1. Read a lot of fiction. It's the closest thing to telepathy we have. You can pick up the point of view of someone long-dead or from a vastly different culture. The more widely read you become the better. Don't feel you have to suffer, though. If you like reading romance, go and read it. Read things that lead onto other things. Learn to read and your horizons will be infinite.
   
   
2. Take up a martial arts class. I recommend something like Aikido rather than kick-boxing. Your primary goal isn't to learn to fight but rather to straighten your posture and gain calmness and confidence. Hence, consider the more "art" based martial arts first.
   
   
3. Meditate. This will help you gain confidence and put you more at ease with yourself. I recommend Zen, but there are many good ones. It's basically taking quiet time to let yourself see your own flaws.
   
   
4. Make a list of activities that people from higher social classes do, and investigate them. This isn't to become something you're not - I actually think you should be proud of your desire to improve, and I think it's a bad idea to hate your upbringing, too. No, this is about making a list of all those things you've never been exposed to, so you can try them and find out for yourself if you like them. By systematic. I've put an example list at the bottom of the post.
   
   
5. Speak into a recorder and listen honestly to your voice. If it seems to bind you to a particular place and class, consider paying for lessons to change your accent. Actors do it all the time. Again, this shouldn't be about becoming something you're not, just softening any disadvantages. Accents are cute, you don't need to lose it, but if you find it a disadvantage, it will help to soften it.
   
   
6. Learn to do public speaking. Toastmasters are everywhere, and remarkably cheap. Just knowing you can stand in front of a crowd and deliver a speech will change the way people see you and you see yourself.
   
   
   Recommended activities (to see which you like):
   
   Art Go to an art gallery and take a look around. There are all sorts of paintings and statues that people have created for thousands of years. See if any appeal. This is best done with knowledge, so try reading an easy book like this, or a more in-depth one like this
   
   Theatre Try going to the theatre and watch a play. I recommend you pick a classic, but for your first one it might be better to pick one in your natural language rather than Shakespeare. Bear in mind, though, that when you get into it, there's a reason Shakespeare is considered amazing.
   
   Cooking Seriously, learn to cook. It's a life skill. You can take classes, but nothing beats picking up a good book and practicing. I'm English, so I don't know much about American cookery books. The one I learned off is this one, by the English cook Nigel Slater, and I heartily recommend it.
   
   Music I'm not personally a fan of classical music, but the aim is to see for yourself what you like. You could do worse than look at this online course. You could also get a cd, like this
   
   Cinema Go buy DVDs of classic film and extend your repertoire. For example, try watching Hitchcock, for example, and ground yourself in a major part of world culture. Note that this, like all the above, will give you a breadth of conversational topics.
   
   Finally Creativity Go and do something that makes you a creator rather than a consumer. I like writing, but you could equally take art classes or learn to play a musical instrument. Being creative will transform your life. If you want to try writing, I recommend nanowrimo and for science fiction writing, this book
   
   Notice what I'm saying with all of the above. The intention is to open your horizons to what other people enjoy, and give you the ability to converse with them fluently. It's also getting rid of the main markers that might hold you back. Ideally, you'll also find something you love, as well, that you might never have considered.
   

For a first project, this looks really good. Others have said some of the stuff that I'm going to say, but there's a couple other comments I haven't seen others make.

First, learn how to export images. Every arch program I've used has the ability to do this and it makes things look much nicer than taking a picture of a screen, which leads me to...

Learn how to Google efficiently. If you don't know how to do something, think of what you're trying to do, take the keywords out of it ("I want to build a wall that is sloped outward in Google Sketchup" turns into "slope wall sketchup"). In high school, I ended up knowing the programs we used better than my teacher because of this. Now in college, I am one of 3 out of about 125 that everyone goes to for help with programs. About 50% of the stuff they ask I don't know, but I can Google it and find an answer in under a minute.

Now, for the design itself. It's important that every design decision you make, you ask "why?" If you cannot fully justify it, think of a couple alternatives, and choose the best option. Then at the very least your reason would be "I explored a few options and determined this was the best solution." Sure, some will be able to argue it, but you have a reason. Always try and push it though. For instance, why did you choose wood planks for part of your facade? Is it because it looks good or because you had a location in mind and it matches the style of that location?

Next, materiality on facades. My general rule of thumb I use is one main material, one accent material (larger amounts of glazing would count, simple windows like you have would not). When you start having more than that, it starts to look rather busy and can be distracting. But like in the last paragraph, try to have a reason for the material. Pick a location for the building, learn the style and material of the location, and design with that in mind.

Finally, it's never too early to start learning about how buildings are actually constructed. If you can, get access to books by Francis Ching. If they are available at your library, check them out. If not, they're relatively cheap ($20-$30 each iirc). Building Construction Illustrated, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order, and A Visual Dictionary of Architecture are three books I highly recommend to get started on. It will help you understand how buildings are actually put together (and provide tips like nominal construction so you aren't doing things like cutting a CMU in half so that it fits). I notice a few things (such as being able to see the outlines of your stairs from the outside) that you want to watch for so they don't show up. This can be solved by understanding where different elements stop, how they're connected to each other, etc.

So, like I said, this looks really good. Starting at 15 is awesome, I started when I was 16 and now I'm applying to some of the top grad schools in the US, so definitely keep at it! One last tip, if you haven't already, start sketching/drawing by hand. It's an invaluable skill to have and will help you immensely if you decide to study architecture. Even if it's drawing one object a day, just spend 10-15 minutes every day sketching things out. You'll be surprised how much you improve just from practice in even a month.

I will post some of my favorite books in a second for you as soon as my computer gets turned on. :)

Here are a couple of my favorites from my school "Hey, I actually like these.. I'm going to purchase them!" collection.

General Graphic Design:

Graphic Design: The New Basics

This publication does a great job of showing "relationships between formal elements of two-dimensional design such as point, line, plane, scale, hierarchy, layers, and transparency." If you are looking for a general overview on a lot of subjects within graphic design I think this is a great way to upgrade your vocabulary and general knowledge about graphic design.


Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field

I feel like this book really can help you improve your vocabulary and general knowledge of the graphic design world offering "primary texts from the most important historical and contemporary designthinkers." It's also nice that it offers a bit of history too, analyzing the early 1900s through today.


Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Great. Absolutely great publication for all designers showing effective use of the grid system and how to layout your compositions. "Effective layout is essential to communication and enables the end user to not only be drawn in with an innovative design but to digest information easily."


Typography: <3

30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime

I loooooove this book. It gives a bit of history and usage examples of 30 amazing typefaces you should know and love.


Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students

Another great typography book. This publication was one of my favorites because, at the end of the day, I'm a visual person and this book has SO many visual examples to compliment it's copy it's beautiful. "This revised edition includes ... the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering."


Typographic Systems of Design

This is a very good resource for learning, as the title states, typographic systems. It "explores eight major structural frameworks beyond the gridincluding random, radial, modular, and bilateralsystems." Overall, I feel like this book helped me to improve my positioning and creative use of type in designs.

Yeah Joe really isn't much for discussing how to become an Imagineer. Being a Senior in highschool, you've got plenty of time. The best advice an Imagineer ever gave me was to not make Imagineering the only step on the ladder, and to acknowledge that there are many steps to becoming one. They told me to hone in on what makes me unique as an artist, and work on crafting that part of me. So I'd recommend to you to become as diversified of a writer as possible. Write plays, books, comics, shows, parades, attractions, etc.

Also, about discussing it with current Imagineers, I've found that many love to help others out. The field of art and entertainment isn't as competitive as everyone makes it sound. We all want to help each other make art happen. I'd suggest creating a solid LinkedIn profile (if you haven't already) and adding a lot of information about you there, your career goals, etc. Then search something along the lines of "Imagineering Show Writers" or "Imagineering Producers" or something of the sorts. Then reach out to them and try to connect through LinkedIn messages. That's where I've had the best success. You'll probably need to invest in the premium LinkedIn credits that let you message people, but it is very worth it.

I also have some resources I'd love to pass on to you!

Two Books:

One Little Spark!: Mickey's Ten Commandments and The Road to Imagineering - Written by the late Marty Sklar, this has two wonderful sections. Mickey's Ten Commandments is all about what you need to keep in mind when writing and designing for a themed offering, and the latter section of the book is advice from Imagineers of how to become one. It's a fantastic read.

Theme Park Design: & the Art of Themed Entertainment - This is basically an entire encyclopedia about creating Themed Entertainment, and it contains information from hundreds of Imagineers and themed entertainment designers. It's 550 pages, and an incredible resource. The price is up there, but I can't recommend it enough.

Also, the applications for the Professional Internships will be opening up in August, most likely. They remove the applications when they are filled, but I have some saved as PDFs. I've linked them below.

WDI Writers Assistant-Story Development Internship

Live Entertainment - Show Writer Internship

Creative Copywriting Intern, Disney's Yellow Shoes

Keep me updated with how you are doing, and best of luck!

Very cool how much you want to support him.

The biggest misconception about the industry is probably how little math we actually use. There is of course a spectrum to our field that spans from sculptors and artists to programmers and engineers. By and large, however, we are visual people who hone our skills by practicing art. I was happily surprised in my first term of college to find out how much time we'd spend sketching and drafting. Hopefully that's appealing to him!

As far as what skills to learn: I took a CAD drafting class in high school that gave me a good head start in college. Sketchup is easy to pick up and I'd encourage him to get comfortable with Rhino to really be able to model digitally. I would not recommend Revit at this early stage as it's extremely technical. Physical modeling is also helpful. I grew up on Legos before moving to paper / cardstock / cardboard sketch modeling. Messy and fast and gives three-dimensional insight you can't get from a page or a screen, plus having the ability to make clean models is a great way to impress professors early on.

Regarding reading material. These books made an enormous impression on me:

• 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
  
• The Fast Guide to Architectural Form
  
• Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language
  
• Francis D.K. Ching's Form, Space, Order
  
• and Architect? A Candid Guide to the Profession
  
  I would highly recommend each and every one to him. All very approachable reading for a 14 year old already sketching commercial spaces.
  
  And Bjark Ingel's Yes is More is a fun read in graphic novel form.
  
  Lastly— reach out to your local AIA chapter. They can connect you and your brother with resources specific to your area including firms to check out / potentially shadow at, scholarships to apply for, and summer programs and other workshops to attend.
  
  ​
  
  Best of luck to you both! It's quite a journey and a rewarding one if it fits.
  I'm happy to talk more if you'd like to message me.

I spent my senior year of high school studying gentrification and demographic patterns in the District for my senior thesis and used these three sources extensively, they're superb books that are great reads for anyone even remotely interested in the District. They're pretty pricey to buy, but DCPL has each book, and the last one is available for Kindle.

City of Magnificent Intentions is an amazing book. It's the DCPS textbook for D.C. History (mandatory to graduate high school) and is filled with great facts, photos and drawings. Although it's formatted like a textbook, it is still a fantastic history of the city. It does a great job addressing planning and general demographics. It's probably one of the best books on D.C.

Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C. is a fascinating read on the politics and racial history of the District, and it's co-authored by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood! It has a great section on the riots, how they affected the District, and the rise (and I believe also the fall) of Marion Barry.

The Great Society Subway is an incredibly detailed history of Metro, but might also interest you based on the way it details the impact it made on various sections of the city and suburbs (For instance, it goes in depth about how the green line was the last line built and how that impacted the neighborhoods it passed through, often the poorest in the city).

One of the best references for understanding where and why game level design differs from or aligns with traditional architecture and landscape is Designing Disney, as the intent behind most game landscape is essentially the same as a theme park’s. Look up Disney ‘weenies’ and how they constantly employ sightlines, colour, light, etc to keep attendees engaged and moving through the park in the exact same way that games do to players. The biggest difference between most games and real life is that they actually have to teach players how to navigate through their environments. So, games are both adults teaching a toddler to walk and fantastic theme parks keeping them interested in moving.

This is one of the reasons a lot of designers are fans of Nintendo games, as they tend to pay a lot of attention to this aspect. There’s countless analysis of Super Mario’s 1-1 level design that you should be able to find online. It’s a standout example as it does so much to teach players how to exist in that space, from your starting position in the camera’s frame (the camera should also always be thought of as part of a game’s environment, for further discussion on that look up Kane and Lynch 2, or think about the effects UIs can have on our interaction with and perception of a game space), to the placement, intent and movement patterns of power ups and enemies, to the physical controller itself. (Metroid: Prime is a fantastic example of a game completely built around its controller, as it’s an FPS with lots of vertical design and the Game Cube controller didn’t have a second analogue stick they frequently use ramps or targetable enemies to get the players naturally looking up and down) My favourite little article on Super Mario is this one by Anna Anthropy, it goes into a lot of detail with how the level design intersects with and is built around the player experience and game mechanics.

>on the subject of challenge, three of the ceiling bricks above the treasure room fall when mario gets near, potentially hurting him. because they fall the entire height of the screen, they’re a hazard to mario regardless of whether he’s in the treasure chamber or above it. but since they fall from the top of the screen, a mario above the chamber is naturally in greater danger of being hit than one inside the chamber. a mario above, however, is also more likely to be a big mario, while a mario below is definitely a little mario.

The way Mario’s current power up state is taken into account is something I’m sure someone (more familiar with traditional design than me) could argue is similar to how different accesses often have to be designed for differently abled bodies, routes with extra coins or power ups create navigable spaces that serve alternative purposes to players almost like service tunnels and elevators do in public spaces.

Everyone’s already mentioned Dark Souls and that’s a perfect example of developers using sight lines and contrast to push players toward their goals. A really good example of this is the lit torch next to the escape route during the Asylum Demon fight, a lot of players won’t consciously notice it but it’s something that pushes a lot of people towards that direction. (The demon also holds its weapon in a way that makes players want to go left when they first see it). For the first four or five hours of the game there’s a lit torch next to basically every door along the ‘intended path’.

Another important aspect of game architecture and landscape is that games are often told in fictional universes, so the architecture and game spaces have to tell stories that let us better place ourselves in that universe. Morrowind is totally the undisputed champion in this category as there’s over half a dozen different architectural styles in that game that all come from varying cultures. They all have their own styles of city planning and use different materials and they’re all built to serve different historical purposes. Hlaalu are a merchant institution who build their cities by natural points of trade, there’s always a distinct class divide in their towns where the rich are walled off and geographically higher than the poor. Redoran towns are built to act as fortifications, their poor live close to the upper class, and there’s always a barracks and defendable locations for people to retreat to. Telvanni are breathtakingly self-superior, aloof wizards constantly weaving their own political machinations who build mushroom towers. They often forget to build stairs and ladders because only non-wizards would need them, their class system is directly parallel to where someone lives in the hierarchy of the mushroom plant, the wizards live at the very top with the plant literally weaving down from there to define and shape the lives of all their underlings, with the poorest in self-made shacks at the base. You could easily write an essay just on what modes of public transport each culture and city favour.

Geography and distance in Morrowind is also directly influenced by the game engine and technology of the time. The game had a really restrictive render distance which means a lot of the landscape is designed to look good silhouetted by the fog effect and the distances between points of interest are staggered in a way to keep the navigation compelling and interesting. It’s also why so many of the ruins and more interesting geographical features (mushrooms, mountains) are so vertical, because you can get the full impact of those models in a way that’s not lessened by the fog distance. You’ll frequently have people playing it now with enhanced render distances who are surprised how close together different locations are, or how small certain landmarks are.

I totally love the Christopher Alexander books. Definitely check out his The Timeless Way of Building which is a great companion piece to A Pattern Language. You should know that his works, while great in my opinion, are sort of considered idiosyncratic and not really in the mainstream of architecture/urban design.

Here's a short reading list you should look at:

The Smart Growth Manual and Suburban Nation by Andres Duany & Jeff Speck. Another set of sort-of-companion works, the Manual has a concrete set of recommendations inspired by the critique of modern town planning in Suburban Nation and might be more useful for your purposes.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs is probably the most famous and influential book on city planning ever and contains a lot of really original and thoughtful insights on cities. Despite being over half-a-century old it feels very contemporary and relevant.

The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler is similarly mostly a critique of modernist planning principles but is both short and very well written so I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Makeshift Metropolis by Witold Rybczynski: I can't recommend this entire book, but it does contain (in my opinion) the best summary of the history of American urban planning. Really useful for a historical perspective on different schools of thought in city design over the years.

The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup is the book on parking policy. It's huge (700+ pages) and very thorough and academic, so it might be harder to get through than the other, more popular-audience-oriented titles on the list, but if you want to include parking as a gameplay element, I really can't recommend it highly enough. It's a problem that's thorny enough most city games just ignore it entirely: Simcity2013's developers say they abandoned it after realizing it would mean most of their players' cities would be covered in parking lots, ignoring that most actual American cities are indeed covered in parking lots.

Finally there's a bunch of great blogs/websites out there you should check out: Streetsblog is definitely a giant in transportation/design blogging and has a really capable team of journalists and a staggering amount of content. Chuck Marohn's Strong Towns blog and Podcast are a great source for thinking about these issues more in terms of smaller towns and municipalities (in contrast to Streetsblog's focus on major metropolitan areas). The Sightline Daily's blog does amazing planning/transpo coverage of the Pacific Northwest. Finally [The Atlantic Cities] (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/) blog has incredible coverage on city-issues around the world.

I hope this was helpful and not overwhelming. It's a pretty big (and in my opinion, interesting) topic, so there's a lot of ground to cover even in an introductory sense.

Please excuse the length, I love making lists.

Video Production

Green Screen

Bounce

Tripod

Books

Dining with Dr Who

Writing movies for fun and profit This is a great book. I have it, absolutely hysterical.

Writing

Ink quill

TARDIS Deluxe Journal

Travel

Street Signs

Flags

Eiffel Tower Chocolate Mold

Little Window Beach

17th century world map

Watercolor World Map

Universal world wide adapter plug

Hidden pocket wallet



Science!

Liquid Gold Plating Kit

Molecular Gastronomy Kit

This one also works for gardening:
Moons and Blooms lunar calender

Inflatable earth with glow in the dark cities

Galilea Moon Phase Calendar and Clock

Glow in the dark lunar calender!

Art

Sunprint Kit

Scrapper tool set

Fantasy!

LOTR inspired necklace

Another LOTR inspired necklace

Dragon necklace

Dragon JEwerly box

These/this are/is a book, but Mercedes Lackey is a FANTASTIC fantasy writer. I'd start with the Mage Winds trilogy or Mage Wars series.

Outdoors

Portal-able Speakers If you want to listen to relaxing music (or just music) while reading or chilling outside, this is the perfect speaker. It goes pretty loud, my bro has one, I steal if to make my showers musical.

Solar power LED Water proof color changing globes

Ball lanterns!


Math

Math clock

Mental Math

Pi ice cube shape tray

Mini Abacus pendant keychain

And it was delicious

Math jokes

Math/science ice cube tray


Rubik's Cube office thingy

Abacus-they have these in all colors and shapes and what have you.

Spirituality

Wasn't quite sure what you're looking for, but these things are pretty relaxing and some of them are used in meditation or for relaxation/de-stress so I figured I could put 'em here.

[LED mini waterfall)(http://www.amazon.com/Mirrored-Waterfall-Light-Show-Fountain/dp/B008Q3GH1O/ref=pd_sim_hpc_17)

Zen reflection bonzai tree with a little pond

Candle and water fountain

Five tier illuminated fountain

Other random fun things!

DR Who Projector clock

Sherlock season one Dunno but I feel you might like this show.

Giant Nail polish set


Nail art brushes

LED faucet water glow thing

Alright! I think I'll stop there before this becomes a novel xD

Okay, I'm not going into architecture really but I would like to have some advice. I'm in illustration and I'm looking on learning how to design and get the fundamentals of architecture. I'm pretty decent at perspective (I'm in technical illustration) and I mainly want to learn the thought process. Some books mentioned in this thread are pretty interesting and I'm contemplating on maybe buying one or 2. Although before I do I was wondering if anyone can enlighten me on these books I've found on my own but unsure about the quality:

http://www.amazon.com/City-Shaped-Patterns-Meanings-Through/dp/0821220160/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373412339&sr=1-1&keywords=The+City+Shaped%3A+Urban+Patterns+and+Meanings+Through+History

^ This books seems really promising, but of course the price puts me off a little (I plan on buying more than one book) anyone have this book? Seems really great for inspiration and learning how cities develop.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Architecture-Francis-D-Ching/dp/1118142063/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373412493&sr=1-1&keywords=Introduction+to+Architecture

^ again another promising book but the price Q.Q Same issue as the other book above. Feedback is appreciated.

http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373412567&sr=1-1&keywords=Architectural+Graphics

http://www.amazon.ca/Interior-Design-Illustrated-Francis-Ching/dp/1118090713/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=9P9QTDTSZXLG&coliid=I248RXWWVDQ6NZ

I'm basically looking at Ching's books. Last one is a .ca amazon.

I got mine thanks to the kindness of someone at Disney. It was 3 years ago now, but I had wanted to do a project for my grade 12 art project. Wanted to make the Disney World landmarks out of fastpasses. So, we decided to email Disney about it, see if there was any way to get some )even void ones) so that I could do it.

They said unfortunately not, due to multiple legal reasons, but they wished me the best of luck and asked my mom (who was doing the contacting) for our postal address.

A few weeks later, a parcel from Disney arrived in the mail. Inside was this book, in hardcover. It is such a GORGEOUS book. Also inside was a picture of postcard/picture of Walt/Mickey, with a wish for the best of luck signed by 'Mickey'.

Honestly, it's things like that which continue to fuel my love for Disney. They are damn good at their jobs of making people believe in the magic, even if for a little while.

Still haven't completed that project, though. Haven't had enough trips to get enough extra/void fastpasses. And with the fastpass system being slowly rolled out in favour of the new wristband things, I fear I never will be able to.

/u/LeadGenDairy:
> GO TO SCHOOL

This is good advice. Before I did some career counseling to figure out what to do with my life, I didn't know industrial design was even a thing. (I figured you needed a degree in engineering to do that sort of thing, but learned that it's common for a company to employ engineers who figure out how to make the thing work as well as designers to determine how it should work and, moreover, how it should look.) Once I realized that ID was definitely what I wanted to do, I looked up programs in my city, and found a good one. It was at an art school. I decided to apply.

"Apply with a short statement and a portfolio of 10-15 images of your recent work."

Welp.

I had never even taken an art class. I had no recent work. I had no "work" at all. So I made some. It took a few months, and I had some late nights, but by the application deadline, I had 12 pieces, including a few pretty solid drawings and some screenprints that started out in Illustrator. Got in, and got my degree.

If you're looking to learn drawing skills good enough to get into school, get a good book - I recommend Sketching: drawing techniques for product designers and Rapid Viz - and practice the techniques therein. You can also find a lot of tutorials online for programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, SketchUp, and Rhino if you're interested in building those skills too (and can get your hands on the software).

If your background is in CS, you probably have a good bit of experience coming up with weird creative workarounds for tough problems. This kind of problem-solving comes in very handy in ID. I wish you the best of luck!

THEME PARKS! In the fall I'm going to grad school to learn how to create immersive themed spaces, like museum exhibits and restaurants but most importantly theme parks, and I could not be more excited. Also just got a huge textbook on the subject and I am psyyyyched. Gonna try and finish it before I get to school.

As far as what attracted me to it - as a pretty typical INTP, very few things make me happy. But theme parks are entire spaces SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to create happiness! And they're awesome and I love them. So I want to make them. Yeah.

No problem! I have no experience with the UK industry but I can't imagine it's too different:

• My degree was a necessity. Job/intern experience was preferred and mine definitely helped my application, but since I started at an entry level gallery job (as a curatorial assistant) it was the degree that was the most important thing.
  
  
• There's not a huge market, honestly, in terms of simple availability - there are plenty of art galleries, sure, but there are way more people trying to get jobs in them. I'm not working in my specific field of interest, but I can't really be picky at this early stage of my career. It also depends what you want to go into: curating, conservation, acquisitions, education, exhibition design, fundraising, research, auction houses, consultation... art history as a degree opens so many more doors than people first realize, I think. Some of these fields are a lot more specialized than others.
  
  
• Books in general: my favourite is probably the Art in Theory three-part series. For AH as an academic discipline, you really can't go past it. I also really like Berger's Ways of Seeing, which is a really important text for analyzing artworks. For an overview of the art itself, Gombrich's The Story of Art is a good bet. The Getty's Guide to Imagery series is also fascinating (and very wide-ranging).
  
  
• Resources: subscriptions to JSTOR, ABM (Art Bibliographies Modern), ProQuest, and Grove Art / Oxford Art Online will be your best friends. If you're at uni, you should have access through your school. I'm also a huge fan of Trove (it's an Australian resource but there should be a comparable English one) which allows you to search for resources by subject/keyword and then tells you where said resources are located (both digitally and hard copy).
  
  Hope that helped a bit!

There are a number of color theory books out there but I'm not sure that will answer all of your questions. I have a copy of The Elements of Color that I reference often. The thing is, there isn't really one solid formula for mixing paint. It mostly comes through practice and understanding the physics of color and how colors shift in tone, saturation, and hue. There is some really good advice in this post already. I have a few other sources you might be interested in.

Wet Canvas has some great forums for people like us who need help with this kind of stuff from time to time.

The Dimensions of Color has a very thorough breakdown of color. It is extensive and a harder read than maybe you are used to. Take it slow. Read it a few times. Refer to it often.

Color and Light by James Gurney is a great resource as well. Be warned, that it isn't necessarily a "how-to" but it will give you insight into how a professional artist goes about his work. He provides insight on techniques and palettes and things like that as well as phenomena seen in nature.

Take a look at those. Best of luck.

I would have loved a set of Chartpak markers with a copy of Plan Graphics when i started. These arent completely necessary and her school will have books and materials they recommend/require of course

A nice powerful laptop is a must, but i imagine you have that planned already. There will be a variety of programs that she can get through her school with a discount. Photoshop and autocad are the basics and there will probably be a 3d program that is popular that she might want to get into.

I really think most of it will be up to her. One thing i wish i had planned for and done was a semester of study abroad or at least the "big trip" that most colleges do towards the end of their schooling. I didnt have the money for it, so saving up now might be a good idea.

The last one i can think of is also up to her, but i HIGHLY recommend it if she wants to be artsy at all. Its not necessary to know how to draw by hand, but if she does she will have a big advantage over most of the class. The lessons at drawabox.com (/r/ArtFundamentals) are free (or paid if you want reviews of your work) and they have made me much better at my job.

Thank you! Gotham is the kind of book that you can read over many times; it's a stellar addition to any library.

The most succinct look at infrastructure in the city that I have read (although I am sure there are others) is Kate Ascher's excellent The Works: Anatomy of a City. Reading that, I learned about all sorts of things I had never even thought about!

I am fascinated by the history of transportation in the city, and particularly by railroads. The portrait of William J. Wilgus that I mentioned in the above comment is one of the best books that I have read in recent memory, and I learned an incredible amount about the process of building tremendous projects like Grand Central, Penn Station and the High Line. Grand Central Terminal is my favorite place in the city, and it was an absolute pleasure to read about how it was planned and constructed (while trains continued to run!). 2013 is the Hundredth Anniversary of the Terminal, and as such the Transit Museum commissioned an interesting history of its predecessors and construction. I also am drawn to the history of the subways, and I have learned much about the system reading material on nycsubway.org and Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations page. In addition to the aforementioned Uptown, Downtown, I am also a big fan of Clifton Hood's 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York.

I think you were successful getting different textures, so nice job. As general advice I would say try to leave more white areas for contrast. This requires a lot of restraint, especially when drawing dark things like leather and fur and sunburned, wrinkly dudes but the limitations of ink demand it. This may mean you have to invent a strong light source and imply things without actually stating them.

I know that sounds cryptic so if you want some examples look at the work of Joseph Clement Coll. He was great at getting all kinds of textures with just the pen and brush. Also there is a great book called Rendering in Pen and Ink that goes into great detail. As of this post it looks like there are some used copies, hardback, for $6. Worth ten times that if you are interested in inking.

Definitely not a lost cause, and glad to hear you're interested in an MLA. I'd say ecology is one of the strongest backgrounds from which to enter the LA profession. Seems like a lot of firms are looking to hire people with that type of expertise, as the role of ecology in projects continues to rise.

Portfolio-wise, I'd agree with what /u/tricky_p and /u/PHXgp said so far (express enthusiasm, include anything that might be relevant), and add the following advice:

• Sketch outside, sketch public places, sketch people and plants, buy an LA graphics book and start playing around with the symbols and style of land arch graphics. Even if you don't end up pursuing an MLA, you'll still come out a better sketcher (and who doesn't want that?!).
  
  
• Learning how to graphically present your existing work can go a long way. If you have access to Adobe InDesign, watch a few web tutorials on how to use it. Or if you have to lay out in PowerPoint, just look for tutorials on basic graphic design principles. Even if your work doesn't look the best, you can dress it up in something pretty.
  
  
• For your site planning class this summer, I'd personally focus on producing a couple quality hand graphics rather than trying to go all out and learn 3-d modeling software. Focus on communication - how can you clearly articulate what you've designed / what's going on in your plan.
  
  Overall... I don't know, just be honest about your skill level and where you're coming from. And check out (www.landezine.com) if you haven't already. Best website around for getting inspired about LA.
  

Working cools vs warms is a little complicated. I recommend buying some painting books and color theory books to really know what I'm talking about. Basically decide what is going to be the structure of your painting, value or warm/cool shifts. So lets say you decide value (basically you'll find a lot if values, strong darks and lights). Warm/ cool shifts in this context could mean: most of the shadows will feel cooler than the lights (or vise versa). The way you mix that would be: shadows made of violets, greens, blues + a slight neutralizer (the opposite color) or a shade like black, or grey and the lights with bright versions or the hue shifted to things like red, yellows, oranges. (Know that context determines whether a color feels warm or cool. blue can be warm if surrounded by certain neutrals etc etc) However, instead of painting the shadow of on an arm brown, paint it violet. Warm cool shifts work best when there is little value. So if the shadow is Waaaaay darker than the highlight, don't push the violet too much. But let's say you decided to have little value in a painting and wanted space to be formed through warm/cools then make the highlights from red tints and the shadow from violet with no change or little change in value. You see this type of painting Impressionism to contemporary work and prior to Impressionism most painting is value based (due to pigments and the color theories of the time). Extreme values make an easy read for a work, while warm/cools play tricks on the eye and are visually unstable, which makes a painting visually develop over time (stand in front of some Rothko works and you'll know what I mean). It really depends on what you're going for. Also paint from life. Photos flatten things out tremendously and you'll see a lot more color and dimension from actual observation.

Color theory book I recommend: The Elements of Color:

1. A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book the Art of Color
   http://amzn.com/0471289299
   
   
2. Interaction of Color: Revised Edition
   http://amzn.com/0300018460
   
   
3. Interaction of Color: Revised and Expanded Edition
   http://amzn.com/0300115954
   
   Painting technique book I also recommend:
   Portrait Painting Atelier: Old Master Techniques and Contemporary Applications
   http://amzn.com/082309927X
   
   Sorry I'm on mobile and 3:30am so I am a but too exhausted to make those clickable. I look forward to seeing more of your paintings :)
   
   A Cezanne portrait where his colors in the face do what I'm talking about (using color to make planar shifts or space) http://www.canvasreplicas.com/images/Paul%20Cezanne%20Self%20Portrait.jpg
   
   A Degas based on warm cool shifts: http://uploads3.wikipaintings.org/images/edgar-degas/the-pink-dancers-before-the-ballet-1884.jpg

Check out Bob Gurr's Google Talk, particularly at the 12 minute mark when he hears his interviewer use the word "Process." It's pretty funny. Watch the whole video. It's great. I'd also recommend any of the D23 panels that include the Imagineering Legends (Sklar, Gurr, Tony Baxter, Alice Davis, Rolly Crump, Joe Rohde, and others).

I was fortunate enough to hear Bob speak and meet him. Very, very nice gentleman.

In terms of books, in addition to those already mentioned:

The Imagineering Way is a fun book about the way they go about things.

The Imagineering Workout is a fun companion book.

John Hench's Designing Disney is a fun, visual look at his time with Disney.

Building a Better Mouse is a very specific story about the engineers who built The American Adventure show. This might be something you'd find interesting as an engineering student.

Project Future discusses the land acquisition in Florida. Very interesting book.

Three Years in Wonderland covers the construction and development of Disneyland in detail, more regarding the business side of things (leases, sponsors and partnerships).

*Walt and the Promise of Progress City is another fun book on the acquisition and the original EPCOT concept.

The main Walt Disney Imagineering Book is a great start, and Marty's two books are good as well.

I've also found Creativity, Inc to be inspirational. It goes back to the storytelling roots, but you'll find that most of the Imagineering books, articles, and posts are all about storytelling.

I can't chalk it up to an individual experience, but I woke up one morning and absolutely knew that I was meant to be a chef/baker. More specifically, that one person good enough to be the head chef in a very elegant restaurant, or on a cruise ship, or for the first class section of a train. Now here I am; 18 and taking cooking classes for just that!

In honor of that, I'd like to Light your passion (my passion, but for the raffle :P) with this cookbook. Unfortunately, it's $3 over, so lots of candy would be nice, so that I can try new experiences :P

Here's something different I can recommend on a much more technical level about the interactive entertainment business: "Theme Park Design & The Art of Themed Entertainment" is a book written by an Imagineer about the design process of building a theme park.

It's not light reading and definitely not a coffee table book, so won't be for everyone; it's best described as a textbook for a graduate level course in interactive entertainment. It's also not purely Disney-centric - it goes out of its way to include Universal and other parks, and you can tell there's an immense amount of professional respect between the author of the book and others in the field.

But if reading through a textbook in Imagineering 5001 sounds like your jam, or if you're interested in pursuing an internship or career in the field, this book is the best I've found explaining the inner workings of how they make the magic.

https://www.amazon.com/Theme-Park-Design-Themed-Entertainment/dp/0993578918

After checking out your wishlists I really think you may be needing this. It would go great in a few of your wishlists. It could go under books, cooking stuff, cute stuff, or it could have it's own category called "stuff I'd keep in my Tardis".

An item from my list I'd love is this or this or both, since they'd be under $20 :D

Whats even better than a funny picture? A funny gif! Here's of my favorite doctor being very funny.

No problem, all the best, it's a fantastic education and career.
One bit of advice though: do it because you love it. Architects do ok, but they don't make a heap of money unless they get famous.

This is a pretty good, realistic look at the profession:

http://www.amazon.com/Architect-Candid-Guide-Profession-Roger/dp/0262621215

Also, check out this guy's YouTube channel:

http://howtoarchitect.com/home/

Lastly, because most architects are enthusiastic about the profession, they are often happy to talk about it and give advice, so it might be worth your while approaching some in your area when you need advice/ work experience.

I'm glad you have machining experience. People who come online and "have no experience" but want to learn always have me wondering. Learning CNC can be a challenge depending on the person but you need ot know how to machine and the intimacies of what is possible, how to hold your work, feeds and speeds etc in addition to learning CNC.

This book is somewhat of a bible on cnc programming though it's pretty dense. If you get the machine, it shouldn't be to hard to pick up basic movements (especially 2axis or 2.5axis G code by hand. Programs like CamBam will do 2.5D work (aka cut a groove a 1/4" deep following this path with this work offset from a dxf file. It gets a bit more complicated when you throw in more advanced programs and 3D contouring etc.

Not only do you need to know CNC and machining, but you're going to want to start thinking about production machining. You'll be making a ton of these parts to sell I assume. Unless you get a ridiculously fancy 5+ axis machine (which you're not with the tormach) you're going to have to optimize your machining for efficiency. How are you going to run your parts? Can you make jigs and fixtures to ease in production. You'll probably learn most of that on your own along with lots of web surfing and time spent making parts. Scour the internet for how people make similar stuff. Learn from other peoples successes and mistakes.

Senior Level Software Engineer Reading List

Read This First

1. Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment
   
   

   Fundamentals
   

   
   

2. Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
   
3. Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions
   
4. Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML
   
5. Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail
   
6. Rework
   
7. Writing Secure Code
   
8. Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries
   
   

   Development Theory
   

   
   

9. Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests
   
10. Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications
    
11. Introduction to Functional Programming
    
12. Design Concepts in Programming Languages
    
13. Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective
    
14. Modern Operating Systems
    
15. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change
    
16. The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles
    
17. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
    
    

    Philosophy of Programming
    

    
    

18. Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It
    
19. Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think
    
20. The Elements of Programming Style
    
21. A Discipline of Programming
    
22. The Practice of Programming
    
23. Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective
    
24. Object Thinking
    
25. How to Solve It by Computer
    
26. 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts
    
    

    Mentality
    

    
    

27. Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
    
28. The Intentional Stance
    
29. Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine
    
30. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
    
31. The Timeless Way of Building
    
32. The Soul Of A New Machine
    
33. WIZARDRY COMPILED
    
34. YOUTH
    
35. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
    
    

    Software Engineering Skill Sets
    

    
    

36. Software Tools
    
37. UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language
    
38. Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development
    
39. Practical Parallel Programming
    
40. Past, Present, Parallel: A Survey of Available Parallel Computer Systems
    
41. Mastering Regular Expressions
    
42. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools
    
43. Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C
    
44. Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book
    
45. The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
    
46. SOA in Practice: The Art of Distributed System Design
    
47. Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques
    
48. Data Crunching: Solve Everyday Problems Using Java, Python, and more.
    
    

    Design
    

    
    

49. The Psychology Of Everyday Things
    
50. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
    
51. Design for Hackers: Reverse Engineering Beauty
    
52. The Non-Designer's Design Book
    
    

    History
    

    
    

53. Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality
    
54. Death March
    
55. Showstopper! the Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft
    
56. The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth
    
57. The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad
    
58. In the Beginning...was the Command Line
    
    

    Specialist Skills
    

    
    

59. The Art of UNIX Programming
    
60. Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment
    
61. Programming Windows
    
62. Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X
    
63. Starting Forth: An Introduction to the Forth Language and Operating System for Beginners and Professionals
    
64. lex & yacc
    
65. The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference
    
66. C Programming Language
    
67. No Bugs!: Delivering Error Free Code in C and C++
    
68. Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied
    
69. Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#
    
70. Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit
    
    

    DevOps Reading List
    

    
    

71. Time Management for System Administrators: Stop Working Late and Start Working Smart
    
72. The Practice of Cloud System Administration: DevOps and SRE Practices for Web Services
    
73. The Practice of System and Network Administration: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT
    
74. Effective DevOps: Building a Culture of Collaboration, Affinity, and Tooling at Scale
    
75. DevOps: A Software Architect's Perspective
    
76. The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations
    
77. Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems
    
78. Cloud Native Java: Designing Resilient Systems with Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, and Cloud Foundry
    
79. Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation
    
80. Migrating Large-Scale Services to the Cloud

Walt Disney's Disneyland is an incredibly comprehensive history of the original park. While it includes plenty of concept art it features many historical photos, planning documents, construction photos etc as well as taking the most detailed approach to the story of the park's construction and updates I've seen.

Walt Disney Imagineering is a good companion with a stronger focus on World, but this is more specific ride histories and designs than the overall park.

The Art of Walt Disney is a fantastic top to bottom look at the history of the studios and company, with plenty of amazing illustrations but is obviously art driven.

DisneyWar (already mentioned) is the seminal account of the Eisner era specifically and takes the word "comprehensive" to new heights.

The Walt Disney Studios (releasing this Sept) promises to be an excellent account of the film studios themselves and movies developed there.

As others have touched on there is a little bit of a vacuum for works that are just written histories, most have to get wrapped around "art" in some capacity to justify all of these books being $60+ 300 page hardcovers.

Do your grades for your diploma count towards UCAS points? If they do, then it shouldn't be too much of an issue as many universities go by that system and not strictly A Levels. What I would do is visit as many universities as possible, have a look at some of the work students do and ask the tutors. Some universities focus heavily on the technical side of architecture whereas others look towards a more artistic side. If you're getting a diploma on graphic design, then it would probably be best to lean towards the artistically oriented uni's as you might have a better chance with those.

Another thing you should do which is perhaps the most important thing is build up a strong portfolio and try to make it architecture related as possible. Many universities will ask for one and it can make a huge difference. I'd suggest buying an A3 sketchbook and a pencil and just go out and draw. It doesn't necessarily need to be a work of art, it's more about recording, anaylsing and communicating what you see around you. You could also buy a roll of tracing paper and draw some of your own designs over your sketches and photographs.

You could even start making physical models and using programs such as Sketchup to further develop your ideas and add them to your portfolio. If you really wanted to get technical, you could start looking into structure and detailing. Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching and subscribing to Detail Magazine are excellent for this and chances are you'll use them for life as well as throughout university.

It would also be worth looking at other portfolios to help you have an idea of what to include in yours and how to present them. I'd recommend big.dk as a good example, but be sure to look at others. Try to avoid too much writing, your work should speak for itself. When people are looking through portfolios, they're not going to bother reading lots of text so your work needs to stand out.

Good luck!

I am just going to say it out right: your portfolio is pretty awful. I'm not saying it to be an ass, but I feel it is something you need to hear. Taking a background image, throwing some Comic Sans on top, and adding a filter does not make for quality design. Let me ask you this: how long did it take you to put together each of those billboards/posters?

I feel that you've hit the point that a lot of aspiring designers hit some point. Photoshop is a tool and only a tool. Knowing how to use it is not enough to make quality work. Its like applying for a plumber job and saying "I know how to use a wrench." Well there is a lot more that goes into being a plumber than using a wrench.

That being said, I think you have a desire to become a better designer and that is the most important trait anyone needs in this field. I would highly recommend going back to school if possible, but I completely understand if money doesn't allow for it. You did mention that you received a "certificate" and not a degree, so I'm inclined to assume that you went a community college of some sorts? If possible see what kind of options you have as far as financial aid. There is no harm in sitting down and talking with an advisor.

If school is out of the question then I always recommend books. Personally, I love books. Two that come to mind are:

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Graphic-Design-School/dp/0470466510/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=FRZXS10RRWDE&coliid=I28L555PEYQUH

http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-The-New-Basics/dp/1568987021/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=FRZXS10RRWDE&coliid=I30NDZDNI7972D

My challenge to you is to grab a pen and paper and look through the table of contents on Amazon (especially the second one). Then write down everything you know about each chapter of the book. This should give you a decent self-assessment of where you need to start.

It is.

If you're interested in the design of the DC Metro system I strongly recommend the only book on the subject, The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. This book is fascinating and offers really good history and explanation of why things on DC Metro are as they are, including why there is carpet in the cars, why you don't see bathrooms in the stations (they are there!), and more.

Excellent read!

Interaction Design

• About Face 3 by Alan Cooper
  
• Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge
  
• Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell
  
• Designing for the Digital Age by Kim Goodwin
  
• Making Things Talk: (2011) (2007) by Tom Igoe
  
  Interior Design
  
  
• The Decoration of Houses by Edith Wharton and Ogden, Jr. Codman
  
• Domino: The Book of Decorating by Deborah Needleman
  
• Design*Sponge at Home: A Guide to Inspiring Homes by Grace Bonney
  
• The Vintage/Modern Home by Katherine Sorrell
  
• The Fundamentals of Interior Design by Simon Dodsworth
  
  Landscape Architecture
  
  
• Landscape Architectural Graphic Standards by Leonard J. Hopper
  
• Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
  
• Landscape Graphics by Grant W. Reid
  
• Cities for People by Jan Gehl
  
• Design with Nature by Ian L. McHarg
  
  Lighting Design
  
  
• Stage Lighting Design by Richard Pilbrow
  
• The Architecture of Natural Light by Henry Plummer
  
• Painting With Light by John Alton
  
• Made of Light by Anthony Tischhauser
  
• Color, Environment and Human Response by Frank H. Mahnke & Rudolf H. Mahnke
  
  Product Design
  
  
• Sketching: Drawing Techniques from Product Designers by Koos Eissen
  
• Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek
  
• The Craftsman by Richard Sennett
  
• Mythologies by Roland Barthes
  
• Cradle to Cradle. Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
  
  Product Design
  
  
• In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World by John Thackara
  
• The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore
  
• Universal Methods of Design by Bruce Hanington & Bella Martin
  
• Cradle to Cradle. Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
  
• Mental Models by Indi Young
  
  Sound Design
  
  
• Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema by David Sonnenschein
  
• Designing Sound by Andy Farnell
  
• Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen by Michel Chion
  
• The Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers
  
• Sound Theory Sound Practice by Rick Altman
  
  Urban Design
  
  
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
  * Cities for People by Jan Gehl
  
• A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander
  
• The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler
  
• The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch
  
  Web Design
  
  
• Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
  
• HTML & CSS: Design and Build Web Sites by Jon Duckett
  
• The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird
  
• Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS by Ben Frain
  
• Hardboiled Web Design by Andy Clarke
  

I certainly consider A Little History of the World an essential read. It's basically a summary of the human history, from cavemen to the end of WWI over 300 easily read pages. He touches on all major events, and touches upon most religions in a very easy to follow and fun writing style. It's essentially a World History for dummies if you will, but is still a very interesting read. one of those books I plan to buy future kids. Highly recommended! he also has a similar book - The Story of Art - but this is a lot bigger and more advanced, requires an actual interest in art history.

Francis Ching has some good reference books for a starter: Building construction illustrated and Architecture: Form Space and Order. It might be a good idea to regularly visit sites like ArchDaily to see what contemporary architects are doing. If you want to start learning design programs, try downloading SketchUp or Rhino (both have free versions). Good luck!

So, regarding the eligibility for an MSME program, I don't think you'll be able to get accepted without some level of BSME curriculum. You might not need a full BSME, but there would be some core courses you'll need to take. More discussion here: https://m.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/32pfc8/those_who_have_a_msme/

Now as for the Disney Imagineering path, I wouldn't limit yourself to Orlando area. Judging by the latest engineering job postings (link), it seems a lot of their staff is in Glendale, CA. There has been a lot of discussion here on Reddit as well:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3e7i0z/iwasan_imagineer_amaa/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland/comments/2m8ign/how_do_you_become_an_imagineer_at_disneyland/

You also might want to start reading up on Imagineering as well. I've found dozens of books on Amazon on the subject. Here's just one: http://amzn.to/29HwlF0. There are numerous books on theme park engineering as well.

Hope this helps. Sounds like you have some research to do.

The Timeless Way of Building

This book, and the teachings of the author, is often cited as the inspiration for Design Patterns. I love this book. It's a great book on design in general, and reading it sheds light on how Design Patterns are best understood.

In this exact order:

1. Start with Suburban Nation by Duany, Zyberk, and Speck. It's super easy to read, totally skimmable, and has a lot of great graphics and diagrams that help explain things. It's not the deepest book out there, but it's the best place to start.
   
   
2. After that, try Geography of Nowhere by Kunstler. The author can be cranky and there are no diagrams, but he does a nice job of explaining how suburbia happened, why it made sense at the time, and why it's not so great anymore. Basically it's a primer on the key issue facing city planning today.
   
   
3. After them, you'll be ready for The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jacobs. This is the bible of urbanism, the most important and influential book written about the form of cities since the invention of the car. But it's not as accessible as the first two, so I wouldn't start here.
   
   
4. Walkable City by Speck. This is the newest of the bunch, and provides the data to back up the claims from the previous 3.
   
   
5. Image of the City by Lynch. This one is a series of case studies that will teach you how to "read" how a city functions based on its form. The examples are all woefully obsolete, which is too bad, but still teaches you an important skill.

Here's a little list of best-sellers on Amazon and a few from this thread:

• Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals
  
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
  
• The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition
  
• How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination
  
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
  
• The Non-Designer's Design Book (3rd Edition)
  
• Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design
  
• Envisioning Information
  
• Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition
  
• Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice
  
• Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills
  
• Design Basics (with CourseMate Printed Access Card)
  
• Graphic Design: The New Basics
  
• Style & Simplicity: An A to Z Guide to Living a More Beautiful Life
  
• The Color Scheme Bible: Inspirational Palettes for Designing Home Interiors
  
• The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
  
• Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming
  
• The Art of Looking Sideways
  

The brush is the best way to ink, hands down, and you can definitely ink those (and other) fine lines with a brush. I can do super thin lines that make it look like I'm using an 01 Micron pen, or I can make super wide lines that look like I've got a Sharpie in my hands.

This page and the two after it are good examples of the varying lines I get from my brush. Note that I've drawn every page of that comic with a brush. No pens, other than an 08 Micron for drawing (most of the) panel borders.

For practice, I would suggest getting to know the brush: figuring out how much pressure you need to make the lines you want. Wet technique vs. dry technique. Hatching and cross-hatching. Inkwash.

There are a thousand things you can do with a brush! One thing I've noticed:

If you sit back and let the brush do the work, you'll end up with the best lines. If you try to control the brush, you're not going to have much fun. I've noticed that the lazier I get with my brush control the more my art looks like a Sin City comic. Which is interesting.

If you're looking for a lot of practice ideas, check out Rendering In Pen And Ink. I've had this book for 20 years, and I still turn to it often. There are a lot of pen & ink exercises in the early chapters that are also good for brush & ink.

As for ink: I would suggest Chinese ink rather than India ink. I don't know if it's still the case today, but back around 1996 or so, they stopped putting lead in India ink, which is what made it so black. When Higgins Black Magic became Higgins Gray Magic, I switched to Chinese ink and never looked back.

It's cheaper, blacker, and goes on smooth as silk.

I can't find a link to the stuff I normally use (I'm on a different computer). It comes in a white vase-like bottle with blue Chinese dragons on it. Don't use the stuff that comes in a dry stick that you have to mix with water.

As soon as I can, I'll post a link for you!

Can't recommend enough "Francis D.K. Ching - A Visual Dictionary of Architecture : 2nd Edition"

It's an exceptional book that covers a wide variety of very well illustrated, no-nonsense, single sentence descriptions of everything you could think of when it comes to construction & even includes some slang use, I have a searchable eBook copy if anyone's interested (PM me for a Google Drive link) but I would highly recommend supporting the author and purchasing a paperback copy for your own use.

Edit: Here's an example image of a page that specifically mentions fly rafters: https://i.imgur.com/D6le772.png

Every page of the book contains illustrations like this!

Yes and no. The idea was that the Metro would serve as both a subway system and as a commuter rail-- thus the bad seating layout and the decision to have carpets. They wanted it to feel more like a commuter line.

If you looked at a map of NYC that included the full length of the NJT and Metro-North lines, it would look far more absurd.

I do think that there's path dependence between the Metro and sprawl, but I think that saying it's a causal relationship like you are is overstating it.

Also, might be of interest to some in this thread: Zachary Schrag's The Great Society Subway.

They are no longer sold in the parks, but I got one of these books about each park on Amazon.
The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World--Updated! (An Imagineering Field Guide) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423124685/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_V2nEAb9ESJWFM

This book is awesome as well.
Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making More Magic Real https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423107667/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_G5nEAbWCYDX57

Depending on your state, a degree may not be required to become a registered architect. Many small-medium practices (15-20 folks) have a need for some sort of in-house IT person and he may be able to use his computer experience in conjunction with his drafting ability to get in the door.

Some free software that would be hugely beneficial to learn:
Sketchup and Autodesk Revit (a 36 mo. student version is available for free download)

...and once again I am going to recommend a Ching book: Architectural Graphics

Yeah, okay I understand your point. A thesis/dissertation is most likely profitable when its topic is practical for a customer's use. But your thoughts on tattoos as branding (while interesting) would be more relevant for a business/law degree than his American Studies.

>I'm sure your friend is fabulously wealthy from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Theme-Park-Design-Themed-Entertainment/dp/0993578918

Autodesk Fusion 360 is probably the best free to use (home use only!) 3D modeling software out right now. There's a huge community for it and the interface is very intuitive. Plus It has a built in G Code generator for CNC and wireframe generator which is helpful for stuff like 3D printing. These features aren't perfect but they're good starting points. I would still recommend a book to learn what each code does. You can also output engineering drawings as .PDF files and do some physics modeling on your parts/assemblies to get a rough estimate of how hard it will be to break something.

A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building



The Designer Eye


How Buildings Learn


Thermal Delight In Architecture


These last ones may not exactly be what you are looking for but they go into the architectural aspects of specific types of architecture, japanese, malaysia and so I think are pretty interesting in that they show how specific types of houses work.

The Malay House


Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings


A Place of My Own

That is an awesome idea! I would love to see a documentary like that!

In the meantime, you might want to pick up this book.

I find a lot of wedding photography books out right now are already outdated.

Some of the books that HAVE helped me throughout the years are books on websites, business, colour theory and most photography books on posing and lighting, regardless of the year it was printed. Also, creative live is an awesome educational source too!

What I value is books on lighting and posing... I find this information doesn't really go out of style. A lot of people forget about classical posing and just do their thing, which is great for a lot of clients that are comfortable in front of the camera, but sometimes more traditional posing is required. I rented a few older books on posing from the library and was surprised how much I learned from them.

Also, check out your local or provincial business office, I got a bunch of booklets and information on starting a photography business from them.

The following are some I can think of off the top of my head:

Business and legal forms for photographers


Wedding Mind Tricks by Ken Luallen

Colour Theory by Itten

The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell is very very good.

Game AI (Millington and Funge new edition iirc) is very very good.

Some non-game-design books that are very useful for those doing game design:

Scott McLoud: Making Comics (the other two in the series are good but the section on plot, characterization, and development in this one is great)

Donald Norman: The Design of Everyday Things. (How design works and how people interact with technology and...)

Christopher Alexander et al A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, and Construction (Thinking about scale and design elements and modularity and...)

Kevin Lynch: The Image of the City (How do urban spaces work - essential if your game is set in a city - how do people actually navigate)

Polti: The 36 Dramatic Situations (old, quirky, examines how there are really only a few human plots)

Matt Frederick: 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School (how to think about and execute simple art, improve your design sense, ...)

WHO needs this? YOU need it. Why? Because you actually need to eat. Plus, by your own admission you "really like" the Doctor (and you weren't lying - just look at your picture), so you would definitely enjoy having it. And of course, just as you must feed your kitty for your continued enjoyment of said kitty, you must in turn feed yourself for your kitten because kitten would be unhappy without you.

Edit: This may be a tiny bit over the price range, but really it's a bargain, having met all three criteria. See how that works? I just saved you over $15!

I recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825

It has pages on pages of colonial houses. It also calls out design choices that are consistent with the style.

I’m sure you can google or Pinterest more options, but long-term I would be wary of trends.

That house pictured is beautiful though. In going through the process I would start by writing down all your needs for each room based on what you actually do and then when you see interior plans, make sure it does what you want it to.

I highly suggest purchasing resource books on urban design, urban planning, and city structure. I will list some for you. I like to keep the aid of resource books in my personal library collection, and I am finding that urban planning resource books are helping me greatly in my world-building process.

I highly suggest looking into the life work of urban planner and MIT lecturer Kevin A. Lynch. He studied how urban environments are heavily shaped and influenced by fundamental human values and perceptions. Cities reflected directly those whom lived within them according to Lynch.

Here is a list of books as well as a link to their Amazon page:

• Good City Form by Kevin A. Lynch link here
  
  
• The Image of the City by Kevin A. Lynch link here
  
  
• The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects by Lewis Mumford link here
  
  
• Design of Cities: Revised Edition by Edmund N. Bacon link here
  
  
• The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History by Spiro Kostof link here
  
  Provided on each page is a wide variety of other resource books depending on the time period you are aiming on world-building around. I hope this helped.

This book is a great into to the less "sexy" parts of the profession and is largely accurate. I would recommend reading it alongside something more design focused or history focused. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0262621215/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1381420212&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY165

Basically anything Copic for pens and color markers, Micron has great pens too. There's the ubiquitous Pentel sign pen, as well as Sharpies in a variety of point sizes. Staedtler makes great circle templates and pencil sets and you might want to consider some books such as the venerable Landscape Graphics and Drawing and Designing with Confidence. Oh, and tracing paper, lots of it.

My family has this book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-H-Gombrich/dp/0714832472/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321891500&sr=1-1

which is a very good comprehensive introduction to art history, from the first evidence of creativity in pre-history to contemporary artists, with loads of lovely full page illustrations. This is the one I would go for if you're looking for a general overview.

Hey, this is really good for someone starting out, and I'm so excited you're looking for feedback to improve, too! I say start with basic drawing technique- you need to really understand the underlying form of the object before drawing it, or you get something that feels flat and a bit out of proportion. Mike Mattesei's Force Drawing Animals book will help with that a lot. Don't be afraid to be messy as you start out and get your bearings. DO some structure work (getting the form and perspective down right) in a very thin liner pen and then start building off that with something bulkier.

Also, slow down with your line work. With ink, you have to show weight,volume, detail and lighting all at once with each line, which means being very particular with where, when, how and what kinds of marks you want to make. My favorite book ever for learning about this stuff is Rendering in Pen and Ink. Get out there and start drawing from life in pen ( forget the pencil, do all your sketches in pen) and you'll start really building up some skills.

what the OP said is pretty spot on, after all he drew this, but if you want somewhere to start this book as been hailed as one of the best for learning how to draw in pen and ink

Unfortunately, most of the videos these days are digital mediums. But if you don't already know about it, "Level Up" is a great youtube series. Its mostly digital, but you can learn a lot just by watching the different artists handle the tool. also, if you have any money at all to spend, i highly recommend purchasing the book, "Rendering in Pen and Ink" by Arthur L. Guptil. Heres a link...

http://www.amazon.com/Rendering-Pen-Ink-Techniques-Illustrators/dp/0823045293

I have a couple that I've loved:

Walt Disney Imagineering Behind Dreams

And version 2 of the book:

Walt Disney Imagineering Behind Dreams 2

I've also really enjoyed this one:

Disney Mountains Imagineering at its Peak

A good book to look into would be Rapid Viz. While having pretty sketches can be advantageous, the real point of sketches is to convey information and you don't need to be an artist to communicate effectively.

This book by peter smid is what our mastercam instructor used to teach us the fundamentals. Very basic feeling after you get into the trade but it's necessary. Pm me if you would like to glance at a copy.

Also
u/nine_divines suggestion of the machinist handbook is great, probably the only book I use I. The shop that's not a tooling catalog.

Love this! I am actually doing a personal challenge where I am building each type of house.

​

This is another great resource, goes in depth!

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825

It's basic pen-and-ink drawing; utilizing stippling, feathering, hatching and cross-hatching techniques. It was definitely drawn by hand - either with analog tools or digital software. It's an old method, as old as ink and quill pens at least. Arthur Guptill's book is one of the best regarded on the subject.

Last year of school, eh? What are your plans for next year, then? Are you going to community college, or university? Or do you plan on jumping right into the world of work? Maybe the job market is different where you are, but here, one high school grad in a thousand has a shot at getting an entry-level job with an architectural or engineering firm. Pretty much everybody who hires anybody where I am wants either a trade-specific certification (either the official Autodesk Certification or the local junior college certification) or an AA/AS degree in CAD. So it's off to school for you, maybe...in that case - How do you know that a career in architecture is really what you think it is? Here is my advice: enroll in junior college and take Intro to Architecture ASAP. If the professor is honest, he'll tell you what you're in for: 5 or more years of school, followed by years as an intern, followed by the AREs, which cost a ton and many people fail the first time they take them. Then you are an architect, in a career with surprisingly low pay for such high stress and high levels of required education. If your professor is not honest, read this book:http://www.amazon.com/Architect-A-Candid-Guide-Profession/dp/0262621215 and follow this web comic: http://architexts.us/ . These will ground you in the reality of this field.
Have you ruled out the other other fields of study that utilize CAD? Locally, my students all go to work drawing piping systems or doing electrical drafting. I know, not as sexy as designing a skyscraper, but right now there is record levels of unemployment for persons with a degree in architecture, while other areas in related CAD disciplines have critical shortages. PLEASE consider taking some Drafting & CAD classes at you local community college. Learning from YouTube or a website is NOT the answer for MOST people. You need someone to explain the "why" behind the "what." You need someone to teach you the theory behind the fields that use CAD, not just how to press the buttons. yes, Revit is a good product, but don't fall too deeply in love with a piece of software. 5 years from now when you have a degree maybe we'll be using a completely different program for architectural design and documentation (e.g.: Tony Stark's holographic interface in the Iron Movies)

It's a picture book, but I really like "The Works" by Kate Ascher. It's not something you would study from, but it's beautifully made.

I appreciate the fact that a real estate agent is trying to learn the proper terms. Often you read listings and it's just absolute garbage and marketing-speak.

Ching's Visual Dictionary of Architecture is always a great starting place and the illustrations are top notch. It's fairly comprehensive and should cover most common features of residential buildings.

My pleasure. Oh, and I forgot to mention about the printing. I learned style that from my dad, who was a draftsman. Everything he wrote around the house was in that style of printing. I copied him as a kid and it's been my primary hand for over 30 years now.

Of the primary styles of technical lettering, it's probably the closest to freehand lettering as described on this page.

There are other variations. Architectural lettering is different from engineering or technical lettering. I describe architectural lettering as an "animated' form of technical lettering where it's common to see horizontals take on a slightly up-and-to-the-right slant. The basic style is described in the popular text Architectural Graphics by Frank Ching and is studied by most architecture students. Architects can take a more liberal approach to their lettering and most architects develop their own style and flair for writing. Engineering and mechanical drawings cannot take such liberties, and as a result, technical lettering is much more uniform in style than architectural lettering.

Gombrich - The Story of Art - a classic that takes you through all art periods and styles and gives a clear and interesting explanation. I love this book - it opened my eyes.

This ☜ is a bunch of awesome tutorials that cover a lot of different styles and maybe even 4 out of the 5 things you are looking out for in books.
Rendering in Pen and Ink is really awesome and covers basics about perspectives and everything from basics to expert level stuff. It'll really orient you to a technical view on drawing.

EDIT: also whatever u/MouthOfTheGiftHorse said. Learn something new everyday. Anything extra you can do puts you ahead in your career.

The book they reference there is pretty fantastic. Incredibly thorough and comprehensive history of WMATA and Metro, right from the start.

This one...


http://www.amazon.com/Dining-Doctor-Unauthorized-Whovian-Cookbook/dp/1481153684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415678173&sr=8-1&keywords=dr+who+cookbook

But really this is just an idea. With all the stuff you have talked about I am sure you can find an amazing gift

The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich. Passionate, precise, a clear and accessible view of thousands of years of art history. Alternatively, by way of introduction to the author, he has penned the informative A Little History of The World in a bright and accessible style that nobody could resist.

Before any modeling, I'd get a handle on 2d drawing
http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4

Learn about lineweights, drawing plans/sections, isometric drawings - These rules matter once you take it to the computer.

Architects communicate in 2D like this, renderings usually only help the layman understand your project as they can't visualize space and form as easily as an architect can

http://drawingarchitecture.tumblr.com/

When you're in the computer I would probably learn autocad and revit to start out, rhino with paneling tools in your later semesters.

Try to find a renderering software that works with what you're good at. I use 3dsmax + vray for realism, but some professors prefer the clean look of sketchup

As someone who recently purchased A Field Guide to American Houses for personal reading (and to figure out what house style I've always liked but not known the name of), this is amazing. Great work!

Architecture isn't a very textbook-y kind of field, so there aren't really many authoritative books that are universally used by everyone (other than the IBC).
Francis D. K. Ching is really the only exception to this rule as most schools seem to have incorporated at least one of his books into their curriculum. I would highly recommend the following:

Form Space and Order is a great introductory text that will introduce aspiring architects to some of the basic concepts of architecture.
Building Codes Illustrated relays code information graphically, making it easier to understand. It is not a replacement for the actual code, but it will at least give you an idea of what to look for.
Building Construction Illustrated is arguably the most useful of the three. I continue to refer back to this book even today and I'm not even in school anymore.

Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Architect-A-Candid-Guide-Profession/dp/0262621215/ref=pd_sim_b_60

It's a good description of what the field is actually like. Also, take art classes, and get really good at Photoshop and Illustrator.

Not sure if you're into this, but I loved The Works - each chapter tells you how things like water and electricity end up in your house, how traffic works, how the roads are built, et cetera. It's got lots of diagrams and is fun.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708

The most useful thing I learned about colour was written in "The Elements of Color" by Johannes Itten (page 45).

In the book he wrote that a study was conducted to try to work out whether colour has any physical effect on a person.

It was found that in a room painted entirely blue-green, the occupants felt that 59 degrees F was cold, and in a room that was painted entirely red-orange, they did not feel the cold until 52-54 degrees F.

This means that blue-green slows down the circulation, and red-orange speeds it up.

As a designer we can use these physical effects to our benefit - use red-orange (or colours in that range) if you want to stimulate your user, and blue-green (or colours in their range) if you want to relax them.

Read all of these culture based meanings with a pinch of salt, but go look at the science of it and use it to your advantage.

The other recommendations are solid, and this may be a bit lighter than you want, but The Works by Kate Ascher is a great illustrated book on how the city's infrastructure is put together.

I'd add The Timeless Way of Building ( www.amazon.com/dp/0195024028 ) to this list, especially for level design purposes - not only does it provide a fairly gentle introduction to the notion of design patterns, it's also a great way of understanding some of the specifics behind how architecture affects people emotionally and how particular building patterns evoke particular moods.

pick up any francis ching book. they are wonderfully illustrated and quite helpful.

I'm currently in graduate school. Most of the textbooks I bought were for my technical classes like environmental technology or structures. I have used:

Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius. I used this in my theory class. It's a pretty neat book that offers classic principles of architecture.

The Ethical Function of Architecture This is another theory book that offers more contemporary architectural issues. I'm not the biggest fan of theoretical readings but it's not too bad.

Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching

Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings

Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School This is one I think every architecture student should own. Its very small and simple.

I'm currently doing school for my 4th year in my apprenticeship. My professor has and highly recommends CNC machining handbook by Peter Smid. I'll find a link

CNC Programming Handbook https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FN5MAb15GGWZ6

He says it explains CNC programming in an easy to understand manner. I kinda want it myself because I'm with you, g code is rough for me lol

If you wanna know why it happened the way it happened, I highly recommend reading The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro.

Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning

A Global History of Architecture

A Visual Dictionary of Architecture

The Death and Life of Great American Cities


Bonus book because I like this firm's concepts:

Yes Is More: An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution - Bjarke Ingels Group

Some architectural drawing books are your best bets then. Like:
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Landscape-Chip-Sullivan/dp/0471430358
http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Graphics-Grant-Reid/dp/0823073335/

There’s some decent sketchy / perspective books out there and some video and whatnot that have links on piniterest. Search and see what appeals to you and your needs.
I like this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Rapid-Viz-Method-Visualization-Ideas/dp/159863268X/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Rapid+drawing&qid=1556261581&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Ultimately tho, I also prefer psd comps, so much more clear and I can use actual images of pieces I am buying. Learn how to do both design comps AND how to put a look together visual on a design board and you’ll be okay.

Here are my favorites:

Designing Disney

Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends

The Disney Mountains

It's Kinda a Cute Story

and anything in the Imagineering Field Guide Series.

That would explain it! I would recommend reading some design books. Your university probably has a good selection in the library. If you can get ahold of syllabuses for intro design classes, check out what books they use. I recommend Grid Systems to everyone. We also used Graphic Design: The New Basics in school, and this it's a really great intro to design. I don't really have any suggestions for Typography books, but maybe someone else could jump in with a recommendation?

Found it! The Timeless Way Of Building was what I was looking for. Other interesting suggestions were A Pattern Language and The Design Of Everyday Things

SOLVED

Three additional suggestions:

The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic (From the Magic Kingdom) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1484722299/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RSqEAbE1465J3

Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance https://www.amazon.com/dp/2080136399/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sTqEAb0JKXXJN

Theme Park Design & The Art of Themed Entertainment https://www.amazon.com/dp/0993578918/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_MVqEAbQ1623ZW

The last one is laid out like a textbook (not a picture book) but it has a lot of good information.

This one - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0993578918/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479087965&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=theme+park+design&dpPl=1&dpID=61al8oyHgyL&ref=plSrch

It's pretty good. Goes over every aspect of what kind of process is required to build a park.

I have this one on my book shelf, it's pretty good.

Coming back to this, I found my collection of research bookmarks...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_(architecture)
http://portico.space/architecture-concepts
http://portico.space/journal//architectural-concepts-circulation
https://www.pinterest.nz/portico_/concepts-circulation/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263514000375 <-- This one is promising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_plan

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195019199/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195024028/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 are the origins of software design patterns, but talk about physical architecture. There is a lot of good information in these books.

Fellow Disney book-nerd here! Here are a bunch of my favorites. Hope this helps!

The Art of Animation

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas

Walt Disney Imagineering by The Imagineers

The Disney That Never Was

Paper Dreams: The Art And Artists Of Disney Storyboards

Before the Animation Begins: The Art & Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists

The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast

Lilo & Stitch: Collected Stories From the Film's Creators

Magic Color Flair: The World of Mary Blair

Lovely: Ladies of Animation

Coming soon:

Marc Davis: Walt Disney’s Renaissance Man

The Nine Old Men by Andreas Deja

Disney During World War II: How the Walt Disney Studio Contributed to Victory in the War

Rapid Viz was really helpful for me. It doesn't take as long as you might think to get better at sketching.

http://www.amazon.com/Rapid-Viz-Method-Visualitzation-Ideas/dp/159863268X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

A book not mentioned in that post would be Graphic Design: The New Basics - Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips.

I would recommend this book as a starting point. It's more like a collection of different design ideas with enough description to search further.

Also, I noticed color psychology was brought up. Be careful when reading into that, there is a lot of subjectivity in mainstream sources (like those infographics you sometimes see). Most research only points at the practicality of color psychology.

I bought this book awhile back because I was in awe of the logistics of huge cities. It's a fascinating read.

A Visual Dictionary of Architecture might be interesting for them. Loads of good, simple drawings that identify parts of buildings without getting into theory. it might be accessible to a kid, depending on their age.

yeah, the ye olde Itten.

But don't mistake print color for web color, or vice versa. If someone knows an equally seminal source for OP on web color, it would be a good counterbalance.

This is considered the Bible of architectural graphics and I'm pretty sure it's been a required textbook in most Schools of Architecture since the 1940's.

If you're interested, there's a great history of the metro that goes into detail about how much those design decisions were originally fought over.

Great Society Subway

If you're looking for things most people won't know. Try the Progress City Primer.

if you're looking for cool things from an Imagineer. Try Designing Disney by John Hench

If you're looking for more of an overview of Imagineering. Try Imagineering Disney.

If you're looking for a light overview of the park through time. Try Disneyland Through the Decades.

My book that I go back to again and again is A Field Guide to American Homes. It has lots of pictures of each style, as well as drawings of details and information on the overall shapes used in the various styles. The 1984 edition is also available for just a few dollars. It's also very good, but it doesn't have the chapters on recent developments (like McMansions), as well as a chapter on how to choose appropriate detailing for what the author refers to as "new traditional" homes. Anyone building a house should read that chapter.

I was looking into being an architect before I got into Computer Engineering. It is very surprising how universal interaction design is.

The psychology of how humans work is just as useful in designing floorplans as it is in designing websites.

In Computer Science, the idea of "design patterns" actually originated from the writings of a building architect: http://www.amazon.com/The-Timeless-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028

[Thiiiiiiiiiissssss.] (https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Disney-Walt-Imagineering-Book/dp/1423119150) I was told if you wanted to ever be an imagineer, read this book, and apply it to heart

This is a great book

It's got everything as far as "the stuff that doesn't change" goes

here you go :)

​

1. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Radical-View-Steven-Lukes/dp/0333420926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536811339&sr=8-1&keywords=power+a+radical+theory
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Common-Good-Shared-Power-Non-Franchise/dp/078796753X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536811388&sr=1-1&keywords=leadership+for+the+common+good
   
3. https://www.amazon.com/Pedestrian-Transit-Oriented-Design-Reid-Ewing/dp/0874202019/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536811419&sr=1-1&keywords=Pedestrian+%26+Transit-Oriented+Design+-+Bartholomew%2C+Ewing
   
4. https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Design-Composition-Ron-Kasprisin/dp/0415591473/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536811438&sr=1-1&keywords=Urban+Design%2C+Composition+of+Complexity+-+Kasprisin
   
5. https://www.amazon.com/Image-Harvard-Mit-Joint-Center-Studies/dp/0262620014/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536811597&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Image+of+City+-+Lynch
   
6. https://www.amazon.com/Streetfight-Handbook-Revolution-Janette-Sadik-Khan/dp/0143128973/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536811547&sr=1-1&keywords=Streetfight%3A+Handbook+for+an+Urban+Revolution+-+Sadik-Khan%2C+Solomonow

It's always been like this... I think someone should take the Field Guide to American Houses and create a Style Flowchart, like a Taxonmy Diagram, and we can link to it in the sidebar. 99% of the time the house has no style, and falls into the category of "Contractor's Choice".

The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich. Reads like a novel, takes you from cave paintings to modern day.

http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/1423107667

I got this for Christmas and it's amazing.

It's not about roller coasters specifically, but the Disney Imagineering book is really cool:

https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/1423107667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535950757&sr=8-1&keywords=imagineering

Design Drawing by Francis Ching
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Drawing-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470533692

He covers perspectives and a host of other architectural drawing types, as well as things like line weight, tone and shading.

Also Architectural Graphics also by Ching.
http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

Start with the book Rapid Viz. It's a workbook for sketching and rapid communication of ideas. Look for books on car sketching, toy sketching, product sketching, whatever... just practice practice practice. Get a note book and fill it from cover to cover, then start on a new one. Trust me on this; good sketching skills will get you hired one day.

Sounds like what you want is Virginia Savage McAlester's book A Field Guide to American Houses.

She walks you through each style that is found in the US, explains the key features of each and give well drawn diagrams and photographic examples of each. Really well done.

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825

I'm still learning myself. This book has been incredibly useful.

CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_S64kDbT3R6PQ6

For more technical, structural explanations and drawings Building Structures Illustrated and Building Construction Illustrated are both extremely helpful.

Beside the old practice and practice. There is this book - Rendering in Pen and Ink. 60 years old book published in the era when ink rendering was much more popular.

Yes

and this

and this

Read this book Architect?. We read it before school and it helps to lay out what to expect from your classes.

>The pneumatic tube mail was a postal system operating in New York City from 1897 to 1953 using pneumatic tubes. Following the creation of the first pneumatic mail system in Philadelphia in 1893, New York City's system was begun, initially only between the old General Post Office on Park Row and the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green, a distance of 3,750 feet.
>Eventually the network stretched up both sides of Manhattan Island all the way to Manhattanvilleon the West side and "Triborough" in East Harlem, forming a loop running a few feet below street level. Travel time from the General Post Office to Harlem was 20 minutes. A crosstown line connected the two parallel lines between the new General Post office on the West Side and Grand Central Terminal on the east, and took four minutes for mail to traverse. Utilizing the Brooklyn Bridge a spur line also ran from Church Street in lower Manhattan to the general post office in Brooklyn (now Cadman Plaza) taking four minutes. Operators of the system were referred to as "Rocketeers". Wikipedia

More reading on the Network

From The Works: Anotamy of a City by Kate Ascher

learn G-code, learn how to read blueprints and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, get a good understanding of the cartesian coordinate system and acquire basic machining skills.

If you have a trade school nearby, you can take a course in machine shop, usually they'll have an intro to CNC. This book will teach you everything you need to know about G-code.

I have "The Field Guide to American Houses" by Virgina Savage McAlester and use it pretty often. :-)

https://smile.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538584655&sr=8-1&keywords=field+guide+to+american+houses

I'm coming from a game design perspective rather than architect, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've been told (numerous times) to check out the work Christopher Alexander, particularly A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building.

I haven't read either one yet, but they are at the top of my "To Read" list.

Sound like you need A Visual Dictionary of Architecture

It looks like this picture has made its rounds again. I saw it in /r/interestingasfuck and /r/marijuanaenthusiasts -- and the first thing I always think when it comes up is that it reminds me of a plan graphic tree.

It always reminds me of the Grant Reid Landscape Graphics book.

Well said!

Edit: to add to this, is there a place that has presets for cad line weights, etc, or should I just take them from Graphic Standards

Well I think that if I got this for my wedding as a decoration I'd be a rockstar and so would you for hooking us up!

I'm no expert, but I do have a copy of A Field Guide of American Houses. So with that caveat, my guess is that this is a modern (read: millennium mansion) interpretation of the classical Georgian style house with a center-gabled roof.
> Identifying Features: Paneled front door, usually centered and capped by an elaborate decorative crown (entablature) supported by decorative pilasters (flattened columns); usually with a row of small rectangular panes of glass beneath the crown, either within the door or in a transom just above; cornice usually emphasized by decorative moldings, most commonly with tooth-like dentils; windows with double-hung sashes having many small panes (most commonly nine or twelve panes per sash) separated by thick wooden muntins; windows aligned horizontally and vertically in symmetrical rows, never in adjacent pairs, usually five-ranked on front facade, less commonly three-or seven-ranked.

you need an architectural dictionary. i'm sure some sudent here will have a pdf copy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Dictionary-Architecture-Landscape-Reference/dp/014051323X

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visual-Dictionary-Architecture-Francis-Ching/dp/0470648856/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465545556&sr=1-6&keywords=francis+dk+ching

Do not have any CAM software in your shop, or are just doing this one job by hand to learn? If it's the former then that's disappointing because there are many inexpensive CAM programs for simple 2D stuff .

If it's the latter, then a really good book would be CNC Programming Handbook by Peter Smid. It covers damn near everything about CNC milling and turning, from machine kinematics to G-Code.

1. I have been able to teach myself more about crochet in 4 months than my Aunt has been able to teach herself in her whole live
   
   
2. this
   
   
3. I don't know what I'd do if my kids came in to tell me "There's a penguin on top of the telly"

To be good at design in general, there's a few things you need to know.

1. Basic 2d design and color theory: Elements of Colors + Interaction of Color
   
   
2. Art and Deisgn history: Meggs' History of Graphic Design + Janson's History of Art
   
   
3. Basics in grid systems and typography: Grid Systems
   
   Basically, there is no shortcut. You need to study the history and understand why things work or don't. A bit of psychology never hurt anyone either, even just a 101 class should be enough to get you started. Lastly, just remember this one thing, it will be the most important part in your career...CONCEPT IS KING. I cannot stress this enough, make sure everything you do has a big idea behind it. Something that lets you organize everything under it. I don't care how much UX/UI thought you have, how many ad units and SEO whatevers you did, without a great idea, its total shit and just fluff.
   

https://www.amazon.com/Works-Anatomy-City-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708

The Works; Anatomy of a City

http://www.amazon.com/Works-Anatomy-City-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708

> have yet to understand how everything here works.

try this book which explains how NYC's various infrastructure systems work.

Three architecture books by Christopher Alexander:
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
The Timeless Way of Building
The Oregon Experiment

You could always check out A Pattern Language: http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199 or a Timeless Way of Building : http://www.amazon.com/The-Timeless-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028

There is this wonderful book about design:

https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028

Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City

a relatively short read, but discusses ideas of "imageability" central to urban design and planning

Kevin Lynch's Image of the City

Buy.

"A Field Guide to American Houses" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375710825/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_xJwJDbJ6BYDYR

Mines a book: Building Construction Illustrated

There's a book called Building Construction Illustrated that should get you started.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470087811/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Visual Dictionary of Architecture

Always start with Gombrich!

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Art-H-Gombrich/dp/0714832472

Here is the survey text for general works, and if you haven't read Gombrich's "The Story of Art," it is a must-read for a potential grad student!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Society-Subway-Washington/dp/080188246X is the book most often mentioned.

Edit: fixed link

My reference at the time

Francis D.K. Ching's books are another reference, though more architecturally inclined.

Peter Smid CNC Programming book

Also get your hands on a copy of CNC programing handbook by Peter Smid.

http://www.amazon.com/CNC-Programming-Handbook-Third-Edition/dp/0831133473

I had a copy of this when I first started out. CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_CaO4wbM6APTY9

Try this book

https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Handbook-Third-Peter-Smid/dp/0831133473/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=CNC+Programming+Handbook&qid=1558293186&s=gateway&sr=8-1

This book?

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Handbook-Third-Peter-Smid/dp/0831133473/ref=la_B001IU4QEM_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421716024&sr=1-1

Here is the mobile version of your link

Here is the desktop version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1481153684/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1372556337&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

Check out The Works by Kate Asher. It's a ridiculously well illustrated guide to all the different systems (water, power, streets, transit, phone, etc. etc.) that keep New York City running
http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708

Rockstar

Rockstar and Redbull are where it's at. I hate monster.