Beautiful Books
Books are the spine of holiday gifts. You can never go wrong with a good book — and that’s especially true for creative professionals. Fantastic art books abound. And it’s OK to be practical too: a guide to using newly acquired software is always appreciated.
Eric J. Adams: Considering the year it’s been, for the creative professional in my life I’m thinking escape, as in some really nice art books like:
- “The Art of the Fillmore,” which is still cool to look at (see figure 9);
- the truly wild “F*****d Up + Photocopied: instant art of the punk rock movement“;
- and something no one else has, like Tarot Universal Dali,” a set of Tarot cards created by the master himself, Salvador Dali.
Figure 9: “The Art of the Fillmore”
Pamela Pfiffner: Those seeking typographic inspiration should look up “Avant Garde Page Design 1900-1950. John D. Berry wrote about this handsome coffee-table book earlier this year and I’m still lusting after it. A similar and equally impressive tome is “The Russian Avant Garde Book, 1920-1934” — I can’t get enough of that constructivist stuff!
Sandee Cohen: I’m waiting for Real World InDesign 2,” by Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner to finally get printed. But if it’s not in print yet, then I’d be giving Sharon Steuer’s Creative Thinking in Photoshop (see below). I also expect to use the holiday season to memorize every word in Michael Kieran’s “Photoshop Color Correction.”
Sharon Steuer: How many times have creative friends told you they don’t feel comfortable creating art with a computer? Well, why not give them “Creative Thinking in Photoshop: A New Approach to Digital Art” for those digitally phobic or uninspired artistic friends and family (see figure 10). Ok, so I wrote “Creative Thinking,” but I promise you (and lots of reviewers agree!) that my book really enhances creativity for artists, photographers, and designers who need a kick-in-the-pants to delve into the digital world. Just between us, my secret is this: you don’t have to master Photoshop to integrate it into your creative process. I teach you to “think in Photoshop” so you can envision how to integrate traditional and digital tools. It’s a great gift that is both practical and will give someone pleasure. If you want me to sign the book for you, stop by my Web site and request a custom bookplate.
Figure 10: Sharon Steuer will even make you a custom bookplate when you buy her book!
Pamela Pfiffner: We’ve featured many books on the site this year. Most of them can be found in our creativepro.com bookstore. But ‘d like to draw your attention to those books written by our contributing editors. By buying their books from us you support not only the authors but the site itself. Here are their most recent efforts:
- “Real World QuarkXPress 5,” by David Blatner (read an excerpt here)
- “QuarkXPress Power Shortcuts: Productivity Shortcuts for QuarkXPress 4 and 5,” by David Blatner
- “Real World Photoshop 7,” by David Blatner and Bruce Fraser
- “Fireworks MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide,” by Sandee Cohen
- “InDesign 2 for Windows and Mactintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide,” by Sandee Cohen
- “Adobe Acrobat 5 Master Class,” by Pattie Belle Hastings, Bjorn Akelsen, and Sandee Cohen (read an excerpt here)
- “Real World PDF with Adobe Acrobat 5,” by Anita Dennis (read more here)
- “Complete Digital Photography,” by Ben Long
- “Making Digital Videos,” by Ben Long
- “The Digital Filmmaking Handbook,” by Ben Long and Sonja Schenk
- “Type Graphics: The Power of Type in Graphic Design,” by Margaret Richardson
- “Digital Non-Linear Desktop Editing, by Sonja Schenk
- “The Illustrator 10 Wow! Book, by Sharon Steuer (read an excerpt here)
- and of course, “Inside the Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story,” by Pamela Pfiffner (read an excerpt here). It’s got a hardcover with embossed type with a dust jacket and everything! An elegant gift for the graphic designer or publisher on your list.
This article was last modified on January 3, 2023
This article was first published on December 4, 2002
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