Rating: 
Summary: A great addition to your working library
Review: Digital Art Studio is a great book that fills a unique gap in the marketplace. This gap lies in what to do with an inkjet printer for personal expression and art purposes beyond using the standard digital papers. This book not only fills that gap but also covers the needed area of how to mix traditional media techniques with the digital print.
In a well planned progression, the book proceeds from basic techniques to advanced. It covers information that is hard or impossible to find elsewhere. I one failing in the book is its lack over coverage of the actual technique of making lenticular prints. Such however would be very involved and a bit off centre to the main thrust of the book, so it is probably best left out. I hope that the authors may publish a follow-on book covering lenticular prints indepth.
Alround a great book that i think will become one of the true classics in digital art techniques. Very highly recommended.
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Summary: Beyond the Digital Print
Review: Digital Art Studio is a must have book for artists who want to go beyond the straight digital print. The photographs are an inspiration to artists and the "how-to" information invaluable. I am a photographer who is always experimenting and this book is going to be my bible. Danny Conant danny@dannyconant.com
Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Digital Print
Review: Digital Art Studio is a must have book for artists who want to go beyond the straight digital print. The photographs are an inspiration to artists and the "how-to" information invaluable. I am a photographer who is always experimenting and this book is going to be my bible. Danny Conant danny@dannyconant.com
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Summary: Breaks New Ground
Review: For those who enjoy pushing the envelope, this book is indispensable. Three women, working on the cutting-edge of the
digital arts have laid the foundation for new and creative adventures. By sharing what they have learned, they enable the reader to take it from there!
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Summary: Digital output for multimedia artists
Review: I just received my copy in the mail and I'm overwhelmed with the outstanding imagery and techniques that the three artists of Digital Atelier offer in this book by Karin Schminke, Dorothy Simpson Krause and Bonny Lhotka. These are the three artists of Digital Atelier, and their website is mindblowing (www.digitalatelier.com). Don't forget to check the links to the individual artist websites. They started with professional, expensive inkjet printers through corporate sponsorships and grants, and it took ten years since the time these artists started experimenting and exhibiting for the technology to catch up with consumer inkjet printers. This book is process oriented and is recommended for intermediate to advanced mixed-media artists and photographers who want to explore digital artmaking. They show you how to use your inkjet printer, albeit more expensive and professional models, to print on practically any material: fabrics, plastics, metals, papers, etc. The past few weeks, I've been studying the techniques and I've ordered the InkAid product so I can create my own substrates for the low-end desktop printer, the Epson C84 with Durabright inks. InkAid is a special precoat and it was developed by the Digital Atelier artists (www.inkaid.com). I've been able to create interesting prints with my printer that neither the artists nor InkAid support - but I'm happy to report that they've both been very responsive and helpful with my questions. You'll still need to know the basics of digital design and composition, but if you ever wanted to make your artwork explode onto textures, layers, collage and 3-D surfaces - this book is it. This is a process-oriented book so you will still have to develop your own digital imagery, compose the layers, and prepare the surfaces before you can print. You will need to have some experience with image editing techniques such as Photoshop, and how to scan, capture or upload images to your computer. This book is concerned with output - and intimate knowledge with the capabilities of your desktop and wide- or large-format printers is necessary. This is not a quick artmaking process. Precoating to prepare various materials for printing on requires time to dry the layers but the effort is worth it. You will learn various image transfer and "emulsion" transfer (similar to Polaroid) techniques as well as some unusual printmaking and layering ideas: gelatin transfers, frescos, digital overprinting and underprinting, and collage. There's a whole chapter on transferring or printing images onto fabrics for both wearable and non-wearable art. The three artists offer numerous options to pursue and don't promise that their techniques will do everything. Amazingly, they do offer a lot. You can also work on your printed images with traditional art media - such as pastels, colored pencils, acrylics, even encaustics, but those techniques are not detailed too much. This book assumes you have your own expertise but it offers more possibilities for traditional and digital artists. They position the inkjet printer as a well-placed tool in the mixed-media studio. All the techniques build in complexity and they are demonstrated very well in step-by-step photographs and text. Examples of artwork is numerous and varied and so the art gallery is outstanding. As a new, self-taught collage artist, I am inspired to rework my best images and create new versions on various "canvases." This book as a great addition to my reference library. The only con to the book, and it's minor at that is some confusion I have with the materials needed for printing on or using as "carriers." Specifically, the list of polycarbonate, plastic sheets, polyester films. I have to take notes to keep track of which technique to try first as I shop for more materials but I am excited to start. This book has been long-awaited by digital artists and I congratulate Digital Atelier on the launch and applaud the three artists for their generosity.
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Summary: good stuff
Review: It's rare that one gets a chance to share in the cutting edge secrets of any new pioneering technology. For digital artists this is the best "how to" manual around. In this book, 3 superheroes of digital art share the results of their creative effort, their trial and error knowledge gained by doing and finally succeeding. Now we have a chance to stand on thier shoulders and look around. good stuff! Thanks you guys.
Rating:
Summary: Take your images to a new level!
Review: Summary: Take the humble inkjet printer and create stunning works of art!
"Digital Art Studio" is that peek into an artist's studio who is creating true art . .not just stylized photo prints. It's like working shoulder-to shoulder with an experienced printmaker who shows you all their secrets and tricks - even the experiments that didn't work . .and why! When you're done you'll be making prints on any substrate.
I've been searching the web for a source book like this and I can guarantee you there's nothing out there like it! I'd give it six stars if I could. (Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with the publisher or authors in any way)
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Summary: Learn from Experience
Review: The authors of this book have spent many hours trying different materials, surfaces, and techniques to create traditional art in a non-traditional way. Utilizing digital imagery and studio art materials, they teach us to create art for a modern world. By sharing the results of their trials, we are presented the tools and material lists needed to follow their detailed examples. As an artist looking to take full advantage of both a painting studio and digital production equipment, this book is the kickstart that I needed.
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Summary: Wow!
Review: The clarity of its structure and organization, the completeness of the authors' various descriptions and the direct effectiveness of the writing - is simply outstanding. All of the simplistic notions of talented artists, visually oriented, being unable to deal with words and narrative text, are now firmly out the window! These ladies all have done a truly outstanding job with this book, and we are left simply to wonder what they will do for an encore.
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Summary: Pioneer Artists Tell All
Review: These artist's are pioneers in the digital industry and generously share their secrets with you in easy to comprehend and inspiring manual. Great tips and ideas that really opened my mind to the possibilites of using my inkjet printer as a true fine art tool.
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