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Illustration: Books & Other Resources

Use this Research Guide to find recommended books and other resources on Illustration. For research help, consult a librarian.

Search Everything

Recommended Illustration Surveys

Selected Illustrated Children's Books

Books on Scientific Illustration

Other Recommended Books

Instructional Illustration History Biographical
Art History
Contemporary Illustration  
Fine Art/Lowbrow Art/Fantasy Art
Sketchbooks
Graphic Novels
Fashion Illustration
Graphic Design
Poster Art  
Skateboard/Snowboard/Surfboard Art
Book Arts  
Professional Practice
E-Zines

Recommended Comic Books

Recommended Websites

Inspiration

  • On Point  A daily NPR-sponsored news program on WBUR radio, Boston.
  • This American Life A weekly public radio program broadcast on more than 500 stations, featuring “true stories of everyday people.”
  • TED A free source for “riveting talks by remarkable people” on technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues: over 700 thinkers from around the world.
  • One Cool Thing a Day A public blog that invites and posts interesting visual imagery submitted by viewers.  See "Vivian Maier: Street Photographer" and “Forced perspective Forces You to Perceive Awesomeness.”
  • William Kentridge: Anything is Possible (A PBS Art21 film)
  • An amazing light 3D show at Kharkov, Ukraine 
  • The Food Project  An organization that promotes growing your own food with raised beds for Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, East Boston, and Lynn residents, providing seeds, other gardening resources & workshops.


Art & Illustration History

Skill Development

  • Color Scheme Designer  A free online application for exploring color schemes.
  • Andrew Loomis’ Art Instruction Books  LA Freebee offers free downloads of out-of-print. books: Fun with a Pencil, Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth, Drawing the Heads & Hands, Successful Drawing, Creative Illustration and The Eye of the Painter.
  • Google SketchUp A free digital perspective and 3D modeling application; check and correct perspective.

Resources & Reference

  • Morbid Anatomy  An online Wunderkammer: private collection and research library that surveys “the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture.”
  • Dream Anatomy  An online exhibition of historical anatomical illustration from the National Library of Medicine.
  • Skullsite.com  An indexed database for bird skull images and some digital 3D models of bird skeletons.
  • Posemaniacs A resource for figure reference: an anatomical model, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Senshi Stock  A Creative Commons stock site for free figure reference, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Action Stock  A Creative Commons stock site for free figure reference, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Man Stock  A Creative Commons stock site for free figure reference, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Lady Stock  A Creative Commons stock site for free figure reference, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Unrestricted Stock  A Creative Commons stock site for free figure reference, featuring poses useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Face Research  An online computer graphics tool that combines faces and displays an average.
  • Gesture Drawing Practice Tool  A site that displays random photos of figures (or animals) at a choice of time intervals, featuring poses and costumes useful to artists interested in animé, manga and game art.
  • Female Body Type  An online article on various female body types.
  • Todd Farm Antiques & Flea Market  A weekly flea market, Sundays, in Rowley, MA.
  • The Garment District  A great thrift/vintage/costume shop in Cambridge with a "Dollar a Pound" section.
  • The Recycle Shop  A source for an large variety of reusable fabrics, plastics, papers, and strings for crafts and fine arts projects.
  • Boomerangs  A source for vintage clothing, homewares, electronics, and furniture in Jamaica Plain and the South End.
  • Boston Redevelopment Corporation  A local source for inexpensive leftover new and old recycled cabinets, doors, windows, molding, sinks, bathtubs, electrical gadgets, screws, bolts, hinges, doorknobs, etc.
  • Boston Redevelopment Authority  A government organization that helps Boston artists apply for studio spaces and affordable housing and announces art exhibition opportunities.


Contemporary Illustration, Art & Design


Editorial Illustration


Children’s Illustration

  • Tuesday  David Wiesner’s wordless moving picture book


Masks

  • Behind the Mask  A studio that produces custom-made masks and face wear, costumes and accessories for rent and for sale, as well as workshops and theatrical productions incorporating music, storytelling, dance, puppetry, martial arts, and other art forms.


Books Arts

  • Center for Book Arts  An organization committed to exploring and cultivating contemporary aesthetic interpretations of the book as an art object while invigorating traditional artistic practices of the art of the book.
  • Center for the Book  The web site for the University of Iowa’s MFA degree program.
  • College Book Art Association  An organization that supports and promotes academic book arts education by fostering the development of its practice, teaching, scholarship and criticism.
  • The Bone Folder  An online bookbinding journal. linked to the Book Arts Web.
  • The Friends of Dard Hunter  Web site of an international organization of hand papermakers: a educational and informational forum about the art, craft, history, science and technology of papermaking, the book arts, and other diverse interests which captured the interest of Dard Hunter, a collector of book art.


Graphic Design


Illustrator Blog & Community Sites

Illustration Portfolio Sites

Research Question?

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Sculpture: Richard Artschwager,
Question Mark,1994 

Photo: Stefan Baudy, CC-BY License

Search the FLO Catalog for Books, DVDs, etc.


 

Or Browse Subject Headings: 

Illustrators

Illustration of books

Commercial art

Scientific illustration

Picture books for children

Children's literature--illustrations


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Many can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

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LC Call Numbers in Illustration

NC950-(996) Illustration

NC997-1003 Commercial art. Advertising art

NC1280-1284 Printed ephemera.

NC1300-1766 Pictorial humor, caricature, etc.

NC1800-1850 Posters

NC1860-1896 Greeting cards, postcards, invitations, book jackets, etc

PN6700-6790 Comic books, strips, etc.

PZ(1)-90 Children's literature

Print Journals on Art

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