Hundreds of Free Art E-Books

[briggsy@ashtons]

...Barcsay, Perard, Moses artistic anatomies; Rockwell, Dore, Kollwitz biographies, ebook editions of old books illustrated by Wyeth, Pyle, Rackham, Crane ..; letters of Michelangelo, Van Gogh, .. ; Vasari's Lives complete in ten volumes; ebooks by Bridgman, Panofsky, Berenson, Kenneth Clark, Whistler, Ruskin ...; Leonardo notebooks illustrated ..; and tons of old illustrated art books.

Archive.org has been around for years, but there has been a HUGE influx of new art titles in the last few months. To search, make sure you select "texts" in the second box. To download, click "FTP" and save to disc either the pdf or the (generally much smaller) DjVu file. Both consist of page images with linked text files, which means that the text is searchable.


Just some of the juiciest tips of the iceberg (to mix metaphors):


Bridgman, George B., 1939. The Human Machine.
http://www.archive.org/details/humanmachinethea009564mbp

Bridgman, George B., 1920. Constructive anatomy
http://www.archive.org/details/constructiveanat00briduoft

Blake, Vernon, 1927. The Art And Craft Of Drawing
http://www.archive.org/details/artandcraftofdra027904mbp

Crane, Walter, 1914. Line & Form.
http://www.archive.org/details/lineform00cranuoft

De Laszlo, 1934. Painting a Portrait.
http://www.archive.org/details/paintingaportrai000674mbp

Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock. Methods And Materials Of Painting Of The Great Schools And Masters
Volume One
http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofpainti01kugliala
Volume Two.
http://www.archive.org/details/methodsandmateri011267mbp

Guptill, Arthur Leighton,1922. Sketching and Rendering in Pencil.
http://www.archive.org/details/sketchingrenderi00guptuoft

Holmes, C. J. 1920. Notes on the science of picture-making.
http://www.archive.org/details/notesonscienceof00holmuoft

Poore, Henry Rankin, 1903. Pictorial composition and the critical judgment of pictures.
http://www.archive.org/details/pictorialcomposi00pooruoft

Ross, Denman Waldo, 1907. A theory of pure design; harmony, balance, rhythm.
http://www.archive.org/details/theoryofpuredesi00rossuoft

Ruskin, John. The elements of drawing (1920 edition).
http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofdraw00ruskuoft



Richter, Jean Paul, The literary works of Leonardo da Vinci (Volume 1 and 2).
The same illustrated edition of Leonardo notebooks that was reprinted by Dover.
http://www.archive.org/details/literaryworksofl01leonuoft
http://www.archive.org/details/literaryworksofl02leonuoft

Stone, Irving And Jean, 1962. I, Michelangelo, Sculptor (Michelangelo's Letters).
http://www.archive.org/details/IMichelangeloSculptor

Whistler, James McNeill, 1909. The gentle art of making enemies, as pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to unseemliness and indiscretion, while overcome by an undue sense of right.
http://www.archive.org/details/gentleartofmakin00whisuoft

Ludovici, Anthony Mario, 1912 - The letters of a post-impressionist; being the familiar correspondence of Vincent van Gogh.
http://www.archive.org/details/lettersofpostimp00goghuoft

Gauguin, Paul, 1919. Noa Noa. Translated from the French by O.F. Theis.
http://www.archive.org/details/noanoatranslated00gauguoft



Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects (complete in ten volumes).
http://www.archive.org/details/livesofmostemine01vasauoft
to
http://www.archive.org/details/livesofmostemine10vasauoft

Clark, Kenneth, 1952. Leonardo Da Vinci An Account Of His Development As An Artist.
http://www.archive.org/details/leonardodavincia013645mbp

Hind, Charles Lewis. Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
http://www.archive.org/details/drawingsofleonar00leonuoft

Mount, Charles Merrill, 1955. John Singer Sargent - A Biography.
http://www.archive.org/details/johnsingersargen000439mbp

Marillier, H. C. 1912. The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/earlyworkwithpre00bearuoft

The later work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/laterworkofaubre00bearuoft

Quennell, Peter, 1955. Hogarth's Progress.
http://www.archive.org/details/hogarthsprogress011296mbp

Clapp, 1916 - Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo, his life and work.
http://www.archive.org/details/jacopocaruccidap00clapuoft

Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer.
The classic study of Durer
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandartofalbr000686mbp

Strange, Edward Fairbrother, 1906. Hokusai, the old man mad with painting.
http://www.archive.org/details/hokusaioldmanmad00strauoft

Whistler (lots)
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=whistler%20AND%20mediatype%3Atext s%20AND%20collection%3Atoronto%20AND%20subject%3A% 22Whistler%2C%20James%20McNeill%2C%201834-1903%22

Clark, Kenneth. The Romantic Rebellion.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheRomanticRebellion

Clark, Kenneth, 1949. Landscape into Art.
http://www.archive.org/details/landscapeintoart000630mbp

Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. Meaning In The Visual Arts - Papers In and On Art History.
http://www.archive.org/details/meaninginthevisu010505mbp


10 works illustrated by NC Wyeth .
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Wyeth%2C%20N.%20C.%2 0%28Newell%20Convers%29%22

30+ works illustrated by Howard Pyle (+ 10 on Gutenberg).
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=howard%20pyle

28 works by, or illustrated by Walter Crane.
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=walter%20crane%20AND%20mediatype% 3Atexts


EDIT: Check below the dotted line for new recommendations
------------------------------------------------------------
Pen Illustration

Maginnis, Charles. Pen Drawing - An Illustrated Treatise
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17502 (4.9 MB zip)

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1921. The Art Of Illustration.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheArtOfIllustration

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1922. Line - an art study
http://www.archive.org/details/lineartstudy00sulluoft


Books illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Goblin Market (scanned by chaosrocks)
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111935.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111772.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111696.pbw

Vernon Jones, V. S.1916. Æsop's fables : a new translation. (Rackham, Arthur, illustrator)
http://www.archive.org/details/aesopsfables00chesuoft

Gates, Eleanor, 1907. Good-night (Buenas noches).
http://www.archive.org/details/goodnightbuenasn00gateiala

Morley, Christopher, 1922. Where the blue begins.
http://www.archive.org/details/wherethebluebeg00morlrich

Ibsen, Henrik, [19--?]. Peer Gynt: a dramatic poem.
http://www.archive.org/details/peergyntdramatic00ibseuoft

Stephens, James, 1920. Irish fairy tales.
http://www.archive.org/details/irishfairytales00steprich

Fitz-Gerald, S. J. Adair (Shafto Justin Adair),1896. The Zankiwank & the Bletherwitch.
http://www.archive.org/details/zankiwankblether00fitziala

Evans, C. S., 1920. The sleeping beauty.
http://www.archive.org/details/sleepingbeauty00evanrich

More Rackham
http://www.conceptart.org/wiki/doku.php?id=history:19-20th_c_british#rackham_arthur_english_illustrator_ 1867-1939


Architecture


Robinson, John Beverley, 1914. Architectural Composition (found by Farvus)
http://www.archive.org/details/ArchitecturalComposition

Other architectural highlights include 50+ elaborately illustrated volumes of the journal known successively as Architecture, American architect and architecture, and Architectural record:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=American%20architect%20and%20arch itecture%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts&page=1

plus numerous volumes both on the history of architecture in general, and on specific styles including Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine, Norman, Gothic, Romanesque, Medieval, Muslim, Indian ... Just use the search button.



Books on the imagination (found by chronologic; reviewed by armando here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1336398&postcount=57))

Ribot, Th. 1906. Essay on the creative imagination.
http://www.archive.org/details/essayonthecreati00ribouoft

Rhoades, James, 1908. The training of the imagination.
http://www.archive.org/details/trainingofimagin00rhoauoft


Composition

Dow, Arthur Wesley, 1913. Composition; a series of exercises in art structure for the use of students and teachers.
http://www.archive.org/details/compositionserie00dowauoft


Fashion (from Farvus)

Ellsworth, Evelyn Peters, 1917. Textiles and costume design
http://www.archive.org/details/textilescostumed00ellsrich

Traphagen, Ethel, 1918. Costume design and illustration
http://www.archive.org/details/costumedesignill00trapiala


More Artists and their works

Heermann, Norbert, 1918. Frank Duveneck
http://www.archive.org/details/frankduveneck00heeruoft

Roof, Katharine Metcalf, 1917. The life and art of William Merritt Chase
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeartofwilliam00roofiala

Cox, Kenyon, 1914. Winslow Homer
http://www.archive.org/details/winslowhomer00coxkuoft

Inness, George Jr,, 1917. Life, Art and Letters of George Inness.
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeartandletter005237mbp

Hartmann, Sadakichi, 1910. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and position in art of James McNeill Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whistlerbookmono00hartiala

Macfall, Haldane, [1906?] Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whistler00macfiala

Furst, Herbert, 1920. Frank Brangwyn, R.A (woodcuts)
http://www.archive.org/details/frankbrangwynra00braniala

Sparrow, Walter Shaw, 1915. A Book of Bridges (illustr. Brangwyn)
http://www.archive.org/details/bookofbridgesspa00sparrich

Brooklyn Museum, 1921 - Historical paintings of the Slavic nations (Mucha's Slav Epic)
http://www.archive.org/details/historicalpainti00muchiala


Books with illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

The throwback : a romance of the Southwest (1906)
http://www.archive.org/details/throwback00lewirich

Arizona nights (c1907)
http://www.archive.org/details/arizonanights00whitrich

Whispering Smith (1908 [c1906)
http://www.archive.org/details/whisperingsmith00spearich

The song of Hiawatha (c1908 )
http://www.archive.org/details/songofhiawatha00long2

Susanna and Sue (c1909)
http://www.archive.org/details/susannasue00wigg

The long roll (1911)
http://www.archive.org/details/longrollmary00johnrich

Treasure Island (c1911)
http://www.archive.org/details/treasureisland00stev

Cease firing (1912)
http://www.archive.org/details/ceasefiring00johnuoft

The sampo; a wonder tale of the old North ([c1912])
http://www.archive.org/details/sampowondertaleo00bald

Blackfeet Indian stories (c1913)
http://www.archive.org/details/blackfeetindians00grin

Letters of a woman homesteader (1914)
http://www.archive.org/details/lettersofwomanho00stewuoft

The drums of the 47th (c1914)
http://www.archive.org/details/drumsof47th00burd

Nan of Music Mountain (1916)
http://www.archive.org/details/nanofmusic00spearich

The mysterious stranger : a romance (1916)
http://www.archive.org/details/mysteriousstranger00twairich

The black arrow : a tale of the two Roses ([c1916])
http://www.archive.org/details/blackarrowtaleof00stev

Robin Hood (1917)
http://www.archive.org/details/robinhood00cresrich

The last of the Mohicans : a narrative of 1757 (1919)
http://www.archive.org/details/19lastmohicans00cooprich

Robinson Crusoe (1920)
http://www.archive.org/details/robinsoncrusoe00defo

The courtship of Miles Standish (1920)
http://www.archive.org/details/courtshipofmiles001long

Rip Van Winkle (c1921)
http://www.archive.org/details/ripvanwinkle00irvi

Poems of American patriotism (c1922)
http://www.archive.org/details/poemsofamericanp00matt

Vandemark's folly (c1922)
http://www.archive.org/details/vandermarksfolly00hawtrich



Chapman's American Drawing Book (added by patdzon)

Chapman, J.G. (John Gadsby), 1847. The American drawing-book: a manual for the amateur, and basis of study for the professional artist: especially adapted to the use of public and private schools, as well as home instruction.

http://books.google.com/books?id=NdAEAAAAYAAJ (1847 edn: 168 pp.)
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=00z303872m;view=toc;c=nietz (1847 edn: 168 pp.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=BoQEAAAAYAAJ (1858 edn: 304 pp.)
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArts-idx?type=article&did=DLDECARTS.AMDRAWBKCHAP.I0001&isize=M (1870 edn: 320 pp)


Perspective

Loomis, Andrew, 1951. Successful Drawing.
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Successful%20Drawing.rar (direct download link)

Storey, G. A. The Theory and Practice of Perspective.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20165/20165-h.zip (direct download link)

Watson, Ernest W., 1955. How To Use Creative Perspective.
http://www.archive.org/details/howtousecreative036957mbp (poor scans)

Longfellow, William Pitt Preble, 1901. Applied perspective, for architects and painters.
http://www.archive.org/details/appliedperspecti00longrich

Miller, Leslie William, 1887. The essentials of perspective, with illustrations drawn by the author.
http://www.archive.org/details/essentialsofpers00mill

Great collection of scholarly articles on history of perspective (Kim H. Veltman):
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/publications.htm#Perspective

[Blue]

Wow... i love you.

edit: this is so amazing. I never knew such an archive existed. There is so much to read here, i don't think i could even finish it. Amazing.

[paberu]

OMG...... O____O!!!!!!

*dls bridgman and goes off to devour*

[Idiot Apathy]

Briggsy dear sir, you are a king amoung men amongst monkeys.

[Olle Werme]

Thank you. m(_ _)m

[Snarfevs]

Thanks for the heads-up.

incidentally, http://www.scribd.com/ is becoming an increasingly useful resource.

[Flake]

Nice one Briggsy.

[asoir]

HOLY MAJOLY!l

[Hyskoa]

Loving this... so... very... much...

[AlexC]

Thanks!

[Elwell]

Awsome.

[Dile_]

Whoa brilliant! Sticky!!! Thanks for sharing those!

[Lone Wolf]

THANK YOU!!! This is awesome.:rendered:

[Farvus]

This is awesome! I already have lots of art ebooks but now I wonder how I'm going to read all this stuff :P.

Edit: I was planning some time ago to buy a book with Leonardo da Vinci notes but it's already here. How nice :)

[asoir]

Actually, could you add one?
This looks fantastic-

PEN DRAWING
AN ILLUSTRATED TREATISE

BY CHARLES D. MAGINNIS

http://ia310937.us.archive.org/0/items/pendrawing17502gut/17502-h/17502-h.htm

[briggsy@ashtons]

You're welcome everyone - really enjoying all your reactions. However all thanks should go to the crew at archive.org and their contributors, especially the Canadian Libraries, who do a beautiful job.

Thanks Asoir, if you're into classic pen and ink work try these

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1921. The Art Of Illustration.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheArtOfIllustration

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1922. Line - an art study
http://www.archive.org/details/lineartstudy00sulluoft
(warning: If you read the entire book you'll need to overlook the occasional use of words that would be considered racist today)

Please report back more of your finds here!

[briggsy@ashtons]

Whoa brilliant! Sticky!!!

Stars would be nice.:teeth:

[chaosrocks]

drool
I posted a scanned first ED Rackham .. Goblin Market
at Christmas
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111935.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111772.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/?action=view&current=1166111696.pbw

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks chaos. Imagine if everyone on conceptart.org could get their hands on one out-of-copyright classic and scan it to share .....

[kool-ka-lang]

Man, we better get most of this before this goes the way of loomis....

[Hyskoa]

Everybody post url's that are useful.
Briggsy@ashtons, if possible, put a
---------------------------------------
and then new url's that other people have added to the original post.

That way we get the most out of this site before people start to get anal about it? :)

[briggsy@ashtons]

Done.

By the way, if anyone needs a DjVu viewer you could try WinDjView/MacDjView at http://windjview.sourceforge.net/

[Victor B]

Big , HUGE ... Enormous thanks!

[Elwell]

Man, we better get most of this before this goes the way of loomis....
Not gonna' happen. This is all public domain stuff. And the Loomis books haven't really gone anywhere, you just have to look a little harder...

[Snarfevs]

Not gonna' happen.

Well, you never know, as least as far as stuff exclusively hanging in the archive goes. People have tried to shut down archive.org before (mainly because of the wayback machine).

And if the recent (thankfully thwarted!) attempt to sell out the contents of Smithsonian archive to Showtime (where it would be locked behind a paywall forever) is any indicator, absolutely nothing is sacred anymore...

That said, the administrative direction of archive.org is ideologically strong enough to resist internal strife, as opposed to the Smithsonian institution, which had a pretty corrupt director.

[bhanu]

Oh right public domain rules so does archive.org and so does brigsy. Thank you sir , tahnk you very much.

[Yiako]

165486453 thanks!!!

[sciboy]

... I love you Briggsy, finally got some Bridgman links i can hand out! :D
Oh, and see you next school term.

[briggsy@ashtons]

That's great news sciboy... it'll make four registered CAers at Ashton's next term that I know of, plus some lurkers .. enough to start converting the masses!

Once again, thanks for your responses everyone. Any more finds yet?

[Kian]

Massiv thanks briggsy. These are great :)

[Farvus]

Any more finds yet?

Hmm... For those who are deeply interested in eviroment design this one could be useful.

Robinson, John Beverley, 1914. Architectural Composition
http://www.archive.org/details/ArchitecturalComposition
(only DjVu format available)

[Idiot Apathy]

That's great news sciboy... it'll make four registered CAers at Ashton's next term that I know of, plus some lurkers .. enough to start converting the masses!

*Cough* I'll come for a scholarship :) No? o'well.

[Chronologic]

Damn...props to the dudes and ladies over at archive.org...ya dig..

[Chronologic]

I think that you should add this book to your list up there...It's a whole book on using the imagination, why people have trouble imagining clear images, different types, and basically everything asked about on this board every 4 milliseconds..

http://www.archive.org/details/essayonthecreati00ribouoft

edit:

another book on training the imagination..

http://www.archive.org/details/trainingofimagin00rhoauoft

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks guys - I've added your finds to the list.

Hi Tom, how's it going? If only there was a Briggsy Scholarship, I'd be delighted to give it to you, but alas ....
As of this week, however, there IS a Briggsy googlepages site with lots of juicy colour links .. let me know what you think.


http://djcbriggs.googlepages.com/colourlightandvision

Don't miss the programmes on couleur.org .... just awesome!

[Hyaloclastics]

Superrr!!!:)

[Stark]

I just went through this thing more in depth and saw the architectural links...Looks like I'll be reading a ton more on this damn computer :P

[Idiot Apathy]

Hi Tom, how's it going? If only there was a Briggsy Scholarship, I'd be delighted to give it to you, but alas ....
As of this week, however, there IS a Briggsy googlepages site with lots of juicy colour links .. let me know what you think.

*eagerly awaits next week to see the creation of the Briggsy Scholarship*
Going good, still learning at a nice pace. Thanks for this new batch of links, going to spend a few days with them. :)

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thought I'd bump this old thread for anyone who missed it first time with a few gems from the apparently moribund Digital Library of India (http://dli.iiit.ac.in/). I spotted some great looking titles there, but now none of the links seem to be working, for me at least. Anyone know what's happened to it?

Anyway, here's the majority of what I managed to get (by batch downloading separate jpg pages), compiled as pdfs to share. A few more to come still, when I get time to compile and upload them.

Please direct any questions regarding copyright to the Digital Library of India!

Victor Perard,1932. Anatomy And Drawing.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34716

Jeno Barcsay, 1955. Anatomy For The Artist.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34719

Walter Farrington Moses, 1930. Artistic Anatomy.
http://z28.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=56228

Arthur Pope, 1928. Tone Relations in Painting.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34711

Hans Kollwitz, 1955. The Diary And Letters Of Kaethe Kollwitz.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34713

Blanchard Jerrold, 1891. Life Of Gustave Dore.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34714

Norman Rockwell, 1960. My Adventures As An Illustrator.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34721

Arthur L Guptill, 1972. Norman Rockwell Illustrator.
http://z21.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34724

[Lohan]

Thanks a lot man. Is this legal because the books are out of print or something?

[briggsy@ashtons]

Well, presumably they comply with the copyright policy (http://dli.iiit.ac.in/copyright.html) of the Digital library of India, such as it is. There seems to be no stipulation by the DLI against reposting their files elsewhere, so there should be no problem from that direction. Whether third parties might hold that the DLI erred in posting some of the material in the first place is of course another question. I will keep checking to see if our moderators think that any of these links should be removed.

[Dizon]

Many thanks, sir!!!

[Magic Man]

Why isn't this a sticky?!

[Earendil]

Absolutely phenomenal find good sir!

[Costau D]

This should especially be a sticky in artistic discussion. Where all the questions are being asked how to get better and how to get inspiration back.

[blacky]

way cool!

sticky, .....
somebody?

[dbclemons]

There's a book by/about August Rodin at the India site that's somewhat interesting.
http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=137786

The scans of drawings are awful, however, and the text is very opinionated and superficial: "...to Rembrandt beauty is the antithesis between the triviality of the inner envelope and the inner radiance." Oh yeah? Still, not bad for being free.

[MattGamer]

My life is complete! THANK YOU EVERYONE! This thread is amazing and I love it. Wooo! *dances*

[Shantih]

Briggsy, I think I love you.

[pennington]

wow (:

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks all for your responses! A sticky in the Lounge is a bit of an ask, but if more people like dbc keep reporting back their finds then that will be enough to keep the puppy afloat.

For anyone else who wants to scour the DLI site, today I found a much higher proportion of working links by searching at http://dli.ernet.in/ and http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/testpage.html instead of at the address I gave above (silly me!). So some more pdf goodness on its way.

Thanks also to those of you who have taken a look at my new teaching website (link in sig). Loads of links there, especially on colour - please let me know what you think.

Oh and Shantih, I took a look at your sketchbook - it's definitely mutual!

[Icon]

holy crap! I shed a tear when I saw this!! Thank you so much!!

[squidmonk3j]

you, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman!

[Bowlin]

Thanks, briggsy!! :)

[draw]

You're a champion Master Briggs

[armando]

I think that you should add this book to your list up there...It's a whole book on using the imagination, why people have trouble imagining clear images, different types, and basically everything asked about on this board every 4 milliseconds..

http://www.archive.org/details/essayonthecreati00ribouoft

edit:

another book on training the imagination..

http://www.archive.org/details/trainingofimagin00rhoauoft

Did you even read these?

I just wanted to warn people not to waste their time by reading "Training of the Imagination", as it is not a work book on training the imagination, as you would assume by the title. It's basically a speech from a school master to other teachers telling them that they should encourage students to think for themselves rather then just have them memorize facts.

"Essay on Creative Imagination" is of only marginal interest, it is aimed at psychologist, and is of little practical use to artists. Also "why people have trouble imagining clear images" is never answered, what is given instead are three image types, in other words the level of detail in a memory or mental image, if you're curious they are: complete, incomplete, and schematic. The first part of the book has some interesting ideas, from what I could understand, but there isn't much of anything in parts two and three.
The gist of it is: Experiences form the raw material for the imagination. In unimaginative people these experiences are stored as rote memory, in imaginative people they are distorted, taken apart, and modified to varying degrees. The principle intellectual factor in imaginative people is thinking by analogy, for example an s is like a snake because they're both curvy, or a hand can resemble a gun, and onto more obscure and subjective likenesses. There is no "creative imagination" per se but instead a process which arises from first a want/need, which then follows a search for a solution, and finally a solution or a failure.

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks armando, I've linked to your observations at the listing above. Personally I'd hate for anyone to be dissuaded from making a contribution for fear of criticism, though.

Here's something of definite significance that I just found today. Lovely scan too.

Dow, Arthur Wesley, 1913. Composition; a series of exercises in art structure for the use of students and teachers.
http://www.archive.org/details/compositionserie00dowauoft

[tensai]

that is a cool new addition man. cheers. i say stickemafy.

[Onir]

whoa, what a selection of books! definitely gonna have to read through a bunch of these.. thanks much briggsy!!

[BobThompkins]

We all love you, briggsy.
I found this torrent: http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/13678894

Though I'm currently still downloading it, so I'm unsure of the quality.

[Justin.]

please stucky

[jim b]

wow! what a great resource. this is a long shot, but does anyone know if any of these books have audio recordings? would love to listen to something while drawing.

[Coleb]

Do you all just save these to your harddrives? Burn CDs? Have external drives for saving stuff like this?

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks Bob and Justin. Bob, your torrent contains quite a few titles that are in copyright and readily available in print, so I hope you understand if I don't put it with the other links at the head of this page. There are good reasons why our mods would probably jump on me for going down that path here (a path which, I have to confess, does bear some briggsy footprints). Anyone who does want to go down that path need only google an author or subject with such magic phrases "parent directory" or "rapidshare" to turn up a whole world of ebook and video downloads that we won't be discussing in this thread!



jim b. if you want to listen to any of these pdfs you could try the "Read out loud" function in the View Menu of Acrobat Reader. I just went into Preferences and tried out the British male voice at a low speed and it wasn't TOO bad ... for a robot. Maybe someone knows of another text to speech program that does a better job.

The audiobook equivalent of Archive.org is Librivox.org (http://librivox.org/). The site is relatively new and rapidly growing, and again, everything is free. Not much there in the way of art books as such yet, but there's a lot of other great stuff, including some real classics of history. I've just listened to what there is so far of Macaulay's History of England (truly awesome!), and I'm making a start on Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The readings are all done by volunteers and the quality is quite variable, but MOST are better than a robot. The start of the complete index is here:
http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=&status=complete&action=Search



Coleb: 500 GB external hard drive, plus DVD backups of all new stuff as it comes in.


Finally, here are a couple of new art titles at archive.org that caught my eye. I haven't had time to really look at them yet, so all I can promise about them is that they have intriguing titles. The author of "Figure Drawing for Children" was herself the child of the important nineteenth century teacher and author of "Art Anatomy", William Rimmer.

Rimmer, Caroline Hunt, 1893. Figure drawing for children : papers of special value to all interested in the development of art among the children.
http://www.archive.org/details/figuredrawingfor00rimm

Abendschein, Albert, 1909. The secret of the old masters.
http://www.archive.org/details/secretofoldmaste00abeniala

[Farvus]

Bump :bashful:

Ellsworth, Evelyn Peters, 1917. Textiles and costume design
http://www.archive.org/details/textilescostumed00ellsrich

Traphagen, Ethel, 1918. Costume design and illustration
http://www.archive.org/details/costumedesignill00trapiala

Well. Lots of things has changed since 1917 in fashion and costume design but these books have some info about history of clothes. Could be useful for some character design especially in fantasy setting. The second one looks like it's more for artists.

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Thanks Briggsy for providing these links to us, and to everyone else who has helped with adding to the content of this thread... I really hoped that someone will post the Bridgman's Book of a Hundred Hands...

[alti]

dammit how did i miss this thread, dammit.

Cheers for showing us the way brigsy.
Downloading sooooo many archetectural volumes... its rediculious.
this will keep me buisy for ages.

-alti

[briggsy@ashtons]

He he, alti, maybe you should look at this one too:
http://www.archive.org/details/firstbookofillus00morarich

Thanks for the bump, everyone. Here are a few recent releases I've spotted, starting with five of my favourite Americans (apart from you guys). All have great galleries at the Athenaeum too, by the way.

Frank Duveneck

Heermann, Norbert, 1918. Frank Duveneck
http://www.archive.org/details/frankduveneck00heeruoft

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=391 (55 images)


William Merritt Chase

Roof, Katharine Metcalf, 1917. The life and art of William Merritt Chase
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeartofwilliam00roofiala

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=106 (293 images)


Winslow Homer

Cox, Kenyon, 1914. Winslow Homer
http://www.archive.org/details/winslowhomer00coxkuoft

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=91 (458 images)


George Inness

Inness, George Jr,, 1917. Life, Art and Letters of George Inness.
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeartandletter005237mbp

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=371 (181 images)


James McNeill Whistler (just the latest of many)

Hartmann, Sadakichi, 1910. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and position in art of James McNeill Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whistlerbookmono00hartiala

Macfall, Haldane, [1906?] Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whistler00macfiala

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=428 (180 works)





Anyone else here like Frank Brangwyn?

Furst, Herbert, 1920. Frank Brangwyn, R.A (woodcuts)
http://www.archive.org/details/frankbrangwynra00braniala

Sparrow, Walter Shaw, 1915. A book of bridges (illustr. Brangwyn)
http://www.archive.org/details/bookofbridgesspa00sparrich




Finally, a booklet on Mucha's Slav Epic

Brooklyn Museum, 1921 - Historical paintings of the Slavic nations
http://www.archive.org/details/historicalpainti00muchiala

[Valor]

Thank so much!

[Blue Severin]

Could a mod sticky this please? One of the most useful threads ever.

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks guys but as I've said before (1) a sticky in the Lounge is a big ask, and (2) it would be almost as good if people were to post their finds a bit more often.

Anyway I just got my first CA sticky over in Fine Arts, from Elwell no less. Woohoo!
Head over there and find out why:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112049

[ikuru]

WOWSY! thanx for doing this.

[veeray]

omg ... thats whole lot of archive .. great stuff !

[Techno Junkie JC]

Oh wow! This is gonna be so helpful! I'm trying to learn more besides anime and this is SO helpful!

[Dizon]

Are the old links still working? I'm trying to download Arthur Guptill's book, but with no luck. :(

NOTE: Never mind, the download works now.

[MrHoboX87]

Briggsy you are THE man!!

Thousand thanks, I'll suscribe and return to this thread again and again and again!

[Dizon]

Briggsy! Do you still have "My Adventures as an Illustrator"? The download doesn't work anymore. How do you also batch download jpgs?

Could you also add this as well?

Chapman, J.G. (John Gadsby), 1808-1889. / The American drawing-book: a manual for the amateur, and basis of study for the professional artist: especially adapted to the use of public and private schools, as well as home instruction.

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArts-idx?type=article&did=DLDECARTS.AMDRAWBKCHAP.I0001&isize=M

This one is from Google books(there's a direct download link included): http://books.google.com/books?id=BoQEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=chapman+the+american+drawing+book#PPP1,M1




Thanks!

[grenappels]

holy shit winslow homer is my FAVORITE!! 458 images this is the best~!

clicked a random one and fell in love http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=994. this is gonna keep me up for a while...

[briggsy@ashtons]

What excellent taste in books you have patdzon! Chapman now has his well-deserved place on the list. See if you can get the Norman Rockwell by following the instructions below, but if you have trouble I can reupload my copy after Tuesday (I've just used up my month's bandwidth so I'd have to wait till then). It's well worth getting - I remember especially he tells some great tales of studying under George Bridgman at the Art Student's League.


Batch Downloading

Do you have a download manager that permits batch downloads already? If you're using Windows you could try Net Transport (http://www.net-xfer.com/default.htm) which I've been using for the last few years. I think it still has a free trial period. There are probably good freeware alternatives around, but some contain adware so do some research.

Now you need to find the image links. For sites like http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/ it's very easy - just right click on the image on the web page and go to properties. It's a little tricker for the Digital Library of India. For example for Norman Rockwell's My Adventures As An Illustrator you hopefully found your way to this link:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/aui/bookreader_india/bookReader_test.cgi?barcode=141286

and were prompted to save the first tif file. Now you need to get the link to that file - if you're using Firefox you can copy and paste it from the "Properties" window. (Depending on how your preferences are set up this window either pops up automatically, or can be brought up by right clicking on the file in the "Downloads" window).
This is the link you get:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in//server25/data2/upload/server8/disk2/PAR_DVD%20S%20_BACKUP_61-120/1951_TO_1960-Cd082/141286_Norman_Rockwell_My_Adventures_As_An_Illustr ator/PTIFF/00000001.tif

And this is what you need to type into Batch Download window in Net Transport (or similar):

http://dli.iiit.ac.in//server25/data2/upload/server8/disk2/PAR_DVD%20S%20_BACKUP_61-120/1951_TO_1960-Cd082/141286_Norman_Rockwell_My_Adventures_As_An_Illustr ator/PTIFF/00000(*).tif

where (*) = 001 to 456


--------------------------------------------------

Glad you like the Athenaeum site, grenappels, and glad to here it's up again for that matter. It's a fantastic site but it has a habit of seeming to disappear completely for months at a time, so I'd strongly advise you to get everything you want there while you can.

[Dizon]

THanks! How about Arthur Pope's book on tone relations. Do you still have that? Does the book talk about seeing color values?

[briggsy@ashtons]

That Pope paper is now hosted on my googlepages site:

http://djcbriggs.googlepages.com/colourlightandvision

Pope's papers describe a colour space founded on the system of Denman Ross (see links on the first post of this thread), and show how to use this space to visualize colour relationships under varying illumination, etc. His work is a major inspiration for many of the principles that I discuss on Dimensions of Colour, starting here:

http://huevaluechroma.com/101.php

[Elwell]

OK, it' stuck. Should it maybe be moved somewhere besides the lounge?

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks Tristan! I don't mind at all if it's moved - I found it hard to decide where to put it myself, and just went for the Lounge because I thought more people would see it here.

[Toxdel]

briggsy I love you!! thats not gay right? well anyway thank you so very much for this wonderful thread, and I also wanted to say your website on color has helped me understand so much. Your an inspiration dude.

[xisco cabrer]

great contribution briggsy! thank you very much

[AmontilladoAg]

Gah, such a treasure-trove! :bounce: You rock, briggsy! :cheerleader:

[briggsy@ashtons]

My pleasure, guys. Just let me know if you find something special and I'll add it to the list.

The search function, which was kaput for quite a while, seems to be working well now, and I can see quite a lot of new stuff.

[waronmars]

All loomis, Bridgman (I think)

http://processjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/09/best-figure-drawing-books-ever.html

The practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14264

Pen Drawing: An Illustrated Treatise by Charles Maginnis
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17502

[Kai H]

Do anyone have the Training the Memory in Art & the Education of the Artist by Horace Boisbaudran LeCoq?

[briggsy@ashtons]

All I know of is Boisbaudran's original paper in French (which I originally obtained from Gallica (http://gallica.bnf.fr/)), if that is any use to you:
http://www.mediafire.com/?2mflzi2kumj

[gothicpsyche]

Oh wow, thank you so much for this wonderful resource! :heart:

[shinobitoshi]

does anyone know if you can find Civardi's complete guide to drawing as an ebook anywhere?

[Elwell]

does anyone know if you can find Civardi's complete guide to drawing as an ebook anywhere?

It's a little sleazy to go asking for books that are readily available and not particularly expensive (http://www.amazon.com/Giovanni-Civardis-Complete-Guide-Drawing/dp/1844482065).

[chaosrocks]

beside theres nothing so cool in the world has having a new book in your hands...reading it on screen just doest smell right

[shinobitoshi]

It's a little sleazy to go asking for books that are readily available and not particularly expensive (http://www.amazon.com/Giovanni-Civardis-Complete-Guide-Drawing/dp/1844482065).

Thanks for being so helpful elwell. Remember though that what is relatively inexpensive to you might be too much for a broke student who is spending all his money on medical bills after a motorcycle accident befor you decide to criticize me.

[fanficbug]

OMFG thank you. :O

Thank you thank you thank you thank you. :o

*cries*

Did I mention thank you? . . .

[Diphallia]

no villpu?
Vilpu?
Vilppu?

[briggsy@ashtons]

That's right, no Vilppu, no Civardi.

Let's not create any legal problems for the management, guys. The mods have been remarkably understanding in the case of currently out of print and difficult to obtain books, but Elwell is absolutely justified in drawing the line at Civardi, which is neither. I really think we should keep this thread for links on legitimate sites, such as archive.org or the Digital Library of India. The great majority of books on those sites are clearly out of copyright. There look to be a few possible exceptions here and there, but that is the concern of those sites, and in any case the possible exceptions are all by long-dead authors.

I just did a google search for "Vilppu Drawing Manual" and saw three well-stocked e-book sites and one torrent site on the first two pages. So there's really no need to give Jason a headache.

[Bhrazz]

Thanks from my hearth for sharing all theses goodies!

[mute.pablo]

Just what I need as well.. thank fuck I found this thread when I did. THANKYOU.. *Bows*

[armando]

Thanks for being so helpful elwell. Remember though that what is relatively inexpensive to you might be too much for a broke student who is spending all his money on medical bills after a motorcycle accident befor you decide to criticize me.

Check the library.

That link to donate to help you replace a stolen tablet... please. You can get by with some #2 pencils and notebook paper, ain't nobody gonna buy you a fuckin tablet.

[silvestri99]

Thank you for posting these...now hundreds of hours of reading and drawing available on my 'puter!! Remember fro those who can't afford anew book the "half price book" places and used book stores are great places to pick up some of these works. I've gotten most of my Bridgeman, Loomis and Villppu from these types of stores.... learning away!

[remmy]

your so god dam awesome ... yahooooooooooooooooo!

*dls everything :S*

[aitchjay]

This is insanely awesome! Thanks!

[briggsy@ashtons]

Thanks again for the responses, guys, you're all welcome. Someone on another thread was asking for some perspective book links, so I've just added these:

Loomis, Andrew, 1951. Successful Drawing.
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Successful%20Drawing.rar (direct download link)

Storey, G. A. The Theory and Practice of Perspective.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20165/20165-h.zip (direct download link)

Watson, Ernest W., 1955. How To Use Creative Perspective.
http://www.archive.org/details/howtousecreative036957mbp (poor scans)

Longfellow, William Pitt Preble, 1901. Applied perspective, for architects and painters.
http://www.archive.org/details/appliedperspecti00longrich

Miller, Leslie William, 1887. The essentials of perspective, with illustrations drawn by the author.
http://www.archive.org/details/essentialsofpers00mill

Great collection of scholarly articles on the history of perspective (Kim Veltman)
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/publications.htm#Perspective

There are also quite a few other, mostly older books on perspective on both archive.org and googlebooks that I haven't looked at closely - just do a search.

[iatriki]

Oh, the links for Norman Rockwell,Illustrator by Arthur Guptill don't work anymore, not even the ones from digital library of India. :( What a pitty! does anyone have it?

[briggsy@ashtons]

Here are links for the pdfs I made of the two Rockwell books. I guess it's OK to post these as they are still on the DLI site, though apparently only downloadable intermittently. The image quality in both is atrocious, but the text is great.

Norman Rockwell, Illustrator
http://www6.zippyshare.com/v/63852099/file.html

My Adventures as an Illustrator
http://www.zippyshare.com/v/4128754/file.html

[iatriki]

@briggsy@ashtons: Thank you :)

[Ash888]

I cant thank you enough!

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

Crane, Walter, 1914. Line & Form.
http://www.archive.org/details/lineform00cranuoft

(taken from the initial list - don't worry about posting it)

I merely wanted to point out that it was a good book, with an odd little slant towards wallpapers, which were popular at the time. (though I suppose there are jobs for wallpaper designers still)

Some great quotes though:

"Beauty and Truth are one -- as they certainly are, or ought to be, in the world of art"

"A photograph by its very nature can never take the place of a work of art - the firsthand expression, more or less abstract, of a human mind, or the creative inner vision recorded by the human hand."

[Pearscrow]

I love you.

[drd]

Wow, thanks soooo much Briggsy! This is simply incredible! I didn't really want to shell out money for all of these great books, though I know they'd be worth it.

Once again, THANK YOU!

[King Kobra]

nice one

[Tigermilk]

I love this, thanks sooo much!!

I just thought I'd make a short input. Maybe someone's brought it up before, but the waybackmachine is right there too, (as you of course noticed) and there are soo many incredible artists in here, at CA.org, that has removed their older images, or maybe posted here for just a short while. You can dig them old awesome sketches up again thanks to WBM, it's great. For instance I found old Wesley Burt, Lukias and Isane Visions sketches from way back yesterday. Fucking incredible, was such a rush finding them. Try it out if you haven't.

/tee-milk

[defee]

very useful links, thanks for the work brigsy!

[TheComicFilmBoy]

the link for Artistic Anatomy from Walter F. Moses ain't working

not to worry though, I just found this link (http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/cgi-bin/metainfo.cgi?&title1=Artistic%20Anatomy&author1=Walter%20Farrington%20Moses&subject1=&year=1930%20&language1=english&pages=131&barcode=2999990040024&author2=&identifier1=RMSC-IIITH&publisher1=Borden%20Publishing%20Company&contributor1=&vendor1=NONE&scanningcentre1=rmsc,%20iiith&slocation1=NONE&sourcelib1=&scannerno1=&digitalrepublisher1=Universal%20Digital%20Library&digitalpublicationdate1=2004-09-28&numberedpages1=&unnumberedpages1=&rights1=Copyright%20protected&copyrightowner1=Walter%20Farrington%20Moses&copyrightexpirydate1=&format1=TEXT%20&url=/data/upload/0040/029) through googling the name =)

[davi]

bumping thread and copying it to references forum.

[timkh22a1]

wow that is great i loved the books on anatomy..just when i thought i knew alot poof! back to stupidville knowing nothing about it

[Pandora's Eyes]

dude, thank you! kickass.

[ArtZealot]

Shweet! thanks.

[Ssimulacral]

Thanks this is sooooo great! Thank you thank you thank . . . you

[tomwaits4noman]

thank you........

this is an artists wet dream

[BANNED_For_POOPY_PANTS]

Sweet. 10x.

[cptjack]

Wow, great resource thread!

[Rolo]

I can't wait till when I get the time to take a look at these! : D

[TheDrunkSniper]

a huge thanks to everyone. and also can someone post a link to Art Anatomy by William Rimmer? : )

[DigitalShade]

The Norman Rockwell, Illustrator link seems to be down. Anyone know of a working link?
Here are links for the pdfs I made of the two Rockwell books. I guess it's OK to post these as they are still on the DLI site, though apparently only downloadable intermittently. The image quality in both is atrocious, but the text is great.

Norman Rockwell, Illustrator
http://www6.zippyshare.com/v/63852099/file.html

My Adventures as an Illustrator
http://www.zippyshare.com/v/4128754/file.html

[Sepulverture]

This is amazing!

Thanks a lot for sharing, and taking all that time to post all those individual links!

[Wooli]

Thank you so much!!!!!! :D

[armando]

Important info on "form".

History of the ideas of form in aesthetics.
http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv2-26

Adolf Hildebrand's "The problem of form in painting and sculpture".
http://www.archive.org/details/problemforminpa00ogdegoog

[Sakievich]

Someone put up the entire Famous Artist Course in pdf format.

http://onanimation.com/?p=2119

[zephyd]

please up the links of Norm rockwell

[JFierce]

Thanks for bumping this, just reformatted the computer and lost the book mark

[vulcant13]

Figure Drawing for all it's Worth by Andrew Loomis
http://fineart.sk/index.php?s=0&cat=12

If this has been posted, sorry. If not, enjoy! :)

[vulcant13]

No problem! The homepage (http://fineart.sk/) has quite a lot of stuff too.

With 4 Loomis books here (http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1)

[silver surfer]

The Practice & Science of Drawing by Harold Speed

http://conceptdesignworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/04/practice-science-of-drawing.html

introduction to the classic approach to the dynamics
of drawing with insights and practical advice on line drawing, mass drawing, visual memory, materials, and much more. The book's 296 pages, 84 plates

[George Abraham]

Tasteful reading it so eloquently express the work: The Practice & Science of Drawing.

What a pleasure it is to read and to have an electronic version available.

Thank you my dear boy silver surfer for your contribution.

Slowly but surely the secret's of supreme English, the tattered ravens quill on a writing desk will be mine.

> I'm just loving this stuff right now. Heeehee!! <

[Angel Intheuk]

Don't know how I missed this goldmine..:D Thanks for bumping...can it be made sticky?

[George Abraham]

Is it just me or can you read the whole book?

Character Desighn in Photoshop CS

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=I8E9RCjN4LQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=character+design+CS&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

[edit] Darn. Only the first and second chapter. Good stuff for Noob character desighn though. All the considerations and questions you could ask yourself.

[silver surfer]

Tasteful reading it so eloquently express the work: The Practice & Science of Drawing.

What a pleasure it is to read and to have an electronic version available.

Thank you my dear boy silver surfer for your contribution.

Slowly but surely the secret's of supreme English, the tattered ravens quill on a writing desk will be mine.

> I'm just loving this stuff right now. Heeehee!! <

well said, my dear Sir.
I am glad I could be of service to you.

Is it just me or can you read the whole book?

Character Desighn in Photoshop CS

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=I8E9RCjN4LQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=character+design+CS&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

[edit] Darn. Only the first and second chapter. Good stuff for Noob character desighn though. All the considerations and questions you could ask yourself.


indeed, 39 pages only

[Lhesther8]

Thanks bro for useful e-books..

thanks and keep sharing....

[aboe]

thank you, these are masterpieces

[bhanu]

THE NEW YEAR OFF TO A GREAT START!!!!
Illustration magazine has made their older issues available to read online. ARCHIVES!!!!
!!!
awesome of them to do this. HELL YEAH!!!!


http://www.illustration-magazine.com/archive.html
__________________

go read and go crazy people!!!

[sriblanc]

Any chance there is an updated way to get these files?

[briggsy@ashtons]

Which ones are you having trouble with?

[Trixtar]

Where's the pdf-thingy?
I am on the site, registered, but see no "download" link...?
Do I need special software installed?


EDIT: Nevermind, seems like there's a few that don't have pdf's...
But I snatched a lot of those that have! So, me off to study :)