Making A Mark's Top 10 Fine Art Books in January 2011

Danny Gregory's Illustrated Life
makes way for Alyona Nickelsen's
Colored Pencil painting Bible

This is the first of regular monthly updates in 2011 of Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books.

Each month I take a look at the top rated and best selling art books at the end of December and have updated and republished my website with the results.  Click the link to visit the site


This month I'm also announcing a new site for new art books.

How it works

A quick recap of how this listing works

the books listed are a personal interpretation of the listings found on a combination of amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and other sources where ratings and popularity can be identified

They are compiled by:

• focusing on fine art books only (ie excluding all books for children, commercial/graphic artists and photographers)
• reviewing the category lists at Amazon - and which books are included in the category
• ignoring all books which in my view are inappropriately categorised (and there can be quite a few of those)
• identifying the best selling book in the chosen categories
• identifying the top rated book in the chosen categories
• only listing a book once - in whichever category they rank highest
• reviewing the listings monthly and updating in each category as appropriate

While I take a lead from Amazon - while ignoring its somewhat crazy categorisation of books - I also look at what evidence I can glean from other sources.  Which means that this is not a replica of the top books list on Amazon. 

New for 2011

I've decided to split off the top new art books from those which are the bestsellers and the top rated - no matter when they were published.  That way I'll be able to give a bit more time and space to them.

You can find the new site here The Best NEW Art Books

I've also decided that I'm going to ignore the Kindleisation of books.

This is because it looks as if 2011 is going to be the year when every publishing house's past inventory of books will be reinvented and republished as a Kindle ebook - which means the lists could be full of old books all year!  Just as I don't highlight a book because it's gone into paperback I've decided that I'm not going to highlight in this listing simply because it has made the transfer to Kindle.

However a book which is new and is only published as an ebook will make it into the charts.

I also reserve the right to ignore a book one month if it stays in the charts month after month!  Just so we can look at what's it in the #2 slot.

I'm trying to focus more on Art History in 2011 - as I'm getting very bored with Banksy occupying the top rated book in the "artists and art history" category every month.   I don't think anybody is going to beat the number of reviews he got - so I'm now formally consigning him to history so far as this review is concerned.  He's certainly not in any need of an enhanced profile that's for sure!

January 2011:  Key Points

• There's a change in the top spots,  Danny Gregory has lost his top rated spot for An Illustrated Life and Alyona Nicklsen fans have made sure that Colored Pencil Painting Bible: Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultra-Realistic Effects by Alyona Nickelsen gets the top spot.  
• After the ban on Banksy hogging the top spots in Artists and Art History we have two completely new volumes - both classics of their type.
• Plus two old books - but in a new spot - in the art business section.