My Library

Books in the modern age of the internet are often thought as antiquated collections of outdated knowledge that cannot be searched with Ctrl+F. That may be true for most of them, but there are a few books with incredibly vast compilations of knowledge, enlightening in all respects, that remain incredible resources today even through the passage of time. I love non-fiction reference books to quickly browse through a particular subject, and books I can truly be inspired by. Here are just a few of my favorite books of all time from my own personal library: for art reference, for information, for techniques, for inspiration, or just for fun, all of these books have had a significant impact on my work, and I'm happy to recommend them to you. The books are organized in alphabetical order by title.


50's Decorative Art
Charlotte and Peter Fiell
978-3836544580
MSRP: $19.99

This book contains a full collection of art-deco modern interior art from homes during the 1950s. The book's content is immense, cataloging thousands of items from lamps and tables to chairs and textiles, truly expanding and showing the role of modern design just through everyday objects for the home. While most of the book's photographs are in grayscale, the few color pages and immense size of the collection more than make up for this shortcoming. Every item is cataloged by designer and country. It's a wonderful, eye-opening book on design that every interior designer, architectural visualizer, or connoisseur of design must own. And while the designs are taken from the 1950s, the fashion of Art Deco modernization certainly did not die.




Animals Visual Encyclopedia
Tom Jackson
978-1908273017
MSRP: $14.99

Break away from your typical knowledge of foxes, wolves, dogs, and cats, and learn about different animals in this beautifully illustrated encyclopedia. Flip to a page and next to a common European Rabbit, you'll find a variety of other species including the Angora, which looks less like a rabbit and more like a Shih Tzu with so much elaborate fluffy hair. This book is absolutely superb for broadening your scope of animals, whether through the discovery of Narwhals or Dudongs or just a good reference for common creatures, this book is a must-have design guide for creative animals and creatures that do actually exist in the real world. While the information is rather thin (limited to a paragraph for each species depicted), the illustrations and breadth of the subject are what this a highly valuable resource for any artist or designer who will ever need to design a character or creature and needs help to be inspired. This is truly an inspirational encyclopedia of all the world's creatures, and if you can find it, you will find it at a very good cost.




The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
978-0836218053
MSRP: $18.99

A book of comic strips: says the critic. A compact collection of the greatest comic strip of all time, says the fan. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes is a collection of three years of Bill Watterson's famous funny about a young boy and his stuffed tiger, whom he makes real in his mind. Together, they have adventures, playing pirates, destroying oatmeal monsters, camping around spooky ghosts, or just contemplating the futility of war and their place in the universe. Between Watterson's lovable design and slice-of-life storytelling with just a touch of whimsy, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes is a must-have for any comic artist, animation fan, or anyone who still has a naughty, daydreaming child still left in them.




The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston
978-0786860708
MSRP: $60.00

There are plenty of incredible coffee table books about masterpieces in art and collections of photography, but none with such depth and insider look into what arguably has to be the greatest studio of all time: Walt Disney's. Not to be mistaken for a collection of pretty pictures, this book contains some of Disney's most treasured secrets on the principles of animation, stories of the great supervisors who brought characters to life behind the scenes, and great insight into the future of animation. Written by two of Disney's Nine Old Men, the book has insight that few people would ever get to see. Did you know someone inside Disney's office wrote "stick to shorts" during the production of Snow White? It's true. We're glad Disney didn't listen to the note. While the book was written and completed in 1981, the gorgeous full-color imagery, the depth and detail in the stories, and the practical techniques are all printed here in a massive 560-page masterpiece. Great for any fan of traditional animation, Disney, or art and creativity in general, this book has it all!




The Little Book of Creativity
David E. Carter
978-0060748012
MSRP: $24.95

More centered around creative advertising and marketing, this book contains a broad range of brochures, invitations, packaging, and ad design which creatively expresses different products, services, and artists. This is a great book for outside-the-box design: a forest fire public ad on a highway where most of the sign has already been burned away, analogous landscape photography with a simple outline of a sofa, an ad for a lifeguard school that reads "At our school, all the teachers are half-naked..." oh yes, this book has it all. My favorite piece was an invitation of a shovel and the type "Groundbreaking" that, when slid out, revealed a wine glass and the words "Celebration!" What an interesting invitation! While ads often annoy us, this book highlights the very best of ad and marketing design. Perhaps if this was a graphic design staple, we'd see far more interesting ads in our everyday life. I will say the book is rather pricey for the content, but if ad design, graphic design, and marketing are your thing, this compilation of styles can be a great addition to your collection!



Here are some of my favorite movies as well;


Spirited Away
Studio Ghibli
PG, 2h 5m

Spirited Away follows the journey of a little girl being afraid of moving into a new place. However, when misfortune falls her family, she is forced to grow up and find a way to handle herself in a brand new new spiritual reality. Spirited Away is a masterpiece of a film with gorgeous visuals, beautiful sound, and a compelling story told with such humanity few American directors at the time were interested in conveying. Before Shrek, we were all Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki has many works that make up some of the greatest films of all time. This, however, is hands down the apotheosis of Miyazaki's entire body of work. As a reference material, you have it all: complex machinery, lavishly decorated interiors, wide open fields, interesting village designs, character and monster designs, lighting and rendering, colors, and movement, Spirited Away does a lot, but it does it all so well.



Kiki's Delivery Service
Studio Ghibli
G, 1h 43m

A young witch follows in the tradition of leaving home to train abroad and find a town of her own to live and learn in. Only problem is... she's 14 years old, and barely knows how to fly, much less do anything else. Kiki learns to work and play and take care of her own. Along the way, she meets quite a few interesting people in this charming Stockholm-esque town. Most are great, some are rude, but all are helping Kiki learn more about what it means to live in this world. This film shows Miyazaki in his prime: shortly after the successes of Nausicaa of the Valley of The Wind, Castle in the Sky, and My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service is a light-hearted tale, but ever so pleasant.