From the 1920s through the 1950s, two individuals, Joseph Urban and Norman Bel Geddes, did more, by far, to create the image of "America" and make it synonymous with modernity than any of their contemporaries. Urban and Bel Geddes were leading Broadway stage designers and directors who turned their prodigious talents to other projects, becoming mavericks first in industrial design and then in commercial design, fashion, architecture, and more. The two men gave shape to the most quintessential symbols of the modern American lifestyle, including movies, cars, department stores, and nightclubs, along with private homes, kitchens, stoves, fridges, magazines, and numerous household furnishings. Illustrated with more than 130 photographs of their influential designs, this book tells the engrossing story of Urban and Bel Geddes. Christopher Innes shows how these two men with a background in theater lent dramatic flair to everything they designed and how this theatricality gave the distinctive modernity they created such wide appeal. If the American lifestyle has been much imitated across the globe over the past fifty years, says Innes, it is due in large measure to the designs of Urban and Bel Geddes. Together they were responsible for creating what has been called the "Golden Age" of American culture.

There was a time-as recently as the 1980s-when storefronts, murals, banners, barn signs, billboards, and even street signs were all hand-lettered with brush and paint. But, like many skilled trades, the sign industry has been overrun by the techno-fueled promise of quicker and cheaper. The resulting proliferation of computer-designed, die-cut vinyl lettering and inkjet printers has ushered a creeping sameness into our visual landscape. Fortunately, there is a growing trend to seek out traditional sign painters and a renaissance in the trade. In 2010 filmmakers Faythe Levine, coauthor of Handmade Nation, and Sam Macon began documenting these dedicated practitioners, their time-honored methods, and their appreciation for quality and craftsmanship. Sign Painters, the first anecdotal history of the craft, features stories and photographs of more than two dozen sign painters working in cities throughout the United States.

Scott Kelby, Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine–and the best-selling photography book author in the world today–once again takes this book to a whole new level as he uncovers more of the latest, most important, and most useful Adobe Photoshop techniques for digital photographers.

In the current economy, prospective brides, party givers, and commercial businesspeople are looking for ways to create their own sophisticated floral arrangements rather than hire expensive third parties. Featuring a well-known designer's foolproof methods, this lush guidebook brings readers into the world of the professional with secrets, tips, and formulas for great design, including step-by-step instructions on everything from Classic English design to Exotic Tropical design. With more than 400 color photos detailing dozens of start-to-finish arrangements, the book provides a beautiful display of finished projects for readers to replicate. It also guides them through the basics of opening a flower shop or becoming a professional flower designer.

Learn the fine art and craft of digital lighting and rendering from an experienced pro whose lighting work you’ve seen in blockbuster films such as Monsters University, Toy Story 3, Up, WALL-E, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles. Jeremy Birn draws on his wealth of industry and teaching experience to provide a thoroughly updated edition of what has become the standard guide to digital lighting and rendering. Using beautiful, full-color examples; a friendly, clear teaching style; and a slew of case studies and tutorials, Jeremy demonstrates how to create strategic lighting for just about any project using any 3D application. By explaining not just how to use various lighting techniques but why, this guide provides the grounding graphics pros need to master Hollywood lighting techniques.

Updated for the latest version of Photoshop, Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks is packed cover to cover with step-by-step tutorials on the coolest Photoshop 7 effects. The book is not another rehash of masking, pixels, and file formats or resolution--it's nothing but the cool stuff that will make your client's (or boss's) jaw drop.

Scott Kelby is both funny and generous. His wry sense of humor doesn't get in the way of the hundreds of nifty techniques in this new collection of Down & Dirty Tricks. In fact, when you first flip quickly through the book, gobbling up all the creative ideas and timesaving tips, his sly jokes only add to the I've-just-hit-the-lottery feeling.

Adobe Photoshop is like having a darkroom right inside your computer. And now, with Photoshop Classroom in a Book, created by Adobe's own training experts, it's like having an expert tutor in your own book. Photoshop Classroom in a Book gives you a comprehensive set of Photoshop lessons to teach you everything you need to know to use this powerful image-editing software. And best of all, you can learn at your own pace.

Start with the basics of Photoshop, from navigating the interface to creating layers and selections to working with Photoshop tools, then move on to more complex Photoshop features, like masks, channels, retouching techniques, and special effects. In no time flat, you'll master these skills like a grade-A student, and you don't even have to bring an apple for the teacher.

Sensational sewing projects demand fabulous fabrics! Fiber artist Cheryl Rezendes shows you how to create an astonishing array of surface designs, simply and safely, using textile paints and printing ink. She covers a wide variety of techniques: stamping, ancient Japanese Shibori, silkscreen, soy wax and flour resist, image transfer, marbling, nature printing, foils and metal leaf, and more. Step-by-step photos illustrate every technique, and Rezendes shows you lots of innovative ways to combine and layer techniques for stunning results.

Get Rolling on Your Most Inventive Artwork Ever!
What lurks in the shadows of your imagination? This book takes you deep into the dusty corners and dark recesses where your most original ideas lie in wait, showing you how to lure them out into daylight, and shape them into fantastic yet believable concept art.

Re-experience the joy of childhood with these beloved illustrated classic stores for children young and old. This special ebook includes Heidi by Joanna Spyri, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

This collection, never before published in the United States, presents art from the early fifteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries. Selected with great care and impeccable taste by a highly respected artist and teacher, these drawings are the finest efforts of great masters of Western art, a rich and glowing collection that will be treasured by every art lover.

Making wooden boxes is one of the best ways to develop overall proficiency in woodworking. Boxes are relatively quick to build, require only a small amount of material, and can be made in the smallest of woodshops. And, of course, they make wonderful gifts!

Just when you think youve learned all that you could ever know about working in Photoshop, digital artist and photomontage king Steve Caplin comes along with yet another masterful method for creating incredible works of art in Photoshop. This time, he’ll show you how to create complete images, from start to finish, entirely within the software program. No source material, photographs, or existing files from other software packages are needed, saving you valuable time and resources. The techniques you’ll learn in this ground-breaking new book will help you combine your artistic vision and skills with an understanding of how to manipulate the built-in Photoshop filters to produce impressive, eye-catching artwork.

500 is an experiment in the old adage, practice makes perfect. 500 features a collection of sketches, by product designer Spencer Nugent, produced over a period of 1 Month.

Imagine beautiful mosaic pieces with tiles that you easily create yourself!
Mixed-Media Mosaics offers a fresh, new approach to a traditional art form. By making your own tiles from polymer clay, you control the size, shape, color and even the texture, resulting in beautiful finished pieces that include tabletops, boxes, jewelry and shrines.

Play dress-up with your art!
Collage has never been so fashionable! In Collage Couture you'll learn how to sketch fashion figures, create stylish dresses from patterned paper and apply a variety of textured backgrounds to your collage pieces. With styles ranging from cute to elegant and sweet to sophisticated, these mixed-media projects will transport your art from the studio to the runway!

More than simply coloring regions of a tangle design, this book offers lessons which enable even the novice artist to use a brush pen to color 48 delightful Zentangle animals, plants and flowers.

Recycle, Reuse, Reinvent!
With Mixed Media Revolution, you'll learn how to leverage your art and take your paintings and transfers to the next level!

A comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of lighting design
Designing With Light: The Art, Science, and Practice of Architectural Lighting Design is a comprehensive introduction to the intelligent use of lighting to define and enhance a space. The book explores all aspects of the process, including aesthetics, technology, and practicalities, in a clear, concise manner designed to provide the reader with a full working knowledge of lighting design. Color illustrations throughout demonstrate the real-world effects of the concepts presented, and the companion website offers video animations and exercises to better illuminate the art and science of lighting. The book addresses the considerations that should be a part of any designer's process, and provides thorough guidance on meeting the various demands with smarter design.

This richly illustrated examination of visual arts in the European tradition shows how the great masters employed the "golden mean" and other geometrical patterns to compose their paintings. Author Charles Bouleau explores a tremendous variety of ancient and modern works: the Parthenon friezes, Italian mosaics, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Gothic stonemasons' marks of France and Germany as well as paintings by Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee, and Pollock. His insightful expositions cast new light on such well-known works as Raphael's "The School of Athens," Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," Rubens' "Descent from the Cross," and Renoir's "Le Moulin de la Galette."

A complete guide to site grading for designers and other visual learners Grading With Design in Mind: Landscape Site Grading Principles is a comprehensive guide to grading, written specifically from the design perspective. Heavily illustrated and non-technical, this book meets the needs of designers and visual learners by presenting the principles and methods of site grading with less emphasis on engineering, and a strong focus on the effect on the overall aesthetic. Written by a professor in America's number-one ranked undergraduate landscape architecture program, the book guides readers step-by-step through the process of solving various grading problems in real-life scenarios.

In this introduction to the basics of watercolor painting, beginners will learn all they need to know. Lessons and practical exercises highlight the instruction. This is a wonderful reference book for the watercolor painter. It contains all kinds of useful information to help you understand the medium and improve your knowledge and skills. The first 40 pages provide a great history of watercolor painting, so often overlooked in the overall scheme of art history. Then all the aspects of setting up a work area and studio are covered followed by a very thorough materials and tools section. There are example pictures and descriptions of everything from easels to paper and brushes to paint. There is also a paper stretching demo and a watercolor color chart.

This big book provides complete working shop drawings for 57 classic furniture pieces. The author, a master cabinetmaker, measured original Craftsman antiques to create these detailed plans. With full perspective views, elevations, sections, details, and cutting lists for each project, this revised collection gives today's woodworkers the heart of the Craftsman aesthetic, along with all the information needed for workshop success.

This book breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that’s never been done before—it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it doesn’t challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done—it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why.

Praise for Learning in 3D
"Learning is the key to our future and powerful learning will result from immersive, interactive, and creative 3D designs. Tony O'Driscoll and Karl Kapp have written a disruptive book about a disruptive technology that we all need to explore. This is a must read!" —Elliott Masie, chair, The LearningCONSORTIUM