Looking for books about Art / Concept / Colour / etc

[Oli4D]

Hello everybody
My name is Oliver, I'm a 3D artist / animator who would like to improve his 2D paining (and sketching) skills.
I started a little personal project (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158057) but I found out that I probably know too little about colour palette, composition, etc to come to a good result.

So, I would like to learn more about the art of great images in general. How to use create a colour palette, how to use composition, contrast, etc.

Can you guys recommend some good books about all that?
General books of great painters would be nice for inspiration I guess, but I'm also looking for stuff with explanations and how to use all these aspects wisely.

I'm sure such books must exist.
I found this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Bold-Visions-Digital-Painting-Bible/dp/160061020X/ref=pd_cp_b_1?pf_rd_p=413864201&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1843404729&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1KS03FAYKTDRC92QSYKD
Sounds nice, but some comments say it's more of a nice intro, but does not go too much into details.

Thanks a lot,
Oliver

[ask maurice]

Not 100% as to what you are looking for but you could try one of these books (http://astore.amazon.com/belierstudio?node=33&page=1).




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[Oli4D]

Wow that looks like a really nice collection!
Any recommendations? There is so much stuff but not possibility to look inside the books... can you recommend some more than others?

[donm]

the bold visions book is very inspiring, I own if myself.

[Emrey]

Hi.
Maybe you could take a look at the design studio press books. ( http://www.designstudiopress.com/ ) One of my favorites is The Skillful Huntsmen, with artists like Scott Robertson, Khang Le,.. it shows a lot about thumbnailing, sketching, characters and enviroments,etc.. I really like it beacause of the way they work and handle the painting techniques.

Bold visions is certainly a good choice for you I think, because it explaines a lot about the specific things that you are looking for like colour / composition /..

[Flake]

So, I would like to learn more about the art of great images in general. How to use create a colour palette, how to use composition, contrast, etc.

Can you guys recommend some good books about all that?


If you're an absolute beginner, get Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" from your local library. Do the exercises, ignore the pseudo science.

After working through that for a while, read these
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/

They're old and out of print, there is a distinct lack of shiny photoshopped imagery but if you're really looking to learn this seriously from the ground floor up, these are a sound starting point.
They cover much of the spectrum from stick man happy doodling to fairly heavy art concepts, the dude who wrote them really knew his stuff.

If you feel you've got your head around most of that, have a scan at this but beware wordy Victorian era English. It can be heavy going, but again, the dude knew his stuff.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14264

Good luck with it.