Concept Design 2: Works from Seven Los Angeles Entertainment Designers and Seventeen Guest Artists

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




gift item, December 12, 2007
By Annetta R. Moeller
I bought this item from my son's wish list as a gift, so I personally don't know how to rate it.



Don't let the wanna-be's steer you away from this collection..., June 7, 2007
By RJR967 (Chicago)
First - What's wrong Jaw Line? Did you not get accepted to Art Center or were you rejected by Industrial Light & Magic? You're not even a blip on the radar of these artists until you do something worth recognizing so please indicate where your book is on Amazon or keep your envious mouth shut.

Now, on to the review - The book is comprised of some of the better artists working in film and entertainment design today. Please keep in mind, this book is a nice reference tool for artists looking for a way to keep motivated and learn a few things along the way. I agree, there could have been more sketches and character development, but I'll take this for what it is - a pleasing reference tool for those of us who obviously haven't reached Jaw Line's impeccable talent.

Enjoy the fine work.



Putting the vanity in "vanity press"..., March 20, 2007
By jaw line (baltimore, md)
You should definitely get this book if you want to learn how far self-promotion can take you. Or alternately, you could save your 30-some-odd bucks and just take this review to heart.

I bought the book to keep around as inspiration--printed out jpeg's just don't cut it and they don't last, right? I also bought it to check out what my competition was doing out on the Left Coast, sort of to light the fire under me.

Well.

The book is printed nicely, and I felt that a lot of the text was pertinent and interesting. The images, though?

Well.

The bulk of the book (the first part) is the seven LA guys showing off their work, and a lot of it. Some were pretty ok, but there are several guys who may be experienced, commercially viable pros, but whose work blows. I mainly found the best images to be in the "and friends" part, which is the second half of the book where various other guys get an image or two displayed.

There are some nice visual pauses that come from z-brush and sculpy images, but there are just too many instances of very high-tech high school art. There were no Craig Mullins, Dussos or Syd Meads in the bunch, it's safe to say.

So, take the tip: even if you suck or are abysmally average...promote, promote, promote--and one day, you too can get seen!



Concept Design 2: Works from Seven Los Angeles Entertainment Designers And Seventeen Guest Artists, February 11, 2007
By Peter (Courtenay, BC, CANADA)
An interesting book as these artists are now moving on in their careers and we see the results of their work in film and other entertainment.



A good addition to any digital artist's collection., September 6, 2006
By Crow (Salem, Virginia United States)
I bought this book on a wim. The title and the size of the book led me to believe it would have some descent sized pictures and would be a good collection of original ideas. I wanted something that would inspire me to work harder on my own work. And that is exactly what I got.

I am quite pleased with this book. It is worth the price. There is a good variety of subjects, some that impress me, some that don't. But all the work is skillfully done. There is little in the way of artist comments or direction on how to achieve the effects they achieve, but that is the way I like it. This is more about the work. More text would mean less space for artwork. The artwork is mostly digital, however, there is an appropriate amount of sketches, too. The last few pages have information on the artists and their websites(if an artist has one).

I am disappointed there aren't more sketches or character designs. Most of the work is mechanical or environmental. It needed more character designs to balance it out, in my opinion.
There are some artists I didn't care for, subject matter I didn't care for(the concept cars for one), but nothing irritating or offensive.

The wide range of subject matter means there is something for everyone in this book. I gave it four stars, mainly because it doesn't contain more of the type of work I'm interested in. But if I could give it 4.5 stars, I would. It works great as reference material and is a good addition to any digital artists collection.