Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years by Greg Hildebrandt Jr.

An account of the years of the Tolkien calendars, as told by the son who was five-years-old at the time. And frequently featured as a hobbit. Sketches, reference shots, final work, with commentary all along.

Underfoot Menagerie: More Street Art by David Zinn by David Zinn

More of the delightful art. With some technical talk about pareidolia -- seeing pictures in things -- and anamorphisis, the illusion of it's being three-d at one angle -- this one has some shots of the wrong angles and the interesting effects it can produce ( Read more... )

Temporary Preserves by David Zinn ( Read more... )

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair ( Read more... )

Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer ( Read more... )

The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages by Penelope Reed Doob ( Read more... )

Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City by Nicholas Christopher

More a lyric discussion than serious analysis, with personal opinion freely mixed -- discussion of all sorts of elements of film noir from the lighting to the use of money, to the labyrinthine cities. Femmes fatale, millionaires, boxers, vets, and other characters. ( Read more... )

Songs of Sorrow and Hope: The Art of Jenny Dolfen by Jenny Dolfen

A collection of her work, from drawing to full paintings, with some discussion of techniques, quite a bit about inspirations (a lot of Tolkien), and a walk through of how one work was completed.

A lot of lovely stuff.

Steampunk Soldiers: The American Frontier by Philip Smith, Joseph A. McCullough

More steampunk soldiers in an alternate history. . . a bit more alternate and a bit less steampunk, I think. (Also, the alternate path seemed a bit less plausible to me with the detail added.) Some interesting possibilities.

I decided to clear some books out and try my luck at the second hand store for a buck or two - and decided to let go of a little square book by Annette Blaugrund, The Essential John James Audubon. Like many pre-Internet book purchases, this one was a must have for all the colour pictures. The amount of text is very small and is about Wikipedia ( Read more... )