Great Books to Welcome Me in My Hometown.

"How and how much to charge:Graphic Design in Mexico." This book is very similar to the Graphic Artist Guild Handbook to Pricing and  Ethical Guidelines" Even though is graphic design a lot of the info is helpful to me as an illustrator. I'm still searching other wonderful books to help me discover the business of illustration in Mexico. Have found some great sites too. :)

My father gave to me this beautiful 3 volumes book about my hometown! I'm almost done with the red book above and I'm very excited to start reading this book and as I read I plan to explore what i read about. The books talks from everything about Oaxaca. It's Culture, traditions, its people, its museums, it's famous artists and centers as well as it's markets and celebrations!.As I go reading I will be sharing my experience with all of you :).

Cool Logo no?

The Hidden People by Cory Godbey

I Highly recommend to have this small jewel on your library. Not only would you have an amazing piece of work, but you will also be supporting a fellow and very talented illustrator. The format of the book reminds me of Brian Freud and Alan Lee's book "Fairies". The one of an explorer/anthropologist cataloging a new world. I love seeing the different variations of his sketches. His style, characters and imagination are fun to see and read about. I also like the care he took in setting up his book with chapters, descriptions, studies, close ups, sticking to a constant set of lettering, the process and the epilogue. Enjoy the sneak peeks!

Check out Cory Godbey's website @ http://corygodbey.com/
Check out his blog @ http://lightnightrains.blogspot.com/
You can buy the book @ http://www.etsy.com/shop/corygodbey
And finally check out his portfolio @ http://www.behance.net/corygodbey

Flipback Books: The Review!

Remember when I mentioned on this blogpost that I was going to get my hands on a Flipback book to share my experience with you? Well I did it! They are only available in Europe at the moment (I got mine in London), but I hope that soon it will be available in every continent, because I love them. First let me share with you some pictures:

Next to my business card.

The design of the book is designed to easily flip the page back

The pages easily stay flat

The left margin is wider so your thumb won't cover the writing

The Flipback Book felt very comfortable in my hand, it was comfortable to read, and it fit even more comfortably in my bag. I read it on the bus, on the plane, in my room and just about anywhere. The book is very well designed and I love the horizontal book cover designs. The only complication I had was getting the hang of flipping the page back since the paper is very thin, but once I figure out a way, it was no problem, I'll unconsciously starting the flipping back with ease. I think it should replace paperbacks because their size are not only easier to carry but also to place on your bookshelves. I'll definitely will keep investing on these little Flipback books. Like their website says it's definitely the next little thing.

Visit their website @ http://www.flipbackbooks.com

PS: One day was a really good read, I recommend it and I'm excited to see the movie :)

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and the quest for the Color of Desire.

While on the subject on reading about colors,here is another great read about the color RED. 

"A Perfect Red: Empire, espionage and the Quest for the Color of Desire" by Amy Butler Greenfield.

The book is about the Cochineal or Grana Cochinilla as it's said in spanish.If the word seems familiar to you it may be because I have experimented and talked about such pigment HERE.

Cochineal is a small insect that lives and feeds off cacti and is the source for the dye carmine. It is mostly found in southern mexico and in certain countries of South America. Like the cover of the book says, who knew that behind such a small insect lay stories of an empire, espionage and a quest on discovering the source of the perfect color red.

The book begins with an introduction on the importance of colors to the dyers and to society, and how the most desired color was red, and even more when the carmine red of the cochineal arrived as the brightest red everyone has ever seen. It is from the discovery of the cochineal by the conquistadores that the true amazing journey of the cochineal in the old world begins, it covers all from its beginning, to the growth of that empire, and how that red empire met its biggest challenge and how it affected its future. If you are fan of history, adventure, espionage, conspiracies, secrecy,colors and science this book has it all. 

Another great book that I plan to add to my favorites.

The author has a website, visit it at: http://www.amybutlergreenfield.com

You can buy the book at AMAZON

Good read to all!

Pictoplasma: The Character Encyclopedia

A friendly classmate from my french class, lend me this pretty cool book called "Pictoplasma: The character Encyclopedia". It's pratically a catalogue sharing you most of the contemporary characters done till now. It's a great source of inspiration and makes you want to start creating some characters yourself. Pictoplasma is a company that support contemporary character design and art and does it trhough events like exhibitions and publishing books like this encyclopedia.

Go check out their website @ http://pictoplasma.com/

and learn more about the book @ HERE

and now enjoy some sneak peeks:

COLOR by Victoria Finlay.

I just finished reading "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" by Victoria Finlay and wow what a read. It was so good that the last chapter I read it oh so slow, because I didn't want to finish it and when I did I sat quietly taking everything I learned from this book, my mind quickly remembering my favorite parts and I knew that this book has stirred something in me and I will for sure re-read it again in the near future(probably on my flight back to Mexico) It has become an instant favorite.


Anyway this book chronicles the travels of Victoria Finlay, a journalist and writer who traveled 17 countries to find the stories behind the pigments that are in our color palettes. Some came from the bodies of mummies, others carry the blood of an insect, and there are sea snails that cries purple. I could go on, but I leave that for you to read and find out. Each chapter is a color and my favorite chapters were Red, Indigo and Purple,fascinating stories, but mostly because it brought back some good childhood memories of my hometown :)


I love the cover it goes very well with what the book is about. And she has written another book called "Jewels: A Secret History" Which I already put it in my to read list. Though I'm not one into jewels, I will still read it because when reading Color I not only enjoyed finding out where the pigments came from, but also enjoyed Victoria's travel experiences, the cultures she encountered and the people she met in her journeys.


So read it! and guess what? she has a blog! Visit it here: http://victoriafinlay.com/


Buy the book HERE.


And now I'll leave you with a quote from Victoria Finlay that I got from her Blog:


"It is sometimes the small things, the ones we take for granted, that are the most wonderful"

The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger

This week "From My Library to Yours" we have The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger by Lisbeth Zwerger. Lisbeth Zwerger is a winner of the 1990  Hans Christian Andersen award, which is like the Nobel prize for illustrators.  This book is exquisite, I love to spent hours in a couch drinking my tea and just studying her illustrations for hours, that's how exquisite it is. You can clearly see her strong influences Arthur Rackham and E.H. Shepard in her style. Anyway Here is a peek of the book:

Click image to buy book

The little toucan is my new page holder helper "Tupi."

Her work is beautiful!, can you believe that at first she was discouraged to follow children illustration? As cheesey I'm about to sound I have to say I'm so glad she listened to her heart.

She has no website (sad I know) but HERE is an interview of her.

Water Paper Paint

This book was given to me for christmas, that's how well my family knows me. They know books and arts makes my tender heart smile :). This week's book is "Water Paper Paint" by Heather Smith Jones. If you are a watercolorist, this book is perfect for you, for two reasons one) it has a great introduction in everything watercolors from paper, to paint labels and color palettes  and two) it also shares with you fun experimental techniques that you can do beyond the traditional way to watercolor. Anyway enough of my rambling here you can peek now:

Click image to buy book

Pretty cool no?


Visit Heather Smith Jone's WEBSITE to see her work and her BLOG for inspiration.

The Arthur Rackham Treasury.

This week's book "From my Library to Yours" is  about the beautiful work of Arthur Rackham. This book is not a biography about Rackham, but rather is just illustrations, 86 beautiful full color Illustrations (big enough to see details).

The book is called "The Arthur Rackham Treasury: 86 Full Color Illustrations."

Peek at it:

Whenever I want to do a fantasy piece and need inspiration, this is one of the books I always love to flip through. The main reason being that I love how Rackham draws and paints nature, specially water and trees.

You can see some of his illustrations HERE.

You can buy the book HERE.

See you tomorrow :)

Leornardo's Anatomical Drawings by the Man Genius.

I think every artist should have a book about this amazing artist and person: Leornardo Da Vinci.

Here is the book that I have of him, a book I bought at the Body worlds exhibition gift shop (by the way that exhibition is a must see).

you can buy a copy HERE

This one is a small book and has very few pages, but it clearly shows Da vinci's fascination of the human anatomy (and why not?, our body is quite magnificent) plus I love to see his studies and his cryptic writing next to it. It clearly shows the importance of always carrying a sketchbook to sketch/write down everything you observe.  What I learned from flipping through this book, is the importance of research on the subject/story that you have to illustrate.

I plan to get more books on Leonardo Da Vinci. You know that question of what 5 dead people you would love to have coffee with? (or something like that) Yeah Mr. Da Vinci is definitely invited.

Also while we are talking about this great man, if you are a fan (hahaha who would not be a fan?)

You must join his facebook page! like it HERE

Also I love how Leornardo Da Vinci was portrayed in "Ever After"

Source: google images.

Yeah I'll choose him as my fairy godmother too. 

Wish you all a great weekend.

Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities

Ah here comes the first "From My Library to Yours" Post of the year *Drum rolls*
THE PICTORIAL WEBSTER'S :A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities by John M. Carrera.
I first heard of this book when a friend posted this video in facebook:

Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.
From the discovery of the 1898 International Dictionary to linotyping the entries to printing the last print on the vandercook to cutting the fingertabs of the deluxe edition, this video gives a quick overview of the process of creating the Pictorial Webster's fine press edition.

Then one of my favorite publishing company Chronicle Books Published a trade version, the one I will share some peeks today. If you are a lover of books, illustrations, antique, design, research, the vintage, stamps, and little curiosities then you must get this book, is a wonderful source of inspiration.

You can buy it HERE

Thank you John M. Carrera.