Artist Books!

Half of our artist books are currently on display across from the circulation desk. Ask the library staff to get a better look at these, or any others that are stored in our Special Collections.

Jen’s selections from our Special Collections

Come in and check out the display just outside the library’s computer lab!

John R. Fischetti Editorial Cartoons and Sketches

The ARTstor database is always growing!  They now have complete digital scans of 30 of John R. Fischetti’s notebooks, which are in the archives at Columbia College.

Who was John Fischetti?

John Fischetti (1916 – 1980) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose work appeared in the New York Herald Tribune, the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, and Stars and Stripes. Fischetti studied at Pratt Institute and worked as an animator for Disney Studios before embarking on his career as a cartoonist in New York and then in Chicago. Fischetti’s political cartoons satirized local politics, social issues, and current events, including the Watergate scandal, the energy crisis, the economy, and terrorism.

Log in to ARTstor here with your Ringling user ID and password – this allows you to view and download high resolution scans.

Life Magazine In Color, Online

Issues of Life Magazine from 1936-1972 are available digitally from the Google Books project. This is a great publication to study to get a feeling for historical and visual trends in fashion, photography, interiors, world events, and more.

As mentioned on the Google Books Blog,

Most of us are familiar with the term “American Century,” but chances are few of us have been able to read Henry Luce’s defining editorial in its original context, a 1941 issue of LIFE. You’ll be able to find and read Leonard McCombe’s iconic cover and photo essay on a Texas Cowboy and Richard Meryman’s famous last interview with Marilyn Monroe. You can find a 1968 cover story on Georgia O’Keeffe (which you may want to read if you’re visiting the Whitney Museum anytime soon).

You’ll even find Alfred Eisenstadt’s famous photo of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square on VJ Day in 1945.

For issues not included in Google’s digital library, you can rely on the Library’s collection of LIFE  Magazines.  If you ever want to make high-resolution scans, we have many of the original volumes from 1962-69, and 1980-2000 in storage.  Just request them at the front desk!  Additionally, our ProQuest research database can help you determine which issues relate to your research subject.  ProQuest has citations and abstracts for each issue published from 1986-2000.

Click here to get stared searching Google Books’ issues online!

New Book Review: Masterpiece Comics

New Book

Review

Masterpiece Comics

By: R. Sikoryak

PN6728.M37 S54 2009

“R. Sikoryak has drawn cartoons for numerous media giants, including Nickelodeon Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Daily Show with John Stewart, as well as for independent publications, films, and theatre productions. His cartoon side show series Carousel has been presented around the U.S. and Canada. He also teaches and lectures on comics and illustration.”

– Masterpiece Comics

Masterpiece Comics is a strange blend of black humor and satirical genius, merging plots from classic literature with characters from some of the most beloved comics of all time. Imagine a Twilight Zone of comic strips, juxtaposing stories by Dante, Bronte, The Bard, Voltaire, and Oscar Wilde against the familiar characters from Blondie, Garfield, Ziggy, Batman, Superman and many more!

If you recognize such titles as The Scarlet Letter, Adam and Eve, Tales from the Crypt, Dante’s Inferno, or Little Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland then you need to open this book! Satire lends itself to all sorts of strange possibilities, and Masterpiece Comics shows just how far the envelope can be pushed. Created with the same wit one might expect to find in Mad Magazine, Masterpiece Comics is worth a few laughs and then some.

Check it out today!

Can’t find this book on the shelf?

Ask for assistance at the Circulation Desk.

Scott Sherman 3/10

New Book Review: Alfons Mucha The Master of Art Nouveau

New Book Review

Alfons Mucha

The Master of Art Nouveau

By: Renate Ulmer

N6834.5.M8 U45 1994

“Alfons Mucha is an art of seduction. His graceful

women, delicate colours and decorative style add

up to an unashamed act of temptation.”

– Renate Ulmer

Alfons Mucha is one of the most influential and revered illustrators in the history of the craft. His sense of graphic design has inspired artists for over a century, and his craftsmanship has set a high standard for anyone attempting to create images in the style of Art Nouveau.

With Alfons Mucha The Master of Art Nouveau, we get a historical look at the life and work of this legendary artist. Author Renate Ulmer delves into the life and times of Mucha with brevity and insight, pairing valuable biographical insight with brief passages of historical context. Each piece of artwork is accompanied by a short description of his commission, granting the reader a rare opportunity to understand the ‘assignment’ behind the image.

Portable and practical, Alfons Mucha The Master of Art Nouveau is sure to inspire and educate, whether you need biographical information for a project or are interested in Mucha’s particular brand of image-making, this book is sure to meet all your Mucha needs. Available for checkout now!

Can’t find this book on the shelf?

Ask for assistance at the Circulation Desk.

Scott Sherman 3/10

New Book Review: Beyond Illustration

New Book Review

Beyond Illustration

Editors: Patrick Hartl,

Yvonne Winkler

NC45 .B49 2009

“According to the classical definition, Illustration is regarded as a service. It serves a customer and his text. On the other hand, in art the creator is his own customer. Using various views and positions of invited artists and illustrators we will try to discuss this phenomenon.”

Patrick Hartl & Yvonne Winkler

Beyond Illustration is a compilation of artwork gathered from some of the field’s most influential artists. This book seeks to expand the boundaries of what Illustration can be, offering images and interviews that will push the definition of Illustration beyond its restrictive roots.

Illustrators from around the world have contributed to this collection, showcasing a variety of mediums. Cambodian artist Andrew Hem starts the lineup , followed by artist s from Japan, France, Poland, Germany, United States, Israel, Belgium, Argentina, Amsterdam, and Brazil. Traditional painting, photo-manipulation, spray paint and digital painting are just a few of the mediums on display in Beyond Illustration.

If you’re looking for inspiration, need to research an illustrator, or if you just want to look at some mesmerizing images, you can’t do much better than Beyond Illustration. Available for checkout today!

Can’t find this book on the shelf?

Ask for assistance at the Circulation Desk.

Scott Sherman 3/10

Research Guides

The library has now put together a simple and very useful research guide for all majors here at Ringling. Research Guides are here to help everyone with researching topics about their major. There are even short videos, pictures, books and magazines that relates to the specific major and can  be useful for enhancing one’s work.

How to use Research Guides:

• Go to www.lib.ringling.edu
• Click on the intended major or program

• Click on the individual Research Guide you’d like to see
• Begin researching by clicking on the different tabs
• Each tab will have different  information about the intended major which are all highly informative.

Though Research Guides are still in the process of being perfected, students can at least familiarize themselves with the format of this new strategy.

What is Motion Design?

Many students and staff around campus keep asking what the new major of Motion Design is. As a first year Motion Design student, I can simply say that Motion Design is literally  a bit of everything. We learn a animation, film, photography, claymation, stop motion, graphic design, illustration, visual effects, and much more. Here are a few examples of what Motion Design really is.

Allison Schulnik, the director of this video created this using claymation along with stop motion, which is something that our Motion Design Department will be doing a lot of. This is a great example of what we do in Motion Design.

Another great example of Motion Design is the credits for Sherlock Holmes. Notice how parts of the film turn into illustrations and graphics- that’s simply what Motion Design entails, and what the future holds for this new department.

For further information visit our new Motion Design Research Guide page http://www.ringling.libguides.com/motiondesign

The Disposable Skateboard Bible – Book Review

The Disposable Skateboard Bible
By Sean Cliver

GV 859.8.C55 2009

“It’s a monument to my glory days of yore, and I have yet to meet anyone with an iota of skateboarding in their past—regardless of hardcore proclivities or collecting biases—that hasn’t walked in, stared at the wall and momentarily lost themselves in a time warp of memories. Such is the unique and twisted power of the vintage skateboard.” – Sean Cliver

Destined for destruction, skateboard graphics have hardly been revered as high art in the eyes of those outside the skateboarding subculture. However, many of these once massed produced pieces of screen printed plywood hold collection value comparative to that of gallery paintings.

The Disposable Skateboard Bible introduces the reader to the little known and much less understood world of vintage skateboard collecting, or as the author Sean Cliver would call it, “skatehoarding.” Squeezing together decades of note worthy decks, this book serves as a hard-bound time capsule of skateboard graphic history. With a light hearted and whimsical style, Cliver discusses his journey into the sometimes dark and damaging obsession of skateboard collecting. Built around visuals more than text, this book outlines the creation of the first skateboard museum, Skatelab and chronologically documents many, but not all, of the coveted pieces in the collection.

The Disposable Skateboard Bible is great for anyone with an interest in skateboarding culture and history. It’s 367 pages are ripe with a colorful, visual evolution of skateboard graphics destined to intrigue even those with the faintest regard for the sport. This book may be particularly inspirational to students in both Illustration and Design who might be considering skate graphics as a career path.

George Haney, 1/2010