Why books still matter to artists

Page turners Book sales are on the rise and when it comes to art training the printed page is still important, discovers Ian Dean

- Ian Dean

We live in the internet age where training is just a click away. But despite this we continually return to books. Even when learning could be gained online, educational book sales brought in £6.4 billion in the UK in 2020. Consumer book sales fared even better, rising seven per cent to £2.1 billion last year.

Clearly the printed word hasn’t lost its appeal, and for artists in particular, many have returned to the page. “Always,” states concept artist and director Kan Muftic (ifxm.ag/kan-m) as we ask if he still relies on art books for advice. “A book is an object with a physical and mental presence in my life,” adds the artist, whose own book Figure Drawing for Concept Artists has proved popular.

Kan reveals that “The beautiful books of Marcos Mateu-Mestre” got him through lockdown. The love of a physical art book was instilled in him at an early age: his parents had a collection of Sergio Toppi books that inspired him growing up.

You can track a person’s life through their book collection, and see the influences in their work. Kan himself has grown beyond the fantasy and comic art of his childhood and now directs for TV: his animated short Kiss Me First is on Netflix. Reading film theory has not only aided him in making the leap to film, but helped his art, too. “Learning about camera lenses in various filmmaking books completely changed the way I create images,” he tells us.

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