Reddit mentions: The best art & photography criticism books
We found 922 Reddit comments discussing the best art & photography criticism books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 445 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
- Image Continuum Press
Features:
Specs:
Color | Black |
Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2001 |
Weight | 0.4 Pounds |
Width | 0.4 Inches |
2. The Art Spirit
- Basic Books AZ
Features:
Specs:
Height | 8.375 Inches |
Length | 5.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | March 2007 |
Weight | 0.551155655 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
3. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series (Penguin Books for Art)
- White paperback with scene of clock, horse, and valise.
Features:
Specs:
Color | White |
Height | 7.81 Inches |
Length | 5.06 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | December 1990 |
Weight | 0.80027801106 Pounds |
Width | 0.54 Inches |
4. Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
- Harper Perennial
Features:
Specs:
Release date | April 2001 |
5. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850
- Basic Books AZ
Features:
Specs:
Color | Blue |
Height | 8.125 Inches |
Length | 5.375 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | December 2001 |
Weight | 0.4850169764 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
6. The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies
Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | November 2001 |
Weight | 2.18919026166 Pounds |
Width | 1.9 Inches |
7. Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line
Specs:
Release date | February 2013 |
8. Ways of Seeing
- New
- Mint Condition
- Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
- Guaranteed packaging
- No quibbles returns
Features:
Specs:
Height | 7.08 Inches |
Length | 4.4 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | October 2008 |
Weight | 0.27116858226 Pounds |
Width | 0.51 Inches |
9. Reinventing Comics: The Evolution of an Art Form
- William Morrow Company
Features:
Specs:
Height | 10.25 Inches |
Length | 6.75 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | July 2000 |
Weight | 1.1904962148 Pounds |
Width | 0.59 Inches |
10. On Ugliness
Great product!
Specs:
Color | Black |
Height | 8 Inches |
Length | 5.9 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | October 2011 |
Weight | 1.873929227 Pounds |
Width | 1 Inches |
11. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Picador USA
Specs:
Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 6.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | October 2003 |
Weight | 2 Pounds |
Width | 2.8 Inches |
12. Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing
- A complete graphical update of the original Star Fox 64 game brings the Nintendo classic into the era of portable 3D fun of Nintendo 3DS
- Two control methods for the player to experience: the original Nintendo 64 Mode and the Gyro Sensor based Nintendo 3DS Mode
- Trusted Fox McCloud wingmen Peppy, Slippy and Falco are along for the ride
- Each mission takes players through a different planet of the Lylat system as they blast enemies, collect power-ups and fight powerful bosses on their way to the final battle
- A new multiplayer option lets up to four players engage in fierce aerial combat via a local wireless connection and only one game cartridge
Features:
Specs:
Height | 11 Inches |
Length | 9 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2008 |
Weight | 2.0062065842 Pounds |
Width | 0.63 Inches |
13. The Languages of Native North America (Cambridge Language Surveys)
Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
Height | 9 inches |
Length | 6 inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.47579120226 pounds |
Width | 1.8 inches |
14. The History of American Graffiti
- Oxford University Press USA
Features:
Specs:
Height | 9.75 Inches |
Length | 9 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2011 |
Weight | 4.26814939232 Pounds |
Width | 1.75 Inches |
15. The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts
- Used Book in Good Condition
Features:
Specs:
Height | 9.1 Inches |
Length | 6.1 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | September 2008 |
Weight | 1.1243575362 Pounds |
Width | 0.7 Inches |
16. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics
- Used Book in Good Condition
Features:
Specs:
Height | 11.0236 Inches |
Length | 9.4488 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | August 2004 |
Weight | 2.3809924296 Pounds |
Width | 0 Inches |
17. But Is It Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory
Oxford University Press USA
Specs:
Color | White |
Height | 0.4 Inches |
Length | 6.6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.84657508608 Pounds |
Width | 4.6 Inches |
18. The Shock of the New: The Hundred-Year History of Modern Art--Its Rise, Its Dazzling Achievement, Its Fall
Specs:
Height | 10.9 inches |
Length | 8 inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | August 1991 |
Weight | 3.74 Pounds |
Width | 1.2 inches |
19. Combat Sports in the Ancient World: Competition, Violence, and Culture (Sports and History Series)
- VERSATILE - At 8.5 x 5 x 2.5 inches, this small safe box is the perfect size for not only storing pens, pencils, and other school supplies, but also important items like cash and medication.
- STRONG - The Vaultz mini safe for kids features chrome-steel corners and a metal trim designed to reinforce the exterior and provide extra protection to your personal belongings.
- EASY ORGANIZATION - Keep all your writing instruments, notes, and other small items in order with the mesh pocket and elastic pencil band located inside of our kids lock box.
- SECURE - Whether used as a pencil box for boys and girls or as a mini money safe, this stylish locking box comes with a convenient key lock for security and greater peace of mind.
- CUSTOMER SUPPORT - If you have any questions or concerns about your kids safe, our team is available 24/7 and will be happy to help you lock in on a solution.
Features:
Specs:
Height | 0.7 Inches |
Length | 8.9 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.87523518014 Pounds |
Width | 6 Inches |
20. Arms and Armor from Iran: The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period
Specs:
Height | 12 Inches |
Length | 10.6 Inches |
Weight | 10.1 Pounds |
Width | 2.5 Inches |
🎓 Reddit experts on art & photography criticism books
The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where art & photography criticism books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
Ha, I knew it.
So, yes, we all face this issue in the creative space.
And honestly, it is a curse, it is probably the most damning thing that happens to our ability to work.
This book is all about that https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
Interesting read if you want to read, but my main point with sharing the book is to let you know how common this issue is.
Now, the solution is, you suck, you need to accept that you suck, and you need to stop caring that you suck.
What you need to focus on is your love for music, your love for sound. That feeling you get when you press the keys using a synth with a cool sound or listen to a cool beat.
The problem really starts there, because while you produce, your love for music will so easily get trumped by the music that you love.
Do not do this, do not compare yourself to others like that.
They are different humans, with different experiences, and different lives, different brains. You will never be like them.
You are your own person, your own brain, your own experiences, and this is where your beauty lies.
People often tell you, when you want to pick up a girl just be yourself.
Well it's the same is with making music, just be yourself.
If what comes out of your head is beep boop beep, then make beep boop beep, do not feel shame for your simplicity, focus on the love of the sounds you choose, focus on the ideas that pop into your head and express them, no matter how primitive they sound to you.
Another link about this exact topic, little more esoteric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHW1I8T0caI
Trust in your own ability to get better, do not compare yourself to others all the time, again, they are different people.
Don't buy a shirt because it looks cool on some dude, buy a shirt because you like it and it fits you.
In short, you are trying to climb a ladder starting at the top.
It's a very common feeling for all, we all have to go through this, the solution is to accept your suckage and try to improve yourself not by trying to be someone else, but to be a better you.
If that pulls you away from the music you love, let it pull you away.
If you find yourself making classical music or pop songs or punk or whatever instead of techno, let it pull you away. You need to set yourself free creatively, you need to relearn the joy of play.
To box yourself in with a genre or worse, music that you like, is extremely damning, especially if you are not well conscious of your own creativity etc.
Grab your instruments, play around, have fun. Drop some notes, drop some beats, just make music and play. If something does not feel right to you, tweak it until it does, but stay within yourself, trust your own gut, your own inspiration, stop the automatic response to start looking at other work to try and find their solutions.
Do look at other people work to study as you please, you can learn a lot, just do not do that while you are producing your own song.
Don't do so when you are trying to put yourself into your creative/expressive mindset.
Anyways, hope it helps, feel free to hit me up if you feel crappy about stuff. I have suffered this exact issue for years and years, it took me like 10 years to finally start to grasp the issue.
EDIT
more ranting
In more practical terms, I suggest you try to find your creative playful mindset.
If you are bored with a track and not inspired, fuck it, let it die, trying to finish so you can share it, will quickly kill your creative mindset, you need solid awareness of this conscious switch to be able to deal with it.
Do not try and make music like others, make the music that you hear in your head, even if it's just beep boop beep human music, hmm, I like it. You will get better and more expressive as you dig deeper, trust that.
Do not make drum patterns the way they are supposed to be, make drum patterns that sound good to you.
Use your hands and feet as much as you can, record things live using your midi keyboard, tweak after, it does not matter if you can't play piano, the point is to express yourself, using your body to do so is a much shorter road for your mind to fall into that mindset.
If you dance, then dance, do you know this moment while you are dancing and forgot to care you look stupid? That moment when you are just having pure fun and are feeling one with the music, flowing like some ninja or whatever? This is it, this is what you want to dig for.
Dance on your midi keyboard and record it, and tweak it after, with your dance recent midi keyboard dance still fresh in your memory.
Music is language, try and think of it like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmKyySG6qp8
Listen to you beep boop beep, reply to it, maybe another boop? beep boop beep boop boop boop BAM! Whatever, have fun with it.
For me techno sounds like "yeh, yeh, let go, woohoo,, watch out, wait, wait watch out,, here we GO! yeh yeh yeh" It's primitive, stupidly retarded in a way, and gloriously fantastic.
Classical music is often like "can you hear it? can you? omg it is beatiful... no... no wait!.. it is happening again.. my love where have you gone?.. now I am here alone again.. waiting for you .. alone alone.. forever alone.. .. alone... NO NO NO I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS.. FIGHT.. I will FIGHT!!!.. glory glory!! fight for glory!!"
It is more an emotional rollercoaster ride, which people find is more complex I suppose, fair enough.
EDIT
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Spirit-Robert-Henri/dp/0465002633/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0465002633&pd_rd_r=893TKNMA88H6YMF627F7&pd_rd_w=TcJuv&pd_rd_wg=temwA&psc=1&refRID=893TKNMA88H6YMF627F7
This book I also recommend, it's about painting, but the same ideas apply to pretty much any creative endevour
I am going to art school and have been drawing and painting for a few years now. I offer up a few suggestions, mostly things that helped me starting out. I run the risk of sounding like a know-it-all or a snob, but I'm just hoping to offer up what little things I've learned along the way. I don't claim to be an accomplished artist, but just someone who was where you were once, and took similar advice from people who had been doing it longer than me. I hope to humbly pass on some of the things that were passed on to me.
I mostly use oils, but the startup for oils is a little more expensive. I would consider trying them out sometime, because they offer a little more freedom in what you can do with them, but you don't need them to learn to paint. You can mimic a lot of these capabilities with acrylics. With oils, you mix the paint with medium to adjust the viscosity of the paint. You can paint thick, chunky strokes, or have nice smooth flowing strokes, just by how much medium you add. Acrylic is water based, so try adding some water as you paint to adjust the viscosity, it will give you more control and more options. I'd suggest going to an auto parts store and getting a little oil squirter can, (yes, like the tin man had) and you can squirt small amounts of water on your pallet next to each puddle of paint and mix it in with your brush as you apply it. Less messy that way. (I think other people have mentioned this, they've got the right idea.)
Another thing that gives oils an advantage is working time. They take an incredibly long time to dry, which gives you lots of time to work in transitions and shadows while the paint is still wet. To achieve this with acrylics, which have a relatively fast dry time, try using some retarder in your paint. It's a clear, gel like substance that when mixed with the paint, helps keep it from drying, without changing the color or consistency. This gives you more freedom to work, and keeps you from being restricted by time (as much). You might be able to get it at a big box art store, but I recommend finding a smaller, locally owned one. People tend to know their shit in the smaller, local kinds of stores, and will be more helpful at answering questions, and have a better selection.
Another piece of advice I'd give is to learn a little bit of color theory, and practice mixing colors. My professor always said that you should never use a color straight from the tube, because chances are it wasn't really the color you need, and that if you look closer, the color you really want is a mix of a few things you have. He used to say "You think that winsor newton knew exactly what color you needed there?". It mostly just helps you look and see more specifically. 80% of painting is seeing more specifically, and getting your hand, brain, and eye to work as a unit. The book "Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green" Is one of the better books on color theory and mixing with paint. Check it out. You can practice by finding something, and trying to mix that exact color, holding them side by side to test it. You'll find often that 3, 4, maybe 5 different tube colors mix to make the one color you need. Being able to mix any color you want will open doors for you and let you have more options.
Also, try painting on large canvases/paper. Giving yourself more room to work is a big thing that helped me starting out. I was still gaining control over the paint and brush, and bigger space made it easier to hone those skills and fit more detail in. You can make your own canvases for a fraction of the store bought price, message me if you're interested in that, I could write up a quick how to.
I think you're going to notice yourself improve greatly over time, you'll gain control over your brush, the paint, and then anything's possible. I think you've already got a good eye for things, and this painting looks pretty good, damn good for a 3rd painting. My third painting was in black and white (hadn't even ventured into color yet) and it was a sloppy mess. You've got strong compositional lines here, nice color choices, and a good sense of depth. It looks like you're trying out a little bit of an impressionist style, which is good. Find awesome paintings/painters, and learn from them by imitating. Once you've imitated some of the things they do, you'll have learned a little more and will be able to find what you want to do.
Most of all, practice a lot. Hope this is encouraging, if you like it, keep at it. Also, another must read is "Art and Fear" Good luck!
Yeah, man. Look, I hope you didn't think I was being too harsh. I tried to make constructive criticism.
I will say this: I really appreciate hearing when artists try things that are different and out of the ordinary. Its necessary, and I will always support artists who try things differently more than artists who tread the same tired waters in a more polished way.
Yes, you could use some practice in the application of your ideas. But I hope this will be a fire under your ass a little to focus in on taking the little elements that you like about what you do, and find a way to do them better. That's where the true magic happens as an artist.
I'm reading a book right now called "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love" by Cal Newport.
The main idea of the book is breaking down the idea of being motivated to do what you do based on passion, and how that's an idea that can be dangerous. He says we can think about our work in two ways. There is the passion mindset, and the craftsman mindset.
The passion mindset leads us to find more heartbreak and creative blocks in our workflow because of our expectations for the kind of feelings and value we perceive our work to be adding to our life.
The craftsman mindset however, is much more fulfilling, realistic, and helpful in the long run. Our minds become not consumed with the grandiose ideas of how amazing our work is, and instead are focused on how we can improve them. This ultimately leads to a point where our work is undoubtedly much more full of value, because of all the energy we put into giving our work value. We can't help but feel the value in our work. We don't have to rely on vague abstractions of passion and trying to stay optimistic with our work, because we know exactly how much work we put into it.
I have found this to be especially true, and there are a lot of other theories and things I've found along the way that support it too.
The book mentions Ira Glass's Famous quote on advice for beginners. The idea that we've got to just keep working and learning and improving and not focus on how good our work is. Here's a really nicely animated version of the short speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1oZhEIrer4
Then there's the famous 10,000 hour idea from Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29) The idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master. I always take that with a grain of salt, but there is something to it. I generally take it though that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberately working on getting better to become a true master. 10,000 hours of casual playing will make you a master at casual playing. Like Kenny G. (who I still consider a master, by the way. He's the best at what he does, even if what he does is fucking simple)
Another of my favorites is the story from the book "Art & Fear" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961454733/lifeclever-20?tag=lifeclever-20) about the pottery teacher who turned one semester class into an experiment. He split the class into two halves. One half were told they would be graded on only one pot that they could spend all semester working on, and the other class were told they would be graded on the amount of pots they created. The long story short is that the side of the class who took all semester working on one pot had inferior pots than the side of the class who wasn't graded on the quality of work, but by the quantity they produced. The side who made a lot of pots gave themselves so many opportunities to learn from their mistakes simply because they gave themselves the freedom to make them. Once you do something so many times, little changes each time mean you find a better method. There is only so much you can do to improve when the approach hasn't been practiced, and all the fundamental skills haven't been repeated over and over.
Something that can help us to keep in this mindset is from one of my favorite books "The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron (http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464) She suggests a practice to help artists work through creative blocks by a process of freewriting with a pen and paper, a practice she recommends for every kind of artist. She suggest starting every single day out with writing 3 pages of longhand writing without stopping. The only rule is to not stop. You write and write, even if you have to repeat stupid things over and over because you can't think of anything else. You come up with ways to keep yourself from stopping by writing about your day, or your grocery list, or saying "this is stupid" over and over. Anything to keep you from stopping. It gets the juices out and you keep going and going, and going. You practice getting over the fear of making the mistakes. You are practicing your art. Free expression where there are no mistakes. You practice coming up with ways to keep going. Then when you are done with the three pages, you close up the notebook and you don't read over it. You are done with the pages and you move on with your day. There is no reason to look over what you wrote since you are not critiquing what you wrote. The process is about getting over creative blocks and creatively acting without hesitation. I've found this practice to be invaluable.
Some advice that started to help me was to not spend too much time on each of my songs deliberating over details, until I was good enough where it was hurting the final product to not dive in deeper. I also don't listen to my tracks over after finishing. Instead, when I finish a song, or make a recording. I listen to it and set it aside and begin working on something else. After at least a day, or sometimes more, I listen to it with a notepad and take notes as objectively as I can, and try to find ways in which I would have improved on the song. Things I could have done better or approached differently. If its a couple of small things, I might fix them right there, but if its a bunch of bigger things, I just appreciate that I learned a lot from that song and try to incorporate what I learned into a new song to practice it.
All of these all point toward the same thing, and I hope you find some of the advice useful if you try it out. I'm not telling you this because I think your music sucks, but because I think you have what it takes because of how you are trying things outside of the ordinary.
My ideas to all artists: Abandon thoughts of your work being brilliant. Focus on keeping moving. Let yourself make terrible music. Learn from your mistakes without getting down on yourself. One finished song that you had to think creatively to get to work even though it sucked, is a better use of your time than 20 unfinished alright ideas sitting as loops. If you do like making lots of loops, export them as audio loops and churn them out like an assembly line. Don't deliberate on every move when your time would be better spend actively working through a block. In art, mistakes is where magic happens. Hone in on your mistakes and see if you can let them dictate the direction of where your song goes. Focus on improving your skills instead of feeling good about being an artist.
I hope this wasn't just a bunch of gibberish. Let me know what you think about this kind of stuff if you're interested. I'm always down to talk about it when I can't be making music.
Since you don't say whether you want to learn how to operate a camera or the field of photography in general and what interests you in photography in particular this is quite a stab in the dark but here are a few suggestions of books I keep coming back to or hold important.
This assumes that you have a basic understanding on how to operate a camera. If you don't, read your camera manual or something like Adam's The Camera and .
Technical advice
Theory/Motivational advice
> My theory is that it takes someone with a MFA or a MFA candidate to find Eggleston's work as something that's worth hanging on a museum wall. If you've taken any MA classes that involve the history of modern art, Eggleston comes up. And out comes the torrent of words saying why this crap photo of a red ceiling with some white wires isn't as crap as it looks at first glance.
> And they're wrong. It's as simple as that.
Yours is a view that I have heard expressed many times before. Art and the workings of the art world are not things that are readily understood by a layman. And failing to understand it, some people tend to resort to calling the whole thing a conspiracy or a circle jerk; saying it is all "the emperor's new clothes" exactly like you do.
You are basically saying that the people who know a lot about art and have studied it formally for years are wrong, and you are right because you know less about it. Because you haven't been contaminated by the conspiracy of consensus.
I'm afraid it is not as simple as you put it, and your conspiracy theory is for the most part untrue. You just lack the understanding and the frame of reference to appreciate what is really going on. I'm not calling you stupid or anything like that, you just lack a few pieces of the puzzle that you need to put everything together. I have written an article on PetaPixel a while ago that might give you some of the information you're missing.
For a better understanding of modern art and the art world in general, you could also try reading The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes. I'm afraid this book is also a standard textbook in art colleges and universities, so if you distrust that world in general you might want to stay away from increasing your knowledge about art at all.
> Aesthetics isn't something that only a trained few can properly interpret.
See there's the first part of your problem. It's not about aesthetics. Aesthetics is not what makes art good or valuable. It is not about who can make the most beautiful painting or photograph. Aesthetics are important, but it is secondary to the meaning of a work and to the place it represents in the canon of art. Once you learn that, things become a lot clearer.
> Sometimes a photo of a red ceiling really isn't anything more than that, or indicative of a higher than normal amount of quality in a photo.
And there's the second part of your problem. You are deconstructing Eggleston's work in a way that blinds you to the bigger picture. If you take the picture of the red ceiling out of context, and place it on flickr between thousands of similar still life photographs, it does indeed become an unremarkable picture. But that's like taking a few words from the third page of the second act of a Shakespeare play and saying they are unremarkable words. Or taking the Cmaj7 and F chords from 'Imagine' and saying they are unremarkable, simple chords that anyone can play. Of course they are, but that doesn't mean 'Imagine' isn't a very good and very important song in the canon of music.
Art does not exist in a vacuum. You have to look at the bigger picture. Eggleston tells us a story and shows us a new way of looking at the world. His photographs are the words he uses to tell that story, and you have to understand what the words mean to appreciate the story he is telling. It is not about pretty pictures.
> At the end of the day, it's just a photo of two drunk people in a bed.
Here too, I think you are looking at it the wrong way. At the end of the day pretty much any photograph is "just a picture of X". The photograph "V-J Day in Times Square" by Alfred Eisenstaedt is just a picture of two people kissing. "Dimanche sur les bords de la Marne" by Henri-Cartier Bresson is just a picture of some people having lunch.
I think Teller's portrait of Eggleston and Rampling is a very exciting picture. It may not be a world class work of art, but as far as fashion/advertising work goes I think it is pretty fantastic. I couldn't care less about the fact that he didn't use any fancy lighting techniques or clever composition. It is not about that. In fact, the direct flash technique and jumbled composition only add to the picture.
I love the picture because it's intimate. It's not a photograph anyone could have just come up and taken. You can't just sit two people down and have them pose like this, a moment like this has to happen. Only very few photographers can do this, and nobody can do it like Teller can. I love that. It's like getting a peek into his world. It hints at a bigger story, an exciting story with fabulous people late at night in a fancy Paris hotel, perhaps drunk, in their own world. This is a world almost everybody secretly wants to be a part of, and this picture makes you feel like you are part of it. As an advertising picture for Marc Jacobs it is bloody fantastic.
Teller's consistent ability to pull this off is what has made him one of the most celebrated and sought-after photographers of the last two decades. Amateur photographers consistently fail to understand what makes his work so brilliant because they're searching for the wrong things in his work. Luckily for mr. Teller, the people who commission fashion photography at the world's leading brands an magazines don't need his work explained to them by anyone.
Sorry for the wait, delivering!
I recently moved, so most of my books are still in boxes. However, I've already unboxed the best ones, so I'll list them here (note that most of them are not written by anthropologists per se, but are good books nonetheless):
OK, I'll stop here. If you want more recommendations (specially stuff on other languages, like Portuguese, French or Japanese, that I didn't bother listing here), feel free to PM me ;)
I have some experience with webcomics. I write and draw Miamaska, which has been going on for 2+years, and I'm about to start my second comic next month.
General advice for web comickers!
(or: How I learned things the hard way and eventually stumbled into a good system)
Regarding dialogue and pacing... what I tend to do is thumbnail an entire scene (3-15 pages for me) first and read through it a few times. I'll leave mini-cliffhangers at the end of each page (like a question, or a realization, or a character entering the scene). During this little review process, I'll also make sure the view for the reader doesn't violate the 180 rule too much, that it's obvious which bubble should be read next, and where the reader is going to look first.
I don't have any experience in the print form of comics yet. So no advice there. Just make sure your comics are in print resolution as well (300+ DPI), or you'll be sorry later.
Resource time
I didn't have many resources starting out, but I'm gonna recommend these for you and anyone else interested:
PaperWings Podcast -- podcast and blog on web comic-making (ongoing, good community, regular but sparse updates, good backlog). Has even more resources on its website.
Art and Story -- podcast on print +web comic-making and the comic industry (ended, but a great backlog).
Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics by cartoonist Scott McCloud, worth a read for any comicker. A little more geared towards print, but breaks down comic theory really nicely.
Comics and Sequential Art, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative, by Will Eisner.
Those books are pretty popular, so you can probably pick them up from the library or find them on the web somewhere.
Obligatory Ira Glass quote if you haven't seen it
I'm gonna keep this as short as possible, but I know your struggle. In all likelihood if you're like me you have this spark or inspiration inside of you. But it's like being an infant that can't talk. It's frustrating because you want to create this vision of a beautiful piece of work that's in your head, but you feel like you don't how to proceed. You have to keep that spark alive, but also realize you may not have the skills or experience to actualize it. That's completely ok.
My biggest piece of advice is to let go of perfection. Look to your favorite artists for inspiration, but try to not to compare. What you hear from them is hours and hours of experience and it's unfair to compare yourself to that. I've been down that road, it leads to nothing but anxiety and procrastination. Instead here's what you should focus on. Just finish everything you start. No matter how shitty or imperfect. Let go of the idea of writing something good and just practice creating.
Also here's a book that you might like Also this one is pretty good too Though I'd recommend the mastering creative anxiety book first, it gives little lessons in the form of short stories and is more light hearted. Art and Fear gets a bit heavy at some points.
No problem! I have no experience with the UK industry but I can't imagine it's too different:
Hope that helped a bit!
>I'm also pretty jealous when I see photographers local to me getting paid gigs, exposure and kudos for what I think are terrible photos. These are ok photos to the untrained eye (most of the time), but when I see a photo that hasn't been straightened, is over saturated or is just someone playing with the clarity slider just because they can, it just makes me a little angry.
This is why I tell people not to waste money on an "art education." The reality of the photo industry these days is that very little about success comes from your ability to create good photographs. It's an extremely frustrating characteristic of the beast that is the Photo Industry.
There will always be people out there who are better at networking and convincing others to spend money on them.
I once had a friend get very angry with me for suggesting how lucky he was to be earning 100k a year at the age of 25 in the NYC photo industry. He said it was all hard work. Bottom line is there are thousands of people who work VERY hard and are VERY good at what they do, and they will still never "make it" in the industry. It's not an assessment of your worth, skills, talent, or drive. It is simply the nature of the beast.
RE: Your creative rut...
Don't be afraid to switch gears. Take time off and avoid photography. Or dramatically switch subjects. I'm sure everyone here has been burnt out before. That is when I started landscape photography, and hiking. After about a year of not doing "real photography" I am now scheduling shoots with dancers left and right. Back at it with a vengeance, you could say.
You may also enjoy reading the following two books, which my old photo professor gave everyone in my glass upon graduating.
Creative Authenticity
Art and Fear
I could elaborate in depth on any of the things mention here, but I shant bore you. There are already too many comments to go through.
(Sorry to be slow to respond; I just got back from work.)
Thanks for your long, thoughtful comment.
My critique of the painting grows out of the long history of paintings like this and how they were used. There's a ton of writing on paintings like this -- just as there were a TON of paintings like this -- which were hung in men's bedrooms/private spaces. Such paintings might now seem pretty tame but at the time they were not. According to art historians, they were painted precisely to help with male desire. (See, for example, T. J. Clark's The Painting of Modern Life, about painting in Paris in the 19th century; the book shows page after page of paintings just like the The Massage and discusses their "uses." Another commenter here mentioned John Berger's Ways of Seeing (book or video. Or watch Hannah Gadsby's amazing Nanette on Netflix.)
But even through they seem pretty tame now, such paintings still feed attitudes about women. And the attitude toward women this painting presents is all in-line (for me) with what we are seeing now in the Kavanaugh hearings, for example: The attitude toward women of this painting, like the apparent attitude of Kavanaugh and the other "Renate Alumni" guys, is that women exist for men. Women are supposed to be passive objects for male desire.
Compare this painting to Manet's Olympia, for example, which also shows a white woman and a subservient black woman. The white woman looks directly at viewers, meeting their eyes, making it hard to think of her as just an object to look at; in the painting we discuss here, by Debat-Ponsan, the white woman's face isn't even shown. Both paintings put women of color in secondary, passive positions.
One painting alone is not going to teach men to believe that women are passive objects. But it is precisely because there are THOUSANDS of paintings like this, shown over and over and in different places, that they can teach attitudes I think we don't want to have toward each other.
So I clearly disagree with you that this painting and the current male-dominated-political drama have nothing to do with each other. This painting, as part of a long tradition of representations of women in art and film, has a large part to play in how men learn to think women are their playthings.
Please don’t touch steel blades with your fingers, that’s what creates rust. Keep the blade oiled.
It's a shamshir, but it depends what you mean by “real damascus.” This looks like a well forged form of pattern welding, but not classical “wootz” crucible steel. Does that mean it’s wrong for this type of sword? I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, especially if it’s a later-period sword (as I suspect this is). This topic is so far outside my primary field that I really don’t know how this sword should be judged. Overall though I’d say the level of fit and finish makes me somewhat optimistic. It does seem like a “real” sword (as opposed to tourist knockoff or purely ceremonial). The koftgari is nice but not masterful. I’d very tentatively guess 18th–19th century.
Sorry I don’t have any more germane knowledge to offer, but congrats in any case.
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FWIW, here are (maddeningly unlabeled) similar examples:
Horse head
Peacock
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If I were you, I’d post it to the Middle Eastern subforum at SFI, where Dr. Khorasani posts (as Manouchehr M.) – as well as other experts. You will get a much more knowledgeable response there than you could ever get on Reddit. But thanks for sharing it with us!
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EDIT: So the more I look, the more pessimistic I become. Although it looks nice enough, the genuine examples I see all have a much tighter form of pattern welding or wootz, whereas examples with this large “whorl” pattern welding are all more recent Indian tourist pieces (and are accordingly much less valuable). Just for example.
I will keep looking, but you really ought to just post them to SFI. Please let us know if you do. Thanks!
I was gonna say Frederik L. Schodt's: Manga! Manga! but you beat me too it. (although as all_my_fish said it might be a bit hard to find it.)
Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics and Dreamland Japan aren't too shabby in terms of information on manga (although again you will have to find them first.)
Also A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi is an autobiographic manga about the gekiga movement that took place withing manga (and talks about the history of manga to a certain extent. (It is also a pretty well done manga in and of itself)).
I wish I could help find you some better non-book sources.
Your essay seems ok so far.
Here is a couple of lines from Schodt's book that you might could use:
>The word manga (pronounced "mahngah") can mean caricature, cartoon, comic strip, comic book, or animation. Coined by the Japanese woodblock- print artist Hokusai in 1814, it uses the Chinese ideograms [I don't know how to type these sorry] man ("involuntary" or "in spite of oneself") and [another one chinese character] ga ("picture"). Hokusai was evidently trying to describe something like "whimsical sketches." But it is interesting to note that the first ideogram has a secondary meaning of "morally corrupt." The term manga did not come into popular usage until the beginning of this century. Before that, cartoons were called Toba-e or "Toba pictures," after an 11th-century artist; giga, or "playful pictures"; kyoga, or "crazy pictures"; and, in the late 19th century, ponchi-e, or "Punch pictures," after the British magizine. In addition to manga one also hears today the word gekiga or "drama pictures" to describe the more serious, realistic story-comics. Some Japanese, however, simply adopt an English word to describe their favorite reading matter: komikkusu.
(from page 18 of Manga! Manga!)
there you go a source you can use and quote and make your teacher happy (maybe).
Oh man! There's a bunch of options, depending on your goals.
If you want to get started simply and quickly, work through Loomis' Fun with a Pencil (the pdf is still free online, but might be gone soon as the books go back into print). If you enjoy that, the other Loomis books are excellent as well.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a classic that, from what I understand, teaches you how to see things like an artist and draw accurately.
When you start out and find yourself overwhelmed by doubt about your work, read Art & Fear. When you finish that, work your way through the rest of this list (I'm doing the same right now).
Best of luck! And keep drawing :)
No problem--I'm happy to help! If you get the chance (but I certainly understand a heavy work load), the book [But Is It Art?] (http://www.amazon.com/But-Is-It-Art-Introduction/dp/0192853678) is a really good introduction to a lot of critical theory that you will run into when dealing with 20th century art. Also, I don't think you can really use it as a true source for your paper, but I would also recommend [Postmodernism for Beginners] (http://www.amazon.com/Postmodernism-For-Beginners-Jim-Powell/dp/1934389099). We used it in an undergrad seminar when I was just starting to learn theory, and it was absolutely invaluable--very, very easy to read, and you really get a good overview of the major ideas and philosophers in Postmodernism. Good Luck!
I recommend visiting the Kremlin (churches, square, museum in the armory and diamond fund) and St. Basil's (and even the smaller Russian history museum and the archeological one outside the main gate) in Red Square before the cemetery. The cemetery is interesting but if you are short on time you can see and learn a whole more in the same time period staying in the Red Square area. Just check hours and tickets information on the Kremlin museum website first. If you still have time after that cross the bridge behind St Basils to the Zamosvoreche area, home of the excellent Treyakov Museum (Russian art arranged by historical/cultural lesson eras).
You are right to learn Cyrillic, especially if you plan of checking out the metro - there will not be many English speakers out on the streets and knowing that much will be really helpful. If you plan to venture outside of tourist areas on your own it may be helpful to make cards in advance with common phrases and things that you may want to buy.
I noticed that your selected reading was mostly language-focused. If you want to know more about the history/culture I recommend Natasha's Dance. This is only assuming that your flight isn't tomorrow, however - Natasha's Dance is a long book!
If you are looking for events, Element Magazine has some listed in English, as do the Moscow News, Moscow Times and the upcoming Golden Mask
Have Fun!
Judging by the competitiveness for jobs in the game industry you got to stand out.
If you haven't read it, read On Becoming a Game Writer.
General steps to stand out:
Summary Be so good that they can't ignore you.
* There's a great story in Art & Fear about a pottery course. The students were divided into two groups. One group got judged on the quality of their vase, they other on the quantity. Which one produced the better vases? The second one.
IMO, the best way to start drawing is with a pad of unlined paper and mechanical pencil.
But if you want software: GIMP is free (yay), Photoshop is the well-known standard (and these videos are good), PaintToolSai feels more natural to draw with, and I just started using Mischief (which has a natural drawing feel, infinite canvas, and vector-based). My recommendation is Sai, since it's cheap, easy, and fun to use.
To learn how to draw people, start working through the Loomis books, beginning with Fun with a Pencil. A classic for learning how to 'see' like an artist is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. And when you start to feel frustrated with your work, turn to Art & Fear and Daring Greatly.
Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck with your art journey :)
My dad is the one who put the idea in my head and after some research I'm inclined to agree with them. He no longer works in the field but up until recently he did and also taught geophysics.
I think you may have misinterpreted what I said. I know that scientists agree that global warming is manmade. And I absolutely agree with them. What I'm saying is that human activities have exacerbated a process that the earth goes through periodically (I don't think we'd be having "global warming" right now if it weren't for human activity) and is causing it to happen very rapidly. That certainly isn't a dismissal of what is happening nor what the implications are. There's even a body of research that supports these ideas. I just disagree with the idea that people get in their heads that the earth is unchanging and let it color their view of what actually is happening right now. I would suggest picking up the book The Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan if you would like to read a nonfiction novel on the subject of climate change in human history and its human and geothermal causes...it's a great read.
Thank you! I really appreciate the offer. Academics often don't have anyone to edit them for things like grammar, wording, etc. and it definitely shows. Glad I could teach you about something new! If you're interested in reading a popular science book on a similar topic, you could try reading something by Brian Fagan like this.
Surely you've heard the term "late bloomer." Photography is fucking hard and it takes years to actually get good at it. If you put in the time and love it, it will love you back. Get this book because it was made for people like you (and me): Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Get it. Read it. You'll be happy you did.
I have more advice but I am currently at work. For the time being I would like to once again recommend Robert Henri's "The Art Spirit". It's not specifically aimed toward any type of art but it's an awesome source of inspiration for the budding artist! I will jump back in with specific drawing advice this evening. :)
Glad you mentioned that MGS 2 analysis, totally wanted to bring it up myself having read it recently. That same site's MGS 4 analysis could be worth a read too. While by no means the only games to inspire interesting analysis, MGS 2 and MGS 4 in particular have inspired some interesting writings because various people felt that those games' stories were (if you were paying attention) clearly antagonistic towards the player's expectations.
"Killing is Harmless", an ebook entirely about Spec Ops: The Line, could also be worthy of consideration.
Books: Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, Critcizing Photographs by Terry Barrett (you can find previous additions used a lot cheaper), and On Photography by Susan Sontag.
There is a neurological explanation to the Mona Lisa smile that basically states that the amount of blur in the mouth tricks our peripheral vision into making the mona lisa smile more depending upon where we focus. If we look at the eyes the mouth turns upward because our peripheral vision accepts the blur around the mouth as a more solid shape that subliminally creates a stronger smile. Read more in From Mirror Neurons to the Mona Lisa or the interesting book by Margaret Livingstone- Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing
Buy some of the Blackwell series of Anthologies. I think that they have a great collection of contemporary essays (Some of the best contemporary work in aesthetics come in the form of essays). I have the Philosophy of Literature anthology in my lap right now, working on a paper (I'm a graduate student focusing on aesthetics, actually). The "Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art" would be the best.
[Here is one supposedly good intro book](http://www.amazon.com/But-Art-Introduction-Theory/dp/0192853678/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255491803&sr=8-1"testing this particular function out, hope it works") I have not read, but have had it recommended.
another
It depends on if you are talking serious academics, or if you are just looking to get into aesthetics for fun, really.
I'm a newbie as well, so take my words with a grain or two of salt. I've been working at it for about as long as you have. Everyone trying to follow an artistic pursuit of any kind struggles with that, and it never goes away neither, as the more you know the more you are aware of what you don't know.
Now keep in mind that, just like me, it sounds like you are still working on your fundamentals. Its easy to get discouraged at this stage (heck I know I am right now, as I keep trying to draw plants and feels like i'm hitting my head against a wall) because you are basically learning how to (visually) talk and listen. Its frustrating when one can't express oneself, we are basically at "gugugaga moma?" stage. Learning to visualize 3d forms in 2d space, being able to see the information that you need from the subject that you are examining, being able to break complex forms into simple primaries, being aware of flow within 3d space, etc, these are the things you should be looking for progress in as that has been your focus with the boxes, organic shapes and even the figure drawing stuff I would think. Pretty pictures will come easy after that skill is comfortably under your belt.
Saying that, I try to categorize my progress in 2 ways. Mechanical and Conceptual. Mechanical skills progress is slow but progressive, all it takes is conscious repetition (conscious as in not in autopilot, you don't learn anything if you are not aware of what you are doing), Conceptual thou... that is what gives you the headaches as it often requires you to change how you think, progress in this is far more sporadic, but when it comes its explosive and completely changes how your art work looks. It takes not repetition, but analysis, reflection and study.
This is a good book that address the struggle : Art & Fear
>You have no idea.
I have every idea. Everyone goes through this in art. Every. One. There is a wonderful book out there called Art & Fear which goes over... Art and Fear. It is short, an easy read, and really quite helpful for learning how we approach art and what this does and the role fear plays. If you've got a library card or $10 I really recommend it.
It does you no good to try and get things perfect the very first time. They won't be. Accept mistakes as a foundation for the future. Look at the undersketch guide and play around with seeking marks out. A clean piece of paper means nothing as far as learning art goes.
FORCE YOURSELF.
I'm on day um... 63 I think? I don't have my sketchbook on me at the moment, but I was challenged by a friend to do one drawing a day. No restrictions on content or detail. Just had to be in pen, and had to be daily. So far it's been FANTASTIC to just be in a position of "well, I don't wanna draw today, but I gotta get this done before I go to bed." It really beats the fear of a blank page out of you when you know that you MUST draw today, even if it's just abstract polygons.
Another recommendation is Art and Fear. It discusses what you're feeling on a very high level (it doesn't talk about technique at all, just things like motivation around the creative mind and thought process) and the book itself is short.
Doesn't seem like you're as interested in getting help with writing as you are in getting help with illustration.
Still, regarding writing, I strongly recommend reading Scott McCloud's two seminal books on comic books: Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics.
I learned as much about comics from reading those two books as I learned about film from reading Story, by Robert McKee.
I.e., my appreciation and understanding of both media forms increased exponentially.
conceptart.org has some good stuff, they make DVDs too. You could probably pirate them, were you a person of low moral fiber.
There are some good books out there too, which you can probably get from the local library. You might need to use interlibrary loan though, my local libraries have a poor selection of art books, but there isn't anything they haven't been able to find at another library.
Color in Contemporary Painting
The Art of Color
Mastering Composition
Abstraction in Art and Nature
The Art Spirit
Some people don't care about theory, but personally I find it inspiring. Art in Theory 1900-1990 is a good collection of writings by artists, critics, and the like. If you're weak on art history you might want to study some of that first, History of Modern Art is pretty good.
Inspiration is overrated. What you need is to get into the habit of exercising your fingers so your ideas can flow.
From Art and Fear:
> The ceramics teacher announced he was dividing his class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right graded solely on its quality.
> His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an A.
> Well, come grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity!
> It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Second tip from The Artist's way. Every morning write 2 pages of anything that comes to your mind. Anything. If it's nothing, then write 'nothing' until you fill 2 pages. According to the author this is one of the best way to shut your inner critic and start producing art.
I really recommend you find those 2 books and read them. They helped me immensely.
yay let's all be nice for the sake of being nice, you should take all criticism on board, just don't take it to heart, if you're creating something for yourself you shouldn't really care about the approval of others. read this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0961454733/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=9556644669&ref=asc_df_0961454733
The two most interesting books I've read on video games have been Tristan Donovan's fascinating history of the medium, "Replay: The History of Video Games". It is a very in-depth history that gets down into a lot of nitty gritty stuff about the birth of video games and stays very in-depth up until about the late 90s when it starts to go big picture. Still a great read.
If you're looking for something that's more of a critical piece, I'd suggest Brendan Keogh's close reading of Spec Ops: The Line, "Killing is Harmless". It's an incredible way to enhance your playthrough of what is already an incredibly emotional game. Keogh breaks down everything from the allusions to literature and film to the significance of scripted events in the game. The only advice I have is if you haven't played the game before and you try and read along as you play the game you do get hit with some spoilers as Keogh assumes you've finished the game when you're reading the book. Still def worth your time though.
Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but Marianne Mithun's The Languages of Native North America is perhaps a good place to start and definitely an amazing source of information.
I used to be an art zero, had the worst stick figures on the planet and I've had several shows in galleries. I knew someone who's hands permanently shook but was a kick ass painter and you'd wonder if other people were safe when she used an x-acto knife..
You need three things:
Additionally, your inner artist like a child. A child, to reach it's maximum potential, must always be challenged, must always play (that's a child's job), must be protected from the assholes of the world, and must not be given false, positive encouragement (they need to be told when they're not doing well enough... no trophies for the losers). You must practice. Don't ask your friends and family for art advice or critique. Ever. People who don't support you should not see your art. (Read The Artist's Way, Art & Fear, and The Art Spirit)
Ninja edit: Do not be afraid to use projectors and lightboxes until you get a firmer grasp on proportions and compositions.
Go to as many museums as you can and absorb. Be a sponge. It's also helpful to pick up some basic art history books to help propel you into learning about stuff which will open the door of what you didn't realize was even possible to like. Get a little education. Maybe start with The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes - see if that excites you (it sure got me going when I was 18). And draw and draw and draw. Fill sketchbooks. Copy other art you admire.
I burned my guru hat a long time ago. :) There are many more deserving people around here. I'm just loud af.
I do really hope you find something useful in there. Here's one more that might directly appeal to you.
Edit: Okay, I've broken one of my own rules of acknowledgment. Thanks for the prasie. :)
Aye! There's a really fantastic book that touches on the shift for a chapter, The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes. That point in art history is one of the most radical and blindingly fascinating shifts we've ever undergone culturally.
edit: Actually, $20-40 on Amazon is pretty steep. If you'd like, I could type out the relevant pages.
Depends on what the talk will be on. If it is analytic philosophy of art, which traditionally has focused a whole lot on theories of art, something like this would be fine. I also would suggest this, which I really enjoyed. If the focus on more on other aspects of the philosophy of art, then you might be better off looking in a different direction.
It's not too tough to keep going.
Architectural programs like Rhino have made it so we can digitally reconstruct architectural spaces.
The internet itself has totally changed how research is done (as it has for all fields), so CAA reviews is now easily available for the latest art history books to be peer reviewed. Or ArtPrice catalogs what has been sold at auction, for what price.
Scientific analysis of, say, paint, materials in general, have revolutionized methods of identifying and proving the provenance of given paintings. And that is really only the beginning. Check this out: http://www.metmuseum.org/research/conservation-and-scientific-research
3-D Printing has already been mentioned.
Margaret Livingston (Harvard, Cog Sci) just wrote a whole book in which she applies the latest scientific explanations of vision to art history, explaining a number of ways in which the Impressionists / Van Gogh / The Mona Lisa achieve affects that play between different levels of vision.
http://www.amazon.com/Vision-Art-The-Biology-Seeing/dp/0810995549
This is all off the top of my head -- this question needs to be more specific!
I am most familiar with the climate changes of the Medieval Warm Period (ca. AD 800-1200) and the Little Ice Age (ca. 1200-1900). Some great pop science books about those two have been written by Brian Fagan: 1 and 2. For modern climate change, if you are really wanting to get in depth, you can check out the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report. I realise that present-day climate change is an incredibly controversial topic among some sectors, so keep in mind that there are lots of competing viewpoints out there.
Please let me know if you want something less pop science-y about those two past events -- I've got some great textbook and article recommendations too for the specialist.
Well, then I recommend you read this book so that you'll ready for the possible coming apocalypse: The Little Ice Age.
It's a great read. You can follow it up with this: The Long Summer.
I know how you feel, it’s really difficult to put yourself out there. Creations are intimate expressions of the self. Erykah badus quote “Now keep in mind that I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my shit” always reminds me that sensitivities ARE vulnerabilities. You are being vulnerable. You have to give yourself the credit where it’s due. I think the issue is fear like how you say you’re terrified- fear of rejection, fear of being misinderstood, fear of the feeling of exposure. The book I linked might help you. Your analysis of yourself is great, but also too harsh. One thing that you can change and that you do have control over with enough discipline are your thoughts. Get out of your head, as lame as that sounds. Really though, no one can do it but you. Positive thinking practices will help you, whether it’s clearing your thoughts through meditation or exercise, positive affirmations, or just really shutting your pervasive and invasive thoughts down. Use that strong mental energy you have that you’re using against yourself and put it into your work and what you love.
another thing I would add to your chart though is it having your moon in the tenth house. Something more for you to research and reflect on. When you’re in the public eye, you can get emotional, negative or positive emotions. There are ways around this. There are many artists who stay in the background and let their work speak for themselves. I know a big part of being an artist in a way is selling yourself, but really the people you need to sell yourself to are the people who are going to display your work. You can still be your low key public version of yourself in the art world and have your work shine.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez is pretty great.
Not as film related bur more related to the artistic process is Art and Fear. I highly recommend this to everybody I talk about art with. It's a great book to take notes in and destroy with highlighters.
I had actually just finished 'The Bell Jar'. It was very interesting and sad. I have conflicted opinions on it.
Just started reading On Ugliness, the complementary book to History Of Beauty. Since I have an attraction to grotesque, I love it. Usually there isn't an actual discussion on ugliness, only as contraditction to beauty, so it's incredibly interesting, imo.
Edit: Oh! also fanfiction.
I read a great book called Art & Fear.
There's a section where they talk about the teacher of a pottery class. At the beginning of the semester he divides the class in two. Half of the students will be graded on the quality of their work. The other half will be graded on the quantity of their work. I think he actually graded that second group's work by weight.
The crazy thing is, the students who were judged by the sheer volume of the work they produced also happened to produce the highest quality work.
I always thought that was an enlightening story. Great book by the way; short and sweet. Here it is on Amazon.
It's not exactly what you asked, but you would probably really enjoy The Shape of Ancient Thought by Thomas McEvilley. "Spanning thirty years of intensive research, this book proves what many scholars could not explain: that today’s Western world must be considered the product of both Greek and Indian thought—Western and Eastern philosophies. Thomas McEvilley explores how trade, imperialism, and migration currents allowed cultural philosophies to intermingle freely throughout India, Egypt, Greece, and the ancient Near East."
https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Ancient-Thought-Comparative-Philosophies/dp/1581152035
Ways of seeing by John Berger. A great book on visual communication.
How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul by Adrian Shaughnessy. The title says it all.
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. My go-to book on typography - covers everything related to typography with beautiful detail.
Well if you like the Peredvizhniki: check out Vereschagin: he was a war artist, embedded with the troops and developing a really intense realistic form (I think of his as another Russian Courbet): e.g. Apatheosis, Road of the War Prisoners
Russia has had a long and turbulent artistic history in the last two or three centuries, and there is no one essence or spirit of an era or area. However, if you have specific questions I can answer them: Russian 20th century art is my area of expertise is (with an emphasis on the 1970s) I can probably recommend some good books ;)
What are you interested in specifically? Late 19th century? The avant-garde? Stalinism and socialist realism? Nonconformism and the underground? Natasha's Dance is a good cultural history of the 19th century and early 20th while Everything was Forever until it was no More is good on the post-war culture.
If you think pankration is interesting, I recommend this excellent book. It's a work on combat sports in the ancient world, including pankration.
There's also an interesting series of articles that came out recently that discuss 'interpretive' systems like pankration and their place in the martial arts community. Worth a read if you wonder about how and where these 'dead' arts come from.
Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing seems right up her alley and I'd also recommend The Artist's Eyes: Vision and the History of Art.
You can try Durer, a coffee table book from Taschen, these guys make absolutely gorgeous books, I have a Dali book from them, but I'd go with one of the above books coupled with a card with the prints Sparklebunny suggested and you're golden :)
This pretty much covers it.
(Actually a really great coffee table book.)
An excellent source on disentangling martial arts legends and actual history is Meir Shahar's The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial arts.
In it, he discusses the development of the Shaolin temple's unique styles of staff play and empty-hand boxing, and argues that while we have references to Shaolin monks participating in combat as early as the end of the Sui dynasty (581-618CE), it isn't until the Ming (1368-1644) that there are attestations of a style of practice specific to Shaolin.
He also spends a significant amount of time on the historical inspiration for legendary masters, with sections on Cheng Zongyou's staff method, Li Zhishen (the "tattooed monk"), Huimeng, and others.
With regards to your "wandering warrior" question, there was a long tradition of staying to the "rivers and lakes," and yes, there were itinerant martial artists who gave rise to legends. One of the most famous Chinese novels, The Water Margin treats this subject.
I can't recommend the Meir Shahar book enough, though.
Honestly if you don't know what they need from asking them, a gift card to Amazon. I'd much rather have that and spend it on what I need or whatever G.A.S. tells me I need than to receive a piece of kit that I didn't choose. I don't mean to sound rude, it's just that I rather prefer researching and choosing my own gear.
If you absolutely must, though, I recommend a book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1907708952/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817439390/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961454733/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159711247X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312420099/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Or a notebook for taking notes while out shooting, scouting, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8883701127/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The History of American Graffiti. Best one your gonna find lit wise
https://www.amazon.com/History-American-Graffiti-Roger-Gastman/dp/0061698784
Pretty fabulous list! I would've tossed in John Berger's Ways of Seeing and some Jung, though. Penrose's Road to Reality has been in my "to read" queue for ages.
If you liked this, you might like Ways Of Seeing by Berger, a classic art criticism text:
http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Seeing-Based-Television-Series/dp/0140135154/
Pretty eye opening to people like me who had never been exposed to the thought processes that go into making art and the formation of different movements in art.
Great description. I see someone who has seen successes and just as many failures, but still continues on with his life's work. He looks like someone who has seen enough to know when to keep his mouth shut and just observe. This image makes me think and art that does this is worth something.
Struggling with the worth of your art is the price we pay for making art. A good book on the subject (required reading from an old art teacher): https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
Yeah I took it this morning. It's a page from this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Sports-Ancient-World-Competition/dp/0300063121
It's a good read if you're interested in both martial arts and history.
I just got done reading The Art of Fear for the umpteenth time and every single time it gives me a reason to continue doing what I am doing and to never compare yourself with those around you and realize that every other artist out there has the same anxieties that I do in creating content. It is a wonderful book and I immediately recommend it for artists of all levels.
If you want more fun aesthetics of ugliness reading and think you'd be interested in a super visual take with a heavy focus on classical painting, check out On Ugliness by Umberto Eco
Would definitely recommend giving this a read:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
Seriously check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0961454733/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/177-0522209-0333918
It addresses a bunch of different issues that artists battle while making work. Super easy to read and one if the most helpful things I've read in life.
Some books:
Fairly sure that Qi Magazine can now be accessed online for free, and the Journal of Baguazhang.
Seriously, get that book. It's much better than my paltry words. I bet it's highly likely that you will end up like me: I'm on my 10th or so copy, as I've kept giving away mine to whomever has expressed artistsic doubt and just getting a new one. Most of the folks I've given it to have followed the same practice. It really helps.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
How so? The handle lengths given in Khorasani, Arms and Armor from Iran seem normal enough, rather than "very short". As long as the hand fits between the pommel and guard, it all works. Median hand breadth for adult military age males is about 9cm, so shamshir hilts seem to be plenty long enough.
>I feel like absolute shit about myself now. Mine was the only paragraph no one had anything good to say about. I don't think I can continue with this story now, but I don't know what else to do.
Uh, oh! Better give up now, because everyone knows that the first paragraph you have looked at is the best you can do, and nothing that follows that one paragraph will ever redeem that mistake.
Are you complaining because no one complimented your clearly brilliant paragraph, or did someone genuinely criticize it? When you ask for critique, you want someone to say something negative about your work. You ask for critique so that you can become better at your art, not bitch and moan because no one gave you a pat on the back.
Misery is a writer's most faithful companion; channel it into something productive, or get used to feeling like shit because you decided to get butt hurt over someone's criticism and quit as a result.
Edit:
If you want to write and learn from criticism, I recommend reading a book called Art and Fear.
Different strokes for different folks. Depending on their learning style, some love Loomis but hate Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or say Keys to Drawing didn’t help them a bit. Truth is, most artists eventually read them all and use portions from each of them.
My personal reading focused more on the philosophy of art. I wanted to learn the traits and mentality of a successful artist and why they do what they do.
Books by Steven Pressfield:
The War of Art,
Do the Work,
Turning Pro.
I also re-read The Art Spirit by Robert Henri.
I've never watched the BBC series which John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" was based on, though now that I see it's avaiable on YouTube I'll vertainly watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnfB-pUm3eI
The book was clear and illuminating. I've re-read it just for the enjoyment of it.
http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Seeing-Based-BBC-Television/dp/0140135154
The best book, by far, is The Languages of Native North America by Marianne Mithun .
It is dense, but a book of this scope needs to be. Nevertheless I do think it is accessible to the interested layperson.
My only in-depth exposure to Russia comes from this book and I can see a lot of similarities. Russian intellectuals enjoyed thinking of Russia as a Eurasian cultural force even when it wasn't. They REALLY wanted it to be and apparently still do.
The Art Spirit by Robert Henri. Amazingly articulate for an artist.
Letters to a Young Poet was ineffably helpful in learning to hold loneliness/solitude as something valuable. One of the most insightful books I have read. And it is extremely short.
Not to derail from this particular discussion, but if you're at all interested in Spec Ops: The Line, check out "Killing is Harmless" by Brendan Keogh. You can find some great excerpts from Google.
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Harmless-Critical-Reading-Spec-ebook/dp/B00B9P2WP6
Absolutely.
For those interested in the inter-connections between early Greek and Indian philosophy, I can highly recommend Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought
It's not strictly a design book but I recommend
Vision and Art : The Biology of Seeing
http://www.amazon.com/Vision-Art-Margaret-S-Livingstone/dp/0810995549/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250871278&sr=1-1
Edit: link got mashed up...
The documentary "bomb it" goes into a lot of the early history, and the book the history of american graffiti are great places to start. Information is scattered all over the place, as you might imagine from an artform which is temporary and whose culture is handed down through word of mouth from one generation to the next.
Two things: For history and high culture, you want "Natasha's Dance" http://www.amazon.com/Natashas-Dance-Cultural-History-Russia/dp/0312421958/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420918749&sr=1-1&keywords=Natasha%27s+dance
For a detailed look at basically every aspect of Russian everyday life and worldview (everything from historic army uniforms to the culture of medicine to folk tales and superstitions), "The Russian's World" is where it's at. http://www.amazon.com/The-Russians-World-Language-Edition/dp/0893573809 The 2nd or 3rd edition will be much cheaper, but the information I got from my older edition (published 2000) about basic daily life was pretty outdated when I was in Russia (2012).
I summarised this from "Arms and Armor of Iran"
https://www.amazon.com/Arms-Armor-Iran-Bronze-Period/dp/3932942221
This page by a Kiel faculty of Engineering student is also useful.
https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_a/advanced/ta_4_1.html
This is the paper that lead to the discovery of the importance of vanadium and other carbide formers in wootz:
https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9809/Verhoeven-9809.html
And here's a streamlined, updated review
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11837-018-2915-z
Ναι αυτό εννοώ. Κρίμα.
Καταλαβαίνω ότι το comic είναι πολύ δύσκολη υπόθεση. Το πόσο δύσκολο είναι το κατάλαβα διαβάζοντας τη σειρά βιβλίων του Scott McCloud "Understanding comics: The invisible Art", "Reinventing comics" και "Making Comics". Δεν είχα ιδέα από comics ως μέσο και μου κίνησε την περιέργεια μία ομιλία (keynote address) του McCloud σε ένα συνέδριο που είχα παρευρεθεί. Awesome stuff!
Yep, here we are: this is the entrance to the rabbit hole. I really don't want to start the never ending debate about what is ugly and what is beautiful, and how my ugly is your beautiful and vice-versa.
I'll just attempt to explain what I said by asserting that I find this beautiful (just as its curator intended, I would suspect).
What I mean by "ugly" is that which is valueless on any (or almost any) sane scale (of course, I have just invited you to call me out on the "sane" bit). That which is no way admirable, if you will.That which is forced, uninspired and uninspiring, lukewarm. That which screams "I should not have been created". That which does not belong.
I'm sure I've failed in my explaining, but it's OK. I've gotten used to it.
Sometimes quantity leads to quality tho:
> The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.
> His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".
> Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.
> It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
From Art & Fear
there's a book that may interest you called "art and fear." i like to listen to the audio sometimes when i'm not motivated to draw.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511550560&sr=8-1&keywords=art+and+fear
so this book basically did all your work for you lmao. It includes the history of every individual city
Pirahã is fairly analytic. While there are a good amount of suffixes that mark modality and aspect, there are no agreement patterns and those suffixes (I think) only have distribution in VPs. See The Handbook of Amazonian Languages vol. 1, 1986 for details. In addition, Mithun 1999's The Languages of Native North America reports that many of the Inuit trade pigeons were/are analytic.
Another good book is "Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing" by Margaret Livingstone (http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0810995549)
Now go pick up this book for 5 bucks, it's an amazing in depth analysis of the game.
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Harmless-Critical-Reading-Spec-ebook/dp/B00B9P2WP6
Of course it's not just about the art, just as any medium is not purely about aesthetics or entertainment. It is however completely and utterly idiotic to generalize an entire communities like you seem to think you can.
>It's about going out and bombing.
Bombing? Really? Wow... holy shit, who do you think these people are? ISIS? Yes painting on something without having prior consent of the owner is illegal; I don't deny that at all. But firstly not all individuals who practice graffiti leave their work on the street, loads of people put it to practice at home on canvas. It's a style of painting, deal with it. Secondly as I said before of course it's not all about the art, everything is done to convey some sort of message. For example, you refusing to acknowledge the simple fact that graffiti can be legally produced and in a professional setting. Lastly Lumping all graffiti artist in with terror groups is the same caliber of generalization and statement that particularly conservative Eco groups hurl at industrial organizations. Yes it is true that industrialization is hard on the enviornemnt, if and when it it done right the benefits far outweigh the minuses. Same with graffiti, yes if left unmanaged it can cause great damage. But as any mural or gallery can show you, management of impulse ultimately leads to a nicer space for us all.
And with that I refer you to this book: http://smile.amazon.com/History-American-Graffiti-Roger-Gastman/dp/0061698784/ref=smi_www_rcolv2_go_smi?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
I HIGHLY recommend everyone check out this book if you want to read more:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B9P2WP6?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1
Have you read the e-book "Killing is Harmless"? It is a "critical reading" of the game that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Line, as a thinking experience around games and what they can be is just a magnificent thing. This book made it better.
Link to the book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Harmless-Critical-Reading-Spec-ebook/dp/B00B9P2WP6
What I wish someone gave me when I was 11:
Jack Hamm for general drawing skills
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/drawing-the-head-and-figure_jack-hamm/250060/?mkwid=sZCn7b9PK%7cdc&pcrid=70112899992&pkw=&pmt=&plc=&gclid=CjwKCAjwoKDXBRAAEiwA4xnqv0doVAWOVtxzsmsMnRgHRMv0_FHh3RPpLIZe_Utf-5F9iUxN0F7DkhoC4jUQAvD_BwE#isbn=0399507914&idiq=4114568
Scott McCloud series for comic book theory
https://www.amazon.com/Scott-Mccloud-Understanding-Comics-Invisible/dp/B004S2XK4O/ref=la_B000AQ1NPK_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525171935&sr=1-5
https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Comics-Evolution-Art-Form/dp/0060953500/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0060953500&pd_rd_r=9YT79QSGRNSNW8BV913G&pd_rd_w=9zwWY&pd_rd_wg=QoWMK&psc=1&refRID=9YT79QSGRNSNW8BV913G
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Comics-Storytelling-Secrets-Graphic/dp/0060780940/ref=la_B000AQ1NPK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525171935&sr=1-2
Along these lines, Umberto Eco's On Ugliness is fantastic.
There is also the companion History of Beauty
I have been meaning to read this book after I read a NYT article on the author but haven't got around to it yet (it addresses the commonality of Indian and Greek philosophy):
The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies
A video that might get you interested:
Thomas McEvilley on 'The Shape of Ancient Thought'
About the author:
Thomas McEvilley
NYT article
Edit: Also, check out this blog by Bibhu Dev Misra for very insightful/interesting articles:
Myths, Symbols and Mysteries
I am gonna be that guy...Thom took some poetic license here. He was writing fiction.
Theogenes was a real athlete but he boxed and practiced pankration in Greece. Pankration was kind of less structured. More like MMA. And this statue is from Rome. Greek Rome, but still.
The version where the boxers are strapped down and fight with spiked caestus came from legend, iirc. Most contemporary depictions show them standing. There were no rings, weight classes or anything like that, no rounds. Just surrender or incapacitation. They usually just hit the face and head though.
It is not at all clear that this statue is meant to be Theogenes either. He lived centuries before in Greece. This is a statue from Hellenistic Rome under Greek rule. Quirinal is one of the seven hills in Rome. Its where the modern Italian version of the white house is.
https://youtu.be/FvsSPJoJB3k
Khan Academy has a good video of this.
If you want a more in depth read on these guys, there's a book by Michael Poliakoff worth a look.
https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Sports-Ancient-World-Competition/dp/0300063121
I've heard of this book, has it helped you a lot? I have Art and Fear Same idea. Actually never finished that one. Can't even finish my books haha.
In the entire world, there is no one who can write exactly like me. Yes, there will be ideas, plots, and story ideas similar to mine, but I am my own unique voice that not even artificial intelligence can appropriately analyze and replicate properly yet. And we all only have limited time here to put our voice somewhere the rest of the universe can hear.
Oh, eventually, as you write more, you find out what intrinsically motivates you to push through all the blocks and BS. This motivator will be different from person to person. It won't necessarily come when you're writing, either. It can come very randomly, whether that be in other creative pursuits (reading other stories, drawing, music, etc), or just when you're standing in the shower, blah blah blah.
And if what I'm saying doesn't mean anything (no offense taken)...there's a lot of psychology behind the creative process and fear/anxiety, this book is an interesting primer onto that train of thought, often pops up on books for illustrators or designers to read.
I just found this guys website by accident and it's great, he literally wrote the book on manga and British comics and was the editor of Escape Magazine, the landmark alt comix anthology.
There's so much cool stuff! Look at this: http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/article/keiichi_tanaami
I dont understand the questions but i recommend this to the sub.
Talk about a good deal: the kindle edition is only 3 bucks! And you don't have to have a kindle to read it; they got PC and mobile apps.
This is just my personal suggestion as a reader, but... invest in sandwiches.
Whenever I go buy comics, I'm always so excited to start reading them as soon as I can... but I've never been in a comic book store that has places to sit. Instead, I have to go find a diner with milkshakes and give them my business instead. I've always thought that a comic book store with a small menu and a place to sit down after you've purchased your books would do way better. Customers would spend more, and people off the street would be more likely to come in.
also, I cannot recommend highly enough that you read this book. I think everybody who's into comics should, but somebody starting a business especially.
Hi Nikolai,
This video is directly from the Zen monastery you saw in extreme pilgrim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn-M9IyNMTk and may be of interest.
For a literary dry history of Shaolin and martial arts, Meir Shahar wrote a recent book summarizing a good amount of information and is a good start on the topic : http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/082483349X
Note that his book is not from the point of a practitioner, nor from one steeped in the cultural nor social conditions in and around the temple, let alone in Chinese society.. there's a lot to be said about Chinese oral history, destroyed records, cultural shifts in the past 50 years, and language difficulties that make the subject hazy and complex.
There's also mixing between "shamanic" and qi cultivation practices associated with daoists and early Chinese Buddhist practice, where Zhen Qi cultivation becomes a similar theme, and one of the practices involved in the video above (dissimilar to the other fighting/krav maga you're mentioning). So yes Qi cultivation had been around since before Bodhidharma in China and early practitioners applied various qi concepts and methods (although no evidence any came from or were associated with Bodhidharma)
A person (including you) shouldn't judge your initial efforts and exercises in art any more than they would judge the worth of a mathematician on the practice problems in his old algebra textbook.
That being said, don't let your perceived lack of ability keep you from tackling projects you're interested in because you feel you need more practice first. Keep practicing but don't be afraid to say what you want for fear of technical ability.
Some books:
The Natural Way to Draw
The Art Spirit
Art and Fear
In 2008 Meir Shahar, from Tel Aviv University published a fantastic book on exactly what you're interested in.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Shaolin-Monastery-History-Religion/dp/082483349X
There's also Peter Lorge's book (history prof at Vanderbilt), Chinese Martial Arts, an overall history of the subject to which Shaolin is pertinent but tangential.
http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Martial-Arts-Antiquity-Twenty-First/dp/0521878810/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=002H816HNWXX66N4P46H
Most everything written on the subject is hagiography, but the above two are works of history, if that's what you're looking for.
There are two resources I would recommend you take a look at.
The first is Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley. It is a tremendous resource for learning about how your brain works, and it has an entire section devoted to procrastination.
The second is the book Art and Fear. It's focused mainly for artists, but there are many parallels with creating in general. Given your fear of failure, I think it would be a great resource.
Ways of Seeing is so, so good. There's a book, too - well worth it.
These are just about my favorite art books.
The Art Spirit by Robert Henri
What Painting Is by James Elkins
A Giacometti Portrait by James Lord
Art & Fear is a good read on the subject.
This is something I need because I could use all the help I can get when it comes to artwork. Its my primary source of income at the moment, so anything that could aid me in that would be spectacular.
Chuck Finley
If you would like to learn the reality of the Shaolin temple, consider reading
The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts
https://www.amazon.com/Shaolin-Monastery-History-Religion-Chinese/dp/082483349X/ref=nodl_
https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Sixty-Years-Japanese-Comics/dp/1856693910
^^maybe try and find book sources like this too
For those on group #1 (like me) I recommend reading "Killing is harmless" after finishing the game.
You should check out the book 'Art & Fear' by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
From my own perspective I have a pretty similar background. I picked up drawing fairly easily in grade school and kind of lost touch with it and never developed a real solid foundation to my art skills. I'm going back now and starting entirely from square one. It's hard to have that image of your past self's skills get kind of shattered, but once I realized I needed to put in a lot of ground work to get good I started really enjoying everything I was learning.
I still get the apprehension of spending time on a drawing that I might not like in the end but I realize every drawing I make I get a step closer, even if only a tiny one, towards being better able to do what I'm trying to. Try not to draw for the end result. Try to draw because it's something that you enjoy. If you tell yourself you're not going to enjoy it and it's going to be bad, well then you're not going to enjoy it and it's going to be bad! Stop worrying about how good your work should be and just put pencil to paper and learn because you want to.
Hope you find the path you're looking for!
The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith
The Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan - insightful/informative book about the role climate change has played in human civilization
>Any literature would be great.
"The Shape of Ancient Thought" is a very detailed comparison between Indian and Greek philosophy starting with the first sources available. Some of McEvilley's arguments have more evidence than others.
https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Ancient-Thought-Comparative-Philosophies/dp/1581152035
read Fear of Art.
its an absolutely excellent (and cheap) book that talks about why so many artists have fears and doubts and why that so often leads to giving up.
https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Ancient-Thought-Comparative-Philosophies/dp/1581152035
Highly recommended!
The Languages of Native North America is still the classic introduction to North American languages. Although more work has been done, the basics haven't changed.
https://www.amazon.com/Languages-America-Cambridge-Language-Surveys/dp/052129875X
Of course, you'll need something more specific for a paper topic - just listing information isn't a good approach to a paper. Also, it's not particularly productive to look for sources until you've come up with something more specific. There are a lot of sources on Native American languages out there, and what's useful to you will depend on your topic.
Such a good post! Yeah there are many styles/movements/cultures in graffiti and I know there are a lot of separate websites and books id recommend, but I cant think of anything compiled in one place.
Here are some good general knowledge links:
Style Wars - Doc that inspired a generation of writers.
https://youtu.be/f9KxbaSU-Eo
History of American Graffiti - This book is a bible. Outlines history and breaks up style by city.
https://www.amazon.com/History-American-Graffiti-Roger-Gastman/dp/0061698784
Other links:
12ozprophet.com/forum
Robotswillkill.com
Carnagenyc.com
http://tagsandthrows.com
https://youtu.be/TBXbYZKCI7U
Maybe ill compile a bigger list later. You wont find a good answer to your question, i suppose the style you posted would be a throw-up, cant get more specific really.
I am printing the hell out of this to put on my wall.
For people that are interested in Native linguistics, I would definitely recommend acquiring: Mithun's The Languages of Native North America
I have a quick read of this little book whenever I feel like I'm in a cul-de-sac.
Art & Fear : Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
From the back cover
Art and Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way.
This is a book about what it feels like to sit in your studio or classroom, at your wheel or keyboard, easel or camera, trying to do the work you need to do. It is about committing your future to your own hands, placing Free Will above predestination, choice above chance. It is about finding your own work.
There's a few books that are good for understanding how design works; John Berger's Ways of Seeing, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, and anything by Stefan Sagmeister, Steven Heller, Michael Beirut, Jessica Hische, Adrian Shaughnessy...
Check out publications like Eye magazine and Creative Review.
No doubt from looking up any of these you'll find oodles more too.
Also, the best way to learn is to work with designers, ask them questions, find out why they do something. Have a critical mind though, there's some awful designers out there.
I'm afraid I don't have many resources specific to UX/UI. I studied graphic design at university so I really just apply my understanding from that, but there's loads out there.
The Shock of the New - Robet Hughes
Compulsive Beauty - Hal Foster
On Photography - Susan Sontag
Surrealist Manifesto - Andre Breton et al
Illuminations - Walter Benjamin
In addition to yumchoumein's books, Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought addresses at least your related question. Obviously, information about Eastern influences on Presocratic thought is less abundant than Eastern influences on post-Socratic thought (not that information on the latter is abundant). If the latter interests you, though, see the Gymnosophists and the following tidbit from this entry on Cynic influences:
>Perhaps of importance were tales of Indian philosophers, known to later Greeks as the Gymnosophists, who had adopted a strict asceticism together with a disrespect for established laws and customs.
This article - The Yogi who met Socrates - was one article that I read on this that seemed to capture it.
The Wikipedia entry on Greco-Buddhism seems to cover everything mentioned above, which I didn't realise until I had typed it, so it's staying...
I wrote a recent undergraduate essay on Heraclitus in which I discussed the similarity between his thought and the thought of the mystics, both Eastern and Western. Read Heraclitus's fragments amid a few Zen lineage texts and you'll be convinced of the universal character of the mystical experience, but I don't suspect Buddhism of having influenced Heraclitus.
Seconded, with the addition of John Berger - Ways of Seeing
The BBC show 'Ways of Seeing' which the book is based on is available streaming on Netflix and is worth the watch in my opinion.
I would bet only 1% of artists in any artistic field make enough money out of it to be worthwhile. You have to do it for yourself, not for other people, because (probably) nobody else is ever going to understand your art.
There is a book that might help you, though it doesn't focus specifically on music: Art and Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
There is a great, afternoon sized book, that covers this really well.
Art and Fear
Edit: Fixed link.
I've read it twice before but I wasn't ready. I'm closer now to being able to parse all the references and implications.
Have you by chance read Thomas McEvilleys "The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies"?
If anyone's keen on diving into the game further, there's a REALLY interesting short ebook called "Killing is Harmless" which is an in depth critical reading of the game https://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Harmless-Critical-Reading-Spec-ebook/dp/B00B9P2WP6
I hope this helps you out, its called the [little ice age] (http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_lia.html) it was when temperatures changed drastically for many years. The change as similar to what is is today. This is natural you are simply denying the facts. You ignored the evidence that he showed you, open your eyes.
More evidence for you:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/344106/Little-Ice-Age-LIA
http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/shared/articles/littleiceage.pdf
http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Ice-Age-1300-1850/dp/0465022723
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/lessons-from-the-little-ice-age.html?_r=0
You'd enjoy reading the one critical book I know on the topic of video game narratives, "Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line".
Except you have the choice not to play the game.
Edit: I'm sounding roundabout. The point they're trying to make is that when you claim you have "no choice" but to do something in a game you always have another option - stop playing. Take out the idea that you paid for the game and think more that you're just there for the experience. If you are doing something you think is wrong, why are you continuing to do it?
I'd also recommend the essay/short book Killing is Harmless which explores the game on a level-by-level basis and is a good, short read.
I remember feeling a lot of these same feelings. There’s a book called Art and Fear... it really helped me. Here’s a link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0961454733/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kW30CbH1NBXKJ
I recomend reading this aswell, after playing it: Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line
We actually know a fair bit about ancient boxing. I apologize, my book on ancient sports is on campus. However, we do have several accounts and lots of images of ancient boxing.
There are boxing matches in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The account in the Iliad is more impressionistic, but in the Odyssey (and I have read this in Greek), it sounds like a pretty technical description:
> Irus hurled a fist
at Odysseus' right shoulder as he himself came through with a hook below the ear, pounding Irus' neck, smashing the bones inside (here's the Greek - the hook could be Fagles' embellishment δὴ τότ᾽ ἀνασχομένω ὁ μὲν ἤλασε δεξιὸν ὦμον
Ἶρος, ὁ δ᾽ αὐχέν᾽ ἔλασσεν ὑπ᾽ οὔατος, ὀστέα δ᾽ εἴσω
ἔθλασεν).
Boxing remained a topic of poetry, occurring in Theocritus, The Argonautica, and the Aeneid.
As for pictures: we have [sculptures] (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Thermae_boxer_Massimo_Inv1055.jpg) (there are little Roman models that I couldn't find tonight EDIT: Found one!), and vase paintings ([1]http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/picEN/slides/P0011.jpg) , 2), and wall paintings.
To my mind, the images don't seem completely foreign. I think I know what I'm looking at, same for the literary descriptions. We do know the rules were different - They seem to have been much more constrained; the ref would push the fighters together rather than apart, and there's at least one story of a fight going into "overtime" in which each fighter traded one punch at a time in a "sudden death" mode.
I'm sorry my book is on campus. I've given a link if you want to look it up yourself or I can follow up some unspecified time in the future.
I encountered it in Ways of Seeing, but I don't think they originated it.
Ways of Seeing
https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Seeing-Based-Television-Penguin/dp/0140135154
It was based on a TV series from BBC
I think I found just what I've been looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Natashas-Dance-Cultural-History-Russia/dp/0312421958
I believe you should look at Art & Fear or The Art Spirit
Read this book.
Check out this scholarly book about the Shaolin The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts
Have your read Eco's History of Beauty?
Or his On Ugliness?
http://www.amazon.com/On-Ugliness-Umberto-Eco/dp/0847837238
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
Art & Fear if you haven't read it.
Read these:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
http://www.amazon.com/The-War-Art-Through-Creative/dp/0446691437
The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9P2WP6
A pro read
I'm going to piggy back off this post and recommend Art & Fear by by David Bayles and Ted Orland: https://www.amazon.ca/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733
It's a short read so it shouldn't take too much time from drawing.
The two things that really stuck out for me were:
The other thing that really influenced me was Strip Search from Penny Arcade: https://www.penny-arcade.com/strip-search/episode/artists-assemble
Mike's advice to almost everyone eliminated was to "draw every day". That really stuck with me and I've done it ever since. Making drawing a part of my daily routine is the only way I've managed to grow as an artist.
If this kind of thing is helpful to you I highly recommend Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It's a fairly short book, but it deal with the fears that surround getting down and doing the art in a very direct and personal fashion. It really helped me a lot when it came to getting going again.
Yes. FWIW, it's a reasonably common thing for creators to feel. A couple book recommendations:
The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes is a classic. He also made a TV documentary series of the same name, which you can find on YouTube.
Definitely grab Killing is Harmless by Brenden Keogh if you were really unsettled by the story. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B9P2WP6
You might appreciate Umberto Eco's book On Ugliness, and how it was historically associated with moral impurity/degeneracy. People who were visibly afflicted with an illness were often perceived as suffering from divine judgement for their wrong acts.
Yager did this in almost everything, there is actual character progression through the game. The squad actually looks physically beat up, the executions become more brutal, and walker's dialogue becomes more aggressive and unhinged...or more like a Gears of War character's dialogue...
I'll go ahead and leave a plug here for Killing is Harmless, easily worth the $5 if only because it is such a unique piece of game writing.
Art and Fear
The Art Spirit
The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Hatred of Music
Check out Art & Fear along with The War of Art.
Tons of good things to say about these books as someone whose perfectionistic brain has ruined many projects by screaming "worthless, pointless" over and over again.
Read the book "Art and Fear" (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733). My sculpture teacher in college made us read it and it's 122 pages of amazingly accurate descriptions of how many of us artists struggle with exactly what you described.
I had it too and eventually I started to realize that it was worth messing things up and labeling them as "version 1" so that in my mind I knew that I could make a version 2 if I wanted to. Doing it wrong is better than not even doing it at all because at least then you have mistakes to learn from.