WHAT'S GOING ON HERE ?

This is a work-in-progress 'hobby' site by an otherwise-employed working-stiff.

I don't know from art and its quality.  What I'm about here is presentation.  I'm looking for an experience, the experience of relaxing in bed, or on a comfortable couch, with good lighting, and enjoying an artbook.  "The List" ranks the artbooks of this type by how close they get to the ideal experience.

The Ideal Experience

Size matters, and seems to be in a 'window' between, at the smallest, about 5-by-5-inch, to the biggest, about 14-by-10-inch.  Thickness seems to be about 1/2 inch with the biggest book in your hands, but can acceptably get thicker as the height-&-width reduce.  I think a book becomes harder to negotiate as its dimensions grow beyond that, but it still appears on The List, with its larger size being considered in the criteria.  (A book that falls out of the window on the too-small side joins others 'below the line').

Content ?  Almost every page dedicated to one piece of art.  Personally, I prefer that page to be full-bleed or bordered by some interesting color or pattern (hopefully a complementary one...), but I've seen many comments that a pure white border is felt to allow the presented artwork to 'breathe'.  A not-insignificant number of books preserve a museum-like experience by isolating an art piece on one page and nothing opposite (except maybe a caption or short anecdote), but I'm O.K. with art on each page and enjoy the play of colors & juxtaposition.  I find that frequently a double-page spread is disappointing, with the unity of some important object being lost to the distortion at the book's central gutter.  I don't even count pages that rotate the art, forcing the book to be held sideways to view it (and don't get me started on fold-out pages...).  I do make an accomodation for those pages that are presenting unusually tall-&-thin or long-&-thin works as big as they can on one page and then feel the need to put art, or other material, in the large amount of negative space left over. With all that said, the best book provides a bit of written context to the art displayed, preferably about the piece itself or its story (if the work is an illustration).  Information about the artist is certainly welcome.  I'm not as sanguine if pages & space are taken up by sequential art, very unfinished sketches, photographs, maps, charts, graphs, schematics, cut-aways or blueprints.

Below The Line

As mentioned above, an artbook has to be at least bigger than a CD case.  Needs to have a real spine too, squarebound, not just stapled.  I find that mid-40s is the bottom of the page-count that is acceptable  Finally, a book has to have enough of its pages that are primarily devoted to the art.  All the others are placed 'below the line', though, of course, many are still worth looking at.  Granted, many of the books that appear here were not even intended to be considered artbooks, but art-seekers may have had their interest piqued by something about them and I hope they will enjoy their inclusion.

Inclusion

Really ?? Pin-Up ?? -- Well, the classic stuff certainly qualifies through the Nostalgia portal and so much of the character portraits & studies in Adventure and Science Fiction art is just a hair away from cheesecake & beefkcake, but can you argue that this usage of the heading "Fantasy" isn't actually the more mainstream ?

Really ?? Cartoon Collections ?? -- Well, not cartoon strips, but rather those 'single panel' drawings that stand as complete compositions, even though the gag-line might layer on another level.  Certainly a lot of Pin-Up art was only acceptable for general release if there seemed to be a joke at play.  Some of the cherished artists in the field of the macabre worked mostly in the cartoon expression of it.

Really ?? Art Auction Catalogues ?? -- If you are not collecting these, when you can get them cheap, then you are denying yourself colorful, well-produced, collections of the art you like, but not available anywhere else.  Yes, such a book won't be as thematically cohesive as you would like, but that's made up for by the care that's expressed in their displays, intentionally with an eye toward making them as attractive (read: sellable) as possible.  Frequently, context is not ignored, since knowledge about the piece, and/or the artist, can increase a work's perceived value.  My aim in including those that I have is to perhaps steer you toward the better ones and away from ones where your initial doubts are indeed justified.

Really ?? You're not going to consider sequential art ?? -- For me, it's about freezing a certain moment in time - forcing in the viewer a pause for stillness and contemplation.  Certainly, any single 'frame' in a sequence might be worthy of that, but usually such presentation is reserved for the larger, 'splash-page', images.  Many single images can be found where the artist uses various strategies to convey movement, or the passage of time, and I don't usually disqualify those, unless it's just too jarring.  I have a lower threshold for a character's speech or thought balloons on an image, but I guess a minimal appearance of them is acceptable.  Not so with *bang*, *pow* and other onamatopeia.

What about [name-of-book-here] that isn't on The List ?? -- Please share your candidates, along with your observations & thoughts about them (but be aware that comments might eventually appear anonymously on the site, unless you tell me otherwise).  If I have the book in my small collection, I'll work it up soon, but if it's among the hundreds of books I don't have, you'll have to wait until my interest (and resources) are roused enough to get it.

Other Matters

What about the kids ?? -- Adults producing art are going to produce adult art.  I don't feel we need to shield our children's eyes from the sight of nude bodies.  I have raised a child and am well aware of the books I felt I had to lock away, because I didn't want to spur certain conversations yet.  That aspect can probably be summed up by the idea of salaciousness (though I'm also flagging the more-innocent depictions with adult-themes).  I enjoy salaciousness as much as the next adult, but my aim is to make note of it when it's a feature, even a minor one, of an artbook.  If it translates to the book's cover as well, I'll modify or withold that image.

Warranties and Disclaimers:  The lists and reviews are offered as a free information service to people who admire this kind of art.  I attempt to include accurate and up-to-date information, errors however may occur.  I cannot give any warranty or representation as to the accuracy of the information found here.  The content provided is provided "as is" and on an "as available" basis only.  We do not vouch for the quality of service you might receive from the merchant sites I link to, nor do I accept any responsibility for errors, omissions or any action or decisions based on the information.

The artwork displayed in the PROPOSED BOOKS section is done so for editorial & comparative analysis purposes.  All rights, trademarks & copyrights are in force and held by their respective legal holders.  *NO PERMISSION* is granted here regarding subsequent use.  Unless you are recognized by law to do so, you *do not* have permission to reproduce it in any format.

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