The Book of Skulls

As I have found it really difficult to research Mexican art and find relevant books on Mexico I decided to get some books myself and as it is a subject that I really like and will be something that I will always go back to in some way in the future I thought that they would be helpful and relevant books to have in my collection. 
The first book I got was the Book of Skulls, Faye Dowling, an it is exactly what the title suggests. It is filled with different types of skulls, form illustrations to sculptures and tattoos to jewellery, and has introduced me to some new artists and illustrators that have been very useful for my current project. 
The skull is one of the most iconic and used symbols today, once scary and used in horror films made it's way into modern culture on rebel rock t-shrits and threatening tattoos but is now a reoccurring print in nearly every high street shop, and also on the catwalks of many designers, probably most famous are Alexander McQueen's silk scarves. 

The Exquisite Book

For Christmas I got a book by the artist's Julia Rothman, Matt Lamothe, and Jenny Volvovski called the Exquisite Book, when I asked for it I thought that it would just be work by the artist Julia Rothman however when I opened it, it was a pullout book with work from one hundred various different artists and illustrators. They all were given one of ten different themes, such as ''In the forest", "In the Ocean" or "In the City". And then they had to draw an illustration or picture of what that theme meant to them, they would then send this piece to the next artist and they would draw the next section of the picture with the same theme. They either had the option to look at the previous piece of work or they could just follow on the line from the previous piece. Each artist worked very differently for example some would look at the previous work and then follow it with the same colours, shapes or themes, however others made up their own versions. 

Although this book isn't what I expected I really love it, it has opened my eyes to lots of new artists and illustrators, and has shown to me how differently each artist works and how they can collaborate together in different ways. 

Print and Pattern Book

A while ago I bought the Print and Pattern Bowie Style book, I found it to be a great book to find artists and designers and even has their contact details and website addresses in to find more information and work from them.
The book was influenced from a Print and Pattern blog that was started by Marie Perkins, the blofg became very popular in the surface design field and was very influential to also of designers. Due to the huge success of the blog she then decided to create a book filled with artists and designers from the blog.
It has a range of different artists and art styles in the book ranging from graphical designs to more hand drawn illustrations present on a selection of different mediums such as wallpaper, stationary, home ware, tea towels, cushions, and many more. I found this book to be inspirational and very helpful to find more designers and artists in the same field, as sometimes this is very difficult.

On the 10th of October the second Print and Patter Bowie style book was released, it is similar to the first issue however it is filled with even more print and pattern and surface designers.

Link to the Blog- http://printpattern.blogspot.com/