to funny to philosophical—or all of the above—with each question.

A monstrously big guide that teaches you how to draw the silliest and scariest zombies, vampires, witches, ghouls, and other creepy cartoon favorites.Aspiring artists learn all the drawing tips and tricks they need to create laugh-out-loud renditions of their favorite monsters and scary creatures direct from cartooning master Christopher Hart. This jam-packed cartooning guide shows readers how to capture the lighter side of these creepy creatures by combining them with Hart's incredibly popular cartoon drawing style! Taking readers step-by-step through each monster type, Hart demonstrates how to draw everything from terrifyingly silly heads to wacky comic strip-like scenes of monstrous menace. Chockful of hints, humor, and horror, The Ginormous Book of Monster Cartoons is guaranteed to be a real scream for aspiring and professional artists, as well as all fans of things that go bump in the night.

Featuring over 1,500 engravings that originally graced the pages of Webster's dictionaries in the 19th century, this volume is an irresistible treasure trove for art lovers, designers, and anyone with an interest in visual history. Meticulously cleaned and restored by fine-press bookmaker Johnny Carrera, the engravings in Pictorial Webster's have been compiled into an alluring and unusual visual reference guide for the modern day. Images range from the entirely mysterious to the classically iconic. From Acorns to Zebras, Bell Jars to Velocipedes, these alphabetically arranged archetypes and curiosities create enigmatic juxtapositions and illustrate the items deemed important to the Victorian mind. Sure to inspire and delight, Pictorial Webster's is at once a fascinating historical record and a stunning jewel of a book.

The Spider-Man 2 Dream Machine—from original idea to final cut— unmasking the creative genius at work in the blockbuster movieThe epic adventure of one of the greatest superheroes of all time explodes on the silver screen as never before. Now, in this captivating journey behind the scenes and into the imagination, fans can discover how the myth and magic became real in Spider-Man 2, as they plunge deeper into Spider-Man's world to meet the characters, explore the environments, and follow the storyline in a stunning visual journey. Packed with hundreds of amazing production illustrations, prepared by many of the most talented illustrators in Hollywood, Caught in the Web features• Original sketches, artwork, and doodles that became the inspirations for characters, sets, and computer–generated imagery• Climactic scenes from the movie as they first appeared in conceptual art• Design work used to develop costumes and visual effects—as well as blueprints and architectural drafts used in the construction of both physical and virtual environments• Unique insights into the genesis of Doc Ock—revealing how he evolved from his comic-book origins• An intimate behind-the-scenes look at the full creative process for Spider-Man 2Enter the amazing realm where dreams come true and discover how the epic adventure was created as you immerse yourself in the action and atmosphere of Spider-Man 2, from the first rough sketches to the final on-screen adventure.

The'American hunk'is a cultural icon: the image of the chiseled, well-built male body has been promoted and exploited for commercial use for over 125 years, whether in movies, magazines, advertisements, or on consumer products, not only in America but throughout the world.American Hunks is a fascinating collection of images (many in full color) depicting the muscular American male as documented in popular culture from 1860 to 1970. The book, divided into specific historic eras, includes such personalities as bodybuilder Charles Atlas; pioneer weightlifter Eugene Sandow; movie stars like Steve'Hercules'Reeves and Johnny'Tarzan'Weismuller; and publications such as the 1920s-era magazine Physical Culture and the 1950s-era comic book Mr. Muscles. It also touches on the use of masculine, homoerotic imagery to sell political and military might (including American recruitment posters and Nazi propaganda from the 1936 Olympics), and how companies have used buff, near-naked men to sell products from laundry detergent to sacks of flour since the 1920s. The introduction by David L. Chapman offers insightful information on individual images, while the essay by Brett Josef Grubisic places the work in its proper historical context.David L. Chapman has written many books on male photography and bodybuilding, including Comin'at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield.Brett Josef Grubisic is author of the novel The Age of Cities and editor of Contra/Diction: New Queer Fiction.

There has long been a politics around the way in which women are represented, with objection not so much to specific images as to a regime of looking which places the represented woman in a particular relationship to the spectator's gaze. Artists have sometimes avoided the representation of women altogether, but they are now producing images which challenge the regime. How do these images succeed in their challenge? The Emptiness of the Image offers a psychoanalytic answer. Parveen Adams argues that, despite flaws in some of the details of its arguments, psychoanalytic theory retains an overwhelming explanatory strength in relation to questions of sexual difference and representation. She goes on to show how the issue of desire changes the way we can think of images and their effects. Throughout she discusses the work of theorists, artists and filmmakers such as Helene Deutsch, Catherine MacKinnon, Mary Kelly, Francis Bacon, Michael Powell and Della Grace. The Emptiness of the Image shows how the very space of representation can change to provide a new way of thinking the relation between the text and the spectator. It shows how psychoanalytic theory is supple enough to slide into and transform the most unexpected situations.