MURRAY TINKELMAN
ARTIST, PROFESSOR
Murray Tinkelman was named Sports Artist of the Year by the U.S. Sports Academy and Artist of the Year by the Graphic Arts Guild. His illustrations have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, and Washington Post. He is currently Professor of Art at Syracuse University. For more information, see his website.

The Art Spirit
Notes, Articles, Fragments of Letters and Talks to Students, Bearing on the Concept and Technique of Picture Making, the Study of Art
By Robert Henri (1923)
I came upon The Art Spirit in 1954 when I was a student at Cooper Union, and it resonates to this day. The book is a compilation of fragments of speeches, letters, and critiques given by Robert Henri in the early part of the 20th century. It is impossible to open this book to any page and not find a sentence, an idea, or a concept that is not relevant now, 100 years later. This is the only book that I have made required reading for my graduate students.

Infinite Worlds
The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art
By Vincent Di Fate (1997)
This book is a profusely illustrated compilation of the history of Science Fiction illustration and is by far the most beautiful and comprehensive book ever published on the subject. It includes a concise history of the genre and features capsule biographies of each illustrator presented in the book.

The Red Rose Girls
An Uncommon Story of Art and Love
By Alice A. Carter (2000)
Ms. Carter was a Pulitzer Prize nominee for this wonderful book. It is a biography of three of the most incredibly talented and influential women illustrators who lived and worked in the early 20th century. The book describes their lives, their work, and, most impor- tantly, their intimate relationship.

Illustrating the Renaissance
Catalogue of the exhibition of Flemish manuscript painting, 1470-1560, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2003)
By Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick
My first favorite book on illustration is the extraordinary Illuminating the Renaissance. The paintings are exquisite, with not only great realism and attention to detail, but with a sensitivity to human faces and expressions that is a wonder. What I also love is the way various painters play with the initial capital letters, often using them as parts of the pictures in delightful ways. The background information on the miniatures is fascinating.

Understanding Comics
By Scott McCloud (1997)
This is the best analysis of how comics work that you can find, and it's enlightening. I love comics; they are one of the most inventive media today. McCloud helps us understand how artists use the panels to give us a sense of mood, a sense of the passage of time, of action, and just to explore the page in new and unexpected ways. He shows us how Japanese comics differ from European ones and what we can learn (and have) from them, how we can stretch or contract time, and why the simplest comics are often the most effective. And, of course, the book is a comic book.

Picture This
How Pictures Work
By Molly Bang (2000)
This is the best book I know about how picture structure affects our feelings. It shows why certain pictures feel scary to us--or comforting, happy, melancholic or exciting--just by how the pieces are shaped and placed on the page. The book presents very simple principles that every artist knows. Once you understand the principles, you not only see how they have been used by other artists, but you can use them to make powerful, emotionally-charged works of your own.

Covers of the Saturday Evening Post
Seventy Years of Outstanding Illustration from America's Favorite Magazine
By Jan Cohn (1995)
It features JC Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell heavily, and some fantastic golden age illustrations from when people really knew how to paint. For illustration in the classical tradition.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Vols. I and II
By Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (2000)
Forget the creepy movie. This is intelligent, funny, horrifying, and imaginative to a startling degree and shows what can be accomplished in the medium of comic strip.

Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life
By George Bridgman (1952, 2001)
One, if not the very best, artist's guide to anatomy and a cornerstone for every illustrator's collection. It goes into its subject in forensic detail, but the main joy is the vibrancy of the visual material.

A Designer's Art
By Paul Rand (1985)
The first is easy: the first of Rand's trilogy before his death in 1996 and the one that best explains his method of design. Concisely written yet packed with insight, this overview based on 50 years of practice is the closest thing to design philosophy.

Graphic Design
A Concise History
By Richard Hollis (2000)
The second is not so easy. There are so many good books that impart the history of graphic design, representing dozens of individual viewpoints and methodologies, but for an efficient overview of 20th-century practice, Graphic Design lays out the important 19th and 20th-century milestones of design as art and craft.

The Elements of Typographic Style
By Robert Bringhurst (1992)
The third is even harder. Even after rejecting dozens of the so-called 'showcase' books that present work with little critical or analytical commentary, and ignoring the more critical monographs, I'm left with the question: What will serve a designer best? And the book that will help both the novice and veteran typographer most is Elements of Typographic Style.