(Part 3) Best graphic design books according to redditors
We found 2,113 Reddit comments discussing the best graphic design books. We ranked the 708 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
My incredibly kind mom made this dress for me as a birthday gift :D! She used a combination of patterns from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book: three-quarter circle skirt, princess seam bodice with a modified boat neck, and modified basic sleeves. The fabric is raw silk and was bought at a craft store in my grandma's town, so I have no idea if it's sold anywhere else.
I just started down this path myself. Luckily my mom has a sewing machine and some basic knowledge of how to use it, so that's been really helpful. It's an old-school fully mechanical Bernina, not sold any more but it looks to be similar to the 1008 model. Really nice machine, fast, quiet, has a ton of built-in stitches, a button-hole-maker, and easily interchangeable presser feet, but it's also way more expensive than I would spend if I had to buy my own. Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations for entry-level machines. But certainly it's worth it to do some research on what it needs to be capable of doing. For example,
basic equipment:
patterns:
I was lucky and happened to want to get started at the same time as McCall's was having a huge sale, so I was able to get a bunch for $3 each. But usually they're more expensive. Do some research; there are good patterns, and shit patterns. Also, the instructions that come with patterns are universally crap. And by that I mean they're optimized for a combination of the lowest-common-denominator of sewing skills, and a minimal amount of print-space. Definitely read them front-to-back before you begin, but also supplement the included instructions with an ample dose of youtube videos.
I tried starting with a dress shirt; that was a mistake. Very difficult. (It didn't help that the pattern I got for it fell into the shit category, and I ended up needing to make a ton of modifications. McCall's M6044. Do not recommend.). I'm currently in the middle of my third muslin and it's starting to come out okay, but I still don't feel comfortable giving it a go with the good fabric. Fleece is very easy to work with; I just finished one that come out actually pretty decent, using the Kwik Sew K4032 pattern. It's got some challenging parts, especially the directions for the zipper pockets weren't very good, but on the whole way more simple than a dress shirt.
supplies:
I had a really tough time finding good sources of by-the-yard fabric online. I ended up ordering from califabrics.com. I'm happy with everything I got, but it's kind of a crap-shoot if you don't order samples first. Would recommend sourcing fabric locally, if you can, or at least order samples before you commit to a bunch of yards.
I got my zippers from sailrite.com. As you can guess from the name, they're very focused on nautical stuff, but they have a good assortment of YKK zippers that are way less expensive than anywhere else I could find. Good youtube instructional videos too.
Otherwise, I got some stuff from Joann's (check online first, sometimes they have online-only sales but let you pick up in-store), and random sellers on amazon (muslin was cheapest there, but the stuff at Joann's was much nicer, almost good enough to actually wear if you wanted to).
resources i've found helpful:
The most important thing that 99% percent of the photographers don't seem to know: if you want to make good photos consistently, learn the fundamentals.
Because a photo can be made in an instant, a lot of photographers work intuitively, without making any informed decisions about their pictures whatsoever. This is why a lot of photos taken without any training aren't appealing.
If you learn about composition, color, light, etc. like an illustrator or a painter does, you will be able to make repeatable successful photos. In the beginning, you shouldn't be overly concerned with sharpness, depth of field or your equipment. No, you should be concerned with how your photo looks at the most basic, fundamental level.
Since I started taking drawing lessons and reading books on color and composition this year, I feel way more confident about my photography. I make informed decisions that I know will work. I am able to analyze pictures that work for me, and I know why they work now. Thanks to drawing lessons, I can see a lot better, which is also a great help for retouching. I can think in terms of lines, shapes, forms, spaces, light, shadow. But the most important thing of all: I feel like I can reach the level of photography that I only could dream about last year, the high-end commercial automotive photography.
Some books that helped me a lot:
Believe me, you want fundamental knowledge to rely on, not a list of incoherent 'protips'. :-)
Bryan Garner's Redbook helps me to not sound like an idiot.
Matthew Butterick's Typography for Lawyers helps me to not look like one.
The Redbook sits on my desk, Typography for Lawyers is never far away.
Also worth noting: The guy who invented the "truth lasso" also invented the polygraph. That, and he was heavily into black leather and lived with his wife and his girlfriend. Simultaneously.
Moulton supposedly originally intended Wonder Woman to be wearing black patent leather, although I don't know that any sketches exist. I've long thought that if DC really wanted to reboot that franchise, they should skip the invisible plane and go straight for the BDSM gear. You know David Lynch would kill to direct something like that.
Further reading begins on PP. 78.
It wasn't exactly that cut and dry. He was super happy for the format change. It allowed him to have a half page to release longer, less constrained, comic strips. He did release some merch, a tee shirt and a couple years of calendars. Read a book on him last week...
https://www.amazon.ca/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855
Couple questions for you:
What are your thoughts on Ten Cent Plague? For those who are intrigued by that and want to read more, I really found this to be a great write up of the lead up to the comics code and all of the backlash that went across America in the comic book scare.
Also, what do you know about the comics ban in Bellingham, WA? I tried researching it, but there's just not a ton there it seems.
Cars
Photography
Comic Books 1, 2
Apple
LEGO's
American Football
PostSecret
Video Games
Vinyl
Warhol
Outdoors
Star Wars
Motorcycles
The Dark Knight
Paris
Interior Design
World Atlas
Banksy
Wes Anderson
Tribal Cultures
Playboy
Girls
Libraries
The Cosmos
The Beetles
Travel
Preppy
Steve McQueen
The Moon
Also, get a subscription to the Chicago Manual of Style online. Look up every stylistic question you come across and make no assumptions.
I think it's because sewing is predominantly female hobby, so pattern companies ignore menswear...
Burda magazine has some patterns
http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns?for=2&page=1
https://beta.burdastyle.de/shop/schnittmuster/herren
You can also try to learn pattern drafting with these books
https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Cutting-Menswear-Winifred-Aldrich/dp/1405182938
https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Menswear-Gareth-Kershaw/dp/1780670168
https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Menswear-Contemporary-Myoungok-Kim/dp/160901944X
I can't give suggestions on hand-lettering books yet as the few I have read weren't good...so I'm trying to find better ones. But check out Louise Fili and Jessica Hische for inspiration and of course Paula Scher and Sagmeister.
There are many other books so I welcome others to chime in and add their suggestions.
The Ten Cent Plague is a great history of the comic book in America. Specifically it talks about how the industry was hurt during the 50's do to a number of factors including the Red Scare.
If you are at all interested in the history of comic books may I recommend the 10 cent plague. It's an amazing book about the history of comics and politics in the 1950s. Great book. (Check it out) {http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004KAB5BE?pc_redir=1396134621&robot_redir=1}
Kerning is the individual spacing between letter pairs.
Tracking is the spacing between a range of characters.
So finding a medium between not squashing the letters is Tracking. Slightly different, definitely worth knowing the difference asap (I learnt this way too late on!)
Type Matters is a great little book on typography that is definitely worth a read
Someone is doing a documentary about Calvin + Hobbes":
http://web.mac.com/joelallenschroeder/DMW/dearmrwatterson.html
There is also a book about how it influenced one guys life:
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855 (the title is a bit misleading)
Lastly there is comic by a guy obviously influenced by C+H, both in style and substance called Frazz. It's fairly good too.
I wouldn't call them "trends" but rather "styles" or "ideas" but I immediately think of Minimalism or Swiss design in general will be around for a long time to come and likely wont ever go out of style.
The problem with trends is, they dont last long.
You guys really should read this book.
[100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design by Steven Heller]
(http://www.amazon.com/Ideas-that-Changed-Graphic-Design/dp/1856697940)
Hey, here's an actual example of this kind of thing, which happened in 1956. It wouldn't at all surprise me if the writers of Far Beyond the Stars had heard of Judgement Day, it's relatively famous.
There was a wonderful EC Comics story called Judgement Day. Rough plot is that an astronaut, representing a Galactic Republic, visits a planet populated with robots. Some robots are orange, and some are blue. There's no difference between the two apart from their colour, but one has fewer rights and is subjugated by the other. The astronaut decides that because of the bigotry on the planet, they can't be accepted into the Galactic Republic. He flies off, removes his helmet, and in the very last frame only, it's revealed that the astronaut is a black man. Fucking brilliant story.
The Comics Code Authority came back, and said that the character couldn't be black. Bill Gaines (president of EC Comics) went ballistic - that was the whole friggin' point of the story! After arguments back and forth, Gaines basically said 'fuck you', and printed the story unedited in that month's issue of Incredible Science Fiction. Which was the last comic book Entertaining Comics ever published.
So yes, a black space station captain would have blown people's minds in the 50s, and while there were some successes, such stories would have a very high chance of being rejected.
Source: The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare And How It Changed America by David Hajdu.
Destiny: Grimoire Anthology - Dark Mirror (Volume 1) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789091373/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4ULMBb433QZQJ
Well Craig Thompson also did Goodbye Chunky Rice, Carnet De Voyage and Habibi. As far as themes and plot go they don't have a lot of similarities (except maybe Chunky Rice) but the art is phenomenal in them and Habibi works with the Quran much like how Blankets spends a lot of time talking about Christianity.
As far as autobiographical comics go though, I'd suggest American Splendour (specifically "Our Cancer Year", "Cleveland" and "The Quitter"), A Contract With God, and Love And Rockets (try "Maggie the Mechanic", its not for everyone though, it has some scifi in this book but that kind of fades away as the series progresses to focus more on the characters and their relationships).
If you want something that experiments with the format of a comic book a lot you might want to look into Asterios Polyp, Cerebus (Jaka's Story and Church and State I & II are the highlights there) and the works of Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan is a good starting point). As I said though, these books, while some of the most brilliant comics there are, are very experimental and as such it helps to have some grounding in comics before you give them a try. I'd actually go so far as to call all three of these even better than Blankets though and I thought Blankets was great.
I've been on a total typography book binge recently!
Finally, I strongly don't recommend Type Matters! If you see it in the store you may be tempted - it's a very attractive leather-bound book with sexy black and red illustrations - but I found it to be overly simplistic. It also looks like there's quite a lot of reading to be had, but the vast majority of the text in there is all repeated sample copypasta. (And if I wasn't disappointed enough in the book, the elastic came loose on my copy!)
They might mean this.
Or her book.
Put differently: It may have been traditional, but it is now often an indicator of poor-quality paper. And I'm consequently embarassed for reddit for approving such an antiquated practice.
If you're looking for further reading on the matter, this is an excellent typographical guide. I keep it next to my Federal Rules.
http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job
http://creativemornings.com/talks/mike-monteiro--2/1
http://www.amazon.com/Business-Legal-Forms-Graphic-Designers/dp/1621532496
Decide what you feel is fair. You can always negotiate down. Think of the business agreement as a partnership, which is what it is. There is nothing dirty about it.
Gurney is a must have, yes, but also check out Light for Visual Artists by Richard Yot. It really goes into the science of how and why light works the way it does under many different situations.
Studying layout design would actually be a good start!
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I'm fond of the Non-Designer's Design Book, personally:
https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Non-Designers-ebook/dp/B00PWDFWEE?keywords=layout+design&qid=1540163316&rnid=2941120011&s=Kindle+Store&sr=1-3&ref=sr_1_3
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Design School: Layout is good too:
https://www.amazon.com/Design-School-Layout-Richard-Poulin-ebook/dp/B079N6HLQ2?keywords=layout+design&qid=1540163316&rnid=2941120011&s=Kindle+Store&sr=1-1&ref=sr_1_1
​
If you really want to get into it, a book on color theory wouldn't go amiss either. :)
> Logistically, how would I go about getting it developed, and on what should I be focusing most of my efforts? I.e., do I just look up local developers via Google search? Are remote developers viable? Should I aim for developers who have developed similar programs, (for example, say a team developed MyFitnessPal, and I want to develop a fitness-based app, do I go after them, too?). Another important question, what qualities, qualifications, experience, etc. should I look for? (beyond the common sense ones that I should know, like work ethic, chemistry, etc.)
Without details of your app, it's difficult to say what size of team you'll need. My recommendation would be to heavily screen the portfolio of any potential app developers. Any potential candidates should have at least several apps of good quality, and that were moderately challenging to make.
The candidate should also demonstrate (by their actions) that they are familiar with standard professional consulting practices; there should be a contract (I hear you know a lawyer) which clearly details the project including copyright (work for hire), final deliverable, kill fee, change orders, etc. There should also be a document 'briefing' describing exactly what will be delivered, when it will be delivered, and how much it will cost (the proposal). While there is some variation in the process, any 'professional' should do something similar since these processes help ensure that both the vendor (developer) and client (you) know exactly what you're getting into.
For a book which describes this in detail (useful to both freelancers & clients), read Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers. Unfortuantely, this series doesn't have one specific to software development, but the principles within are applicable across many industries. The book is very concise, so it's a quick read too.
> I wouldn't be involved in the nuts and bolts of programming at all. I would of course have input on layout, design, and function, etc.
Draw as much of that as you reasonably can; any information you can give will help with the initial design, and planning stages.
> I haven't even thought about cost or funding
Good and experienced software developers tend to be well paid. Perhaps not as much as lawyers, but understand it won't be cheap,
Lastly, don't forget marketing! Marketing is such a huge portion of many successful apps; simply having a 'good' app is rarely enough.
I got mine back in January. Looks to be out of stock on Amazon right now but says it’s coming back in a few days.
Destiny: Grimoire Anthology - Dark Mirror (Volume 1) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789091373/
The bad news: There are mountains of legal issues and risks an artist takes on with sharing that kind of information. Also there are many of variables from company to company, project to project: rendering package involved, in house tools, required techniques involved, client demands, time/money resources, final look goal, delivery specs, etc. Even if someone could provide production scripts, these factors make it an ineffective and possibly detrimental approach to learning.
The good news: You can start learning in much more effective ways that will actually prep you better for production! I agree with Bootylicious overall, in that you're going to get the most from making your own projects and learning to problem solve them as you move forward and hit unforeseen hurdles. Doing is the biggest, the most challenging, and the most important part.
With that said, it's not always enough to just keep trying without being equipped with the proper knowledge, you'll eventually come up against issues you can't solve just by pushing without outside information. But it won't be specific scripts that get you through these times either. Core, software agnostic, concepts are going to push you through your biggest obstacles and help you learn to ask/answer critical questions:
What image do I have? What do I want it to be? What are my resources? What approaches do these 3 answers allow for?
Assume that every company, every client and every project you encounter is going to be totally different, so learning to answer these will help make you a flexible, comp-rock-star.
Make a project with as clear of a goal as you can and start there, when you get stuck, or as you go along in general, learn from software agnostic sources that focus on the skills and theory, over sources that focus on a specific program.
I've included a few book links below + happy comping!
https://www.amazon.com/VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects-Procedures/dp/0240825187/
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Compositing-Film-Video-Production/dp/1138240370
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X/
There are books with boiler plate contracts for designers. http://www.amazon.com/Business-Graphic-Designers-Fourth-Edition/dp/1621532496
They are not a substitute for a good lawyer, but it's better than nothing.
Looks like maybe bleached e:
denimcanvas which you can then distress and dirty. You can then preserve that and get the "hard" layer by waxing it.This and this are good books for patternmaking. The second offers halfscale patterns that you can blow up and modify if you have access to a plotter.
Construction is going to be pretty difficult to learn, especially manipulating denim with a home sewing machine. You'll want to learn how to do a flat felled seam if you're working with denim. Unfortunately, the roping will be hard to achieve without a chain stitch machine.
I did it! I had sewn a couple dresses in highschool (10+ years prior), but hadn't sewn a single garment since. I had, however, been quilting for the last 4 years and so I felt like I knew my way around a sewing machine.
I used Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book which I borrowed from the library, and it was great! Super helpful and thorough!
(Oh, and I made it knee length, which also makes it way easier.)
Did it look a bit more homemade than some people would want? Yeah, I admit that it did, but I was pleased with it, I got to make EXACTLY what I wanted and I also only had 5 weeks between getting engaged and getting married (not shotgun, I swear!), so traditional bridal wasn't much of an option.
I did what u/Pancake_nips said (except I just took measurements and did some tracing instead of disassembling the garment) and it worked out pretty well. Here's a very useful sew-along.
It takes a lot more work, but you can make your own pattern from scratch. This book gives you directions on making a sloper, and then has instructions for several patterns based off of that, including jeans (and tops and outerwear too).
Hahahah, as a 2L I can say this is absolutely true and it was really frustrating to work under 2 partners that had two different viewpoints of the one or two spaces viewpoint.
Btw get this book: http://www.amazon.com/Typography-Lawyers-Matthew-Butterick/dp/1598390775
It's one.
There's a documentary called Dear Mr. Watterson (it was available streaming at some point on Hulu I think) and a book about the strip and Bill's artwork called, [Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip]
(https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855) that speak about licencing to some degree. My impression is that Bill sees his strip as an art form and wants it to be appreciated to some degree as such.
Also, I think he is/was concerned about the Pandora's box of allowing any licencing. The strip was active durring a time where people actually read newspapers. His net worth is calculated to be somewhere around 450 million. Tose calculations are rarely correct, but suffice to say I don't know that he needs to license his strip for financial reasons. He has had multiple multi-million dollar offers and has declined them all.
I don't know how much Waterson spoke about this directly. I think he made most of his statements durring conversations within the industry. It should be noted that Waterson was known to slip autographed copies of his books on to the shelves of independent bookstores, but stopped the practice after learning that the copies where being bought and re-sold at ludicrous markups.
Edit
Finally have some time to double back and finish out my thought. I don't necessarily agree with Watterson on his approach. I appreciate his willingness to take a stand on his rights reguardless of the financial 'loss'.
While all items are an encroachment of his intellectual property, I don't consider fan art to be the great encroachment that some people do. In short, I would totally use a Calvin coffee cup, but only if I bought it from an artist that shares the appreciation of the character.
Edit II
The book I referenced earlier cites a speech Watterson made in chapel 6 called, The Cheapening of the Comics. The speech is very blunt and frank. He doesn't condem all licinging directly, but does state that it is very rarely done well.
I learned from a book, Metric Pattern Cutting for Women. It was super helpful at understanding where to start with making a pattern and different pattern shapes. I will say that you should know how to sew clothes before jumping into this book because there is no provided glossary for the sewing terms. No need to be an expert sewer. Just know how basic garments fit together.
I have this book that I quite like. It shows you how to draft basic blocks, and then how to alter them to make other styles of clothes. IDK if it would be considered a beginner's book, but as long as you can follow instructions, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.
The price tag is quite hefty, but there are other editions of the book that are cheaper (and from what I can tell, they have almost exactly the same information - I have 2 different editions and I don't remember seeing much of a difference between the two)
How to Make Sewing Patterns also seems to be a good book; it seems to follow the same basic idea as Metric Pattern Cutting, but I think it's more simplified. The first book I suggested assumes that you know the basics to measuring and pattern construction, whereas this book starts from the very beginning and assumes you know next to nothing.
I've taken evening classes at a fashion design school. I hope to take more.
We didn't use a book but this book was recommended for slopers https://www.amazon.com/How-Draft-Basic-Patterns-Gross/dp/B014RV85SG/ref=dp_ob_image_bk . There's a companion book for patterns developed from the slopers. This book is also popular:
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https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Fashion-Design-Joseph-Armstrong/dp/9332518114/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538945180&sr=1-1&keywords=helen+joseph+armstrong+patternmaking
this textbook might change ya life
I started learning some HTML & CSS and got to the point where I began to build things but realised my designs skills were absolutely horrible. I took it upon myself to start learning design via books/articles and just practising. I think it's very important to develop your eye for design by looking at lots of nice UI's on a regular basis via places like Dribbble. I'm by no means a good designer yet but I've improved loads since I started learning and have even been paid a few times to do some design work so I can't that bad ;)
You/I might not become 'great' designers but you can definitely improve leaps and bounds with a will to learn and plenty of practice.
Here's my Dribbble profile :-
https://dribbble.com/mshanda
The book that started off my learning was The Non-designers Design Book.
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th-Designers-ebook/dp/B00PWDFWEE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1421701893&sr=1-1
There is also some older versions if you don't mind buying 2nd hand.
Check out the book Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick. There is a section in it about what you can do within the limits of pleading requirements that really help readability and presentation.
this will get you a lot of the background of Marvel
same company made one for DC as well but it's OOP now I believe.
but they go through a lot of the history of the big 2 in a pretty format.
The only qualification you need to be a designer is a good portfolio.
I’d just recommend The Non-Designer’s Design Book and literally any design book that looks interesting to you. https://amzn.to/2XJmQym (Thinking with Type is a favorite of mine.)
Watch documentaries about design like Helvetica. Sign up for Lynda to learn the software if that helps.
And then just start making projects, share them with other (better, ideally) designers for feedback, and never stop trying to make better work.
Hey, I'm a CG Lighting artist by trade, I'll let you know some good resources that have helped me.
As a lighter, your goal is things things, Setting the mood/atmosphere, Shaping (making sure you can make out forms of the scene), and Leading the eye (I feel like there is a fourth, but I can't think of it this morning lol)
Some good books to read:
Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
Light for Visual Artists (hard book to find, but worth finding a copy)
Digital Lighting and Rendering(new edition coming out soon)
Great resources to start and help train your eye, studying films is the next step. Picking apart scenes to understand how and why they lit the scene the way they did, studying photography is a great place to look as well.
Also if you can afford it, TD-U has a fantastic online course from a couple of great instructors to help you on your way of understanding CG Lighting. If you can afford the class it will be a great place to start. I took the class last year and it was an AMAZING resource, I didn't know anything beyond the technical understanding of lighting, this course really helped me understand the artistic side of lighting. The instructors are great and very helpful.
anyways, hope that helps, if you have any questions feel free to message me.
First I think you need to learn how to set type. This is a personal favourite book of mine that helped reinforce some of the basics I learned. It's laid out in a very simple and easy to digest manner. https://www.amazon.ca/Type-Matters-Jim-Williams/dp/1858945674
Here is a great tool for learning kerning and tracking. http://type.method.ac/
Below are a couple sites I found that have some decent tips for beginner designers. I think you could learn a fair bit from them, and after doing so go back to your work and really compare what they're saying to what you've done.
https://speckyboy.com/the-10-golden-rules-of-simple-clean-design/
https://designschool.canva.com/blog/graphic-design-tips-non-designers/
As for the work itself I'd say you need to really grasp the fundamentals before you can make anything that's going to look good, and it really shows here. Simplify your logo, and you might think it's simple enough as it is but it isn't. Remember that every single aspect of design must be thought through. Is there a reason you use such harsh sharp lines? Why the thin outline to suggest where the Huskies face is? Can you do without it? Should it be thicker? Also, especially when thinking about a logo, always make sure it is scalable. How would it look on a billboard, how would it look on a button? A good logo works in both, and yours right now does not. The colours you have chosen do not speak to a football team. Pink? Cyan? Why? To me pink, especially the one you've chosen, is wishy washy. It's feminine and soft, not something I want to think of when I think of a bunch of hardened warriors smashing into each other with intent to hurt. Not something I want other people to think of my team. I know why you did it, because they're ears, but you don't need to have that pink there to show they are ears. Just the shape alone can accomplish that.
Most of your images really clutter the design and don't seem to serve a clear concise message. Your choice of typefaces are really poor for what you're trying to achieve. Both of these things can be fixed but have to do more with a personal sense of design, and that is something you develop over time.
For instance the "Synergy driven ad". The typeface does not emit strength. It's a very poorly designed typeface that has weak attributes about it. It's thin, curvy, and round but not robust. Take a look at this Houston Texans logo you'll see something that exemplifies great design choices for both the logo and a great typeface that has the attributes you're talking about.
http://www.sports-logos-screensavers.com/user/Houston_Texans.jpg
As far as the text goes, it is laid right overtop the image in black. This makes it extremely hard to read. Remember that the function of type is to transfer information in an easy to digest manner. Your type should always be legible. In this particular case you could have made the typeface white, larger, and picked a more robust typeface, so perhaps a bold sans serif or perhaps a slab serif.
Here is a wonderful little website that has a bunch of unique typefaces that are all free. Start there and look all around the web and you'll find out just how many better typefaces there are.
http://www.losttype.com/browse/
As far as the wolves go, really ask yourself if they fit. Why that picture? Why not huskies since we're the huskies? Why not wolves hunting in a pack? How about no wolves and just the type speaking for itself? etc. I'm sure you asked yourself some of these, maybe even all of them, but the questioning shouldn't stop anywhere close to there. I think you could've accomplished just as much and then some by instead having the logo with those words. If this is about the huskies then let people associate it with the huskies and not a pack of wolves. In fact, there is no logo on the page to begin with.
This is a documentary every graphic designer should watch and you're no exception to the rule!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feZ3Mr42Ki4
I hope you don't get offended by anything I've said. I hope all of this stuff is helpful. Good luck!
I wholeheartedly recommend these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Panel-One-Scripts-Writers-Comics/dp/0971633800
https://www.amazon.com/Words-Pictures-Business-Writing-Graphic/dp/0770434355
There are some published:
https://www.amazon.com/Panel-One-Scripts-Writers-Comics/dp/0971633800/
https://www.amazon.com/Panel-Two-Scripts-Writers-Comics/dp/0971633819/
https://www.amazon.com/Words-Pictures-Business-Writing-Graphic/dp/0770434355/
As far as what the script should look like and the level of detail, this is the best advice/insight. Since it's an indie comic, you don't have to adhere to certain scripting rules outside of ones you create for yourself. It honestly depends on you, your artist, and your relationship with the artist. Always keep in mind that, for the most part, the script is FOR your artist. You're using it as a vessel to convey a vision you have swimming around in your head. If the artist just gets you and your vision, you might not have to write so much. If they don't, you might find yourself using the full script style a lot more.
Personally, I own a few books like this one. The linked book has examples from well known writers and in completely different styles.
Right now I currently write in this style. I believe Kurtis Wiebe recommended it in his AMA a few weeks ago.
Check back with us and let us know how things go.
I just found this pressed into a book on a shelf. It's from last summer's Heroes Con in Charlotte, so YMMV, but it'll give you a general idea of prices, turnaround, shipping, etc. I got a FF 48 and a Strange Tales 89 (1st Fin Fang Foom) signed by Stan and had them slabbed at the con. The company that handles Stan's appearances is the same company that handles signature verification.
As an aside, I got my oversized copy of '75 Years of Marvel Comics' book signed by him as well and they offer a really cool "hologram verification sticker" that verifies it's an authentic Stan Lee signature. So there are options if you wanna get something OTHER than a book signed (Funko, statues, action figures, etc).
If that's the case I would also highly recommend Craig Thompson's other works - Goodbye, Chunky Rice and Carnet De Voyage. They are not quite as awesome as Blankets, but there are wonderful. His forthcoming Habibi is getting good early buzz as well. I've got it on preorder, of course. After Blankets I'll buy anything Thompson puts out for quite some time.
He's never allowed C&H to be licensed for anything (save for one postage stamp and I think a calendar) so basically all the C&H merchandise that has come into existence is illegal or just knockoff. The idea for a movie/show has been pitched to him a million times and he always shrugs it off, partly because when it comes down to the voices, he wants that to be left to the readers' imaginations. While I've always wanted to see an animated Calvin and Hobbes too, I still have to respect the guy that created them and his decisions. This book sheds some light on Watterson and his thoughts regarding it. It's a good read if you're a fan.
I've taken several typography classes and I have a core group of books that I constantly turn back to for information. I'm a total typo-file and I've read a lots on the topic, but these are my favorites:
Tips on working with type
A good book on just some basics and a little history of typefaces
If you're interested in learning a little history
More history
The first book I mentioned is a really good resource. Sometimes it's easy to make type look too fancy, but it's important to remember that it doesn't always have to do all the talking. Sometimes it's the main dish, sometimes it's a spice added to the whole.
As far as the color theory goes, I don't have much to contribute. Figured it'd be best to just share what I'm familiar with.
Happy designing!
You are a painter!
Casually for 8 years is a significant amount of time. Even the grandest painters are, in the most basic form, just pushing coloured mud around with a stick that has hairs on it so....no more noble than that!
Anyway, there is no finish line to art, we are all on a journey whether we have had formal training or not.
I have had formal training. I have a bachelor's degree in art with a focus on painting and sculpture. I am currently a high school art teacher and I have a studio at home to keep up my work.
You should look at Alex Grey. His subject matter might not be what you are into but his colours and layering remind me of your work...or you of him.
You should also check out Betty Edwards book on colour theory. It taught me a lot about how to emphasize my colour usage. I LOVE bright bold colours in my work!
I'd recommend dropping a few bucks on a book like this
Thanks! Great job on your first project! I'm sure you'll be able to work up to clothes soon. My sister gave me this book the dress came out of and it's super helpful and confidence boosting! https://www.amazon.com/Love-First-Stitch-Demystifying-Dressmaking/dp/1611802342
"Type Matters"
Great book for it, made by a former student of my university & now is used as a teaching aid.
I ordered Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear, Bridal Gowns: How to Make the Weddings Dress of Your Dreams, and Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. The two wedding ones have been the most useful but they're very similar and tend to run together in my head. One goes really into muslins and the other doesn't care about muslins and is all about tissue fitting which is so weird to me. I'm sticking with the muslins. I think Couture does muslins and Gowns does tissue fitting. If I had to pick just one I'd go with Couture.
I would suggest coffee table books, DK puts out excellent material for us comic nerds. I think they are coming out with a new Marvel encyclopedia this winter.
EDIT: Found it!
I seem to get asked this a lot, but here is my list, posted here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/1uq58s/good_graphic_design_books_for_a_beginner/ceklj3y
> These are all books that I absolutly love, and bought for either personal use or to accompany different courses while I was getting my BFA in GD. I have seen some of them both are brick and mortar book stores, and college book stores. If you get a chance to see them in person before buying, leaf through them to get a feel.
>
> Megg's History of Graphic Design, absolutely essential to understanding where graphic design comes from historically. IMO the best GD history book on the market, at least the most encompassing. One of my favorites, was very helpful writing different papers and researching historical styles.
>
> Graphic Design School. Another great book, focuses more on design process and stuff like that. This one more walks you though being a designer. Gives tutorials on different things too, which is useful.
>
> Graphic Design Referenced is a really great book that is a bit of a hybrid. This book describes a lot of design terms, styles, and general knowledge while referring to historical and modern examples.
>
> Those three for me are really essential books for new graphic designers, I learned more from those three than I can express. Below are a few more books I really like, but might be a bit more advanced than someone just getting started might want.
>
> Another book I have used a lot, and almost included with those three is above. Thinking with Type. Really great intro into typography.
>
> More advanced even.
>
> How to be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul
>
> A Graphic Design Student's Guide to Freelance
>
> Hope this helps!
>
Keep in mind this is just a starting point. There are tons upon tons of inspiration books out there for graphic design stuff, not to mention educational books on all sorts of specialties. I love graphic design books, the hard physical copy of them. When I'm stuck on a project I like to flip through them, read a bit, and then revisit my work again.
Here are the books currently in my amazon wishlist, so I can't vouch for them, but I do plan on eventually owning them.
Wish List:
It's sloppy. I would definitely recommend reading up more on typography: http://www.amazon.com/Type-Matters-Jim-Williams/dp/1858945674
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568989695/
Some of your design decisions I don't see a purpose behind. Check out the Work section of your home page. You have your tabs and thumbnails in these dark grey boxes, but the tabs are actually separated from the thumbnails container. Why? They are connected, wouldn't you want to show that they have a relationship here? Going back to type, your header and tabs are pretty much the same size, yet one should be secondary to the other. Even ignoring that, the header may as well not be there because it's dwarfed by the boxes.
The pseudo bar chart of your software proficiency tells me nothing about your actual skills in these programs.
The level of execution here is not something I would expect from a creative with a degree. Keep polishing it up.
I am a big fan of these books:
One of them is Dark Mirror, and the other is just "Volume 1" What's the difference between them?
They do have a listing for it, it just says Unavailable
one of the best books in the subject
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Betty-Edwards-Course-Mastering/dp/1585422193/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417458569&sr=1-2&keywords=color+theory
I thoroughly recommend Love At First Stitch - it comes with some straightforward (but rather lovely) patterns and will walk you through how to read them, as well as techniques like seam finishing and zippers.
I can't believe no one mentioned sewing books yet. There are so many kick-ass introduction to sewing books out there now!
Most of these talk you through setting up your machine all the way to making some pretty nice garments. They are a must have. I'd go for love at first stitch if she's into quirky younger fashion and the collette book if she's a little more conservative. Both include a few patterns to start her off.
http://www.amazon.com/Love-First-Stitch-Demystifying-Dressmaking/dp/1611802342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418696695&sr=8-1&keywords=love+at+first+stitch
http://www.amazon.com/Colette-Sewing-Handbook-Techniques-Seamstress/dp/1440215456/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418696786&sr=8-2&keywords=colette&pebp=1418696800367
Two resources you need to read on color: http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719 and http://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419319385&sr=1-1&keywords=light+for+visual+artists
Lots of illustrations and examples, very easy to understand and yet both are no more than 250 pages. I have both of these books and they are great! I would also look at Cubebrush and Ctrl+paint. You need to definitely focus on color theory as well.
Along with learning these, also check out Andrew Loomis' books (Google Save Loomis to find pdf of his books for free). And this one -- > http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Andr%C3%81s-Szunyoghy/dp/3833162562/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419319599&sr=1-4&keywords=andras+szunyoghy
But once your learn color theory and look at the resources I suggested, you will definitely improve on your coloring skills. Gurney's may be aimed at painters, but it's for everyone really. I can't give much advice since I'm learning color theory but these results have been very helpful.
I would definitely recommend getting some beginner sewing books to start too. It will set you up so much better, so you're making beautiful things from the beginning, and will help you build skills. A lot of times I think beginners get over ambitious, try to make a fancy dress with a difficult (or inappropriate - quilting cottons are for quilting not dressmaking) fabric, get frustrated with fit issues and complicated techniques, and then give up. I think the Colette Sewing Handbook is great, although I think a lot of people on this sub don't like it for whatever reason. Tilly & the Button is more popular and is also fine. Both have blogs and sell patterns which you can use in addition to what's in the books. There are also tons of how-to's online, fitting books, other blogs, and more advanced books once you get into it.
Edit to add: I'm sure you can find these books or similar at the library too, and estate and garage sales are an excellent place to find cheap sewing machines, patterns, fabric, and things like thread and zippers.
If you’re making a muslin, you can experiment with how much to slash and spread. Because of the width of the sleeve, the cap doesn’t have to be as high as it is for a more tight fitting set in sleeve. Precise measurements are not really required, it’s more of an art than a science. They would just give a starting point. The sleeve pictured has the fullness added above the elbow, but you can do anything you want. I went to school for fashion design, but I still refer to my design book:
https://smile.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Fashion-Design-Joseph-Armstrong/dp/9332518114/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=
Study lighting a bit, I still have very shitty lighting myself but this book helped: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X
As for Arnold courses, the best in-depth tutorial that helped me understand it was : https://inlifethrill.com/mastering-arnold-cinema-4d-bundle/
Depends, on what you want to do. Render interiors? products? Mograph? I did them all and I still suck at pretty much all of them :)
Everyone has great advice, but if you want a pattern book to read over for future inspiration that's aimed towards vintage Gertie's books are fun! Some of the patterns are more difficult than you'd want to start with but circle skirts are appropriately vintage and also easy!
There are a lot of tutorials for circle skirts, but the easiest ones just have elastic as the waistband and come together in a few hours (it gets faster when you've done a few).
Assorted tips: Buy a bit of extra fabric at first. If you don't need it you can use it for something else, but if you make massive fuck ups (like I do ALL the time still) you don't have to worry about running out.
Don't be ashamed of your seam ripper. Sometimes things just come out wonky.
If you get into a project and just hate it, you're not obligated to finish it. It's a hobby. Set it aside and come back to it or frog it (toss it) later.
Don't be afraid to touch the fabric in fabric stores. Sometimes the print is beautiful but the moment you unfold a little bit of it, it's got an awful feel. Pick something you want to have on your body for garments! Use your current clothes or vintage ones you find as inspiration for what kind of feel to go for.
Pick up hand sewing tutorials too even if you're going to buy a machine. Everything benefits from a little bit of hand finishing (especially vintage hems).
Google EVERYTHING. Anything that doesn't seem clear, Google can probably find a video, tutorial, or different instructions to help you figure it out.
There is a book about this...kinda
I started to read it but then I just thought "mehh, fuck it" and threw it out.
A book like this http://www.amazon.com/Metric-Pattern-Cutting-Womens-Wear/dp/1405175672
will teach you to make all your own slopers, and alter them into whatever pattern you need.
And always use a mock-up (a practice piece in cheap fabric like factory cotton) to alter your pattern/sloper to your exact shape. The book I linked to has slopers with built in ease, but you can also get sloper draft instructions without ease, for even more control.
At my school we've been using Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong. While it's certainly been nice having a teacher walk through it with you, and do exercises together in class, I've also been able to figure some patterns out alone by using this book.
Peter David sells copies of his scripts. And there is this book.
Definitely sounds like you would benefit from creating your own patterns. Yay! I'm wading through a couple pattern drafting books myself right now, and while developing your own basic patterns can be slow, meticulous, and immensely frustrating, it's also hugely rewarding.
There are a ton of textbooks out there, largely written to accompany pattern making classes. This is a bit hard on the person who's trying to learn this in isolation, since so many of the books assume you'll have the extra resource of a teacher. (Might be worth seeing if there's a local sewing studio or community college that teaches patternmaking-- in-person instruction would be nice.) Don't be discouraged, though-- it IS possible to get there alone!
The standard text seems to be Helen Joseph-Armstrong's 'Patternmaking for Fashion Design.'. Connie Crawford, Donald McCunn, and Winifred Aldrich also come highly recommended.
Since all of these books are textbooks, they can be pretty expensive. To try a book before you buy it, see if your public library (or local university library, if you have access) can use Interlibrary Loan to get you a copy of any of the above. Depending on their rules about renewing, you might be able to get your basic pattern made before you have to give the text back. :)
You could also go the draping route. Since I'm completely ignorant on this subject, I'll only leave a link to Kathleen Fasanella's Saran Wrap Patternmaking Method, which produces a sloper without having to do any measuring. (Everything in Fashion-Incubator's 'tutorials' section is brilliant. If you enjoy painfully/beautifully methodical sewing and patterning instruction, you can lose yourself there for days. But I lose my train of thought. Ahem.)
No matter how you produce your sloper, you'll still want a real textbook to help you manipulate your first pattern into real shirts you would want to wear. The sloper is very basic-- it doesn't have buttons, fastenings, interesting seams, or even much extra room for moving. All that comes later.
It's also useful to have a helper on hand for the first projects in the book. Getting accurate measurements of your body is crucial, so you'll need to recruit someone who can be trusted with a tape measure. It's also useful to have a friend help pin and fit the bodice sloper. Ideally you would team up with a sewing buddy who also wanted her own patterns-- I just bully my husband into helping. ;)
Good luck! It sounds like a ton of work, and it is, but I'm a complete novice and I already have the freedom to look at commercial patterns, shrug, and say, "no, I would rather make my own-- I KNOW it will fit better."
You know AI, so this is really just about how to draft patterns.
There's a number of books on the subject, but for you (based on your post looking for men's sewing patterns) I would recommend
Patternmaking for Menswear by Gareth Kershaw: https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Menswear-Gareth-Kershaw/dp/1780670168
This will read as a shameless plug, but the patterns on makemypattern.com can be downloaded as an SVG that you can open in AI. This obviously does not teach you to draft them, but it does allow you to tweak them.
I feel that you will enjoy this.
I'm pretty sure I've seen typefaces that include ligatures (or at least, have something in the ligature unicode slot) that don't actually need them.
While I agree that typesetting should be done in software designed for it, not everyone has that luxury. I've had to typeset documents in Word because others needed to be able to edit it, or update it, and they don't have time to learn inDesign, let alone want to purchase it. Also, for many of the folk he wrote this for (his examples come from Typography for Lawyers), they barely have time to get the Word version written, let alone do any typesetting whatsoever. For such folk, baseline improvements are enough to set them heads and shoulders above others.
Of course, for those who have the situation, time and/or funds to spend on getting proper typesetting, Word is obviously not a good choice as its limitations and flaws will become obvious. But I feel that spreading baseline knowledge of typesetting, even in the worst program will at least make our pigs cleaner, smell a bit better and seem more pleasant to be around, even if they are pigs :)
That is true. In my group you can tell before auditions who will be playing what role. It's frustrating as hell sometimes but I don't do it for a prominent role or anything, dancing is my gig! :D
Yeah I hear you, sometimes I feel like a broken record complaining at my SO. But I know he'd rather have me talk to him that bottle anything up. And I worry alot about how other people see me, which I know is beyond silly because the only opinion that should matter is my own. There is a massive difference between constant moaning and you genuinely feeling down. I guess it can start with your realisation of that and then moving forward.
I read this book once, I didn't take on board all the philosophy it was spouting but there are some good bits in there too.
Try the writing down of things. It really does help you get a clearer picture of what's going on. I write in a journal every evening and I find it therapeutic. At one point it was the only way I felt comfortable communicating how I felt, but it gets easier to share after a while :)
There is a collection of comic book scripts by notable authors published in a book called Panel One. I got it when I became interested in writing comic books and was curious about the different formats and styles and it was definitely the best source of information on the subject I've ever had. It contains full scripts for full issues by Greck Rucka, Neil Gaiman, Kevin Smith, and more!
Sounds like you really want to help the guy develop professionally; and you also really want to use his work because you think it would sell. Great.
Numbers are hard to put out there without seeing his chops or the style you are asking for. Perhaps a base of, say, $500-$2000 per illustration with rights included so you own them, but with him cut in on the calendar (and other calendar year products) profits; so there is real potential and investment on his side. Then you have this great art to monetize in perpetuity and your friend has seen the light of using his talents — and, if you use the opportunity to teach him, become more comfortable with the process of doing so.
Those are opinions, this is advice:
Tell him you are interested and want him to write a quote. Tell him to base it on the Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines and Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers. It's okay to mention you expect consideration for your part in this opportunity for him, but let him know you want the ownership at the end of project. If he gets the books and builds a good quote in a few weeks, good sign — have him Xerox the pages he used to make the quote and you will learn as much as he.
Have a schedule carefully set up in case he flakes. First few concepts in two weeks to develop rapport and trust — then full concepts in four, line work completed and the first few finals for approval at six-eight, finals for approval weeks eight-twelve, revised finals in sixteen. Add your slide time in secretly and only give it away harshly. Expect 12 new paid works after a life of casual attention to be a bit overwhelming for him; and if you really want to be a hero put him in contention for the next year ... but you have no responsibility to.
Because this is one of those amazing chances to really make someone's life better.
(edit: fixed studio-artist level deadline times)
Also not to sound to much like a pimp. But the story of the prototypes and bill burning them came from the wonderful book Looking For Calvin And Hobbes by Nevin Martell. so if anyone is interested in the Bill Watterson side of Calvin and Hobbes thats a great read
I've heard really good things about The Sewtionary. It's a dictionary-styled book, so it's just techniques and how to do them, all in alphabetical order.
If you want something that you can work through and learn a lot at the same time, there is the Colette Sewing Handbook and Tilly and the Buttons' Love at First Stitch. They both have a handful of patterns and the book walks you through them, getting slowly more difficult, and teaching techniques as you go.
Note: I don't own any of these books, but they're all highly-reviewed.
Well, the first two books you should get are:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metric-Pattern-Cutting-Womens-Wear/dp/1405175672
and
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pattern-Cutting-Menswear-Winifred-Aldrich-ebook/dp/B008GI0I8C/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
I wouldn't have passed my degree without them.
It is tougher starting out as a guy I think. Don't dismiss those outdated patterns. They are good for practice. A shirt is still a shirt even if its a little odd. But if you can afford it I have this one
https://www.amazon.com/Patternmaking-Menswear-Gareth-Kershaw/dp/1780670168
Well worth it for what I learned from it.
Here is a list of ideas in several price ranges:
Fashionary Essential Boxset
Fashion Sketchbook
Grace: A Memoir
WWD Subscription
Patternmaking for Fashion Design
These are the books I was taught with at college.
They can seem quite over complicated at times, but stick with it, after a while you start to get a 'feel' for how the patterns work, and more importantly, why they work. I never refer to the books now - once you have your basic set of blocks adjusting them to what you need starts to become second nature.
Like anything it just takes repeated practice, but these books are an excellent place to start.
Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors
This book can maybe help, it contains a nice "formula" for mixing and decoding color. I've read through several chapters, and as an amateur artist myself, found it interesting and memorable. Good luck with everything!
For knowledge, I highly recommend typographic design form and communication.
For skill you really just have to get your hands dirty and play around with things, find out what works for your style.
/u/eolithic_frustum gave a pretty good overall answer for your question but I also wanted to say, as a specific answer there's a pretty good book about the anti-comic book hystera by David Hajdu, called "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America." Very well researched and talks about some of the cultural issues surrounding the paranoia about comic books at the time. A lot of it was driven by one man but there are also contextual cultural issues of the time.
There are these books that I found useful.
Panel One:- and Panel Two: Comic Book Scripts By Top Writers.
I find it easier to take advice from specific writers that I respect.
Letting go has certainly been a large part of my recovery. And very often I find I need to let go again of what I thought I had fully let go of before, nearly every day in fact.
I enjoy leaving the house in the morning and stopping before I get to the car, and just let it all go before it even gets to me.
This book helped a lot in seeing how much I had to let go.
Best of luck in your recovery, I hope you find many balmy breezes to let your cares go on.
Personally, I'm more of a learn-by-doing person. I would suggest looking for some local art classes. Color theory sounds like it would be the most useful thing for you.
If you do end up buying a book, try to find one that has lots of exercises, and basically treat it like a class. Don't just read all the way to the end of the book in one sitting. Read a chapter, do the exercises from the chapter, and then wait a day or two before you move on to the next chapter.
The book Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain is a good example of what you should look for. It's obviously tempting to say "I don't need to know about drawing!" when you work primarily digitally, but learning drawing really teaches you a lot about the fundamentals: perspective, composition, light and shadow, etc. To re-use my musician analogy, pretty much all composers start by learning to play an instrument (usually piano) before they start writing music. You don't need to be an expert, but it's very important to understand the fundamentals.
Oh, also apparently the same author has a book on color theory, but I haven't personally read it. Might be worth a try.
A mentor who is a professional character designer and has worked in-house and freelance recommended these two books to me:
The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines
https://graphicartistsguild.org/handbook
Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Legal-Forms-Graphic-Designers/dp/1621532496
There is a book my dad gave me once to borrow. It's called "F*** IT!!" And it helped my dad a lot. He has read it more than a few times. It didn't help me as much but there is some information in there that is helpful
EDIT: here it is
https://www.amazon.co.uk/F-k-Ultimate-Spiritual-Way/dp/1848500130
The first picture looks like a surplice bodice dress, similar to one in Gertie’s ultimate dress book.
Simplicity 8127 is very similar to your second picture. Obviously without the sleeves and the bows on the front.
Off the top of my head I can’t think of a pattern for the third image but would suggest looking at other Gertie patterns if you’re into 50’s style dresses.
Imitation leather: Destiny Grimoire Anthology, Vol. I https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1945683449/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_MF5NBbCTPN47W
Hard Cover: Destiny: Grimoire Anthology - Dark Mirror (Volume 1) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789091373/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kG5NBb6R1AFEB
Some of my favorites. Some are good to skim through for ideas, some of them are more "sit down and read" books. Definitely not a comprehensive list, but all books that I enjoyed reading.
Graphic Style by Seymour Chwast and Steven Heller
Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
100 ideas that Changed Graphic Design by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell and Robert Bringhurst
The Posters: 1,000 Posters from Toulouse-Lautrec to Sagmeister
Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop by Jim Sherraden
Coming from a background in art & software development, the easiest way to prevent and manage disputes is clear precise written communication. Whether it's construction, graphics, art, or anything I do for clients, following these procedures has vastly enhanced my work.
A clearly written contract does help immensely beyond mere dispute resolution, it also greatly assists in clarifying the relationship between the service-provider and the customer. It's far from a contentious or litigious document if written properly, but rather a proper description - and even a means of guaranteeing your work (At Bob's Construction, we not only guarantee our work, but also guarantees it by contract).
Beyond a contract, there are perhaps even more important documents, including a project proposal, budgets, change-order sign-offs, and perhaps most importantly the project briefing/description which clearly describes both the price, and the product to be delivered. Properly following this procedure, and having the documents signed should eliminate misunderstandings and miss-communications.
For example, I've had clients described in emails, calls, and other communication exactly what they wanted, I wrote it down as described (and even written) and sent back the project briefing only to discover the client actually wanted it in a different color. In the rare case that a client things I'm not delivering on my promises, I typically tell them "Customer service is extremely important to me, and to ensure I am delivering the product you asked for, I am following the project briefing. If you would like to make a change to this briefing, we can discuss a change-order and pricing."
If the above subject(s) sound interesting to you, the most clear concise description of this has been "Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers". Don't be put off by the "graphic design" label, this works the same in all fields and I have assisted friends and associates in construction contracting services improve their businesses by using these standard professional step-by-step procedures for interacting with clients.
This is book that starts with a very easy project and then gets gradually slightly more difficult: https://www.amazon.com/Love-First-Stitch-Demystifying-Dressmaking/dp/1611802342
Maybe working through it could be a good way to get started with sewing.
Go to the art section, get a book on color theory like this one http://www.amazon.com/Color-Betty-Edwards-Course-Mastering/dp/1585422193/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344050656&sr=1-3 and say I used to be into black and white photography too, but recently I switched to painting. Do you shoot in film or digital?
Yes, I would have played dumb about what the book is all about.
Maybe you can use Carnet Du Voyage? It's related to Blankets in the sense that it's a travel sketchbook Thompson drew while in France, Spain & Morocco. It provides a glimpse into his life after Blankets, so there's a greater context.
Hope that helps!
Deep, man. If anyone else is interested, I found this book on the subject on Amazon, kindle version for 11$
http://www.amazon.com/75-Years-Marvel-Comics-Golden/dp/3836548453
If you like Waterson, I just read a biography about hiim, you should definitely check it out, the writer constantly talks about how Waterson will not talk to him or anyone else. If you're a fan you should check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855
I can tell you of all the comic artists, Waterson's estate is the biggest when it comes to stopping people from ripping off his work.
Thanks for all your feedback. Should have started by saying that we've already signed a contract that includes scope, contingencies, etc. and he's already paid a portion up front. We've agreed on a rate that includes a certain number of hours on training his admin assistant on how to update the site and if I have to maintain it beyond X number of hours or X number of days, I'll be paid an hourly fee. I have a good working relationship with this company. I used a contract template from this, it seemed pretty comprehensive but I guess I won't know if it missed something important until it's too late.
After reading the feedback from this thread and some addition research, I'm building on a dev site on the client's server that is password protected. Since I am new to this, I wanted to just make absolute sure that I wouldn't fuck something up moving it from my server to his after I've done a shitload of work and he's approved it. GoDaddy has a default, ahem, LANDING page (will remember to use that from now on). I'm just going to leave that as is unless he asks for something because there was nothing in our contract about creating custom graphics.
I'm not too stressed but I do want to make sure that I'm doing things efficiently and securely to best serve him. And I agree, if it goes to shit, well, then lesson learned and it probably won't be the last. Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it.
Light for Visual Artists by Richard Yot. I like it more than Digital lighting and rendering, although that is great for learning the software side. "Light" Is more about light from an artistic stand point and less about the software implementation.
The earlier parts of the book are on his website http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm
The book can be found here http://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X.
the first decent book i got a long time ago was Type and Image. A very good book on typography is The Elements of Typographic Style, for a wider perspective go for Typographic Design: Form and Communication. To get a perspective on the 'communication' part of graphical communication i'd got for Information Architects
I guess this list dates me a bit :)
I’ll leave the content to others since this is not my area but I would use much less bold type and use italics rather than underlining. This book would be worth getting. It has a lot of resume examples.
There are the books I was recommended:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7.
I am in almost the same situation.
I have also been looking for books for motivation, inspiration and so on.
Here are some stuff that keep getting recommended as well as other books that I think are interesting judging by their description and reviews (note: I haven't read anything yet I am just sharing my searching results from the past 2 or 3 days):
For creative problems
For Inspiration
And this one seems to go into depth of the business itself:
Like I said, I haven't read any of those but maybe this will save some time for you or for other people searching for books.
There is also Thinking with Type, The Elements of Typographic Style, Universal Principles of Design, Deign for how people learn, How to be a Graphics Designer without losing your soul.
Edit: I was actually going to make a thread similar to this but I am gonna post my similar question here anyway,
Does anybody know of more books for people who are already involved in the medium ?
A lot of recommendations I see around the internet seem to be for someone just starting graphics design or still in school but rarely is it something for a higher level.
I wish I'd watched/read those in the order you watched/read them. Those mega-trades are cooler than the thinner trades that were available pre-TV show. But it's fun to compare the two. I like thinking about group structure in particular, as different people fill different roles in the comics/TV show.
Habibi's a cool book, but if you didn't read Thompson's Carnet De Voyage you might think it's kind of racist. I think knowing that Thompson had knowledge of the themes/cultures he works with in that book reassures me that he made artistic/narrative decisions from a position of understanding and appreciation.
Oh cool! this book is great, as well as this one! Typography is really important :)
lol, comics are just pictures and words. there are plenty of non-fiction comics in the world
by discounting the medium you are making yourself sound ignorant. you should probably buy what i linked you to, it could save your intellect.
also, you didn't address my comment about pitting two (real or perceived) groups against one another.