Picture This: How Pictures Work [Paperback]

Molly Bang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

Everyone knows that a picture tells a thousand words. But what about the elements that make up a picture? Using the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as an example, Molly Bang uses boldly graphic artwork to explain how images—and their individual components—work to tell a story that engages the emotions: Why are diagonals dramatic? Why are curves calming? Why does red feel hot and blue feel cold? First published in 1991, Picture This fans will welcome the new edition's striking redesign and introduce its insights to many other artists and art appreciators alike.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587170302
• ISBN-13: 978-1587170300
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Arts & Photography > Study & Teaching
  • #35 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > How-to
  • #58 in Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design

More About the Author

Molly Bang is an award winning children's book illustrator and author. Her
works include 3 Caldecott Honor Books: Ten, Nine, Eight, The Grey Lady and the
Strawberry Snatcher, and When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry, which
also won a Jane Addams Honor Award and the Arbuthnot Award. The Paper Crane
won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award in 1987; Goose won the School of Library
Journal Best Book of 1996 and another work, Common Ground: The Water, Earth,
and Air We Share, won the prestigious Giverny Book Award in 1998 for the best
children's science picture book. Her latest book, My Light, is an ALA Notable
book.

Her only work for adults is Picture This, which shows how an understanding of
the most basic principles enable a person to build powerful pictures. It is
used by art and graphic departments in colleges around the country.

Bang received her bachelor degree from Wellesley in French, and Masters in
Far Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona and at Harvard. She has also
worked as a reporter; as an educator for public health projects in Bangladesh
and in Mali, West Africa, incorporating information on maternal and child
health into stories; and as a teacher in colleges.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading level for 9-12???, September 30, 2000

By 

Jad (TJ) Duwaik - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picture This: How Pictures Work (Hardcover)

This book is for anyone interested in the visual arts.

Using the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Molly Bang explores visual communication by playing with simple geometric shapes and discussing their effect. For example, Molly creates Red as a small triangle but experiments with Red as a square, circle, or amorphous shape.

Later, Molly creates the wolf as as a longer, sleeker triangle with sharper angles that create a sense of danger. She turns the angles into curves to see the impact of angles. She changes the color of the wolf from black to muave. She adds different shapes and colors of eyes; and teeth.

In other words, she constantly experiments - and shows you the experiments - of different composition values and the mood they create. At the end, she summarizes what she learned as rules for composition.

Whether you draw, paint, or take pictures, this book will help you with composition.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Photos tell more than thousand words-here is the answer why!, May 27, 2001

By 

Ruediger T. Korbel (St. Paul, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picture This: How Pictures Work (Hardcover)

Using the story of Little Red Riding Hood this book is focusing on the basic principles of composing images.

Reduced to the maximum and using simple colors and arrangements of basic elements like circles or triangles, the drawings as well as the short, precise text within this book are pointing out, how simple and complex arrangements within pictures work, transfer obvious (and hidden) messages, how philosophy and psychology witin pictures works. Therefor its a book telling the story why pictures may lie, may influence, may manipulate an observer even though obviously just showing "reality".

Whether you are taking photographs, drawing or designing - this book is a absolute must! A photo/image tells more than thousand words - here you will find the answer how and why. Great to read and watch, easy and fast to understand - even though dealing with a most complex matter.

Finally a personal statement and hint for an esthetes: if you like to possess a book with an outer shape and appearance that promises, what the contents keeps, than you have to buy the nice hard cover version instead of the cheaper soft cover version - it will pay off for sure.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Picture This: How Pictures Work, August 1, 2003

By 

"r_roebuck" (Greenwood, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picture This: How Pictures Work (Paperback)

I love this book and using it for teaching basic design ideas...a fellow teacher uses it in Psychology! The simple story of Little Red Riding Hood serves as the basis for discussion how line, color, shape, etc. work in art. Such a great idea...wish there were others of this type. I will be using it to teach the elements of art in Art History this fall.