Best art history books according to redditors
We found 1,015 Reddit comments discussing the best art history books. We ranked the 432 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 1,015 Reddit comments discussing the best art history books. We ranked the 432 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
EDIT: If we only had one book to choose, I'd go with "The Art of Shen Ku." This book has pretty much everything humanity would need to survive :)
Daytripper
All those things?
That would be a the sizeable part of the entire late antiquity and middle ages.
If there's public library in your neighborhood, I would suggest browsing through their offerings on these periods. There's probably no one book that covers all subjects, especially not one that is accessible enough to non-historians, and doesn't cost a fortune.
On the Eastern Roman Empire, these could be a good introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Byzantium-Julius-Norwich/dp/0679772693
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-West-Forgotten-Byzantine-Civilization/dp/0307407969/ref=pd_sim_b_3
Some of the topics mentioned, e.g. the expansion of Islam, are covered on this site, and its numerous links:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/byzantium/index.html
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. And more.
It's a good thing you're not cutting anymore...
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Hey, I didn't even go to prom junior year and didn't have a date senior year. To be trite, it gets better. I'm guessing you're not even 18 yet, but people do get less shallow/more mature over time. A lot of the shorter dudes I know (myself included, at 5'5" - and my dad is 5' flat) ended up doing just fine. Here are some things you can do:
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It's absolutely unfair and absolutely sucks. Unlike weight, you have essentially zero control over it. You *will* have to work harder than someone taller. To the extent that it forces you to work on yourself, though, it's also a good thing.
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Peter Dinklage is 4'4" and married to a total babe. It's not by any means hopeless.
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For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/user/charismaoncommand
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe0TLA0EsQbE-MjuHXevj2A
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Shen-Ku-Intergalactic-Universe/dp/0399527257
These were what first got me into the whole subculture! I started studying the Russian prison tattoos when our Russian population started to grow. We started getting old school Russian criminals in our facilities and their ink was different than what we had seen, yet they all shared cominalities. This series was quite helpful and interesting to me
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0955862078?pc_redir=1406732512&robot_redir=1
It's what really got me into the symbolic nature that tattoos can have and how it relates to gang or criminal culture.
Edit : thanks for the info and those links! I'm going to check them out!
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Cross-sections-Castle-Biesty/dp/1465408800/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536159799&sr=8-3&keywords=cross+section+book
(Straight up Amazon/non affiliate link) Get it for your kids!
If DC imprints count:
The lyrics and a link to the video.
Slayer - Angel of Death
***
Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The way that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you of your life
Forced in
Like cattle
You run
Stripped of
Your life's worth
Human mice, for the Angel of Death
Four hundred thousand more to die
Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Sadistic, surgeon of demise
Sadist of the noblest blood
Destroying, without mercy
To benefit the Aryan race
Surgery, with no anesthesia
Feel the knife pierce you intensely
Inferior, no use to mankind
Strapped down screaming out to die
Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Infamous butcher,
Angel of Death
Pumped with fluid, inside your brain
Pressure in your skull begins pushing through your eyes
Burning flesh, drips away
Test of heat burns your skin, your mind starts to boil
Frigid cold, cracks your limbs
How long can you last
In this frozen water burial?
Sewn together, joining heads
Just a matter of time
'Til you rip yourselves apart
Millions laid out in their
Crowded tombs
Sickening ways to achieve
The holocaust
Seas of blood, bury life
Smell your death as it burns
Deep inside of you
Abacinate, eyes that bleed
Praying for the end of
Your wide awake nightmare
Wings of pain, reach out for you
His face of death staring down,
Your blood running cold
Injecting cells, dying eyes
Feeding on the screams of
The mutants he's creating
Pathetic harmless victims
Left to die
Rancid Angel of Death
Flying free
[LEADS: HANNEMAN, KING, HANNEMAN, KING, HANNEMAN]
Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Infamous butcher,
Angel of Death
Books which may interest, especially for beginners (The first three are highly recommended)
Magic in Ancient Egypt: Revised Edition
Eternal Egypt: Ancient Rituals for the Modern World
Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred
Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian Religion, Revised Edition
Circle Of The Sun: Rites And Celebrations For Egyptian Pagans And Kemetics
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Featuring Integrated Text and Full-Color Images (This book isn't much of a "for beginners"-- it's just a translated funeral text. Still a great read for Kemeticists, though.)
The Ancient Egyptian Prayerbook (Just a contemporary prayerbook which may interest)
Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba.
I don't read a lot of action-y graphic novels, so I can't really help you with finding more stuff like Watchmen, Wanted, etc. (However, you have to promise me you'll read Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.)
But I can recommend more laid-back graphic novels if you're ever in the mood for something different! Give American Born Chinese, Anya's Ghost, or Daytripper a shot sometime.
Persepolis and Maus are also graphic novel must reads, no matter what genre you usually favor. And Scott Pilgrim was super popular recently, with great cause.
And, if you're willing to settle down for a long haul and read your comics backwards, I really can't recommend Fullmetal Alchemist enough. 27 volumes, but it's the best action series I've ever read and one of my all-time favorites of any sort of media. Check out a stack of it from the library and you'll fly right through it. That's what I did one afternoon, and my time has never been better spent.
Edit: More suggestions, typos.
There are two collections, both, as far as I know, currently out of print, of Tolkien's general artwork, and one specifically of the artwork from The Hobbit. They are, in order of publication:
Pictures by J.R.R Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien; there are two slightly different editions. Both sell for pretty premium prices.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull; available in both hardcover and paperback. I don't remember offhand if the two editions differ at all. The paperback is available pretty cheaply, and the hardcover can be got much cheaper than the above book; this also covers more of Tolkien's art than the first book did.
The Art of The Hobbit, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull; currently in print.
In addition, there have been a number of catalogs of exhibits of Tolkien's paintings that have contained a number of his works, and some of the calendars contain his paintings and drawings as well.
Source: I'm staring at all of these while I type. :-)
Yes, he might be in possession of Germaine Greer's book on Boys
http://www.amazon.com/Germaine-Greer-The-Beautiful-Boy/dp/0847825868
[Daytripper] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401229697/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1451851191&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=daytripper&dpPl=1&dpID=51feW5rJfwL&ref=plSrch)... Best thing I have ever read by far.
Yuuuup. Color and Light should be taught in every art class, it's foundational and I'd recommend it to anybody with an interest in looking at art and understanding it, let alone actually making art.
Imaginative Realism is just as good, but it's a little more focused on the craft of illustration.
Oh, I wanna try too:
>Are there different "branches" of Buddhism, sort of like in Christianity?
>Who was The Buddha?
> why is there prayer in Buddhism? How is Buddhist prayer different than, say, Christian and Islamic prayer?
>Do Buddhists go to temples on a certain day of the week like Christians? Is there a ritualistic process on what is done each day?
> If I call my local Buddhist temple or meditation center, would someone there be willing to talk to me over the phone and introduce me in real life to what Buddhism is?
> Basically, I would really appreciate it if you could explain to me what Buddhism means to you, what your daily Buddhist lifestyle is, and how it affects you.
Also, here are some books:
TADA!
https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-I/dp/0955862078/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=russian+prison+tattoos&qid=1565314534&s=gateway&sr=8-1
I have all three and they are great to read/flip through. A small part of history I never really gave much thought towards but am glad I found out about. They might be at a library check them out.
"Daytripper" is a beautiful and deep read.
"Black Hole" is trippy and existential and has a lot of meat to it.
get this book it's similar to a "mutus liber" (mute book) in that it tells the history of western esotericism in pictures but there is on average 1/4 page small print commentary on most pictures.
Art history gets close to the history of civilization from the weird perspective but if your not careful about your texts, the occult will be studiously left out. The renaissance was a blaze of occult Anamnesis that was quickly squelched via Protestant appropriation (Rosicrucians) and swept back under the magic rug of materialist history.
Also a fun exercise is learning to write/draw with your "wrong hand". Force yourself to write a few sentences everyday with the hand you do not write with. Eventually the script will get smaller and smaller until you have total control. May take a few weeks but it's quicker than you think. Need to do it everyday though.
What happens (IMO) is that you start rewiring your brain a bit.
Once your good at writing with your wrong hand, practice sketching with it as well.
I did a sketch of an eagle once with both hands at the same time and I did the right side with my right hand and the left with my left. It looked pretty good and you couldn't tell which was which. Sadly I let this practice go (I'm not an artist) but I can still write with my wrong hand.
For some reason the cover reminded me of those old castle cross-section books from years past. Like this one on amazon, but I'm pretty sure there was a series and not just one of them. They went over how castles functioned too, so a good resource for fleshing out functioning castles.
Maus
Here's a few off the top of my head!
Sooo many others, but this is good starter list. Fair warning: I have not read these with an eye as to what would be appropriate in a Christian environment. I am fairly certain that Stitches, Maus, and Locke and Key are all "safe."
Edit: Eff it here are some more.
You have already mentioned all of my other would be suggestions. :)
Last time I tried to give advice on drawings the person got upset and quit reddit, soooo, please don't do that. My suggestion if you're absolutely serious about drawing is to absolutely learn the fundamentals.
Fun With A Pencil: How Everybody Can Easily Learn to Draw https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857687603/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ijZZDbCWDFEAQ
Drawing the Head and Hands https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857680978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AjZZDb0B3RBPF
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857680986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OjZZDbW37G79H
Successful Drawing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857687611/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4jZZDb95Z0W96
Creative Illustration https://www.amazon.com/dp/1845769287/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ikZZDbFRJYAJD
And after the basics
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist (Volume 1) (James Gurney Art) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0740785508/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_alZZDbZW0Y1P4
Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (Volume 2) (James Gurney Art) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0740797719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DlZZDb676AWT6
It doesn't matter what medium you use, learning how to draw and understanding what you're doing will help out the most.
Germaine Greer should know better, since she's an ephebophile herself.
Perdido Street Station - by China Mieville.
Ah, De Rerum Natura! I have fond memories of reading that book back in college. One of our classics professors did a translation of the work.
There's actually a book by Stephen Greenblatt written about "On the Nature of the Universe" and its rediscovery during the Renaissance.
Edit: Found it! And it actually won a Pulitzer Prize! http://www.amazon.com/The-Swerve-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393343405
These scrolls are a really big deal. IIRC, only the outer layer was carbonized, which meant that some of the writing is preserved in the interior layers. Some fragments from finds like this were what brought the ancient work "De Rerum Natura" (On the Nature of Things) to the attention of early scholars.
According to Greenblatt in The Swerve, the rediscovery of this work is what kicked off much of the secular/scientific turn in European history.
I read the Swerve a while back and I'm currently reading a translation of De Rerum Natura when I'm on the shitter, and it's utterly fascinating. It's an epic poem that basically lays out the vision of a secular/scientific view of the universe. It's one of those works (like the dome of the Pantheon, etc.) which makes clear how much was lost in the fall of the Roman Empire.
Well you have a few options, if you are starting out fairly new to the bigger world of Tolkien then go for the wonderful books 'The Art of the Hobbit' and 'The Art of the Lord of the Rings' both edited and introduced by Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull. If you are not aware of them they are a very dedicate pair who have worked wonders to expand the world of Middle-earth. Followed by 'Artist and Illustrator' again from Hammond & Scull. You should find those immensely informative and maybe quite a revelation that Tolkien was a superb illustrator.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544636341
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0547928254/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TCC0X4650YGR6KYX2CX4
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0618083618/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498172899&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=artist+and+illustrator
The links are all to Amazon US but you will if you shop around on marketplace or eBay find them cheaper.
The Hobbit and Rings books are both slipcased and are superbly put together.
THIS BOOK, and THIS BOOK, are damn near the gold standard for getting started and professionals alike.
u/KnivesMillions is dead on with the point on fundamentals. Start with a good foundation of drawing and color theory. Drawing and painting from life and observation are also an excellent way to get better quickly.
A fantastic convention/gallery show to attend would be Illuxcon (if you can make it to Pennsylvania), where you can meet top-tier working artists in the industry (Danato Gincola, Scott Fisher, Iris Compt, both of the Gerards, etc.), see their work in the flesh, and ask them questions (they are usually quite receptive to questions if you are professional and polite).
Also, there are no set in stone rules for what constitutes "amazing fantasy art" aside from craft. All is chaos, embrace it.
Here you go, ladies.
Pegging. Thoughts?
How old were you when you lost your virginity?
If you could change it, would you make it earlier or later?
Do you like using toys in the bedroom?
What is your go to song for when you are
When was the last time you laughed a lovely laugh full of mirth?
What is your favourite colour and what does it signify?
), by Victoria Finlay. It is well worth your time.
And the SUNDAY SPECIAL for this week:
Your favourite on screen villains/ vamps of all time...
Prison tattoos in Russia have a huge meaning. If you like art then you should get these three books. They're amazing and will tell you about each symbol and what they mean.
I know a guy that got a Russian Prison tattoo as a joke. He won't go near Brighton Beach ever.
Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
I agree with what /u/abhayakara said on this. I think you've misunderstood the nature of the 8FP as moralistic. It's actually incredibly practical and commonsense-based (and completely secular, if you so choose). Also, I want to reiterate the point that Buddha did not teach literal rebirth. I highly recommend Bikkhu Bodhi's pithy book (which you could read in a day) ... https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X
The most recent translations aren't going to be free and available online. I'd suggest going to your library or ordering a copy via Amazon. This is an excellent version, but there are less expensive, earlier editions available as well.
I think you should lean on the fundamentals of Buddhist practice:
It sounds like you are setting up a sin/sinner system around masturbation and pornography and are looking to be saved. You are not bad or a sinner. Drop this mode of thinking. Plenty of people don't masturbate or consume porn and are not enlightened in the classical Buddhist sense. It's not the point of the path. (Perhaps a byproduct but there are many of those.)
It's most helpful when looking thoughts and behaviors to consider what is skillful and what is unskillful. Skillful behaviors promote wholesome mind states. Unskillful behaviors spring from greed/hatred/delusion and generally lead to unwholesome mind states. So you need to work on cultivating the good and avoiding the unwholesome.
Something I've found helpful when about to do something unskillful is to reflect:
>This leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of both.
>
>It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html
I suggest hopping right onto two illustrated books!
"Philosophy for beginners" (By Richard Osborne)
https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Beginners-Richard-Osborne/dp/1934389021/ref=sr_1_2/138-6850700-4480729
&
"Introduction to postmodernism" (By Appignanesi & Garrat)
https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Postmodernism-Graphic-Richard-Appignanesi/dp/1840468491
I recommend these books to anyone that can read.
These are more like comic books as the books basically rely on illustrations and puzzling/overly clever/humourous commentary, with not so much text in the traditional sense (there aren't, iirc, whole pages of text), and great fun to read through. The book about postmodernism is a real head scratcher, a decent challenge to anyone enjoying Twin Peaks I think. :)
If I could add something to this, then I would also suggest getting a dictionary and an etymological dictionary (or use the free website Merriam Webster Dictionary on the web, to look up English words whenever you need to, or feel like refreshing your knowledge about words, or just for spell checking). The 'etymology' of a word hints at a deeper meaning with words. The antithesis to proper use of words, are imo 'synonyms'. Also, maybe don't use words like "absolutely" if you don't what you mean by it, as you may be thought as being disingenuous and dishonest (as if relying on ironic distance to try add positive spin with a statement that is basically meaningless), as if you were allowed to make two points with a particular statement at the same time, essentially making a point about making a point about something. Red card! As if saying "I absolutely love your idea", when you maybe mean something like "I love your idea because it is a good idea for me to sound like I love your idea."
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disingenuous
Oddly enough, this one particular entry in the dictionary, does not seem to have a section for 'etymology'. :D
Basically, don't forget that understanding the language one speak is important for understanding meaning in general as a cultural thing (the world you actually live in). So one is challenged to relate to problems like "meaning" and "knowledge". In our post modern world, it is sort of shown that one can always doubt true knowledge, because knowledge isn't what you could otherwise be tempted to want to think of as being 'apriori' knowledge.
And then, I guess you could also watch the movie "Hero" (2002).
How about a graphic novel? Try Daytripper.
Daytripper by Gabriel Bà & Fàbio Moon
Thanks for this thread, it will be a cool occasion to advertise this beautiful book that I just finished (In French, because it's my mothertongue. The authors are Brazilian.)
The concept is very simple, but wonderfully efficient: What will be your obituary if you die today?
We follow the main character, Bràs, who shares with Kenny McCormick the fact that he dies at the end of each chapter. But, on the contrary to Kenny, he dies at a different ages in each chapter.
This allows the authors to highlight what is important at each step of the life of their character. Love, in all its forms, filial, friendship or romance, is present in each page of this book. A bit of fantasy adds to the atmosphere a little bit of tenderness and something that is from the domain of dreams...
I really enjoyed reading this book, and I left it with a renewed love for life.
Do yourself a favor and pick up China Mieville's Bas-Lag series.
Perdido Street Station
The Scar &
Iron Council
It already exists!:
http://www.amazon.com/Maus-Survivors-Father-Bleeds-History/dp/0394747232
Thought I'd provide some Amazon links to these fine suggestions, along with a few of my own.
J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0008214549/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Jc.DCb1A3J8V6
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Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/000755690X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Qe.DCbHG7HWXM
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Art of the Lord of the Rings US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544636341/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_3f.DCbB8Y2ZNZ
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Art of the Hobbit US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0547928254/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ng.DCbCX2CT65
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Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1851244859/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Vg.DCbSEH99RE
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Rateliff's History of the Hobbit US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF6AZWK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Dj.DCbGWY7970
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Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-Earth US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618126996/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Kk.DCbC2XF6NT
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Letters of JRR Tolkien US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618056998/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ml.DCbREBRZH4
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Carpenter's Tolkien: A Biography US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618057021/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_xm.DCbY976PAE
The tattoo is a take on the tattoo on the cover of a book about Russian Criminal Tattoos.
Here is a link to it, it's on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-I/dp/0955862078
> on soviet prison tattoos you will find depictions of marx, engels and lenin
It's interesting that you've mentioned this, as the first thing I thought about after reading the title question were the Russian prison tatoo studies. There are quite a few of them. For instance, the three volumes of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia. You can find it on amazon. The same author also wrote a book called Drawings from the Gulag.
Also, here's a study from Post-War Greece. JStore has a lot of stuff on that topic, but I didn't see a cross-country one. I guess, one could produce one by combining all these regional studies.
People interested in this fascinating topic will no doubt encounter Graham Hancock. Check out his book Magicians of the Gods for some crazy theories about human history.
The book is called Daytripper and it’s fucking amazing. Really, really sad. Amazing art.
https://www.amazon.com/Daytripper-Gabriel-Ba/dp/1401229697
Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is one of my all-time favorites and particularly good for magical realism and surrealism in a graphic novel. It's about one guy but every chapter ends in his death, with all the others picking up at a completely different point in his life without reference to his other deaths.
No offense, but his name is spelled Stonor.
Here's his book at Amazon
There was another reason that the CIA supported these artistic movements. They almost are completely devoid of any emotional or political message. You can rarely use them to enlighten people or stir them up to political action. At best they are intellectually interesting. Artistically they are trash compared to, say, [Soviet War Paintings](http://www.allworldwars.com/Soviet War Paintings.html) with their ability to stir the soul.
Read Frances Stonor Saunder's The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters which reveals just how much of American post war culture was controlled, shaped and directed by the CIA, ie, the wealthy and powerful.
And it wasn't just the art they controlled, and not just in the US.
>The CIA also entered the world of the cinema, leaving their mark on film scripts and blocking films which they thought problematic, and helping others which favored their cause. http://www.terra.es/personal2/gmv00000/truthfiction.htm
I hope you get some interesting replies to this. You probably need to clarify your meaning though; "castles from kingdoms".
For most of human history, Castles were more like a fortified house at the center of village, often where the villagers could take shelter if there was an attack. The vast majority of castles have very little living space square footage compared to what we see in movies. The walls surround a large interior space that is busy during peace times and haphazardly crammed with villagers during a siege.
There would have been a considerable amount of smaller, wooden structures that sprawled out and around the castle to provide support. Having cooking fires, and slaughter houses, and rodent attracting grain stores, and access to fresh water, and stables for animals, and facilities for disposing of animal waster, and space for hundreds of employees to sleep and live, all would happen outside the castle walls. Think of a castle instead as a center point of a large village and it's more likely to be an effective way of thinking about it.
That said, buy this book, https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Cross-sections-Castle-Biesty/dp/1465408800/
Despite it seeming being "for kids" it will probably have more info than any committed amateur might need to suss out what's going on in a castle.
Others that also look interesting.
https://www.amazon.com/Castle-Eyewitness-Books-Christopher-Gravett/dp/0756637694/
https://www.amazon.com/Year-Castle-Time-Goes/dp/1580137962/
I don't have a "go read this book/article and learn everything you need to know" answer ready to go. But, I would bet that this book is an incredible resource on the topic. Bhikkhu Bodhi is known as not only a deeply practiced monk in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism but also an exceptionally well educated scholar of Buddhism.
Not to be mean, but that's the Nickleback of esotericism. I think you'd find most of the illustrations in the $16 book Alchemy and Mysticism to have much deeper, and more multi-layered, meanings. Thumb through, find a few that resonate with you now, find larger versions on the internet, print and frame them.
This system also has the advantage that as you improve in your esoteric knowledge, you can keep upgrading.
Greek.
Epicureanism is the first modern way of thinking about the world. It's worth a lot of further study. He had an enormous influence on the development of the modern world.
If you want to read more, The Swerve by Greenblatt is a good if somewhat hyperbolic introduction.
Persepolis and Maus seem to be safe choices, even for people who don't normally read or those who usually skip graphic novels.
MAUS (I and II)
This Book
Possibly The Art of Shen Ku: The First Intergalactic Artform of the Entire Universe? It's a book that has tons of illustrated guides spanning a wide variety of subjects. Here's the Amazon description:
What is Shen Ku? Roughly translated: "Pure Traveler" or "Phantom Passenger." What exactly is the "art of...?" Mastering the skill and knowledge of practically everything anyone comes across while on Earth, including:
And this is only the beginning.
How about some books? Depending on what she already has you could get her a nice edition of The Lord of the Rings or a companion books like The Atlas of Middle-earth or The Art of The Hobbit.
Something like The Art of the Lord of the Rings and/or The Art of The Hobbit might be good. Those are fairly large (though thin).
They also make a faux leather "Pocket" The Hobbit and LotR set.
There are multiple volume encyclopedias on Russian criminal tattoos available for purchase online. Your local library might carry these books too. It's all quite fascinating.
If you are interested in more info on the Russian criminal tattoos, there is an awesome set of books with lots of details and examples
It's called Russian Criminal Tattoo-- here's a link to it on Amazon
Perdido Street Station. http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Miéville/dp/0345443020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457885493&sr=8-1&keywords=perdido+street+station
Last year I read Stephen Greenblatt's [The Swerve: How the World Became Modern] ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393343405). It concerns itself with the effect that the book "On The Nature of Things" by the Roman philosopher Lucretius has on renaissance thinkers. He argues that many pre-modern, secular, and scientific ideas are reflected in Lucretius' thinking and that the dissemination of the book was a key event in flowering of the Italian Renaissance. I think it'll answer a lot of your questions/ serve as an entry point.
From Hell by Alan Moore
Maus by Art Spiegelman
That's awesome... I had few interesting books assigned in HS. I think Beowulf and Slaughterhouse Five were the two that I really enjoyed. I had a 20th Century Lit class in college that assigned the first volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus. That's a great choice for a literary graphic novel, too, if you ever seek to mix it up.
Buying a book is not about obtaining a possession, but securing a portal.
Maus is one I've been looking for around my town. I'm super interested in the Holocaust and the fact they made a graphic novel using mice is super cool!!
Someone could put in a ton of effort, and still come out with something that people found shitty. Meanwhile, absurdity is a quality that several writers, directors and painters have been lauded for (Beckett, Dali and many more). I'm leaning towards the guy up above that mentioned the attitude of 'shitty modern art/performance' is more about pulling down the other guy and making the person feel better.
There's an excellent book about the subject, at least in terms of art specifically, called Why Your 5 Year Old Couldn't Have Done That, which is also a very good read into the bargain.
I first read A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. It is an adaptation of a larger set by the same author, but I felt it was pretty engaging for a primer.
A photo study helps you fine tune your technical and perception skills. Almost every professional illustrators/artists today have tried using photo ref for either just practicing and for an actual project.
Even the old masters from the renaissance era have studied and reproduce other old masters. Drawing from imagination and drawing from observation are two different things. One way to improve your imaginative skills, believe or not, is to fine tune your observational one. Gurney's book covers a lot of these idea.
Hey! I graduated from IB in 2007 and did standard and higher level art, got a 6 out of 7 (I slacked a bit towards the end, senioritis). I then went on to do a 4 year Illustration program and graduated with a BFA. I hope you go down a similar path, art is very fulfilling and you seem to have some passion. Don't feel discouraged if your work doesn't yet match your ideas, you need to crank out tons of studies and eventually you'll feel yourself improving in leaps and bounds.
What IB really wants to see from you is a consistent theme. You've got a lot of experimentation in different media which is great, but I recommend you get some inspiration from art history. Just straight up copy old masters, if you see an old painting that you enjoy try to duplicate it and you'll understand it in a way you could never imagine. Try you hand at things like chalk pastels (Nu Pastel is a good brand), charcoal, watercolor, maybe even some oil paint. Avoid using small scratchy lines all the time, try flipping charcoal on its side and making broad strokes or get some powdered graphite and apply with a brush. A quote I try to live by: "Big artists use big brushes."
Find one or two types of media that really appeal to you and run with it, struggle with it, learn from it, study it, become bored with it, master it. I did digital painting for the most part which was sort of cutting-edge at the time and scored me some originality points and still to this day I work in that style.
Contemplate what you think is an interesting theme to make a series of artworks about, go to a local art gallery or museum and see how other artists approach themes. Get inspiration everywhere and write it down, lyrics in songs, things on the news, ideas in the shower. I did 'Creation / Destruction' as my theme and focused on the duality of the two through mythical stories of gods, warfare, self esteem and perception, yatta yatta. You're in high school, remember that this is a good time to just noodle around, try crazy shit, don't worry about being judged for failing, failure makes you better because you learn what not to do. And originality isn't the most important thing, imitate the art you love and once you feel you understand it you can tweak it.
Here's the biggest secrets I never knew in high school. Artworks are broken down into a few essential components, if you keep these concepts in mind you'll do much better.
The books I'd recommend are:
The Story of Painting
Imaginative Realism
Everything by Andrew Loomis (Free!)
Classical Painting Atelier
View these websites:
http://www.linesandcolors.com/
http://www.googleartproject.com/
http://gregnewbold.blogspot.com/
http://beardedroman.com/
http://www.artrenewal.org/
Good luck! My website is www.caycegoldberg.com so feel free to contact me if you want critiques or advice or whatever. And don't let the stress of IB take you down, stick through it. It's a tremendous struggle but it gives you a huge leg up on life, you'll appreciate it forever.
Maybe the James Gurney books, Imaginative Realism and Color and Light
Was it Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet?
Was it Gnomes? That’s really the only book I can think of that included the types of drawings you mention.
Gnomes https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810909650/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_q0BZzbMESSXWG
Do you have a picture book about gnomes???! I found one in a thrift store about 8 years ago and have loved it!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0810909650/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
This is amazing. I would love to try to convince him he must be color blind or something, while insisting that black people are literally black, and white people are literally white, and he must be seeing something different. A spin-off of the classic mildly-stoned-deep-thought, “how do we know that what I call ‘red’ and what you call ‘red’ actually look the same? We only know what ‘red’ is because we’re taught certain things are ‘red’, like fire trucks and apples. Maybe color is a social construct!”
Which reminds me of a Radiolab podcast about color I heard a few months back, and the mystery of Homer’s “wine-dark sea”- supposedly there’s no mention of color blue in neither the Iliad or the Odyssey . Plus, is the sky really blue?
Now seems like a good time for me to finally read a book about the history of color that’s been on my Kindle for months. That Top Mind who just has apparently just discovered color has inspired me!
I have Color: A Natural History of the Palette which I find really interesting, it discusses color theory and the history behind it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=suffragettes+wanted+to+control+male+sexuality&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=suffragette+control+male+sexuality
https://books.google.com/books?id=uODW2XF7orYC&pg=PT105&lpg=PT105&dq=suffragette+control+male+sexuality+purity+movement&source=bl&ots=P4jelUECkq&sig=Ef7KJqAvbJnxfS75_TY5V59JFas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikgqm7sYLTAhUW9GMKHbSNCikQ6AEIJTAC#v=onepage&q=suffragette%20control%20male%20sexuality%20purity%20movement&f=false
>With the exception of women such as Josephine Butler, feminists frequently demanded that the coercive power of the state be utilized in a policy of sexual control.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VlGHUz8GfVsC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=Purity+act+fallen+men+suffragette&source=bl&ots=i24R5zZRqq&sig=7TFiJ5p2PNWw7SJOZHFovvIo7lw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAnv3M1NLRAhUFiFQKHXE4AQUQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=Purity%20act%20fallen%20men%20suffragette&f=false
>..nevertheless they did not encourage women to see their sexuality in a positive light.
Rather, they charged men with being responsible for making women suffer in order to acheive their male carnal desires, and demanded that policies of control, such as higher age of consent be enacted, among antiprostitution laws, etc.
https://books.google.com/books?id=UvTMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=suffragette+age+of+consent+control+male+desire&source=bl&ots=gRwCGYGFg_&sig=1srsSIhnGZk5dxj6PhNOST0UtSo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPzYXI0ozUAhWIrlQKHdKoDZQQ6AEITDAF#v=onepage&q=suffragette%20age%20of%20consent%20control%20male%20desire&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=Rng2oOq1Ep8C&pg=PA14&dq=inauthor:mary+inauthor:odem+%22united+states+1885+and+1920%22+%22state+1885+1920%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zpJDVYL9HMqrogTDt4HIAg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=inauthor%3Amary%20inauthor%3Aodem%20%22united%20states%201885%20and%201920%22%20%22state%201885%201920%22&f=false
You'll have to scroll up or down from the tables, but essentially the suffragette movements considered a higher age of consent a priority for improving female 'status'..except they sought only for the female version of age of consent, and did not care that males had NO age of consent law to 'protect them'.
Females are exceptional, males are ordinary.
If you 'taint' a female of a certain age, we want laws that will socially punish you, the male, who tainted her.
https://www.amazon.com/Germaine-Greer-Beautiful-Boy/dp/0847825868
Here's a lurid little book by well known feminist G.G. who states that she wanted to incite lust of middle teen aged boy bodies in the souls of adult women.
https://www.amazon.com/Soiled-Doves-Prostitution-Early-Women/dp/096190884X
The other books make it clear, sexual exchange freely without hope for marriage, or within the confines of a monetary exchange, were simply part of an oppressive regime of male domination over women.
To control males, we make laws to prevent prostitution so they can't have easy access to sex, to imprison males for violating age of consent law, which we will raise. Incidentally, 'fornication' which meant unmarried sex was actually illegal in the U.S. It looks as though wikipedia has little to no real information on it, but
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/virginia-bill-decriminalize-sex-outside-marriage-stalls-n23516
Virginia is one of the first colonies, and that law is indicative of what was more common among states. If fornication is a crime, then men were subject to that law as well.
I'm covering the issue from an AoC angle mostly, but it is clear that prostitution and sex outside marriage (gotta get that man's paycheck and a cushy lifestyle) were also considered harmful to women, and part of male subordination of women.
Men hurt women through their sexuality, and she always loses out. Therefore we should seek control of male sexual behavior, desire, etc.
Why is it today that we still have jokes about dad making veiled threats to boyfriends their daughters bring home and not the other way around?
Because the female is the natural victim when sexuality occurs.
---
I probably should remind at this point that sexuality is defined as obscene, and sexual films aka porn is defined as material of obscene, indecent, lascivious, and lewd nature.
Sex acts are lewd and lascivious, obscene, indecent, except we simply have made it 'legal' to have sex in private between unmarried individuals for the purpose of sexual pleasure instead of for making babies, and we allow consumption of pornographic, e.g. obscene. material in private as well.
Its still all 'obscene', which means its bad. We just let 'legal adults' do bad things of this nature. In this light, we can understand why males are viewed as tainting females, even in the contemporary period.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/lewd+and+lascivious
>adj., adv. references to conduct which includes people living together who are known not to be married, entertainment which aims at arousing the libido or primarily sexual sensation, open solicitation for prostitution, or indecent exposure of genitalia (which is itself a crime). Due to the tendency of judges to be overly careful in writing about moral and/or sexual matters the definitions have been cloaked in old-fashioned modesty. Today the term usually applies to pornography, prostitution, and indecent acts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascivious_behavior
>In American law mailing lascivious matter is prohibited thus:
Basically, no tits in the mail.
>For example, in 1896, lascivious cohabitation referred to the now-archaic crime of living with a member of the opposite sex and having premarital sex with him or her.[1] In 2015 the laws of three states of the United States (Florida, Michigan and Mississippi) still considered "lascivious cohabitation" as a crime.[2] In 2016 Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed into law SB 0498 which no longer makes "lascivious cohabitation" a crime.[3]
>Lechery is a behavioral pattern that includes:
Inordinate indulgence in sexual activity
Unrestrained and promiscuous sexuality
Immoderate indulgence of sexual desire
Lewd and lustful behavior
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lewd
> sexually unchaste or licentious (see licentious 1) lewd behaviorb : obscene, vulgar lewd remarks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscenity
boop
here is a warning and heed it well: russians take their tattoos seriously. you will not be taken to task by a sailor for having a nautical star. someone may have an opinion of you if you get something like this, you need to make sure you can handle that opinion.
Ishmael (and the rest of the series) by Daniel Quinn opened my eyes in my senior year of high school.
It's about a Gorilla, who has lived beside man for a number of decades and teaches a pupil through stories and analogies about how we are already at the cusp of civilization collapse. It's about a lot more than just that, namely the relationship of humans, animals, the planet, and how humans have a unique, egotistical view of themselves where we deemed ourselves rulers of the planet.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins is an eye opener as well.
Other great reads:
Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock.
Necronomicon
UFO's by Leslie Keen
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
I also really enjoyed the Myst series by Rand & Robin Miller (the books the game is based on). It's about worlds within worlds and an ancient race of authors creating worlds through magical ink and books (sci-fi/fantasy).
And if you like this, then definitely read Graham Hancock's new book, Magicians of the Gods. Mind = Blown
http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Gods-Forgotten-Wisdom-Civilization/dp/1250045924
I put this a little lower, but I'm not opposed to dropping it up here too...
I also forgot to mention that Alex Robinson's work (Box Office Poison, Too Cool 2 B Forgotten, Tricked) is so good that I wish I could get it pregnant.
Nice job! And thanks for sharing.
Is this the book you're reading? Is it good for a modern audience? https://www.amazon.com/Noble-Eightfold-Path-Way-Suffering/dp/192870607X/
These are really great books! Heres a link to one on post modernism http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Postmodernism-Graphic-Richard-Appignanesi/dp/1840468491
You would definitely dig these. They might seem basic, but you'll remember it all, see how it all moves through history, and know what you want to dig into further:
Postmodernism
Critical Theory
Marxism
Philosophy in General
As above, so below.
Try this Alchemy-Mysticism-Hermetic-Museum
> to somewhat understand postmodernism
This is a very good starter guide.
Amazon is a good start. This book is Mircea Eliade could be a title and if you like visuals, buy Alchemy & Mysticism, 576 pages with color images and some explanation. From there on, try to see what it is that interests you.
Just want to make sure that this book is linked to though it is far too late and no one will see it.
Edit: Really? A down vote for the book that us literally an intensive study covering the subject of the link. Howsabout go fuck yourself then? You know what, hey everyone, you read that Asimov short story that's linked to every week? Fuck it, just read that instead.
Another edit: Yes! Your down votes are oxygen! Let's inhale them and feed the trees around us! You guys ever heard of Sufjan Stevens? His songs are so sad right?
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Cross-sections-Castle-14th-Century/dp/1465408800
Wanna buy me it for Christmas?
The most recent was Daytripper. It's a great little graphic novel that explores life and death. Really blew me away.
I don't have any proof in terms of linking producers or production companies, but I've long felt that the early wave of flying saucer invasion B films of the 1950s were made under the influence of the CIA and the conclusions of the Robertson Panel in early 1953. [It's a well-known fact that CIA looked to use the media and Hollywood for propaganda](http://www.amazon.com/The-Cultural-Cold-War-Letters/dp/1565846648, and the Robertson Pannel explicitly recommended such a campaign to dillute interest in UFO reports. The extreme distortion of Donald Keyhoe's Flying Saucers from Outer Space that became Earth vs. the Flying Saucers seems like the clearest example of taking actual reports and turning them into sensationalistic nonsense that is thinly vieled Cold War propaganda (invading ETs as invading Commies).
Honestly I imagine that there's a traceable paper trail that exists. But again, I've never seen a thorough demonstration of CIA's involvement.
That is so cool! Thanks for linking it. I've put it on my wishlist to possibly buy later. Right now I'm looking through this and I have this on the way, so I'll wait on that Seaborg book.
Thanks for posting that! I recognize a lot of those illustrations from this book called "Alchemy & Mysticism" by Alexander Roob. Have you ever seen that one? It's a really amazing collection of artworks. I wish it were a little larger, but it's a great resources nonetheless, and it was really affordable. The hardcover sells on amazon for less than $20. Well worth a purchase if you into such things!
*edit - here is the link:
https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Mysticism-Alexander-Roob/dp/3836549360/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526840172&sr=1-1&keywords=alchemy+and+mysticism+alexander+roob&dpID=5168YyiXUkL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
I got Alchemy & Mysticism by Alexander Roob! Have yet to read it, but beautiful pictures!
Honestly, one of the best places to start is:
https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Mysticism-Alexander-Roob/dp/3836549360/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1537747469&sr=8-8&keywords=alchemy
He references most everyone you need to know, and you can follow up. Plus he's really focusing on an important part of the Alchemical tradition and it's transmission: the visuals. Where the guys creating these visuals alchemists? Maybe not in all cases, though it would be hard to do any of them with no understanding, but in many cases- definitely.
This is one of the main sources of Alchemical tradition, and you'll see very little that indicates that you are trying to turn lead into gold, but a lot conveying that you are taking metaphorical lead and turning it into gold. Spiritual lead into gold. Human lead into gold.
You planning going entering Duat a little early? Here ya go
here bro
"What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse is a great intro to Buddhist ideas. It can be read for free on scribd without logging in. If you like it, consider buying it to support the author.
Another common suggestion is Way to the End of Suffering by Bikkhu Bodhi.
You can get this in book form ( 144 pages ) on Amazon
Budge's work was decent for its time, but knowledge of ancient Egyptian vocabulary and grammar has advanced considerably since the 1800s. In particular, Polotsky's discoveries in the mid-20th century dramatically changed how scholars analyze the Egyptian verbal system. It's extremely irritating to see Budge's works still in publication since all of them have long since been replaced by more up to date works.
An additional problem is that Budge uses his own peculiar version of vocalization for transliterations rather than the standard system used by Egyptologists today, which makes it very difficult for a non-Egyptologist to look up words from his translation in an Egyptian dictionary like Faulkner's or the TLA.
As an example, see page 130 of Budge's translation. Budge translates an adjectival sentence as follows:
>neferiu uben-k em xut se-het'-k taiu em satu-k
>"Doubly beautiful [is] thy rising in the horizon, thou shinest upon the two lands with thy beams."
Here Budge has misinterpreted the adjective nfrwy. It's true that -wy is commonly the dual form (hence Budge's "doubly"), but that is used only for dual nouns, typically body parts such as legs and eyes, and adjectives referring to dual nouns. It makes no sense as a dual in this adjectival sentence. Rather, it is the exclamatory ending -wy used for predicate adjectives ("how XXX is Y!"). Budge also rather awkwardly begins a new independent clause with "thou shinest" when it fact it should be linked to the previous clause; Egyptian independent clauses typically require the use of an introductory particle, which is not present here.
Egyptologists today would translate the sentence as follows:
>nfrwy wbn=k m Axt sHD=k tAwy m stwt=k
>"How beautiful is your shining in the horizon while you brighten the Two Lands with your rays (lit. 'shootings')!"
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day translated by Faulkner and Goelet is a much more recent and reliable translation of the Papyrus of Ani, the version on which Budge's translation is based.
Hey there!
Well, I own a copy of the earlier edition of this book. You're in luck, this new edition is very recent. It's paperback, however, and I'm not entirely sure if there's a hardcover version. It's the Faulkner translation. I'm sure there are more recent translations, but Faulkner's, as you probably know since you named him in your title, is very respected. The plates are stunning, and for that alone it's worth it. Some pages are even fold-in in order to not compromise the scenes. The book is rather tall, so you can see detail, and the translations are under the pertinent plates.
I did set the bar quite high when looking for a Book of Coming Forth by Day and this version is one I quite like. I'm yet to hear negative feedback about it, although I'd appreciate it. The only downside for me so far is that it's paperback.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1565846648/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_66BUBbZ0BMEA8
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1944869131/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_M7BUBbCMGEF5J
Hey, this is by Stephen Biesty!
He is a really cool british illustrator and became famous for his cross sections, like this or that, which are seriously awesome!
This is from a book called
"Into the Unknown, How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea and Air" and features apart from this the journeys of Maggellan, Leif Eriksson, Zheng He, the Piccard Brothers and some other cool adventurers.
Credit where credit's due
The CIA funding modern artists is also substantiated...
source
Introduction to Comics
How to Get Into Comic Books (13:40) | Patrick Willems
Consider your intent/commitment. Think about your favorite shows, movies, books, etc. Reading primarily for enjoyment or encyclopedic knowledge? Collecting? Have the time/resources to read 50 or 500 comics per character?
Don’t try to read everything at once. There’s too much. Forget about catching up, continuity, universes, etc. for now. Older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences, so they aren’t necessarily ideal starting points. Writers change often, characters get re-worked, and origins are re-told. Remember, there are many great characters, creators, publishers, etc. to explore.
Pick an interesting character/team and seek their most popular/acclaimed stories. Focus on self-contained, complete stories in one corner of the universe. There will be unexplained references/characters, just persevere or Wiki. Don’t let the tangled web of shared-universe comics overwhelm you. Think of it like solving a jigsaw puzzle one small piece at a time until you finally see the big picture.
Discover your preferences and let them guide you. Don’t get stuck preparing/over-analyzing, just start reading. Do you like/dislike old/new comics? Specific writers/genres? Cartoony/realistic art? Familiar/weird concepts? References/self-contained? All-ages/mature content? Follow these instincts. Didn’t understand a reference? Maybe read that next.
Acquire/Buy comics:
Marvel
DC
You can skip to the 2016 re-launch with DC Universe: Rebirth and then any Rebirth series #1.
Other
Not a traditional book, but the graphic novel Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon might be exactly what you're looking for.
I used to think just like you, until i read this novel.
It's one of the things that make me proud to be brazilian, just read it 'till the end and you'll get what i'm saying.
Here's a list of my personal favorites:
Perdido Street Station by Meiville
https://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-Bas-Lag-Mi%C3%A9ville/dp/0345443020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518381854&sr=8-1&keywords=perdido+street+station+by+china+mi%C3%A9ville
I'll just put this here...
China Miéville writes sci-fi/fantasy horror. He's phenomenal. Perdido Street Station is amazing and like nothing I've ever read before or since.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
​
Also, I would classify most of the stuff written by Piers Anthony as "weird".
Dostoevsky might be a bit of a stretch for me, but I do know Tolkien and Hemingway.
It's more leaning towards sci-fi fantasy but consider some China Miéville; Perdido St. Station is this wild Victorian-tech-with-magic dystopian fiction (and it's the first in a trilogy).
I almost always recommend Terry Pratchett to people but I think you might not enjoy it if high fantasy is what you're after. Still, it is packed with subtext and satire of real world events, people and places.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is a wonderful start, I think.
On my summer reading list, I have:
I'm currently half way through The Conquest of the Incas. If anyone has interest in the Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica, I highly recommend it. It's a very vivid account of the political games Pizarro and his generals played to take over the Inca empire and solidify their grip in the New World.
Was search for the Yanis capitalism/democracy post & returned here instead. Reading the article, i couldn't get past this near the opening:
>Karl Marx, a 29-year-old philosopher with a taste for epicurean hedonism and Hegelian rationality
Which led down a few rabbit holes... His dissertation was on Epicureanism, which isn't mere foodie-ism, and there were some interesting bits on hedonism in the mix. Quite a clever quip from Yanis...
edit to add a few leads:
http://epicurus.today/epicureanism-after-epicurus-the-influence-of-epicurus-on-western-thought/
(notes "Marx wrote his doctoral thesis on Epicurus. Marx saw Epicurus as a kindred rebel spirit. Thus Epicurus sought to overthrow the philosophy of Aristotle, just as the post-Hegelians — including the young Marx–rose up against Hegel." -- so maybe Yanis wasn't quite on point about Marx being rationally Hegelian? hm.)
This book looks super interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393343405
Also, this argues against the hedonism label:
https://np.reddit.com/r/DebateCommunism/comments/1uvl9n/does_marxist_thought_promote_hedonism_does_it/cem7w8w/?context=3
I would recommend Franco Moretti and Stephen Greenblatt. They're both controversial authors, but even people who disagree with their arguments tend to agree that they're enjoyable to read. They're also more accessible than your average critical text.
Moretti writes a lot about using statistical analysis to make critical arguments. He's the more enjoyable of the two, but also the more controversial. Here's one of his most famous essays, Style, Inc. Reflections on Seven Thousand Titles (British Novels, 1740–1850)
For as much hate as Greenblatt has gotten over the years, he's actually (in my opinion) a fairly safe, established, non-combative critic. He's primarily held responsible for New Historicism, a school of critical theory that places a ton of importance on the culture and society that the writer wrote in. Some folks don't like it because they think it distracts from what's actually on the page - what the writer wrote, not what might have been in the back of his head as he was writing. Other people think he sometimes uses New Historicism to make weak arguments - to base his reading of an important passage on what some random guy in 1596 said about fashion or politics.
I haven't read it, but apparently Greenblatt's The Swerve: How the World Became Modern won a Pulitzer and a National Book Award.
Edit: I should say that neither of these authors are writing surveys (although Greenblatt edits the Norton anthologies of Shakespeare and of English literature). But for me, I find a well-written book about a limited time period stays with me longer than a broad survey text.
Is it Maus?
Great graphic novel i read when i was younger
Not sure you're going to find anything better than Watchmen. However here are a few thoughts...
I heard today that all good stories should ask the question "who am I"? All 4 stories I have recommended do that.
Also, Maus, not as old as American Splendor, but a terrific read
http://www.amazon.com/Maus-Survivors-Father-Bleeds-History/dp/0394747232
Citește asta sau celelalte cărți 'intro' pentru artă modernă, dacă vrei nițel context.
My SO has the same thing, maybe this might you feel a tiny bit better http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Five-Year-Could-Have/dp/0500290474
Altså, æstetik er mange forskellige ting, og folk forstår endnu mere forskelligt ved det. Der findes ekstremt bøger om, hvad kunst er, kunstens historie, hvorfor noget er god kunst og hvorfor din 5-årige ikke kunne have lavet det. Det ville en kunsthistoriker nok være bedre til at anbefale.
Når det kommer til filosofisk æstetik, er det nok Dorthe Jørgensen, der er Danmarks absolutte autoritet på området. Hun har skrevet to doktorafhandlinger om emnet (Skønhedens metamorfose og Den skønne tænkning), men hun har også skrevet meget mere pædagogisk og introducerende om emnet, f.eks. i Skønhed. En engel gik forbi. De fleste af mine bøger ligger i fjernlager lige nu, så jeg kan ikke kigge efter, men jeg husker sidstnævnte som ret ligetil.
Jørgen Dehs er også ret god. Hans nyeste bog Det autentiske. Fortællinger om nutidens kunstbegreb handler om, hvilken rolle det autentiske (det ægte, oprigtige) spiller i kunsten (det kunst-ige, opstillede). Han har også redigeret antologien Æstetiske teorier, der har nogle fine tekster i sig.
The Art of The Lord of the Rings
The Art of The Hobbit
The Hobbit illustrated by Jemima Catlin
Lord of the Rings illustrated by Alan Lee
The Hobbit illustrated by Alan Lee
The Silmarillion illustrated by Ted Nasmith
Folio Society also has editions with illustrations.
Edit to add:
Beren and Luthien illustrated by Alan Lee
Bilbo's Last Song illustrated by Pauline Baynes
https://www.amazon.com/Army-Dawn-1942-1943-Liberation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B000ZMRSGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484576145&sr=1-1&keywords=an+army+at+dawn
Rick Atkinson has three excellent WW2 books each one focused on a single US Army campaign
and if you like the Near East this is a must read
https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Byzantium-Julius-Norwich/dp/0679772693/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484576209&sr=1-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+byzantium+by+john+julius+norwich
They aren't Orthodox theologians, but:
focuses more on the Byzantine Empire and so leaves out a lot of stuff, but it does cover the Ecumenical Councils and a lot of Orthodox history. There is also a harder-to-find 3 part trilogy of this abridged book.
Orthodox Writings:
There are probably not many good histories of the Church by Orthodox theologians, to be honest.
JJN also has a single-volume history of Byzantium, A Short History of Byzantium, which is easier to find. Being a layman, I can't vouch for its historical accuracy, but it's an easy and enjoyable read.
James Gurney made a book about how he created the Dinotopia art. He's also a really nice guy in person, and if you get him to sign your book he'll doodle a dinosaur in it.
OK, I get asked this type of question a lot so I have some pre-fab answers for you:
>Someone asked me about teaching yourself art (which is the way I learned) I thought I would share my replay in case It might be helpful to some of you.
>Fundamentals (walk before you run):
>How to draw http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933492732/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $30
Figure drawing for all its worth http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411454&sr=1-1&keywords=figure+drawing+for+all+it%27s+worth $25
Color and Light (this book blew my mind) http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411299&sr=1-1&keywords=color+and+light $15
Imaginative Realism http://www.amazon.com/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y $15
>Digital Painting:
>Digital Painting Techniques 1 – 6 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=digital+painting+techniques+&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Adigital+painting+techniques+ About $35 each = $210 total
>Also pick up some art books for games like Halo or Assassin’s Creed. There’s lots of great concept work in there to give you an idea of what to pros do.
>Visual design:
>Picture This (a very simple explanation on how all the components of a scene can tell a story) http://www.amazon.com/Picture-This-How-Pictures-Work/dp/1587170302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412344&sr=1-1&keywords=picture+this $15
Essentials of Visual Communication (A detailed breakdown on how the human brain consumes an image and how you can use this knowledge to best communicate your ideas) http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Visual-Communication-Bo-Bergström/dp/1856695778/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412394&sr=1-1&keywords=Essentials+of+Visual+Communication $30
>Structured Education:
>Digital Tutors (Perfect for learning a program) http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/index.php $50 a month or $515 a year
Ctrl+Paint http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ Free
CGMaster Academy https://www.youtube.com/user/CGMWORKSHOPS/videos?view=0&flow=grid
>Also I wrote on my blog “Become a better Artist Overnight” http://garretaj.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-become-better-artist-overnight.html where I take you through tried and true techniques on how to do focused learning revolving your sleep pattern. This is the way I did it (and still do it)
>Communities a must for getting feedback and ideas:
>http://conceptartworld.com/
>http://www.artstation.com/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/400586640025350/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/221278101324638/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/awesomehorse/
>The final thing is you. You have to really want this, it’s not easy. Don’t buy this stuff or go to an expensive art school because you think it’s some kind of shortcut. The focus here is not becoming a good artist, but becoming a good student. Learn how to learn effectively, learn how to love learning, bust your ass, and always work on improving yourself.
>Do that and nothing can stop you. Or don’t.
Hope this helps
I started this one as a gag on facebook when I was running a kickstarter for a painting. https://seanstastny.com/ i did a bunch of little ads and jokes and designed a few stickers and things like that. enough people liked so I added it as a stretch goal and got a few made.
The company I ordered my patches from is https://www.thestudio.com/. I just sent them my designs and a month later patches, stickers and postcards show up on my doorstep. There are a quite a few PoD places that can do patches so get quotes if you are going to get them made to sell.
Design wise the patch is a riff on the NASA EVA mission patch. It is on all the space walk suits so I knew I wanted something that was similar. I had done the original drawing and shown it to a few people and some wondered what his legs looked like. So I decided to riff on the original patches influences and make my own Vitruvian Cthulu thing.
I think the thing to pay attention to most for a patch is the size and line weight of your drawing. Thread has a thickness that you have to pay attention to. so your design cant be crowded or over complicated. Some times its an advantage to have things jumbled together and sometimes it looks terrible. For example the NASA part of the suit is mostly unreadable at that size, but i wanted a splash of red in the center to tie the red bounding box into the drawing.
I dont know any books on patch design but for any image making that tells a story I highly recommend James Gurneys Imaginative Realism and Color and Light.
I think it's a bit difficult and unfair for me to comment based on one painting alone. Do you have any sketches (line drawing, preferably) of this painting, or anything that showcase what you can do so far? Almost everyone will suggest we start designing anything in line sketches, especially if learning, so I'm interested to see what you got :D
Edit: Since you're looking for advice on how to start, I'll just say a few things that might be able to help you start.
(1) Drawing, imo, is the very foundation of all art. I think before you start painting, you should start drawing first! Here are a few links that may help you start with drawing:
(2) I suggest you follow an art school's course outline so you can progress pretty well. Feng Zhu Design School has an outline that they use for their students to learn how to do concept art in 1 year (16 hours per day). You can also download a detailed version of what they offer in their course, then you can have an idea on what each component means.
(3) There are also a few books that would be really useful to you when learning how to draw and render. These are supposedly the best on the internet (I only have two, the first two books in the list) Here they are:
I think those are all I have for you now. I'm not in any way a professional artist (I'm currently studying Industrial Design), but I think the above things I've mentioned should prove useful to you. If you have any questions, you can send me a PM :D Work hard and practise every day!
Only 5~ months ago did I decide to get serious about improving my art in my free time. For most of my life I only doodled occasionally. So I thought I would describe my plan of action with books and resources that I will likely be using. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My process will be basics of construction-> perspective -> figure drawing -> digital art and rendering. Approximately 45% will be improving, 45% will be doing what I want for fun and 10% will be a daily sketch(this subreddit) that takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. for fun I will be doing anything from digital to water color.
Construction and perspective: First I am starting my art journey by completing draw a box . Next I will go through Marshall Vandruff's Linear Perspective Videos and Perspective Made Easy simultaneously while referencing with how to draw by Scott Robertson. Briefly I will gloss at Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or keys to drawing pulling ideas of where I might find weakness.
Figure drawing: Once those are finished, I will begin my figure drawing phase. I will move onto free proko subsided with loomis books such as this, other photo references sites like http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en and Figure Drawing: Design and Invention. I will also reference Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist and maybe more depending on my budget.
digital art and rendering: For the final stage of my journey, I will venture into ctrlpaint. Simultaneously I will be reading How to Render, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
After that.... I don't know. We will see were I am in a year.
15 cm.
https://www.amazon.com/Gnomes-Wil-Huygen/dp/0810909650/
I distinctly remember it being a section of this book http://www.amazon.com/Gnomes-Wil-Huygen/dp/0810909650
They totally freaked me out, and that's where that illustration is from
Gnomes https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810909650?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf
Scholastic dinosaur encycloped
Ok so I might be really off, but I read a book about gnomes and I think it had something about confusing cats in it. It’s called “gnomes” by Wil Huygen and it more of a book about gnomes in general. It’s a Really large book with great detail. gnomes by Wil Huygen
Let me know if this helps!
I bought this book for my painting teacher and he enjoyed it. All about the history of different pigments. Color: A Natural History of the Palette
May I introduce you to Germaine Greer?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Beautiful-Boy-Germaine-Greer/dp/0847825868
Germaine Greer?
Yeah, she was ostricised for her terfness, not her creepy as all hell book Beautiful Boy
Check out the "Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia" series. These are fascinating tattoos that tell the stories of the people covered in them, so it's a look at some really nice tattoo work and a view into a rarely seen world. It's a well bound, well art directed book that looks nice on a shelf or a coffee table. There are also other volumes in the series so your friend can add to their collection if they want, or just enjoy the first one.
Here's an Amazon link so you can see cost and cover art:
http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-I/dp/0955862078/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411775129&sr=8-1&keywords=russian+tattoos
[This encyclopedia on Russian Prison tattoos.] (Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I by Damon Murray et al. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0955862078/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_glfmtb0CY1XDF) I am a little obsessed win Russia and I love tattoos. It's a very niche item.
I've never gotten an opportunity to play a good April fools prank. If I could, I'd probably do something silly, but I don't know what. (I'm not very clever...) probably something like wrap their stuff in goofy wrapping paper or cover their car in plastic wrap. I don't know...
Story or fact about me? Ummmm...I used to hide food in my cheeks when I was little like a chipmunk.
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-The-Tattoo-R-Klanten/dp/3899554426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398737634&sr=8-1&keywords=tattoo+gestalten
http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-Volume/dp/0955862078/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1V5WZKHAXJRCDY01GV56
Milton Zeis, tattooing as you like it (Yellow Beak Press) is great but hard to find. Yellow Beak has a couple other cool books but I think mostly out of print.
In my experience the best books are small-run publications put out by individual artists. For example, State of Grace shop puts out a lot of cool books that you wont find on amazon or in stores : https://www.stateofgracetattoo.com/product/
I bought my copies on Amazon (link to the first volume), but I've also seen copies rarely at indie book stores and comic book shops. Hope this helps!
David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I
Universe Down to Earth by Neil de Grasse Tyson
Walt Disney Uncle Scrooge And Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vols. 1 & 2 Gift Box Set
To everyone interested in this thread:
A few years back for a reddit gift exchange, my giftee got me the first book in THIS series - RUSSIAN CRIMINAL TATTOO.
It is really cool and very unique and DEFINITELY worthwhile for anyone who looked through the imgur link and wanted more.
>Consider this: For all of the 4000 or so years of recorded history, humans were living in tiny little collectives. There were (for the most part) no roads, no grand cities, no light bulbs, no water systems, very little in the way of governments or hierarchies, etc.
Might want to check out Gobekli Tepi ;) It dates back at least 10,000 years. Our history is probably a lot more interesting than we give credit.
Check out this book, it's a page turner!
http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Gods-Forgotten-Wisdom-Civilization/dp/1250045924/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450451934&sr=8-1&keywords=magicians+of+the+gods
Book on the subject Magicians of the Gods https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250045924/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_x2Loyb5676JB1
this is completely out of the rules so I guess I'm not really entering because it's twice the price you're looking for but I want you/people to see this haha tetris light it is so cool, you can move the pieces around...adfjaidhfadhd
something in the price range: Daytripper one of my favorite graphic novels ever, it is gorgeous and beautiful and intelligent and I wish I had a copy of my own. :) Also: the wifred costume in your wishlist...holy hell, I wish I was rich so I could buy that for you and I could be ryan (the girl version) and you could follow me around and destroy my life.
This is what you want. A little over $15, but I promise, it's worth it.
http://www.amazon.com/Daytripper-Gabriel-Ba/dp/1401229697
http://smile.amazon.com/The-Cultural-Cold-War-Letters/dp/1565846648/ref=smi_www_rcolv2_go_smi?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
My fav on occult art though the ages:
https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Mysticism-Alexander-Roob/dp/3836549360
Yes the book CIA World of Arts and Letters details this. Author Frances Stoner Saunders.
https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Cold-War-World-Letters/dp/1565846648
Here is the desktop version of your link
http://fpif.org/why-doesnt-the-foreign-policy-establishment-take-world-peace-seriously/
>For international affairs graduates, challenging such consensus views puts access to senior government jobs at risk. An academic at a prominent university whom I interviewed in preparation for this essay quickly grasped where I was heading and confided that “it is impossible to make a career in this field with an alternative view; it is not by chance that alternative views come from people educated in other disciplines, like linguistics for Noam Chomsky or law for Richard Falk
>Take Iran, for instance. Although the debate over the nuclear deal is heated, it revolves around technicalities such as verification protocol or the feasibility of air strikes. Very few people in the establishment challenge the threat to use force if Iran reneges on the deal. No one questions whether Iran should be considered an enemy in the first place."
Historically, the sort of think tanks and donors who fund the likes of Jeffrey Lewis were just PR fronts for the CIA to promote propaganda. This is very well documented:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cultural-Cold-War-Letters/dp/1565846648
Needless to say people who challenge the conventional wisdom don't get a Ford Foundation-type grant and the NY Times doesn't come knocking on their door regularly. They're the "internet trolls" that Jeffrey dismisses, even though they may be better qualified than he is to opine on nuclear weapons -- people like Robert Kelley.
These "experts" are just there to sell the govt policy
You essentially described a modern take on the CIA's Cultural warfare against the USSR - which incidentally is responsible for everything Putin does.
This is a good start, but a red flag.
Focus on the Saudi / Qatari funding - we're talking domestic terrorism and sleeper agents.
Try Bhikkhu Bodhi's The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering, for a focused and in-depth look at the 8 fold path, 'the 4th thing' the Tathagata taught after awakening.
You've probably heard of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, known to the Egyptians as the Book of Going Forth by Day, said to have been written by Thoth, God of Wisdom, "from his own fingers". This is the most important surviving text on Egyptian Magic, a complete grimoire of spells, prayers, hymns and incantations used by the ancient priesthood to connect with the Divine and prepare the soul to travel the Neterworld.
The text itself has enormous historic and spiritual value, but it doesn't exactly explain how a modern magician is supposed to use it. To provide context: try the works of Normandi Ellis, who provides an initiated translation of the text in Awakening Osiris, an explanation of the mythical and magical context of the Egyptian gods (Neteru) in Imagining the World into Existence, and the magical initiatory system of the ancients in The Union of Isis and Thoth.
Thelemic Magick has a connection to Egyptian Magic via the transmission of the Book of the Law. This is the basis for much of the the magical system developed by Aleister Crowley in the A∴A∴ and OTO. Again, this holy book of Thelema is complex and does not provide a useful guide to the beginner on the practice of Thelemic Magick. A book like Maat Magick offers a nice practical system for working with the Egyptian Neteru in the spirit of Thelema.
I recommend reading this. Actually, the series is more or less the book-form of this sub-reddit
I just pre-ordered a new book;
http://www.amazon.com/Egyptian-Book-Dead-Integrated-Full-Color/dp/1452144389/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421361562&sr=1-2&keywords=book+of+going+forth+by+day
It is a new version of the same book, which you could likely get at less cost. Has the whole papyrus published above the English. Pretty good. Fun to read, and fun to use if you are also learning M. E. grammar.
Edit: Searching for information on the "Book of Going/Coming Forth by Day" will get you better results.
Yeah definitely. Here's the book on Amazon , you can check out the other ones they have (which are a lot). The Existentialism one was great too.
It also depends on what's important to you. I like heavy charaterization, surprises in plot, great art and not knowing if the end will be happy or not. Life isn't all roses, so I don't want everything I read to be all happy happy joy joy.
series:
Locke and Key - my current fav - some horror
Stangers in Paradise - fun and serious drama
Irredeemable - disturbing
One book: Daytripper thoughtful
The Pro - funny
Two-Step - funny
No Hero - a bit disturbing
Perdido Street Station - it seems like Mieville is a love or hate author (or maybe each book is love/hate), but I haven't seen anything with more inventiveness per page than the world he builds in this novel, which is the first of three (nonsequential) novels set in the same world. Really, he'll throw out some stuff kind of casually in a paragraph - or even a single sentence! - that makes me hunger for an entire book to explore it. Give it a shot!
We have a running experiment in the world today on the subject of Bible vs. no Bible.
Some parts of the world operate without it, other parts with it.
I'm not a historian, and am curious as to what one would say on the subject.
Going on what little I know of history, here's what it looks like to me:
Europe and the Middle East have had the "benefit" of the Bible for at least 2,000 years. These areas have had varying degrees of civilization in that time. As I understand it, officially sanctioned slavery existed in Europe until the conspicuous slave-taking and trafficking that the Vikings practiced made it a crime, in the case of Christian slaves. It is still practiced in parts of the Islamic world. Serfdom continued until the Middle Ages, and marriage-slavery of women continued until a century ago in Europe and is still practiced in parts of the Islamic world. Genocide or attempted genocide happened whenever it was religiously or politically called for, such as wiping out various kinds of heretics in the first millennium, and entire swathes of red-headed women (interestingly, red hair is apparently a marker for Neanderthal blood) around the Middle Ages, and much of the population of the so-called New World in the more recent past. Abortion was universally practiced whenever people had access to the technology, for obvious reasons, until the most recent American religious revival came along. As for the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of moral precepts basically calling for love and humility, it has occasionally inspired people (Dietrich Bonnhoefer for example) and groups of people (the Hutterites for example) to be more loving, at least to each other, and to be more humble, at least as regards some areas of personality. I think it is these teachings that Christians must mean when they say that things are better because of the Bible?
The rest of the world had not heard of the Bible until about 1500, I'm pretty sure. These areas also have had varying levels of civilization. Slavery seems to have been pretty common, but it has had more benign forms than found in Christendom/the Islamic world as well as more miserable forms. Buddhism is explicitly anti-slavery, and "the Chinese Emperor Wang Mang, a Buddhist, may have been history’s first powerful abolitionist—he outlawed the slave trade in 9 A.D." (https://www.freetheslaves.net/take-action/faith-in-action-ending-slavery/) I think you have to look at each area and tribe to find out about slavery, it's not a monolithic thing. In the same way, women had varying levels of freedom, from near-equality to levels approaching the (Bible-based) Saudi-Arabian level of oppression. Abortions were universally practiced whenever people had access to the technology, for obvious reasons. Values such as loving everyone also seem to be pretty variable, though I think calling it a primary virtue may actually be limited to Christianity until recently (is this true?). Humility, of course, is a value that any hierarchical culture demands of non-aristocrats.
What seems pretty clear to me is that until the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the lot of most Christians was dreadful, especially of women but also of men. It took humanism to make things tolerable for the majority of people. See https://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393343405/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PVWLX0X7TJ2C&keywords=the+swerve+how+the+world+became+modern&qid=1566105291&s=gateway&sprefix=the+swerve+how+the+w%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-1
Today we outlaw slavery (though it is still present everywhere, especially enslavement of women, see https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/data/maps/#prevalence for example), we mandate certain but not all rights for women, and most of us agree at least in principle that compassion is a good idea but humility should be contingent. Wherever birth control is available, the abortion rate is relatively low. These are Enlightenment values, not Biblical ones.
I'd be interested to hear from somebody who actually knows the subject.
This is a one hour lecture by an award winning, Harvard professor on an Epicurean, Lucretius: Stephen Greenblatt on Lucretius and his intolerable ideas. I've watched it twice and will read his book, The Swerve.
I think "The Swerve" by Greenblatt is one of the most popular books on Epicureanism, though there are plenty:
https://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393343405
I'd also recommend reading some Epicurus if you are interested. Not many texts out of his large collection have survived, but there are a few, and they are very illuminating, especially on the ethical side of his philosophy, which Lucretius does not tend to discuss at great length:
http://www.epicurus.net/
I'd especially recommend the Letter to Menoeceus.
Or perhaps you simply weren't taught about all the times Christians have done it.
If you're interested in learning more about the Christian Church's early culture wars, you should check out The Swerve
The book is The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. The writer kind of exaggerates the significance of both Poggio and Lucretius but it is really engaging and gives you a good idea of the precariously fine line many humanists walked in adhering to the Church and pursuing intellectual advancement.
Yep. 1986, in fact.
Though, it actually started out in a serialized format 16 years prior, too.
Maus is the best Holocaust "book" I've ever read. It's actually a graphic novel, but it's a lot more insightful than most traditional books I've read on the subject.
I bought Maus: A Survivor's Tale 1/5/2007.
Not really a non-fiction book, more of a biographical/memoir/graphic novel, but still interesting and worthwhile: Maus I and Maus II.
(Author interviews his jewish father about his experiences before, during and after WWII and re-tells the story using animals symbolically. For example: Jews are depicted as mice, Nazis are depicted as cats.)
Those Comic book writers/artists voiced themselves!
EDIT: Might as well.
http://smile.amazon.com/Maus-Survivors-Father-Bleeds-History/dp/0394747232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409368330&sr=8-1&keywords=maus
http://smile.amazon.com/Watchmen-ALAN-MOORE-ebook/dp/B005CRQ2IU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409368297&sr=8-1&keywords=watchmen+graphic+novel
http://smile.amazon.com/Ghost-World-Daniel-Clowes/dp/1560974273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409368319&sr=8-1&keywords=ghost+world
Maus, Fax from Sarajevo, Persepolis, A Contract with God: And Other Tenement Stories.
Ever read Maus? Utterly gripping drama in the form of comic where all the characters are innocent-looking cartoon animals. I haven't read anything by this guy, but I did read a comic about a Palestinian being interrogated in Israel that was really good.
http://amzn.com/0394747232
Link to the source book.
I would buy land and books.
With the land, I would set up ecovillages, and I would (also) set aside vast areas where the plants and animals would be able to rejuvenate uninhibited.
I would find like-minded people, and I would ultimately try to integrate them into the enviornment with the wolves and the buffalo and the other animals. Humans can, and have been, ecologically sustainable organisms in natural environments. Not all agriculture is bad. Many Native American groups practiced agriculture in harmony with the rest of the environment.
I am also not against technology. A bow and arrow is technology, any tool that people use is technology. I am, however, against plastics and other harmful chemicals.
I would also build an army with the people who come to live on my land. There is no shortage of people - homeless people, high-school and college dropouts, homeless children, the unemployed, environmentalists, and lots of people I talk to IRL would be down for this idea.
I would learn assorted martial arts, I would teach them to others, and I would have the others teach them to more people, and we would spend a lot of time on it. This would be both for the health benefits and the self-defense benefits. It would be an army of ninjas, who also grow their own food and are self-sustaining. This will be great in case of societal failure or economic collapse. I would also teach/learn as many natural survival skills as I can. The goal of the army would be to establish peace and not wars, and to help people achieve independence (from money, oil, and industry) while also keeping a healthy relationship with the environment and the other animals.
We would also care for our children. We would raise them to be physically healthy and open-minded. We would not overshelter them, or put taboos on their sexuality, and we would make it the job of the entire community (especially the elders) to educate and take care of them. We will not over-shelter them or raise them to be weak. We will teach them how to socialize with each other in healthy ways, in an open, nurturing, loving environment. We'll also make it official policy that everything we do is done with the well-being of the next seven generations in mind.
There are also some books that I would want to buy and distribute. They include Circle of Life Traditional Teachings of Native American Elders, by James David Audlin, The Other Side of Eden, by Hugh Brody, The Conversations with God trilogy, by Neale Donald Walsch, The Art of Shen Ku, by Zeek, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, by Thom Hartmann, A Practical Guide to Setting Up Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, by Diana Leafe Christian, and I'm sure there's lots of other good ones. You should really conduct your own search, but I feel all the ones I've listed have valuable information and the power to change the ideas of large groups of people. Anything on Native American culture, history, and philosophy, or on organic gardening, or self-sustainability in general. I might even set up my own bookstore or library, now that I think about it, and make more money. I'm definitley not against making money, because everyone in our world believes in money and money is power in our society.
Oh cool, I read about this methodology in a book call Shen-ku. I wasn't sure if the advice there was sound or what. Are you quoting from a different resource?
Great Fantastic, thanks for pointing that out!
But what i'm thinking of is a publishable pdf with pictures, one that you could put on a torrent and spread all over the internet. A book similar to what I have in mind is "The Art of Shen Ku - By Zeek"
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Shen-Ku-Intergalactic-Universe/dp/0399527257
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Shen-Ku-Intergalactic-Universe/dp/0399527257
This will let you know when you act.
This will help you know you're on the right path, and
This is to help you along the way.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Five-Year-Could-Have/dp/0500290474
[Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That: Modern Art Explained ] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Five-Year-Could-Have/dp/0500290474)
It's tempting to buy a pallet of copies of this book to throw at people who trot out the same old ignorant bollocks over and over.
Can't believe this is not already posted, but don't see it.
There is actually a coffee table book of his art called The Art of the Hobbit:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0547928254
Many (all?) of these images could be scans from the book.
If you want to find more of Tolkien's art Hammond and Scull also released The Art of the Hobbit with his illustrations for...the hobbit. And later this year they'll release The Art of the Lord of the Rings!
I enjoyed John Norwich's three volume series: Byzantium: The Early Centuries, The Apogee, and Decline and Fall. If that is a bit too verbose for your liking, he has also published a Short History of Byzantium which summarises his trilogy.
Drawing on the right side of the brain is a good start, there's a reason people keep on recommending it for you!
Andrew Loomis's books is also good (all free there in digital form)
Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgeman
Imaginative realism by James Gurney more about painting and finishing, better for more advanced stuff.
Other than that, just draw things! Just anything and everything, it will help!
This is looking really good! Keep it up!
I highly recommend you check out these books... they are something I wish I had read (or been available) when I was your age.
1)Color and Light: A guide for the realist painter
2)Imaginative Realism
These two books do a really good job of explaining some practical 'rules' for painting. You do not always have to follow them, but you should for sure know them and learn them.
3)Dynamic Light and Shade
This is just a book that is full of really great black and white drawings that that show how much can be expressed without any color. It is a great book to study from and to try copying images from.
I'm late to the party, but I made a cheat sheet for my boss niece last week: here's all the ressources I can think of to kick butts at matte painting.
The sites where we pay per month
Gnomon Online School
Super school of vfx in California. They have on their site a lot of tutorials from 8 to 20 hours to learn to make your own camera projections. You can either pay (expensive but worth it) for a private class with a teacher via Skype. Or you pay (cheaper) for a bank of tutorials.
private lessons
https://www.gnomon.edu/courses/online
the bank of tutorials
https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials?tags[]=matte-painting
I recommend: All the tutorials of Dylan Cole (vol 1, 2,3), Camera Projection Techniques in Maya, Matte Painting Production techniques, etc.
Plural Sight (formerly Digital Tutors)
a site that has courses on a little everything. This site is very good when you want to learn new programs. Excellent serie on the 3D which becomes more and more present in the matte painting, and some tutorials
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/
related to 3D
Quick start to modeling in Maya (volume 1,2,3)
Professional Tips for Modeling Complex Shapes
related to matte painting
Photo manipulation and Clean Plating Fundamentals
Matte Painting Basic and the Static Camera Shot
Sites where we pay per tutorial (Gumroad, etc.)
The tutorials of Anthony Eftekhari
Good DMP tutorials that show you the latest techniques and how to do it step by step.
https://gumroad.com/anthonye
The tutorials of Eytan Zana
More concept art, but the main lines apply just as well to the DMP.
https://gumroad.com/eytanzana
Free sites and tutorials
Garrett Fry's blog
He also has a Facebook group that helps each other in DMP, it is THE technical reference for matte painting. His blog is full of technical stuff for camera projections (aka moving your matte painting). A treasure of information.
https://www.gfryart.com/blog
Other
TEXTURES! (Or can we find good textures to make DMP)
CGtexture
http://www.textures.com
Flickr (Matte Painting References)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjframe/sets/72157605581901392/
Flickr (Matte Painting Resources)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dman3d2000/sets/72157629164518650/
Photobash.org (paying a card)
https://www.photobash.org/
Pictures of Jacek Pilarski
https://gumroad.com/jacekpilarski
Books (yes yes, it's a thing)
Digital Matte Painter Handbook
it's old, the drawings are ugly, the photoshop stuff in it is pure candy though. Full of stuff in DMP that I have never seen elsewhere but that is the basis of the trade. Still actual today. The matte painting of the castle in is also an excellent starting point if you start from scratch.
https://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Matte-Painting-Handbook/dp/0470922427/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523975893&sr=1-1&keywords=Digital+Matte+Painting+Handbook
How to draw and How to Render
Scott Robertson, a big shot of concept art, shows the basics of traditional drawings, perspective, etc. An essential.
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Draw-sketching-environments-imagination/dp/1933492732/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GWB27RDDYF5E0JG7TTY0
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Render-fundamentals-shadow-reflectivity/dp/1933492961/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K9W1RK5K9KVWMPY14EAE
Imaginative Realism and Color and Light
James Gurney is an illustrator who specializes in realistic fantasy artwork with traditional mediums, excellent cues on light and color
https://www.amazon.ca/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508?th=1&psc=1&source=googleshopping&locale=en-CA&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_2y2j9az9y9_e
https://www.amazon.ca/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YCNYYJCTNJ4405KD1S6B
Nuke 101
We can make the projection of matte painting in Nuke or Maya. An excellent book for Nuke.
https://www.amazon.ca/Nuke-101-Professional-Compositing-Effects/dp/0321984129/ref=pd_sim_14_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FNST5YS1F7464SZY3QZV
James Gurney's books are great. There's a couple ugly links for you.
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719
http://www.amazon.com/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=010WGMHA6E5MNR6W03RW
Following artists on facebook has helped me more than anything. Well not more than putting in the time and effort to improve of course. Anyway, professionals are always posting advice and links to valuable resources. Its worth looking for artists that you like and seeing what their process is and how they solve artistic problems.
If you've got the time and resources to spare, try making maquettes. You can get modeling clay fairly cheap, and it can be incredibly helpful to throw together a quick maquette, chuck it under a lamp, and see what happens with the light.
If you want a great pair of books on light and form by a master painter, check out James Gurney's Color and Light and Imaginative Realism. His blog is worth a read as well, it's always informative and interesting.
If you want a more technical approach to lighting, How to Render is a fantastic technical examination of how light behaves on various surfaces. The associated How to Draw is an excellent technical book on perspective. Both are a bit dry and clinical, but quite excellent.
Anything by Andrew Loomis is also well worth picking up.
This [Gnomes](Gnomes https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810909650/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8.MHybXM2GCAF) ?
Reminded me of this book. It's probably from it. I loved this book as a kid.
Pretty sure you are looking for Gnomes. I have a copy from at least 25 years ago. The copy I have is in English, but I'm sure it was translated to many languages. It's not really a children's book, at least not for American standards, as it has some adult subject matter.
zincake is correct, Gnomes. I still have a copy on my bookshelf along with a bunch of other mythology, folklore, and fable books.
Oh, no way! Well, the version I bought earlier today does not have it, but that's ok I guess. Psyched to have two more books to get into. They were my favorite back as a kid, that and the book Gnomes
I don't! I remember the Gnome book...this looks equally awesome :)
not to pile on... but...
in painting classes you're wrestling with things like the "four step method" that the classical painters used where you're creating washes and layers that influence how the light travels through the layers of paint... (that layer of dark black you laid down weeks ago becomes that dark corner in the room, while you're painting a completely different black to work out these shadows and details in the foreground... the light literally travels through the washes and bounces off of different paint layers...)
or attempting cubist techniques where with a limited palate you're mixing paints into low viscosity solutions that lend to slapping the canvas on the ground so they don't run. Or "attempting" "en plein air" impressionism, out-in-the-fields getting sunstroke, just trying to render shapes in the bold, slap-on-a-slab-of-paint with a brush or palate knife... You gain a new respect for those people you see actually out there with an easel and a canvas, out on the shore painting this weird, little thing that doesn't look quite right.
Impressionism was something I thought was a joke until I tried it in a field with actual paint. Same with Rembrandt's four step method or even some of, maybe especially some of the modern abstract stuff. You could spend months just learning about mixing paints.
With photography, I had taken thousands of digital photos but doing real, actual darkroom photography--seeing how the slightest error in timing and exposure completely changes the nature of the piece... One can be half decent at digital photography and absolutely hopeless with film photography. Digital cameras are small computers with apertures. Film cameras are tiny darkrooms where for a fraction of a second you expose light to a piece of plastic coasted with a particular chemical composition. And just to get that picture exposed it's an hour of dark room where you might just blow that whole roll with a simple noob error in the processing. A hair or spec of dust on the negative can get blown into the size of a thumb. Scratch one $5 piece of photo paper time time to spend ten minutes with a little air hose trying to remove the piece of hair.
anyhow...
It's sort of Dunning Kruger thinking that mastering photoshop = mastering photography and / or shop.
Dunno. I love our digital tools. (I don't exactly miss getting gassed by terpenoid fumes and how much time lost cleaning up or just taking care of brushes. )
Or being afraid of paint. Literally afraid of the lead in flake white or the metals in cadmium red being absorbed through the skin...
But on the flipside there's also something beautiful just in the lore of the colors alone. Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan. Red from those little red bugs. Red ochre. Real deep red ochre is a color once squeezed onto a palate, one can fall in love with. The old, original cave paint.
Sidenote, great book: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Natural-History-Victoria-Finlay/dp/0812971426
I think this is maybe an argument over words and effort just as much as it's an old vs. new argument.
tl;dr. old, analogue art is hard / messy / expensive / complicated.
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812971426/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_luiBDbGVMT8JQ
Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay is a worldwide travelogue of pigments and dyes. Fascinating and fun, definitely my favorite painter book so far.
you should read this book that talks all about that,
its called The Boy, author- Germaine Greer , its a woman author
basically its a book disecting art and visual culture and the use of man or rather 'the beautiful boy' and how people respond to that image
how the boy body is actually farm more beautiful , than the woman body thats been idealized, and how women really enjoy this beauty of the seductive boy, but its like a hidden taboo as of late to arise in pop culture.
http://www.amazon.com/Germaine-Greer-Beautiful-Boy/dp/0847825868
>but there is no such thing as russian prison "style" tattoos.
tattoos that arose in Russian prisons in the beginning of, and remained a large part in the 20th century are very specific to the country
https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-I/dp/0955862078
over the last couple decades, they've been gathered and documented in books and magazines. and yeah, artists now tattoo those very same images onto people. the guy in the picture OP posted says that all of his tattoos are medieval influenced, yet i do know the goat, cathead and alter are all taken from Russian criminal tattoo collections. he probably just went into a shop and flipped through a bunch of books and picked that out, and has attached his own personal story to it.
i've had the pleasure of traveling extensively for tattooing and while i haven't gotten a russian prison/criminal style tattoo yet, i've come close and met some cool artists who still preserve that culture.
Great Ancient archeology books
[Fingerprints of the Gods](
https://www.amazon.com/Fingerprints-Gods-Graham-Hancock/dp/0517887290)
Magicians of the Gods
Both by Graham Hancock
If this interests you there is a surprising amount of scientific information outlined in this book that may indicate some truth the legends.
https://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Gods-International-Bestseller-Fingerprints/dp/1250045924
I'm currently reading Junkyard Planet which is pretty interesting to me, since I have worked in steelyards and scrapyards on a couple different occasions in my life.
I just finished up Magicians of the Gods which I found very interesting since I am a Physical Geography major, and took a few geoarchaeology courses in my undergrad degree.
Are you thinking of Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba?
http://www.amazon.com/Daytripper-Gabriel-Ba/dp/1401229697
It doesn't seem like many people are paying attention to 1337_n00b's clarification comment, so I guess I'll write about it a bit.
For a while I'd buy little self-published books, particularly after visiting some shops in Montreal and enjoying their local work. I would try to hit a couple good comic stores every time I visit a new city, which lead to some good stuff and a lot of bad stuff.
What killed it for me was having a friend bring me some local comics back from Dublin. They were just terrible, worse than most webcomics you decide not to read after being interested in their banner ads. They left such a bad taste in my mouth that I was discouraged from exploring local stuff anymore.
The last closest book I picked up to an indie was Justin Madson's Breathers. I don't know if it counts though, since it was a webcomic first, and it got a pile of publicity for years before the trade was released. At least it's self-published? It was pretty good, but I can think of five more popular books that cost less and are better off the top of my head.
Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba
http://www.amazon.com/Daytripper-Gabriel-Ba/dp/1401229697
Perdido Street Station. Not very much science fiction, more weird fiction. But the author China Miéville has a way with immediately immersing you into this weird alternate world with terrifying creatures and interesting people/things. I couldn't put down the book.
lol, comics are just pictures and words. there are plenty of non-fiction comics in the world
by discounting the medium you are making yourself sound ignorant. you should probably buy what i linked you to, it could save your intellect.
also, you didn't address my comment about pitting two (real or perceived) groups against one another.
The art of shen-ku, by Zeek. Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but a great survival resource.http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Shen-Ku-Intergalactic/dp/0399527257
You might only not be able to connect with these works because the CIA waged a cultural war on social realist art to try to render art with political or emotional themes unacceptable to society.
Here's the ideal viewing order for NGE.
Now send $20 to my Paypal account to compensate me for making this perfect list.