American Illustration and American Photography – the award winning, large format, beautifully designed and printed hardcover annuals offer high visibility and recognition where it matters most. Both are the exclusive source for assignment and commissioned work.

Your work will be seen by a jury made up of top creative professionals, art directors, photo editors, art buyers, gallerists, and publishers.

Selected images appear in the books one-image-per-page with an index that includes all creative credits and contact information. In addition to the annuals, juried images appear on the AI-AP web site, which attracts over 200 unique visitors per day.

Images remain on the site for life, allowing artists to create an archived portfolio of winning images that can be viewed by potential clients. And we can quickly update your contact information at no extra charge.

Inclusion in the book places you in the highest ranks of your profession.

For entry details, please visit the site.

Author Eileen Gould teaches readers how to build houses, design living spaces and tackle home improvement projects of all kinds in her new book, “Eye on Design: Seven Steps to Getting Started on Your Construction and Design Projects.”

This comprehensive how-to book includes simple ideas for design and construction projects for homes, offices, major companies and retail spaces. From people who want to make changes to their space but simply can’t afford it to do-it-yourself types, this book will provide guidance and helpful hints for everyone interested in design and construction.
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I just received my HOW Design newsletter, where they offered a copy of the book, Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design. While I try to support HOW as much as possible, I would suggest - when you want to order a top-notch book like the one shown here - that you shop around for the best price. While HOW offers a 20% discount for the book (total $28), you can currently purchase the same book for 31% off at Amazon ($24.15 new - save even more on used books!).

How did I miss this one? I’ve Got a Human in my Throat: Create MORE Optical Delusions with Adobe Photoshop was brought to my attention because it was produced by Worth1000.com, a place where you can find hundreds, nay - thousands of the greatest humorous and thought-provoking photoshop/digital pieces of artwork around. This time, through this book, you learn how to create humorous images and art through the use of these shake-your-head in disbelief images. Organized into three sections, basic through more advanced Photoshop tools and capabilities are introduced and source images are included on the accompanying CD so that you can follow along with each tutorial.

If you haven’t visited Worth1000.com, go now. It’s is a highly-popular, Photoshop-based graphic design web site that sponsors numerous Photoshop art contests, many of which feature humorous, spoof, and surreal images.

Since I’ve written an E-book on Photoshop, folks often ask me which book I thought was the best for my research. After browsing through tons (literally! These books are heavy!) of books about Photoshop CS2, I’ll have to admit that Photoshop CS2 Bible is the best. Some came in close in creativity and in bending the CS2 envelope; but, for pure learning ability and clarity, this book beats the band. You won’t need to take a class, spend time in seminars, or blow your cash on anything else but this book. You’ll keep it at your right hand from day one.

Color Drawing: Design Drawing Skills and Techniques for Architects, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers, third edition, has just been released. A revision of this best selling drawing book continues the tradition of offering a complete body of illustrated instruction that demonstrates the development of design ideas from initial concept through presentation drawing. Starting with simple, easy-to-grasp concepts the content builds to offer step-by-step execution of complex illustrations. Versatile enough to be used as a textbook in a course or as a self-teaching tool, this new edition presents new and more efficient ways of creating color drawings by integrating both hand drawings and computer techniques.

About the author: Michael E. Doyle (Boulder, CO) is Vice President and Senior Designer at CommArts in Boulder. He is also an architect and former instructor at University of Colorado.

This is the time of year when Amazon spreads glad tidings everywhere with their pre-order specials for books that are destined to debut within the next month - at almost 50% off. One book, Mastering Materials, Bindings, and Finishes: The Art of Creative Production (Design Field Guide), is geared toward the designer who loves to incorporate bells and whistles and special features into her designs to make them stand out. Often these special treatments are the element that makes the audience really connect with the design. The challenge is that these special embellishments are usually expensive and getting them right can be extremely difficult. But this book provides a complete reference to hundreds of special treatments, with information on how to approach them in reference to your design job, what to consider, the challenges, pitfalls, and the inside scoop from experienced designers who have both successfully and, not so successfully, implemented each of the effects featured.

The author, Catharine Fishel, specializes in working with and writing about designers and related industries. Her writing has appeared in many leading publications, including PRINT, Communication Arts, Graphis, ID, and many others. She is editor of the website LogoLounge.com, and is the author of many books about design, including Design Secrets: Packaging: 50 Real-Life Projects Uncovered (Design Secrets), Minimal Graphics: The Powerful New Look of Graphic Design, Redesigning Identity: Graphic Design Strategies for Success, and The Power of Paper in Graphic Design, among many other books.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor’s Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC: I picked this book up at a bookstore the other day because I was curious about the amount of copy within this book - in other words, I couldn’t just stand there and read it in the store. But, the copy didn’t detract from the images that were scattered throughout the book - just enough to support the text and to show how to follow photographer Martin Evening’s advice. There are 704 pages filled with content plus 30 pages of Photoshop Shortcuts on the free CD-ROM. And, while Adobe does justice to explaining DNG (Digital Negative) files and its Bridge, Evening goes further to make these tools part of the professional photographer’s personal arsenal. A must have for any digital photographer. The only problem is that I paid too much for my book - it’s cheaper at Amazon.

The authors in this book offer a history of the movement toward socially conscious design and showcase more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy, and sanitation. Edited by Architecture for Humanity, Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises is a compendium of innovative projects that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. Featured projects include some sponsored by Architecture for Humanity as well as many others undertaken independently, often against great odds. Proceeds from the sale of this book will support the work of Architecture for Humanity.

I don’t care what design business you’re in - you always need a business card, and this book provides the answers to your business card questions. Special techniques, such as die-cutting, embossing, foil stamping, and much more are included; cards printed on unique substrates and those that are simply downright unusual and memorable are a specialty. This volume contains no text aside from design credits, which allows for pages packed with business cards, highlighting front, back, special elements, and materials used. An unrivaled resource, The Best of Business Card Design 6 (The Best of Business Card Design) provides professional designers, corporate executives and in-house marketing departments with essential identity and branding insight for all types of clients.