I love it👌

Best one so far, love it xd

So about my favourite non-instructional art book, for the last few years it's been a tie between Art of Brom (by Gerald Brom), and The Art of Blizzard Entertainment. The former is partially because Brom is just an incredible artist, with each piece carrying such a strong element of storytelling (which makes sense, because he's also an excellent novelist). More importantly however, I think the section at the beginning of the book - I don't know if it's the foreword, or just the introduction - that makes this book a gem. There he talks about his own experiences throughout his career. It's things like this that helps one remember that we all start from nothing, we're all subject to the whims of employers, and that *everyone* goes through the pain of job interviews and rejection. For the latter, what I love most about it is that it gives us a glimpse of what concept art was, once upon a time, before it doubled up as marketing material. Back when it was really just about getting ideas across from one developer to another. They've got examples there which we today aren't likely to find all that exceptional in terms of quality, but it shows the roots of this industry, and speaks to what our job as concept designers really is about. As to your other question, if I'm being completely honest, I don't really think all that much about "art", and I don't feel myself to be qualified to judge what does and doesn't fall under that label. To take things further, I also try to avoid referring to myself as an artist, simply because it's so nebulous a term, it doesn't really say anything about what it is I try to do. For example - an illustrator has a job. They capture a narrative, a story, something that occurs across a span of time in a single frame. They do so for a purpose - maybe to provide marketing materials for a product (ads, book covers, etc) or to serve as part of a product itself. They're given a task by a client, and they execute it to the best of their ability. A concept designer similarly has a job, to convey ideas in a way that they are defined with enough clarity and detail that they can be used at later points in a production pipeline. I can imagine abstract forms of art also have their own goals - to engage with an audience on an emotional level, to find the right button to press through a specific use of colour, shape, balance, composition, etc. While their execution may take just a moment, their planning and consideration could be weeks and months in the making. While it's not something I particularly enjoy nor appreciate, I think it's important just to remember that we are all pursuing different goals. Lumping us all together as "artists" can cause us to feel the need to gauge who is, and isn't, an artist. But this isn't really productive - it doesn't result in more work, more goals being met. So what's the point?