neosdimospargas animated cartoon: August 2007

Book Review: My Chinese Sketchbook

Other than the nice art, this book also contains commentary on the life and places in China by Fu Ji Tsang. It's almost like a travelogue.

The writeup on the different places visited provides interesting insight to the people and culture in the region. He also talks about calligraphy, Chinese music and other things that caught his interest.

The paintings in the book are quite different and bares little resemblance to how chinese paintings are done. The style is very unique, the colours very bold. The scenes captured are all snapshots of life, accompanied by commentary.

This is a wonderful sketchbook with lots to read.

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Check out other books reviewed on this blog, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list

Book Review: Brush Strokes with Greatness: The Life & Art of Joe Sinnott

This book is an in depth biography of Joe Sinnott (wiki).

It details the literally the whole life of Joe Sinnott, right from when he was a kid to the work he does after his retirement. There's and incredible amount of interesting information on the legendary inker. While in school, his instructors were Silas Rhodes, Burne Hogarth and Tom Gills! There is also story on how he got to know Stan Lee.

His impressive portfolio of comics and inks fill the book. Some titles include The Avengers, The Defenders, The Mighty Thor and The Fantastic Four. His career at Marvel, relationship with Jack Kirby and other artists and work of different projects are given a really detailed treatment.

What I like about the book is there's coverage on the different people in Joe Sinnott's life. It really gives depth to what kind of person he was. There's also a chapter containing 19 pages where friends and colleagues talk about him. 19 whopping pages! It sure says a lot about his legacy.

This is a wonderful tribute book to Joe Sinnott. Highly recommended.

Brush Strokes with Greatness: The Life & Art of Joe Sinnott

Book Review: Flight, Volume 4

This is volume 4 of the Flight series. It has come a long way since volume 1. Kazu Kibushi has packed in new artists each time.

In case you don't know, Flight is a compilation of short story comics from a group of artists.

Over more than 20 artists has contributed their stories and art for this series. There is a huge variety of artistic style, coupled with interesting stories. It's an inspiring read for all comic artists, or wannabe, or just comic fans.

If you're a previous Flight collector, you already know what to expect.

Here's the list of artists:

Bus Fanatics

I knew of their existence years ago. It's 'great' to see them on the news. As this article shows, there can be fans for any and every thing on earth.

It still amazes me that their hobbies consist of taking trips on buses, giving themselves online nicks that come from license plates and reciting accurate bus routes off their minds.