Every now and then you find just the right book you need to fill a hole in your life. In many ways, An Illustrated Life filled that bill for me.

I'm a writer and editor (my latest book, The New Horror Handbook, came out a few months ago), and spend most of my time editing other people's work, with little time left to actually enjoy the process of creation myself.

When I stumbled upon this book, I had something of an epiphany. Here were people every bit as busy as the rest of us, yet they had found another way of saving their thoughts and documenting the world around them.

So many different styles are represented in this book, from astonishing water colors to simple cartoons to the strange illustrations of Robert Crumb.

But these full color illustrations are only half the story. The accompanying essays by the sketchbook artists themselves really spoke to me. I found it extremely inspiring to read about how these talented artists work, how they manage to snatch the time to sketch their thoughts, and perhaps most importantly, how making a sketch or watercolor of a scene in front of them actually allows them to better remember what they saw than simply taking a photo. If you've taken hundreds of digital photos of places you wanted to remember, only to barely remember them at all, you can see what a revelation this can be.

Enough of my blatherings. This book is best summed up this way: A fascinating look into the creative process, and a good way to jump-start your own.

I think this book has a nice collection of quite a few artists I am familiar with and a few I'm not. Sketchbooks shows the creative process of artists and it's inspirational to see how others think and what they draw. The only thing I didn't care for was the cover design of this book I am reviewing. I almost didn't buy this book because of the cover design (did not care for the handed lettering of the title), it looks like a how-to-do drawing book, not a collection of other artist's sketchbooks. I would have love to see more pages on Everett Peck, Mark Fisher, and James Jean. Other than that, I enjoyed the content and find this book to be inspirational.

There are a couple of other books similar to this that I like to recommend, "Drawing From Life; The Journal as Art", by Jennifer New and "Drawing is Thinking", by Milton Glaser. The latter is a wonderful collection of just one artist's works.

Over the past 30 to 40 years, I've dabbled as a hobbyist and enthusiast in oils, watercolors, acrylics, serigraphy, and illustration. In that time, I've collected a wide variety of books in those various topics. However, if I could only keep a single book from all of those, it would definitely be this one.

Since buying this book around 6 months ago, I've spent time with it nearly every single day. Likewise, the amount of time I've spent with my sketchpad has greatly increased. This book is inspiring, motivating, and has eliminated many creative inhibitions and insecurities I've struggled with in the past. I simply can't rave enough positive about this wonderful book.

I purchased this book and found in it a large amount of styles on making a journal.
Many pages , many photos and explanations by authors make this book a MUST TO HAVE for all moleskine/journal/sketchbook lovers.
You'll find in it many different technics to do a journal : watercolouring , ink , colour pencil , pencil , collage...
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An Illustrated Life is a tremendously inspirational book. It encompasses a full variety in style and skill, providing an intimate view of several artist's personal sketchbooks. Besides the rich variety of sketches, the artist comments really demonstrates the flexibility of sketching and the sometimes differing views as to the function of sketching, either as rough drafts or complete works in themselves. Abundant amounts of illustrations in exceptional print quality.

Highly recommended for anyone seeking some inspiration and motivation in art. A pleasurable read.