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I loved it. I wanted this book for a while now and when I finally got it I was very happy.
The different personalities, types of expression, articles, and examples of work all add to the excitement of this book. Danny Gregory has put together a wonderful book full of variety. There are URLs connecting you to the websites of the different sketchbook artists. It's very freeing for the budding artist, because it frees you up to be the artist you are supposed to be. You learn you don't need to be like someone else. The book has a very pleasant layout, and I find myself picking it up time and time again just to browse, get ideas, and just enjoy. Well worth the money.
Every now and then you find just the right book you need to fill a hole in your life. This book is best summed up this way: A fascinating look into the creative process, and a good way to jump-start your own. But these full color illustrations are only half the story.
When I stumbled upon this book, I had something of an epiphany. I found it extremely inspiring to read about how these talented artists work, how they manage to snatch the time to sketch their thoughts, and perhaps most importantly, how making a sketch or watercolor of a scene in front of them actually allows them to better remember what they saw than simply taking a photo. In many ways, An Illustrated Life filled that bill for me.I'm a writer and editor (my latest book, The New Horror Handbook, came out a few months ago), and spend most of my time editing other people's work, with little time left to actually enjoy the process of creation myself.
The accompanying essays by the sketchbook artists themselves really spoke to me. Here were people every bit as busy as the rest of us, yet they had found another way of saving their thoughts and documenting the world around them. So many different styles are represented in this book, from astonishing water colors to simple cartoons to the strange illustrations of Robert Crumb.
If you've taken hundreds of digital photos of places you wanted to remember, only to barely remember them at all, you can see what a revelation this can be.Enough of my blatherings.
I would have love to see more pages on Everett Peck, Mark Fisher, and James Jean. Sketchbooks shows the creative process of artists and it's inspirational to see how others think and what they draw. I think this book has a nice collection of quite a few artists I am familiar with and a few I'm not. Other than that, I enjoyed the content and find this book to be inspirational. The only thing I didn't care for was the cover design of this book I am reviewing. I almost didn't buy this book because of the cover design (did not care for the handed lettering of the title), it looks like a how-to-do drawing book, not a collection of other artist's sketchbooks. There are a couple of other books similar to this that I like to recommend, "Drawing From Life; The Journal as Art", by Jennifer New and "Drawing is Thinking", by Milton Glaser. The latter is a wonderful collection of just one artist's works.
Since buying this book around 6 months ago, I've spent time with it nearly every single day. Over the past 30 to 40 years, I've dabbled as a hobbyist and enthusiast in oils, watercolors, acrylics, serigraphy, and illustration. Likewise, the amount of time I've spent with my sketchpad has greatly increased. In that time, I've collected a wide variety of books in those various topics. However, if I could only keep a single book from all of those, it would definitely be this one. This book is inspiring, motivating, and has eliminated many creative inhibitions and insecurities I've struggled with in the past. I simply can't rave enough positive about this wonderful book.
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