Home :: Books :: Comics & Graphic Novels  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels

Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Perspective! for Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in Your Artwork

Perspective! for Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in Your Artwork

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not your average Take on Perspective
Review: I found this book extremely helpful, in more ways the one. Instead of your usual text with diagram format, it has a refreshing comic book format. This means that examples are almost always right there, WITH the text that discusses it - so you can absorb what's being talked about with out having the "break concentration" and look for the relevant connection between explanation and example. Also, rather than discuss only the "terminology" and the like, I found the explanations were geared so that anyone who can read could understand them - without a dictionary being close to hand! I'd highly recommend picking up this book - to the beginners and pros alike! The gains from it's knowledge are definately worth the price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best perspective books
Review: If you are a serious artist then you will probably have to study a few perspective books before you learn all you need to know about the subject. This book deserves to be in that collection. It covers the nuts and bolts of the correct methods for drawing in one, two and three point perspective and offers hints for shortcuts that you can use to build drawings with a perspective look, even if they are not technically accurate, when you have to work with a deadline.

What I like about the book is that it provides thorough context for understanding not just the how, but the reasons behind the perspective techniques. If you know the rules you can do it, but if you understand the context in depth you can make informed decisions about when to follow the painstaking rules and when to use the shortcuts.

The book is also written in a very approachable visual medium. Basically it is a comic book following in the tradition of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics".

The book also includes some facinating bits of trivia about 3 point perspective, when it was developed and why, and the lengths that some artists, like M. C. Escher, had to go to in order to properly employ it.

The book has two shortcomings. The first is a consequence of its comic format, there are a large number of pages which present more character development than is strictly necessary to get the information across. By contrast, most perspective books are very condensed, explaining as much as can be explained with illustrations and diagrams. This not only goes into detailed discussion of perspective, its uses and theory, but does so within the voice baloons of two characters.

The second shortcoming is one that I can't think of any other perspective book that treats, that is, it leaves out curvileniar or 5 point perspective, though apparently the author is aware of this kind of perspective, he tantalizes us by using it in a couple of illustrations in the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding, funny and accessible
Review: Nothing more need be said about this book other than that one of the great Disney layout men, Kendall O'Connor, loved it when it was given to him as a Christmas present. High praise for a fine book.

It's the best guide to perspective for cartoonists, who are often not known for following 'normal' perspective. Celsi knows his business but also knows how to entertain. This is a must have for any comic artist or animator.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding, funny and accessible
Review: Nothing more need be said about this book other than that one of the great Disney layout men, Kendall O'Connor, loved it when it was given to him as a Christmas present. High praise for a fine book.

It's the best guide to perspective for cartoonists, who are often not known for following 'normal' perspective. Celsi knows his business but also knows how to entertain. This is a must have for any comic artist or animator.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful guide to perspective for artists.
Review: Perspective is hard stuff, but this book does make it much easier. Chelsea approaches perspective through a comic-book format, using himself and the coffee-cup headed 'Mugg' as student and teacher. The comic format works wonderfully to give you the words alongside the pictures, and the book moves step by step through basic pespective concepts, then to one-point, two-point, three-point, and a unfortunately over-basic coverage of the human figure in perspective. This book is aimed mainly at the beginning and intermediate artist who needs to draw backgrounds, and it fills that role perfectly. Understandable to anyone from about age 13 and up, and highly recommended. My backgrounds don't suck anymore thanks to David Chelsea (and Mugg).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: i got this book a couple of weeks ago and haven't used it
Review: this book is not a real help to me and proably wouldn't be a real help to anyone at all the techniques are very primitive and confusing and the tips are useless

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have for ANY artist.
Review: This book is probably the best perspective book i have ever read. I dont see how anyone can give it a bad review or call it useless. Author not only explains how to draw the perspective in the simplest way but also explains a bunch of different techniques that might work for you. The book is written as a large comic strip wich makes it very enterntaining and at times alsmot like you are watching a movie. Explanations are very straight forward and not hard to undestand with a little bit of thinking. It is quite amaizing what kind of depths about perspective this book goes into. If you draw, you got to have it. I also hope it will be printed in hardcover someday

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I learned how to draw from this book.
Review: This is the best book on any subject I have ever read. I could not draw at all - and now I can!Thanks Dave!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Simplifying the complex, or complicating the simple?
Review: Thorough explanation of perspective but at times it becomes "too thorough". Some things become too technical for the general reader.

At the same time, there's no section that deals with the really complex aspect of perspective - such as multiple perspectives in a single plane (for example, how do you draw a tilted boat on a beach?). Also, it doesn't deal much with putting people in perspective. Ok, so he does mention that you can use the horizon line but what if you're dealing with a single picture that has a person coming down a stairs, and another looking out a window, and another walking down the street? He doesn't explain how to draw them so that they look right. At least, he should have included how to tackle this issue.

For a book this thick, it's certainly lacking. This would be my only disappointment.

The only book I've seen that is much more helpful than David Chelsea's is the one written by Andrew Loomis (Successful Drawing, and Creative Drawing). But don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad book. It's quite useful but not that useful.


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates