Art Books for Christmas?

I've been frequenting a very insightful book review blog created and written by "Parka".
Since it's a month away till Christmas, I thought this page would provide some ideas for art book lovers out there.

Here's a list of some of his readers' favourites if you don't know where to begin:
I would definitely recommend Peter de Seve's "A Sketchy Past".

 

 

 

 

  

Another book Parka definitely recommends is The Daily Zoo Year 2.

If you have any questions regarding any of his reviews I am sure he wouldn't be hesitant to answer your questions. In return for publishing detailed reviews with photographs and videos of the books, Parka has a list of his reviewed books on Amazon where you can purchase from and he gets a small commission which goes towards his book stocks.

Sneaky

Recently I found a cool illustration contest site called Illustration Friday.

This week's topic is "Sneaky" so I couldn't resist doing a quick illustration for it.

I thought it would be humorous to apply the notion of being "sneaky" to something that was very static (ie a gargoyle). It only makes sense that the first thing they would do if they could move is to eat whatever was around it. And how convenient that little birds like to nest on rooftops.

And here are some quick concept sketches to see which perspective worked the best.

 

Charlie Chaplin painting

I got a few days off this week so I decided to do something for myself.

I am a HUGE fan of Chaplin, and I've been wanting to do a portrait of him for a few decades, so this was a good chance to pull out my paint brushes.

 

A few preliminary sketches.

Final drawings of the characters

 

Stretching the paper, and on go the first washes!

By this time, the lines had been washed off, so it helps to refine them.

I'm very happy with the result. I started off with a few failed concepts. Having Chaplin signing an autograph for a little girl was not going to work. And even though I usually push for extreme expressions, I decided against it for this painting. I like the subtle story behind this piece, and I think it goes well with the watercolours.