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Rating: 
Summary: disappointing & mediocre
Review: I found this book very disappointing. It's more a showcase for not very good painters than a useful source of information on composition techniques. I did not recognize any of the names from the fine work I've seen in the International Artist's magazine but rather ordinary & mediocre examples. Explanations were wordy & dogmatic rather than visually instructive.The material is not organized in any formal manner for a subject such as this...Generally disappointing in every respect.
Rating: 
Summary: A wondeful book!
Review: If you only ever get one book on composition it has to be this one! Composition is such an important tool for any artist; it can make or break a painting. Regardless of what style of painting you do, good composition and design is the foundation of a successful painting. And yet this is a subject that doesn't get taught in art schools and books on the subject are few and far between and often very dry and technical.Design and Composition Secrets really does change all that. It's a fascinating read, fabulously illustrated throughout and full of great tips and techniques. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to learn more about composition. It has really improved my painting and has given me so many ideas. It's the kind of book you'll be using for years. It takes 16 different artists, with very different styles and allows each of them a chapter to explain their own approach to composition, using plenty of examples of their work and finishing with a gallery of the artists paintings complete with a compositional analysis. The result is a set of essays that come at the subject from many different angles. Donna Baspaly's fabulous layered multi media paintings demonstrate her philosophical approach, her emphasis on structure, shape and the use of checklists to keep on track during painting. Robert Bateman loves abstract qualities and shares his cut out composition tactic along with his stunning wildlife paintings. Don Farrell looks for rhythm and harmony, shape relationships and connections and divisions. Tom Huntley shares his 5 point plan and his wonderful sense of colour and Myfanwy Pavelic never consciously thinks about design or composition at all, her approach is based on intuition. Along the way they cover a wealth of information that you'd expect from a book like this, shape, colour, texture, pattern, values, geometry, the golden section, rhythm, balance, negative space and the like. But they also cover some more surprising topics like the child within, intuitive painting, left brain and right brain painting, using a projector, choreographing movement and designing for a strong emotional response. It's full of surprises and fresh ideas. This book is not just a wonderful resource on composition, which you'll want to come back to again and again, but also an incredible insight into how 16 very different artists work. I absolutely love it!
Rating:
Summary: design variations
Review: This book certainly lives up to it title in providing many different perspectives when looking at design and composition. Perhaps a prior knowledge of design and composition would be an advantage in order to understand some of the interpretations when some artists refer to "rightness", their intuition and their sense of rhythm and harmony. The book is full of colourful paintings, pencil sketches showing line, shape and values. There is certainly plenty of variety, both in the style of painting and the method for the composition and design. There do not seem to be many books on the market in this area and I am sure this book will provide plenty of ideas and perhaps a new way of looking at problems in this area. I have just one grumble and that is so many art books are 127/128 pages long and it is always great when you come across books that have been exceedingly generous with number of pages but this book is the usual 127 pages long.
Rating: 
Summary: Design Tips from Canada
Review: This book has an interesting approach to teaching design and composition. Each artist wrote an essay explaining their approach to creating dynamic paintings. My only wish is that the book offered insights from artists around the world rather than focusing exclusively on Canadians. Most of the paintings are in a realist style although some begin to approach a bit more non-representational styles. The quality of the essays also seemed to vary. Some essays I found very helpful, for example, one gave a tip list of points to keep in mind while composing a painting. Another gave a tip of making a cutout of your subject in different sizes and then seeing which size and placement worked the best. Yet another gave a Rule of 360 tip - i.e. keep turning the composition because you might find alternative compositions more interesting than the one you're working on currently. It might even spawn several new painting ideas to follow up on. For me personally, the less helpful essays were more rambling musings by the artist on their spiritual thoughts on composition. While I understand some artists may find these type of essays enjoyable or helpful I find it hard to translate such spiritual musings into actual practices I can use to improve my own work. Fortunately, most of the essays had plenty of interesting tips and practical approaches and exercises I've never thought of that I will be using now. Overall the quality of the book is very high. It definitely shows the same high quality as the magazine affiliated with it. Get this book and discover all kinds of fascinating exercises and tips to improve your artwork.
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