Illustration Now, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

by Julius Wiedemann (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Illustration Now! may be aimed at people who commission illustrations, but it is also a treat for anyone who simply likes graphic art. Sink into your favourite armchair and let your mind wander across continents." - Illustration Magazine, London" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
Spanking new: A freshly-picked selection of today's hottest illustrators

Following the success of Illustration Now!, this installment presents a completely new selection of 150 illustrators from all around the world. Whereas the first volume brought together a fascinating mix of star illustrators and brand new faces that together formed the face of illustration around the world, Illustration Now! 2 is even more exciting, featuring illustrators from 25 countries, with styles ranging from cutting edge to traditional. Also included is a dialog between design specialist Steven Heller and German illustrator Christoph Niemann about illustration's role in the world today. This book is perfect not only for creative professionals and illustration students, but also artists and anyone with an appreciation for visual language.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; Mul edition (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 382283016X
• ISBN-13: 978-3822830161
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #47 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design > Commercial > Illustration
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Impossibly pretty, but not a strong selection, February 22, 2006

By	Istvan (Budapest, Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrations Now! (French and German Edition) (Paperback)

I just couldn't leave this in the shop. It's so beautifully produced that all my objections went for nothing. The Gary Baseman cover alone would have done it.
But if we were to go by the book's content, we would find that 80 percent of today's most remarkable in illustration consists of unimaginative, clipart-like vector graphics and over-airbrushed Photoshop clumsiness. Too much of this stuff fits the term 'visual demagogy'.
By the amount of shallow commerciality presented (which very often borders on dilettantish) the book gives an objective account on the general state of things, to be sure. But why be concerned with the artistically irrelevant, when there are so many great talents out there? Greg Clarke, Gary Taxali, Mark Ulriksen, Dan Page, Joe Morse, James Jean, Brad Holland, John Hendrix, Olaf Hajek, Douglas Fraser, Vanessa Dell, Brian Cronin, Daniel Chang and the already mentioned Gary Baseman are among them. Their painfully few pages save an otherwise unsubstantial book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked Cool, June 10, 2006

By	Starry Eyes (Los Angeles CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrations Now! (French and German Edition) (Paperback)

I love this book. I bought it as an impusle buy but I can't stop flipping through it. Lots of inspiring artwork. My only complaint is that the artist's blurbs were for the most part unsatisfying. They sounded like something the artists release en masse to their publicists. I would have liked to hear more about how they work and their techniques. But I guess they can't give away all their secrets. I like this book just for the sheer fact that there are not many books out there of up and coming pop artists. This is definately a good start and inspiring for a budding artist like myself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Obviously Subjective, June 6, 2008

By	candace J. andersen "candacejean.com" (salt lake city, ut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Illustrations Now! (French and German Edition) (Paperback)

I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this book.

I like that there is only a small 'blurb' from each artist on their header page; the publisher (and I LOVE taschen books) left the majority of space on each page for the artwork.
I didn't buy this book to read; I bought it to flip through and absorb the imagery.
A bonus is that more information on each artist is listed alphabetically in the back if you want it.

I love that there are a whopping 150 artists in this book, and about half are really quite good.
The book includes some of my favorites: Tomer Hanuka, James Jean, Simone Legno, Tara McPherson, and Yuko Shimizu. Finding those artists in this book was a very pleasant surprise (I had no idea who exactly was included in this book).
A lot of the book, however, is mostly crap.

I suppose this is why art is considered subjective.

I also can appreciate that the book covers a huge range of style and media and includes artists from around the world, but like I said before, I'm glad I didn't pay full price.