'Making A Mark' passes 6 million pageviews - and resource move begins

On Saturday, Making A Mark notched up 6 million pageviews, since Blogger started counting in 2008.

What's even more amazing to me is that the last million pageviews have been achieved in just over seven months.

six million pageviews - spotted in the middle of Saturday afternoon
the redline marks the Blogger statistics

I little realised with I started this blog at the end of 2005, prior to going public in January 2006, that it would generate quite so much traffic!

My art and artists resources websites are on the move

Saturday was special in another way. At 1pm the editing function on Squidoo was switched off for the last time as the site begins to close down and those sites which have not been deleted begin their transfer to HubPages.

This is the URL of my account and subdomain http://makingamark.hubpages.com if you want ONE bookmark for access to all my art sites in future.

I now have to wait for my sites to start moving over - and this move may well start at some point this week as my account should be part of the early transfers.  However that assumes they iron out all the niggles and bugs associated with the transfer quickly.  It may well be that they won't start transferring until next week.

A redirect will be put in place so if you have of them bookmarked then you'll find you are automatically taken to the new site - on my Hub Pages subdomain (see above for the URL).  I'm not too clear how long this redirect works for so probably best to change the bookmark on your first visit.

This week

This week I am focusing on getting three drawings finished for Florum - a botanical art exhibition by leading botanical artists in Kent next month.

For that reason I'm going to be posting quickie posts this week which will feature collections of some of the resource websites which are moving.

Mainly because I think many of the new readers won't be aware of them! :)

Making A Mark on Art - and the end of Squidoo

Over the last seven years I've created some 160 websites about art (Making A Mark on Art) and artists (About Artists) on Squidoo. Yesterday I had news that Squidoo is closing down. Seth Godin has arranged for my featured sites to be merged with HubPages and the current links to them will become redirects after October.

I don't know if I'm surprised or not - I've been predicting the demise of Squidoo for some considerable time and if anything I'm only surprised it's survived for so long.

I now need to decide how and where I host my content in the future.

That's going to take a bit of time which means I think I need to take a break from blogging to make sure I've got all my content backed up and accessible if I need to move it to a new site within my control.  As you can imagine the notion of putting it on another website where somebody else determines what happens to it has little appeal right now!

I had already started planning what I'd do next. However that planning extended to one topic and I've now got lots to sort in an extremely short space of time.  However the good news is that at least I'm not on holiday unlike some poor souls who will come back to find their options very limited indeed!

My presence on Squidoo started off because I wanted a place to organise and host my bookmarks after a computer crashed and took them all with it!

My main reason for hosting on Squidoo was that it was free and it was very easy to add in new information to modules within my compendiums as time passed.  It was also an excellent way of grouping and clustering different sites on a topic and generally there were lots of good things about it. I often said I wished I could have the software for delivering the site - and use it on my own websites.

I now need to find a new way of delivering my content and this time I'm looking more closely at options for economical and easy ways of doing this on my own sites. Some may well migrate to HubPages but I think it's more than likely that some content will find another space to inhabit.

Any suggestions for good ways of hosting INFORMATION websites which are heavy on content are welcome.  These are ones which have

• content structured in an orderly way - all on one page
• plus links to lots of information and advice on other websites.

In the meantime here are links to some of the most popular of my websites - soon to be reinvented in another guise!

1. The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching

Do you want to learn how to draw? Want to find out which are the best books about drawing and sketching? This is a big site designed to help those who want to * LEARN TO DRAW * DEVELOP YOUR DRAWING SKILLS and learn about drawing at an advanced level

2. The Best Watercolour Paint for Artists

Do you want to know about: * which is the best brand of professional grade watercolour paints for artists? * the colour range and characteristics of different brand of artist-quality watercolour paint? Or maybe you want to know what other artists think about different brands of paint

3. Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists

Find out about coloured pencils and coloured pencil art and artists. This leading resource has information on every aspect of coloured pencils for everybody - from experienced artists to improvers and beginners wanting to learn all they can about how to work with coloured pencils.

4. How to pack, post and ship art - Resources for Artists [transferred to How to pack, post and ship art]

How do you pack art? How do you post art? How should you send a painting by post? How do you get artwork to an exhibition - and back again? What are the best packing materials? What are the best methods for different types of art? How do you ship art internationally? How should you pack a painting?

5. Pastels - Resources for Artists

For both new and experienced pastel artists - useful information and advice about: artist grade pastel brands | which are the best pastels | how to use pastels - including tips and techniques | pastel artists | pastels in art history

6. Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums in the World

Find out which are the top ten art galleries and museums in the world - based on visitor numbers in 2013 - and how to visit them in person or virtual reality. Find out the answers to: * Which is the top museum in the world - and year after year? * Which is top art gallery in the USA? *

7. How to write an Artist's Statement - Resources for Artists [transferred to the NEW How to write an Artist's Statement]

An Artist's Statement is essential - but lots of artists dread writing a statement about their art! DO YOU NEED HELP? Do you need a statement for an art competition, an exhibition catalogue, a grant proposal or a website - but not know how to express your art in words?

8. The Best Watercolour Painting Instruction Books

Do you need an instruction book about how to paint in watercolour? Do you want to develop your skills in painting with watercolour? Do you want to find out more about watercolour art and artists who use watercolour?

9. How to sign a painting, drawing or fine art print

What's the best way for an artist to sign a painting? Should you date as well as sign a painting? How should you sign a fine art print? How can you identify the genuine signature of an artist? Where can I see artists signatures?

10. Composition and Design for Artists

Do you want to know more about "the rules" of Composition? Or an explanation of the Principles and Elements of Composition and Design? Have you ever tried to make your artwork more pleasing to the eye? Or wanted to know what makes some paintings draw you in?

11. Online Art Galleries and Stores for Artists

Online galleries offer to help you sell your ORIGINAL ART - but do they actually work? Which is the best and which gets the most traffic? This site provides you with lots of information. So - if you're trying to find out more about online art galleries - this is the site for you!

12. How to Price Your Art - Resources for Artists [transferred to the NEW How to Price your Art]

Check out different approaches to "how to price art". Identify costs that need to be recovered, review different pricing models and factors that influence the setting of prices Many artists ask the question "How should I price my art?" - especially emerging artists getting to grips with the art business

13. How to write an Artist's Resume or CV [transferred to the NEW How to write an Artist's Resume or CV]

How do you summarise your life as an artist in a CV or resume for galleries, exhibitions and potential employment? Do you understand the difference between an artist's CV, artist resume and a bio - and how to write them?

14. The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books [transferring to the NEW The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books]

Learn about botanical art and botanical illustration from the best botanical art instruction books, covering every aspect you need to know about. Read reviews about which are the best botanical art instruction books

15. The Best Art Books - Colour

Read the best books for artists and painters about understanding colour, mixing colours and using colour in paintings. * Find out which are the leading art books about colour. * Read associated art book reviews.

16. The Best Art Books - Composition and Design

Find out which are the best art books about composition and design for art students, leisure painters, improving and advanced artists and art teachers. This site is for those who to learn more about: * composition and design in art * how to draw the eye and lead it around your painting.

17. Print Art on Demand - Resources for Artists

Check out the suppliers of print on demand ( POD ) services for Art Prints / Art Books & Catalogues. Review what artists think of them & traffic to their sites. Find out about: - what is print on demand / publish on demand? - suppliers of print on demand services for art - and reviews

18. The Best Books about Oil Painting

Do you need an instruction book about how to paint in oils? Want to develop your skills in painting with oils? Are you interested in knowing more about oil painting and oil painters? Find out about art instruction books and books about artists painting in oils

19. Art Supplies Around The World - Resources for Artists

Where are the best art shops? If you're an artist and want art supplies while travelling - where should you go? If you want to know the answers to those questions, bookmark this site as I've started an inventory of links to websites and address and contact details for art suppliers recommended by me

20. The Art Business for Artists [see the NEW website Art Business Info. for Artists]

Do you want to know more about the business side of being an artist? Or maybe you're looking for a particular piece of business information for artists? Whether you are an emerging or experienced artist, this site provides you with a link to information and advice about professional development

How to write an artist's CV

How to write an Artist's Resume or CV

If you want to know how to write an artist's CV or resume - for an art exhibition, an art gallery, employment or a grant application I recommend you visit the website I've compiled - How to write an Artist's Resume or CV.  This provides advice and contains links to information about what you should and should not include and what sort of records you should keep so as to keep your CV updated.

This is what it covers:

• How to summarise your Life as an Artist - the cv, the resume and the biography - this looks at the differences between the three different ways of summarising your artistic life.

THE CURRICULUM VITAE - FOR ARTISTS - the CV is a record of all of your professional activities and is intended for use in academic situations.

• What is a CV?
• How to construct a CV for an Artist or Art Professional
• Formatting a CV
• The Covering Letter
• More tips about producing a CV
• Sample Resumes and CVs
• Famous artists - the facts

THE RESUME - FOR ARTISTS - The Artist Resume is typically 1-4 pages long and is a summary typically used for approaches to commercial galleries, the search for exhibition opportunities, and certain grant applications.

• Ask Harriete on How to Write a Resume & Looking for a Job
• Art Biz Blog on How to write a Resume
• What Galleries and Art Dealers expect from an Artist Résumé

THE BIOGRAPHY - FOR ARTISTS - usually relates to the wider context of your life in general

It also provides links to my other business websites for artists in Business Perspectives for the business-like Artist

Links: How to write an Artist's Résumé or CV

2014 - the year of very many books about Urban Sketching?

Each year, I update a website about what seem to be the best of the new books published about drawing and sketching during the course of the year - see 20 NEW Books about Drawing in 2014.

It would appear that the continuing success of The Art of Urban Sketching has generated very many different takes on this topic. My current listing - which will develop as the year progresses - includes a number of new books on this topic.

Sketch Your World: Essential Techniques for Drawing on Location - I've not only got this book by my good friend and fellow urban sketcher James Hobbs, I've got a profile in it!

Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques - by Thomas Thorspecken - you can read Thomas's blog in Analog Artist Digital World. I'm going to be doing a more detailed review of this book once mine has been handed over to the designer!

Hello, New York: An Illustrated Love Letter to the Five Boroughs by Julia Rothman - I like the idea behind this book, one woman recording the city where she lives. This woman is an illustrator and does not blog and doesn't seem to publish her sketches, although I could be wrong about this

Citysketch New York: Over 100 Creative Prompts for Sketching the Big Apple - by Melissa Wood who is an illustrator and architectural planner. I'm less impressed with this book, it seems to be targeted at those who also like to doodle (which is the other big theme of 2014 and one which I'm ignoring!).

Urban Watercolor Sketching: A Guide to Drawing, Painting, and Storytelling in Color - by Felix Scheinberger. You can see his sketches on his website. This one I'm looking forward to seeing and reviewing as the man actually has a major track record of travelling and sketching.

CitySketch London: Over 100 Creative Prompts for Sketching the City on the Thames by Melissa Wood - I've only included this one as I'm totally intrigued as to what possesses any publisher to commission an American to do a book about sketching London.  Speaking, as I do, as a founder member of the Urban Sketchers London group!

The Art of City Sketching: A Field Manual by Michael Abrams. This chap is the co-ordinator of the Interior Architecture Program at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. This seems to have an aim to become some sort of set text for students in higher education. Looks very techie - just at the point where the theme of urban sketching seems to be becoming more about how to enjoy drawing buildings more in a less techie way!

So - did I miss any?  Are there any more out there?

[P.S. I am aware of the Chinese book which is copying the "The Art of Urban Sketching" title. I've been invited and am ignoring this - it's just plain disrespectful in my view. This is Gabi Campanario's blog post about the book which is trying to copy his book - see Dopress book not my project]

A Compendium of Composition and Design

While I'm writing the book, I'm going to highlight some popular blog posts from the past.

This post is about the posts associated with a major project on composition and design at the beginning of 2008.  It's particularly useful for those who like their art to be drawing or painting.

• Composition and Design - An Introduction 14 Jan 2008
• Composition - The Elements of Design 15 Jan 2008 - An overview of the Elements of Design which are Value, Colour, Shape, Form, Space, Line and Texture
• Composition - Principles of Design 16 Jan 2008 - This post focuses on balance, emphasis. harmony, movement, pattern, proportion, rhythm, unity and variety
• Composition and Design - A Digest #1 21 Jan 2008 - This post lists and provides a synopsis of books about composition or books which have helpful sections about composition.
• Composition and Design - finding and creating a focal point 24 Jan 2008 - This post is about how to create a focal point in a picture. It provides a synopsis of various approaches used by artists to find and create a focal point.
• Composition - the four most important lines 28 Jan 2008 - There are various views about how to crop a subject and a lot that can and has been said on this topic. 

How the "Rule of Thirds" approximates to "The Golden Mean"
My diagram which compares "the golden mean" and "the rule of thirds"
plus identification of the 'sweet spot' area and how this can be used for the focal point
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Composition - thinking in threes 29 Jan 2008 - The 'rule of thirds' is an approximation of the 'golden ratio'. This post provides a diagram comparison - using algebra and numbers of
  "the golden mean" and "the rule of thirds" plus identification of the 'sweet spot' area and how this can be used for the focal point
• Composition - using PS Elements to help with design This post is about using tools in Adobe Photoshop or PS Elements to help with your composition.
• Composition - why tonal values and contrast are important 06 Feb 2008 - Time and time again when entering a gallery, the painting which stands out from the crowd is the one which has a strong design and value pattern.
• Composition: a range of perspectives 29 Feb 2008
• The influence of Japanese Art 03 Mar 2008
• Principles of design and composition and ukiyo-e 12 Mar 2008

As a result of the project I created a website which is now called Composition and Design for Artists [being moved to a new website about Tips for Artists - I'll let you know when it's been republished]

You can also consult The Best Art Books - Composition and Design which was developed subsequently. [ditto - on the move]

I've also included subsequent posts reviewing books about composition and design.

• Greg Albert - The Simple Secret to Better Painting 17 Jan 2008 The book I always recommend to people who want to learn more about composition and design is Greg Albert's "The simple secret to better painting"
• Mastering Composition - a recommended read  01 May 2008

Makingamark's Top Five Art Books in 2011

The five best selling art books of 2011 - by some distance - are listed below.

I've identified these by going back over the listings I do for Makingamark's Top Ten Fine Art Books - which are revised each month. (The post about the Top Ten Art Books in December follows on Monday)

Note that these books were best sellers in both the USA and UK.  Their relative position has varied over the course of the year hence I'm not attributing relative places per se and have listed them below alphabetically by title.

Click the titles to see more.

Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by: James Gurney (Gurney Journey)

• USA: 388 days in the top 100 arts books #1 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting
• UK: n/a days in the top 100 art books (currently ranked #20 for painting after 14 months but it has been a lot higher)
• Amazon USA reviews: 5.0 out of 5 stars (67 customer reviews) | Like (157)
• Amazon UK reviews: 4.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews) | Like (21)

Ranked #1 BEST SELLER in the Top 100 Painting Books - BEFORE it was published in November 2010 on the strength of pre-publication sales - it has now pretty much stayed at or very near the top ever since.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Read my Book Review: Color and Light by James Gurney.

This book was both the most popular book about painting and the top rated book about painting in 2011 for a few months.  It remained at the top of one or the other (as per my definitions of what's an art book!) for the whole of 2011.

It's very rare for an art book to maintain an average rating of 5 stars on Amazon as the numbers of reviews increase and yet that's what this book did in 2011.

It also got the The Best Book by an Art Blogger Blue Ribbon from me.

One of the things I really like about this book is that it was conceived, written and designed by an artist who drove the production process.  It's not a publisher's book per se - it's an artist's book.  As such it is full of first-rate content and had been marketed well in advance of its publication through the very good use of content appearing on Gurney Journey

Art book publishers please note!  I'm very sure there will be more from other artists.  Maybe it's time to review the nature of the publishing contract between artist and publisher?

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition] by Julia Cameron 

An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist's life.Publisher

• USA: 1950 days in the top 100 arts books 
• UK: 1736 days in the top 100 art books
• Amazon USA reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars (217 customer reviews) | Like(40)
• Amazon UK reviews: 3.9 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews) | Like(0) + 
  4.3 out of 5 stars (48 customer reviews) Like(13) for the earlier edition

1950 days = nearly five and a half years in the top 100 arts books sold on Amazon - that's some achievement! Let's not forget that this book is also the second edition and there was another one before this!

I guess quite a few of my readers have got this book on their shelves somewhere.

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by: Edmund de Waal

• USA: 188 days in the top 100 arts books and #1 in Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Ceramics
• UK: 383 days in the top 100 art books and #1 in Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Sculpture at year end
• Amazon USA reviews: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (71 reviews) | Like (36)
• Amazon UK reviews: 4.1 out of 5 stars (170 reviews) | 1 customer discussion

This book is not easily categorised as demonstrated by its rankings on Amazon.  I decided to keep it within art history although not a conventional art history book.  In September 2010, Amazon rated it as the Amazon Best Book of the Month - which may just have given it a little boost! ;)  It was the best selling art history book between September and December 2010 and March-October 2011.  It was top rated in November 2011.  It's also doing exceptionally well as an ebook (separately listed).

It's also won

• 2011 Ondaatje Prize, winner.
• 2011 JQ Wingate Prize, shortlist.
• 2011 ALA Notable Book.
• 2010 Costa Book Awards, winner (Biography).
• 2010 Galaxy National Book Award, New Writer of the Year
• 2010 Amazon.com, Best of the Month, September
• 2010 The Economist, Books of the Year list

Do also take a look at the Edmund de Waal Netsuke Gallery to see the real thing and the rest of the collection.

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by: Betty Edwards

• USA: 1764 days in the top 100 arts books
• UK: 1632 days in the top 100 art books
• Amazon USA reviews: 4.4 out of 5 stars (241)
• Amazon UK reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars (53)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - see my book review.  A 4TH EDITION is to be published in April 2012

Sometimes I think this book has been around forever and that it will go on forever.  It is republished with a new edition every few years and the big news is that a fourth edition is due out in April.  This book has been consistently in the top three books about drawing on Amazon.  It's also been the best selling book about drawing for a very long time.  The only time it drops out of the charts is when Amazon is messing with its formula.

Latterly one gets the impression people are awaiting eagerly for the 4th edition - at which point it often gets rebought all over again!

Wall and Piece by: Banksy

• USA: (n/a) days in the top 100 arts books - Was consistently in the top 100 in the USA until the advent of music books and calendars at the end of 2011 made the top 100 for art completely meaningless! 
• UK: 1828 days in the top 100 art books 
• Amazon USA reviews: 4.8 out of 5 stars (102 customer reviews) | Like (105) 
• Amazon UK reviews: 4.6 out of 5 stars (88 customer reviews) | Like (18) 

Another very successful book by an artist who doesn't conform to "the rules". It has been both a best selling and/or top rated art book for a VERY VERY long time. I had to retire it from the charts before 2011 due to the way it swamped everything else about artists. This was the TOP RATED ARTIST/ART HISTORY BOOK JULY-DECEMBER 2011.

Which is your favourite?

I own four of these books and I'm guessing quite a few of you have got at least one.

But which is your favourite or the one you'd most like to have?

Making A Mark on Art

Today I published a new website which provides you with one bookmark to over 75 websites that I've created in the last five years as "Resources for Artists".  

[August 2016: This post is now out of date as material is being moved to new sites. 

• New links have been inserted
• Links to material which is offline have been removed]

These websites started life as

• my bookmarks of interesting websites for topics I was or continue to be interested in and/or
• developments from projects which started here on Making A Mark and/or
• topics stimulated by reader comments on this about practical art-related issues 

You can access Making A Mark on Art any time by

• clicking the big M pic in the side column (like the one on the right) - under the heading Resources for Artists - One Bookmark.  (Those who follow me on Twitter will recognise the letter M as my favicon for this blog and my Tweet account)
• Or you can bookmark the URL http://www.squidoo.com/makingamark-art somewhere handy - such as your blog!

This is the Table of Contents from Making A Mark on Art


*** ART BASICS *** - will reappear on a new site. Sites which will transfer are listed below

• Drawing and Sketching - see 
• The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching
• How to draw perspective
• Travels with a Sketchbook 
• Painting - see 
• The Best Books about Painting 
• The Best Books about Oil Painting
• The Best Watercolour Painting Instruction Books
• Composition - see The Best Art Books - Composition and Design
• Colour - see 
• The Best Art Books - Colour
• The Best Artist Guides for Mixing Colours
• Working in Series

*** ART MEDIA & ART SUPPLIES *** - will reappear on a new site  Sites which will transfer are listed below

• Pastels and Pencils - The Best Books about Pastel Artists
• Other Art Media 
• All About Art Supplies and Equipment 

*** SUBJECT MATTER AND GENRE ***

• All About Portraiture 
• All About Landscape Art - see 
• The History of Landscape Painting
• Marine Art - Resources for Artists
• All About Botanical Art - see 
• TRANSFERRED - see Botanical Art and Artists
• The Best Books about Botanical Artists & Illustrators
• The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books
• All about Still Life Art 
• All about Animal and Wildlife Art - see How to draw and paint animals and birds

*** THE ART BUSINESS *** 

• - TRANSFERRED see all the topics below on Art Business Info for Artists 
• The Art Business
• Copyright, Intellectual Property & Orphan Works
• How to tell people about you and your art
• How to be professional when presenting your art to clients
• How to Sell Art Online - see Email Newsletter Software - A Guide
• The Artist's Estate

*** THE ART COMMUNITY ***

• Art Societies, Competitions & Exhibitions - see 
• Watercolour Societies - Resources for Artists and 
• Pastel Societies - Resources for Artists
• Online Art Communities - see 
• Art Forums - Resources for Artists

*** LEARNING ABOUT ART & ART EDUCATION ***

• Art Books
• How to review art
• Art Education - see 
• Art Schools in the UK - Resources for Artists
• Art Education - Resources for Artists
• Painting Holidays and Art Colonies

Included amongst the websites are a couple of other compendium sites which some people may find useful and also want to bookmark.

• The Art Booklist - links to all my websites about art books.  This one is particularly helpful for all those who'd like to add some art books to their Christmas wish lists! ;)
• How to Make a Mark - links to all my "how to" websites

Why not take a look - you may spot a resource you've not seen before!

You may also have written an article or post which could be a useful addition to one of the websites.  Do leave a comment and URL on the relevant site if you have a suggestion.

I'm also open to suggestions as to what the next project should be re developing a new site. I've got more than a few on a list - but which one I do first is very often dictated by discussions with others on the Internet

So do tell me what you think!


PS  Has anybody else got problems with the Feedburner widget count of blog subscriptions on their blog?  It's reset itself to zero on all my blogs and the feedburner dashboard.  I've picked up some references to it happening to other people too but wondered how widespread this glitch is.

New Books about Drawing and Sketching in 2011 (and 2012)

Every month when I update The Best New Art Books for the latest new art books, I really hate losing the last month's references to excellent new books.

So I've started a new resource which will certainly help me with my shopaholic habit relating to new books about drawing.

I'm pleased to present to you my new "resources for artists" squidoo site - 2011: New Books about Drawing.  This lists all:

• the new books about drawing and sketching published in 2011 - in hardback, paperback and ebook editions. 
• listed on a month by month basis. 
• Each book highlights the type of format, nature of the book and the reception and reviews it has had to date.

The site focuses on fine art and art instruction books about drawing and sketching for adults.
It INCLUDES:

• books designed specifically for pencils artists 
• books for those keeping sketchbooks and illustrated journals.
• academic books about drawing and catalogues of exhibitions about drawings

It EXCLUDES:

• any reference to specialist books about cartooning, manga and drawing books for children.

New books about Drawing in 2012

I've also published 2012: New Books About Drawing.  Mainly because when I started to look forward I realised there were three very important books about drawing being published next year - all of which I am happy to recommend sight unseen!  Click the link to check out what these are.

It will work on the same principles as the 2011 site - but will update more slowly initially.

Both of these will be bookmarked within my ever popular site about The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching

NEXT WEEK:  I've got some special posts about The Big Draw for the Drawing Month of October.  Which includes an invite for YOU!

In the meantime I'm still trying to finish the updates for:

• The Best NEW Art Books
• Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books

I'll signal here and on twitter when I've done the updates.

I'm late posting - partly because of my brief respite to take advantage of the Indian Summer and partly my freezer failed recently and I've been spending DAYS trying to find a new fridge freezer which will fit in a very precise space and still allow me to open adjacent doors as well as the doors on the fridge freezer!  Do you think manufacturers realise that fitted kitchens last for rather longer than some appliances?

Makingamark's Top Ten Art Books in July 2011

After a two month gap, I've updated my two Squidoo sites for the best art books in June/July 2011.

• Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books lists both the best selling and the top rated art books in April.  The website explains how these are identified.
• The Best NEW Art Books lists all the fine art books in the top 100 books in the Amazon Arts and Photography category that were published in June or July(or the very beginning of August for pre-publication sales)

On both sites, I've added in the rankings and number of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads to give you another another couple of benchmarks.

What's new this month

The top ten fine art books

The major change is the introduction of a new category and the elimination of the overlap with The Best New Art Books
 
There is now a category devoted to Creativity and Artistic Practice - which is intended to focus on the process of making art.  I fear it may continue to be dominated forever by the two books which are included as the best seller and the top rated!  However it seemed a nonsense to have a site about top art books which ignored two perennial best sellers - as in they continue to sell well.

• The Artist's Way
• Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

I've moved the top ranked best seller and top rated to the The Best New Books.  This month these are

• Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures by: Cathy Johnson 
• Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by: Anthony M. Amore, Tom Mashberg - this book gets it for the sheer quantity of reviews it has generated to date.  Reviews are of course highly influential as to placements and sales on Amazon.

The best new books

Given the lengthy break due to being away and not being able to do the charts at the end of the month, I've tried to go back 90 days rather than 30 days and look at all those books published in May, June and July.  I've also listed all those that seemed worth noting in The Best New Art Books

Two new (ie one new and one and "not so new") drawing books have made a big recent impression on the charts.  These are:

• Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures - This book seemed to me the new art books which was the top best seller among new books last month.  It includes a lot of contributions by art bloggers who will be familiar to readers of this blog.  I've got mine on order and am looking forward to reviewing it.
• In addition Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis makes a welcome return to proper print.  It's been available off and on online, but this is a formal reprint of an old standard - and it's attracting a lot of buyer.

There have been lots of recent publications about artists. I predict that the book which will become a best seller is My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz: Volume One, 1915-1933.

What's stayed the same this month

On the whole, in terms of Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books, this seems to be a month where there's been a bit more jockeying for position by books which consistently sell well and get good ratings. 

However we have reached the summer season and the lull before the big pre-Christmas push!

The Best Art Books in April 2011

I've updated my two Squidoo sites for the best art books in April 2011.

• Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books lists both the best selling and the top rated art books in April
• The Best NEW Art Books lists all the fine art books in the top 100 books in the Amazon Arts and Photography category that were published in April (or the very beginning of May re pre-publication sales).  

I've started to add in the rankings but this is a bit sporadic so far but it does indicate the relative popularity of different books.

For the very first time I've excluded a book which is in the top 100.  I just can't face including it.  If you threaten to tickle me I'll tell you why - but I give hints below.

a book produced to mark 100 years of the California Art Club

The Best Art Books in March

I've updated my two Squidoo sites for the best art books in March

• Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books now lists both the best selling and the top rated art books in March
• The Best NEW Art Books lists all the fine art books in the top 100 books in the Amazon Arts and Photography category in March.  (You'd be surprised how many of these are nothing to do with art!)

As many of you know the reason why I produce these is because Amazon is so utterly awful at categorising art books!   Or maybe it's the people who do the listings?  Whatever the reason it's difficult to wade through the irrelevant books to get to the ones relevant to art (excluding books for kids, comics and commercial artists).

Main changes this month

Makingamark's Top Ten Art Books in February 2011

I've reviewed the best books relating to Fine Art in Februaty 2011 and revised and updated my information site Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books

I've also identified the best new books published last month - and these are being listed in my new website The Best New Art Books (update to be published later today)

Major changes in book listings in February 2011

The major change I've noticed is the vast increase in the number of Kindle books online.  I mean VAST!

If the categories were confusing before - hence why I started my monthly exercise to identify the best books - the situation is getting ever more complicated.  The net effect is that this is going to have a significant knock-on effect for the book market and the financial health of book publishers.  I explain why below

Plus Amazon really needs to sort out how it categorises books!  At the moment Amazon mixes the different books into hardbacks, paperbacks and Kindle books - and then mixes them all up again.  That in principle is fine.  It's the basic grotty categorisation of books which is causing the problem.  The art categories are now completely cluttered with every new Kindle book which confuses "arts" for "art" or might have "art" as a keyword somewhere in its description even if it's a novel.

Can you tell the filter exercise was a tad tiresome this month?

The net effects of all of this are as follows:

• Kindle books - offered at much cheaper price - are swamping the best selling lists.  Since many of these books were published some time agoit's no longer a reflection of what is good and NEW
• people are going to need curated lists more and more if they're not going to miss gems lost in the silt of the Kindle outpourings

As a result I've decided to  EXCLUDE the Kindle editions having seen how the differential pricing can have a huge impact on results - otherwise the listing will be kindle dominated and “proper books” will come nowhere.

I'm in the process of creating a second Kindle list - which will also try and incorporate what's going on with Apple's ibooks.  Tricky - and not resolved as yet.

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:

Best Art Books about Drawing and Sketching just had a revamp!

I've just reviewed and revised the way the information on The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching is organised so that there is now a more logical grouping

One of the problems with my information sites is that sometimes as the content keeps increasing the site structure and layout becomes increasingly odd - so every now and again I give them a good sort out.  I'd call it a spring clean - but it's the end of July!  

I've now got four major sections (see below for a summary) and have also developed a more coherent order within each of these.

Click the links (coloured text) to visit that part of the website.


THE BEST ART BOOKS FOR DEVELOPING YOUR DRAWING SKILLS

This section now works in the basis of

• Identifying what are good/recommended books for people who are beginners and want to learn how to draw from a very basic level
• The logical next step- people begin to explore which media are particuly suitable for drawing and what the the media allows them to do in terms of techniques (this is a developing section)
• The final section focuses on what I call "advanced drawing" for people who are really wanting to give their drawing skills a workout - and who are willing to open up to different ways of approaching the practice of drawing

THE BEST ART BOOKS ABOUT HOW TO DRAW...... 

This now covers these popular "how to draw" topics.  I'm afraid I'm very rude about a number of "how to draw books" and some of the ones you may be more familiar with don't make the list.  However this my choice and I don't need to include any of the dumbed down books which get pushed by some of the publishers onto booksellers

• How to draw people
• How to do perspective drawing
• How to draw plants and flowers
• How to draw nature
• How to draw animals and birds
• How to make drawing creative and experimental  
• How to illustrate Children's Books

Do please tell me about books which you have found very good for "how to draw" any of the above topics or maybe one which is not listed

THE BEST ART BOOKS ABOUT SKETCHING & VISUAL JOURNALS
This section looks at different approaches to keeping a sketchbook or visual journal.

THE BEST ART BOOKS ABOUT DRAWING THROUGH THE AGES

This section is now ordered from the past all the way through to contemporary drawing practice 

Feedback please

Do let me know what you think.  I'd love to know whether this makes the content of this website more accessible.

Also please continue to let me know of any books which you'd like to recommend.  If you've got a book review of a book about drawing please leave a link in your comment.

Note:   I started this site in 2007 as a place to keep links to all the book reviews arising out of the The Big Drawing Book Review on my blog. Read about The Big Drawing Book Review.  This was started in support of the Big Draw month (October 2007) which is co-ordinated by the Drawing Campaign.  Book reviews were posted on my blog Making A Mark and on the blogs of those people participating in the review. This site provides links to book reviews of books about drawing and/or sketchbooks by people participating in the project and links to those same books on Amazon. Since then it has continued to develop by identifying the best books about drawing

Keep Calm and Carry On - the best motivational poster ever?

Yesterday, after the UK Election I started to get interested in hung parliaments and what the options are for government.

Inevitably, I started to log all my bookmarks on a squidoo lens (IMO they're a really great way of organising my bookmarks - and then sharing them) - and came up with Hung Parliament - what happens next? - which those of you in the UK might be interested in.

I know I was really surprised it's NOT the awful disaster some of the newspapers would have us believe.

Anyway, I then needed an image for the lens and decided that the Keep Calm and Carry On poster would be just right.

Which then meant I got interested in the whole history of the poster, its impact as a motivational poster and how it then developed as an internet meme and generated a lot of parodies (eg Keep Calm and have a Cup Cake !)

Before I knew it I'd got a second site - all about The Best of Keep Calm and Carry On

This is what happens when your car battery manages to drain itself yet again - which is why I wasn't shopping this afternoon!

However the moral of the story having researched its origins and development as an Internet Meme is never underestimate the potential of graphic art to make people feel better!

I'd love to know what's your favourite parody of this now very famous poster - see POLL: 10 Parodies of Keep Calm and Carry On - what's your favourite?

The top ten art galleries and museums

A little while ago I read on Bloomberg about a survey which identified the top ten art galleries and museums - in terms of the number of visitors they got. Or rather it identified most of them and I had to work out the rest!

I've now created a new "resources for art lovers" website which lists the top ten art galleries and museums and provides a link to each of the museum websites - see Top 10 art galleries and museums

I think many people may be surprised by the order. I have to emphasise I'm not certain about the numbers 8 to 10 but am clear what was listed above that.

So who knew that London was the city with the most art galleries and museums in the top 10 - and how lucky am I to live in London?! :)

What I also discovered during my research is just how few art galleries and museums list their visitor numbers in their annual reports - and that's if they've put their annual report on the website in the first place. To my mind it's a key indicator of effectiveness in terms of commmunicating the value of the contents to the public - and I simply don't understand why it's not there. Unless it's because some don't want to admit how few visitors they get? Given that most of the major museums get some considerable help in terms of public funds I'm fairly appalled by this state of affairs.

There are some quirky issues - such as the Centre Pompidou is not just a museum and I don't think anybody can extract figures just for the museum part. Plus the four Tate Museums (Modern, Britain, Liverpool and St Ives) would come second with over seven million visitors if counted as one museum. I'm planning to do some more research on this in future and I'm toying with the idea of developing a suite of performance indicator information based on data in the public domain - or data which should be!

The website also lists articles about visiting museums and art galleries and I'm intending to develop it:

• as a resource which provides links to major museums in different countries.
• by identifying other helpful links related to the top 10 art galleries and museums.
  

Do let me know what you think about it - I'd love to know if there were any surprises for you.