Customer Reviews

Crumble, Crackle, Burn: 120 Stunning Textures for Design & Illustration

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is great: it contains numerous textures of high quality, and quite diverse in their nature. I like using textures but my own small collection gets tired after a while. I do not particularly like most of the illustrations included in the book as samples, nor do I find them inspiring in any way, but it's a matter of personal taste, and they admittedly fulfill their function, which is to show how they might look when used in an actual design / illustration / Photoshop project. I enjoyed the brief, inspirational intro.

The ONLY problem I see here (and hence 4 stars) is a misunderstanding caused by the unfortunate combination of the book's title and its cover: both lead some potential buyers to believe the textures are provided IN COLOR. They are not: all are grayscale textures derived from photos (the ones on the book cover appear to be colorized, and not originally shot in color). The title should say: 120 stunning GRAYSCALE textures...

Several other reviewers also pointed out their disappointment that the book does NOT include any instructions on how to use the textures. This is true: a good, professional-level knowledge of Photoshop and/or Illustrator is tacitly assumed, but given the fact that the book is published by HOW Books (the publishers of HOW magazine) it is to be expected, and hardly an inappropriate assumption - how books publishes books by professionals and for professionals, people who know their tools well. Of course a few simple hints or suggestions on which blending modes in PS were used in the examples at hand, may have been helpful.

On the plus side, the author provides (on the intro page) the URL of his website (illustrationclass.com) where some (general) hints/ideas are included. The website also has a link to a dedicated book website, where potential buyers may download the intro chapter and 10 sample textures, and current owners of the book may register to receive an additional 30 new textures via a download.

I hope the book is a success, and will motivate the author to follow it up with a sequel filled with COLOR textures (like the excellent but unfortunately NOT commercially licensed "Resurgere" textures on deviantart website). If you are considering getting this, grab it before it's out of print. It's a very good, reasonably priced, useful resource that fully deserves its place on any designer's bookshelf.

Von Glitschka is the Robin Hood of illustrative designers. He takes from the rich stores of his creativity and imagination and gives back to the entire illustration community. If you've ever stared at a piece of rusting metal and thought, "That's cool looking, I wonder what I could do with that?" then you've stumbled upon what makes this book (and Glitschka's mind) tick. When you have finished reading this book, I promise that you'll never look at peeling paint or cracked asphalt quite the same way again.

Glitschka has continually resourced other illustrative designers over the years. Crumble. Crackle. Burn. takes it to a whole new level: designer textures, inspiration from other illustrators, and a DVD full of bonus material.

These blasted textures have changed the way I look at Photoshop Illustration! Von Glitschka has, with one single book, turned me into a [ gritty ] art snob. I can't say enough good things about it!

Von Glitschka says his collection of 120 textures is not "a "How-To" book", but a "Go-Do" book. 60 of the textures, with examples, are in the book and another 60 are on the included DVD. There are no instructions. If you don't have something more than a basic understanding of Photoshop or a similar image editor, you might not perceive the usefulness of this ready made texture library.

If you do know your way around an image editing program, how to use layers and curves, this is a great resource. Von Glitschka urges the reader to build and organize their own texture library - which, for me, has always been one of those things that winds up on my good intentions list.

With this collection, at least, I don't have to curse my own procrastination or laziness - I can just reach for this collection.

There's an almost amazing amount of variety here. Brick walls. Wooden walls. Asphalt and concrete floors. Peeling paint, baked by the sun paint.

Each texture is accompanied by an example from a variety of artists. The examples are all well done and instructive, But you'll need to know Photoshop to understand what the artist has done.

Overall, this is a geat value not only in terms of cost, but in having a sizeable library of textures immediately available and some excellent examples of how they can be used.

Jerry

Just a joy to hold and thumb through. This is professional all the way through. The paper and illustrations are art book quality. As others have said this is not a how to book. It is an inspiration book - something to get you going. With your good knowledge of photoshop (which is not the topic of this book!)and some fresh inspiration you too can see things anew and start creating.

I ordered this book thinking it was a paper back and probably not very big. It turned out to be a large hardcover with 60 full page images of projects various artists created using Von's textures, which by the way, are shown on the opposite page in black and white so you really get an idea of how versatile the texture can be. At first I wasn't sure how to use them and wondered how the color was added, but if you just use your noggin it is pretty simple to figure out. (I am a beginning designer/student and believe me if I can do it anyone can...)

I love the book, love the textures and have many ideas of how I am going to use them in future projects. I also think the title is very fitting, I would highly recommend this book because any worthwhile artist/designer is going to appreciate the many creative opportunities the textures provide. Way to go Von !!

This book is a great resource for Designers and Illustrators alike. Although it has been mentioned that the book's textures are in grayscale, it is safe to assume that someone buying a book with textures, either knows how to use them, or is able to search out a tutorial on the internet very easily.

For anyone with knowledge of how to use professional programs (why would you want textures otherwise?) it is not difficult at all to turn these textures to color. And in fact, it would be much more of a pain if they WERE in color, to turn them to grayscale.

This book also features great illustrations in my opinion. It show cases some of Von's great artistic abilities, as well as great inspirational pieces created by other top artists.

Don't hesitate to buy this book, it is just a stepping stone into how to become more creative, as many of us aspire to be half as creative as Von himself.

tried a few times does not load up on mac the cd that is with the book. the book is nice to look at with what can be done with the images but without the cd it is almost no good

When I found this book, I wasn't quite ready for it. So I kept it saved in my cart. When I learned about texture overlays.... I bought this and couldn't wait for it to arrive. When it did.... I was pleasantly surprised. It did exactly what it said it would. So many of the books I have purchased on Photoshop Elements seem to be a tease to get you to purchase from the author's website. This book included 120 textures on the CD in high resolution.
I have figured out how to color them should I want to and more.

I am one happy camper... best book for the money!!!!!!!!!!!!