I love books and magazines. I have got the impression that many inexperienced practitioners like design and art students underestimate the importance of investing in inspirational material. I remember my fellow students raising their eyebrows each time I proudly announced a new purchase and I find that a bit weird. Some of my books are about facts of the industry, guidelines and advice on how to make it and how to run your business. Others are pure training and technique books, tutorials and different sorts of resource material. Others are pure inspiration. And all of them are equally important to me.
My favourite book amongst them all have to be Illustration Play, a book showcasing the so-called new wave of illustration. It is like the title suggests, playful and diverse showing off loads and loads of different techniques, devoted illustrators living and breathing their profession, not to mention page up and page down of pure, solid, gorgeous illustration. The spreads have different textures which makes you not only wanting to read the text and look at the lovely pictures, but to stroke your fingers across every single page. It engages me in so many levels, and it makes me want to create!
To me, that cannot be valued in money. I’d rather buy books than food ^^
