This is the best book I've bought in a long time, and I buy a lot of books. Plus, I found it accidentally, while looking for another illustrator's book on Amazon. The author (Danny Gregory) appears to have collected a bunch of his friends, who happen to draw in sketchbooks. It feels like they all got together and showed their books to each other. What each artist has to say about his or her work (in their own words, first person) is as inspiring as what they have drawn.
I am not a visual artist of any kind, but while reading this book on a bus in Europe, I started drawing the people around me. They were amateurish sketches, but people would lean in and say, "Wow, did you draw that?" That was in March, and I have been drawing in my dream book and on sheets of paper since then. I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before I buy a Moleskin of my own and a nice Rapidiograph pen and some watercolors, or maybe some watercolor pencils.
Speaking of which, each of the artists talk about their media. I love reading about what materials they like to use; everyone works so differently (although Moleskins do seem to be the predominant book of choice). I've already bought "An Illustrated Life" as a gift, too, for my son, who stopped drawing a few years ago but who has so much talent I wanted to inspire him to start again.
Also, I keep marveling at the price. So much color, great design and layout, and tons of scans must have gone into the making of this book, not to mention all writing in such different voices. It's even edited well, and that's a little bit surprising, considering I always find tons of errors in everything I read! I want the price to stay the same so I can keep buying it as a gift for others, but I also think it's worth twice as much.Get more detail about An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers.
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