Customer Reviews

Illustration Now, Vol. 2

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book is a great collection of new work. I especially love that each artist writes about their work and what illustration means to them. As an illustration teacher, it is handy reference for my students to see what is current in the field.

As good as Ilustration Now, Vol.1.
It has a great colection of artists (very different between one another)and it also include each artists web pages so you can search deeper into each artits work.

Wonderfull selection of artists, very inspirational each time you open it.
Good quality reproductions.
I wish it had more theoretical text and practical information about world of illustration.
On the other hand, I must say that all the web sites and agent info for each
artist were very helpful.
Anyone who wants to get into this kind of work or just enjoys great art will
benefit from this book.

The book is in good shape. It has a lot of good information on many illustrators of today which help inspire me in my own work.