Customer Reviews

1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations (1000 Series)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was wary when I saw that most--if not all--of the reviewers listed on Amazon.com were contributors to this book. It is too easy for people not used to being published to get all starry-eyed over "publication"--as if it validates their existence, their art, or their parking tickets (and no I didn't submit anything, so this is not "sour grapes"). However, I thought I still saw enough good to order it for the price. In fact, this book offers a wealth of art to inspire your own efforts. Unfortunately, the photos of the art are too small: I'd rather have had only 500 entries, if I could see the interesting details of each better. For example, if the publisher or author had deleted the similar pieces by the same artists, or, if all 1,000 (thus, the series' name) had been included but more paper used, I'd be happier. I'd rather pay more for a truly fine publication. In addition, this book seriously lacks organization; although it would have been a challenge, some sort of editorial categorizing of the pieces would have made the book more accessible as a reference guide. Editorially, the book is a "blob" of work that requires more work on the part of the user than it should, detracting significantly from the enjoyment.

This is a truly gorgeous and inspirational book featuring the work of well-known art journalists, as well as worthy newcomers and unknowns. I was pleased to discover several fresh faces; so often in recent art journaling books it's been the same six or seven people featured. The artists' work is presented without editorial comment. The layout is not too crowded, and the color reproduction appears to be good. Lots and lots of inspiration here for art journalists who want new ideas and a fresh perspective. The variety of the work is phenomenal and international, in several different languages, and from every corner of the globe. I had to earmark many pages for closer study in my studio. A great reference volume, especially for teachers of art journaling.

I just got my book today and was going to email Dawn personally to tell her how great it turned out, but then decided I should share it here with other potential readers too.

When I heard about the book, I was afraid that the pages inside were going to be tiny thumbnails, or a lot of stuff from a few people like many books on the market. Neither of these problems are true... the pages are big enough that I could read the journal text from just about every page. That's another part of my praise... most of the pages include real journaling, not just collage in a book labeled as "art journaling" as I have seen before, which is less my preference.

The neat thing about being able to read the words on pages was to be connected with so many people that have so many of the same anxieties about being enough and doing enough... artists connected on so many planes in so many ways. I also really liked that, because of the many pages in the book, I began to recognize what types of pages caught my attention. I realized that I want to be able to work in the brighter colors that I was drawn to in the book.

There was also really great contrast in pages that were simple to complex, and I realized I really liked a lot of the very sparse stenciled pages. And pages were submitted from international audiences too, not just people from the US. There are also several submissions from men. I was happy that the collection of pages reached different demographics, and I saw many new names alongside those artists I've long admired.

I was reading one page in the book and saw references to local places (Saint Cupcake and Lincoln School) and realized it must be another Portlander. This made me wish that the names alongside the pages included city and state of the artists, as it gave me added energy to know about the local creative forces at play.

I have several pages in the book, and my books were handled kindly and photographed well. My name was spelled right. All that was cool. Dawn also accepted a submission of one of my mother's art journal pages. My mother died last August and would have adored this book. It is really an honor to have her page next to mine, and I look forward to sharing the book with my family.

I don't know Dawn and have only had contact with her in relationship to submitting my pages. But I am honestly impressed by how well done this book is, even outside my limited contribution. It is image heavy, and the pages are rich, honest,deep, serious and fun. There is much range in the styles, but the selection of contributed pages is quite excellent. I think this book will provide inspiration to a wide range of art journalers, and is not a repeat of any past books on the subject. It's a keeper.

How does a reviewer "Rate" or "Review" another artists' ART?
This was a difficult task for me, because as my 1st sentence stated, it's quite difficult to rate an Artists' personal Art.
Basically, it's like trying to evaluate a person's inner soul!

This book is so well photographed & so detailed and colorful! Dawn DeVries Sokol has done a beautiful job at displaying all the entries that she received while organizing this book of 1000 Journal entries.

The other amazing thing is that the entries that Dawn received were from all over the World! Therefore, it is so interesting to see how a journal writer is different from all others, and yet also the same, in that "we" (as a community of human beings) express ourselves in common ways as people! This book expresses this point very well---the soul of a person.

Dawn stated in her Preface that she chose not to categorize each Chapter by theme. But rather, Dawn chose to show the Journal entries as a continuum. In this way, Dawn has displayed the worldwide entries in a spiral fashion, rather than in a linear fashion...thus, each entry spiraled from one to the other.

Some Journal entries are sometimes "dark", sometimes sad, and sometimes happy. Such is life.
All are introspective.

When I read this book, I first of all went through each entry to look at the colors and artistic points. Then, the second time I went through this book, I looked at each Journal entry more specifically (often with a magnifying glass) in order to absorb the pages more thoroughly.

All in all, this was a very insightful experience, not only into the souls of the Artists and writers, but also into my own soul.

While this book is nice, the images are so small I would not have bought it in a store had I seen it. Fewer images would have allowed for bigger images. It is as if the number of images was the mission irregardless of quality.

While this book is delightful and fun, I find the reviews are far overrated. The journal pages are very similar to each other - splashy color, some crude, child-like drawings, collage, and idealistic ranting - with a few exceptions. In 10 years, the artwork will look dated. In twenty years, no artist will want to look at this book unless they're studying early 21st century sketchbooks. Just compare the art of the 70s and 80s with artistic opinions today. I recommend this book for it's "wow!-zah" presentation and quirky diversion. I don't recommend this book for it's "think-inside-the-box" conformity and it's dated appeal a few years past the publishing date.

I bought this book because a specific artist I find inspiring was featured in the book and I wanted to see more of her work. I also thought it would be interesting to see how other artists interpreted their journal pages, and it was. On the down side, I felt the editors tried to fit too many journal pages onto one page of their book, resulting in smaller images of each artist's work and thus making it harder to appreciate the details of the artwork.

Whether you use (or would like to start using!) an art journal to document your days or access and express your inner creativity, this book will inspire. It's so huge, by the time you finish you already want to flick through it again to remember your favorite pages. It's interesting to see the diversity of examples from other countries. Apparently when the project got up and running they were inundated by examples from people around the world wanting their work included in the book. While some pages are completely magnificent artworks there are also some very simple, playful, even childish pages - so you won't feel intimidated or dissuaded from taking up pen/paint and paper yourself, always a risk with these types of books - you can buy them in a bid to become inspired but actually end up the opposite! Not so here. There are naive scribblings that can be as insightful and interesting as beautifully designed masterpieces. This book will give you ideas and inspiration on two levels - technique and topics. Some pages have clearly taken hours and hours to complete, some are of a quick and simple style that seems easier to accomplish amid a busy lifestyle. Either way you'll get ideas. Then there's the dilemma of 'what can I write about?' From incidental observations to spiritual contemplation, you'll come across triggers and ideas in other people's work you might like to explore. And even if you prefer to just look at art rather than create your own, this is simply a beautiful book and reading other people's art journal entries can reveal sometimes intimate and always intersting glimpses into the creative process.

This is the greatest book. The entire book is photos of art journalists pages with corresponding numbers that lead to a Artist in the back of the book with thier emails or websites. The Forward ask the question Why Journal? and gives many different answerrs and views which I found interesting. There are also 2 pages of journal prompts for you to get started in Art Journaling, this was helpful to me since I'm a beginner. If that weren't enough, there are 2 pages of Resources in the back that list places to buy supplies, different magazines and artzines, books and online inspiration.

This is not a book you will buy and look at just once if you are an art journaler. I've looked through this book many different times. So many of the pages just "speak" to me in so many different ways. You won't be sorry you purchased this book. It is unique and unlike any other book I've purchased so far and I have quite a few now.

I think Dawn did a fabulous job with it and all the artist's who contributed their pages do wonderful work. I hope she publishes another book in the future. I'm a fan.

What an opportunity to flip through the artistic journals of so many creative people. This book is all about the images. Not too much verbage, just pure inspiration. Slightly oversized, yet each page contains quite a bit of "white space" to let the pages pop. If you want to actually read everything presented, you will need a magnifier. Seemingly every journaling sytle is validated in this generous exploration of what others are doing in art journals. I will enjoy curling up with this book for a very long time.