Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Having bought the entire AVA Academia range of Illustration books, I've read several of them already and know what to expect. It's a great series, however, Basics Illustration: Thinking Visually by Mark Wigan could have been easily improved with minor tweaking. Much of the information contained within is just echoed from "The Fundamentals of Illustration."
I understand that this is an 'introductory' level book, so I wasn't expecting anything life changing in it. The book has several areas where it lists further research for styles and contemporary trends in the industry. This is great; this is exactly what the book needed to deliver. The book also suggest projects for individual improvement as well as guidelines by which to judge and challenge oneself.
So why did I give it only four stars? (Really merits 3 1/2, but Amazon doesn't expressly give you that option.)
The writing seems at times lazy and cringe-inducing. Mr. Wigan is a good illustrator but is also a 'lister', and much of the text is one gigantic, unreadable, stale block of solid text with only commas for comfort. To ILLUSTRATE as it were, imagine if you were reading a 160 page book where most of the text was run-on, repetitive, redundant, listless, uninspired, overly didactic, systematic, expected, uninterrupted, rambling, dry, foreseen, bland, stale, robotic, programmed, trance-like, stagnant, blurry, unnecessary, echoing, monotonous, drivelling, homogenous, and mediocre.
To be fair, reading the last part of my review is a little too critical. It might have been the only way to condense the text, but the problem could have been more innovatively solved. This is one of the few series of books on the subject that is well developed and fairly continuous in its level of quality and visual polish. It's just the listing that marrs the title, severely, at times.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Basics Illustration: Thinking Visually
The first book in the Basics Illustration series, this book introduces and explores the challenge of the visual interpretation of text. Conceptual and interpretive illustration, experimental mark making, observational and intuitive drawing, the importance of visual metaphors, image construction, satire, the fusion of traditional and digital, research and archiving, cultural developments, and current issues--all aspects of the craft of illustration are presented here, with complete, authoritative text and visuals. Designed for students, but packed with thoughtful ideas and comprehensive insight, Basics Illustration: Thinking Visually provides a broad understanding of illustration in the context of communication design.
Click here for more information about Basics Illustration: Thinking Visually
0 comments:
Post a Comment