February 2016 Reviews Round-up

Books

February was a slow month in terms of the number of artbooks released. I'm glad I managed to get a break from reviewing the books last month because March is going to be insane. It looks like there will be close to 15 artbooks coming out in March. The ones I'm most looking forward to would be the artbooks for Zootopia and Batman vs Superman. The Art of Uncharted 4 has been delayed to April.

Here are all the books I featured in February:

1. The Pattern Sourcebook: A Century of Surface Design
2. The Art of Cardboard: Big Ideas for Creativity, Collaboration, Storytelling, and Reuse
3. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Official Artworks
4. Sketching People: An Urban Sketcher's Manual to Drawing Figures and Faces
5. Zen of Drawing: Drawing What You See
6. One Thing Leads to Another: The Posters and Art of Dan Stiles
7. Invictus Designs: The Art of Victor Marin
8. Fresh Made Simple: A Naturally Delicious Way to Eat: Look, Cook, and Savor
9. Pop Painting: Inspiration and Techniques from the Pop Surrealism Art Phenomenon
10. Genesis of Urbance
11. The Essential Evangelion Chronicle: Side B
12. Brasil Acuarelas de Viaje (Spanish Edition)
13. Shut Your Monkey: How to Control Your Inner Critic and Get More Done

Interviews

My girlfriend was out of a job last month and she helped me with interviewing all these artists. On a typical month, I would have no time to handle interviews, which is why I actually stopped the Art Tools and Gears interview series for a long time.

1. Francis Chong
2. Erika Farkas
3. Daryl Stephenson
4. Rob Dumo
5. Jonah Lobe
6. James Gurney
7. Craww
8. Roisin Cure
9. Kristina Carter
10. Iuri Araújo
11. John Lasater
12. Carolyn Latanision
13. Holly Exley
14. Maja Wronska

Art products

I know some readers asked for the Surface Pro 4 review months ago and I've finally managed to put out the review. My previous reviewer did not want to review it so I had to do it myself. I waited and finally bought a secondhand SP4 just for this review. It just does not make financial sense to buy electronic items to review. Anyway, I like the SP4 very much and I think I'll keep it, since I also need a Windows machine to test other products too. I'll also been putting out some reviews for drawing apps on both Windows and iOS in the future.

1. Microsoft Surface 3
2. Sakura Koi Watercolor Brush Pen Set (6 Gray)
3. Yiynova MSP19U+V5 Pen Digitizer Tablet Monitor
4. Epson 11000XL A3 scanner
5. Apple Macbook 12-Inch (2015 model)
6. Microsoft Surface Pro 4
7. Old Surface Pen 3 vs Surface Pro 4 Pen
8. Huion Giano WH1409 graphic tablet (wireless)

Video tutorials

The only Craftsy course I reviewed is Sketching Essentials in Graphite by Matt Brehm (Craftsy). I've exhausted the courses that I like on Craftsy and now I'm waiting for them to put out more before I can review them again.

If you like sketching, Suhita Shirodkar's new video course Figure Sketching Made Simple is out.

Youtube videos

There are now 9,523 subscribers on my Youtube channel now, up from 7,675 last month.

I managed to stick to my schedule of one video a day. It's not easy!

My Youtube channel features sketching tips, art product reviews and urban sketching videos. Coverage is different from Parka Blogs. Check out my channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/teohyc

I've highlighted the more popular videos below in bold.

1. Rochor Sketchwalk (Feb 2016)
2. Sketching at Brunches Cafe (26 Feb 2016)
3. Artist Review: Macbook 12-inch Fast Enough for Graphic Design?
4. Lachri Fine Art (Youtube Channel Feature)
5. Review: Huion Giano WH1409 Wireless Graphics Tablet
6. Book Review: Berlin Sketchbook by Fabrice Moireau
7. Sketching my Birthday Present: A Gouache Box Set
8. Use a theme for your sketches
9. Artist Review: Old Surface Pen 3 vs Surface Pro 4 Pen
10. Helix Bridge Timelapse Sketch (19 Feb 2016)
11. Review: Koi Watercolor Brush Pen Set (6 Gray)
12. Book Review: Drawn: Art of Ascent Review by Jeremy Collins
13. Affordable Art Supplies for Beginners (Pencil Pen Ink Watercolor)
14. Artist Review: Tablet Pro & Artist Pad (Windows tablet app)
15. Artist Review: Microsoft Surface 3 (non-Pro) for drawing
16. Purvis Street Sketch Timelapse
17. Artist Review: Pilot Pocket Brush Pen (Hard & Soft)
18. Prang Watercolour Review
19. Owings Art (Youtube Channel Feature)
20. Review: Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Journal (300gsm)
21. How I Draw Simplified People in Sketches
22. Review: Noodler's Bulletproof Black Ink (Waterproof)
23. Book Review: Cambridge: The Watercolour Sketchbook
24. How to use fixative to protect your art, drawings & sketches
25. Review: Mitsubishi Hi-Uni Pencils
26. James Tan's Art Supplies Haul from Tokyo, Japan
27. What I do for work, online and this Youtube channel
28. Review: Kandahar Drawing Ink and Demo

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