My Favorite Art Books As A SELF TAUGHT Artist!

Art books are my favorite thing to splurge on hehe. If you're interested in checking out my entire collection, I've added most of them to this list here: bookshop.org/shop/kelseyrodriguez I have an affiliate relationship with bookshop.org/ FYI, and will make 10% of your purchase as a commission at no extra cost to you. Their profits help support independent bookstores all across the US, so it's a far better option than giving more money to Bezos lol

"The Artist's Way" is really good to get over the psychological barriers that can keep so many people from becoming pro artists or pursuing art and creativity as some form of expression outlet. I still do morning pages after 5 years. Now it's a mixture of writing out my prayers and morning pages.

My mother was self taught til she was 16... She took art from that point into college. she ended up working for Walt Disney.. she did work on cartoon movies.. Sleeping Beauty was the last I remember. She also did shorts for the Mickey Mouse Club. After she retired to have a family, she continued to paint.. she was good with oil.. but she liked pastel the most. She died a few years ago. I never really got any training from her. I wish I had.. but maybe with some books I can improve and keep her memory alive.

For a period of two years I once lived less than a 5 minute walk from a bookstore with a great art books selection. It was the most temptation I ever had to face. Thanks for sharing your favorites (some of our favorites overlap I think) and if I were to recommend a book to you, assuming you don’t already have it, it would be James Gurney’s other book Imaginative Realism. It might not be incredibly useful to a landscape oil painter but there is so much wonderfully explained art theory in there.

This is an excellent reading list for artists of any level of aspiration! We love that you touch on color theory and composition so often- those subjects are hard for artists to engage on their own. With these titles, you could really get as in-depth as you want, but even casual pleasure painters can benefit enormously from books like these!

I'd love to see and listen to your full collection. This was fun and you recommended some books I've not heard of before, thank you.

I absolutely could watch an hour or more of you talking about your art books. I'm off to buy some now!

Yooo was so cool to see you and I have some shared books, even though I'm primarily a digital character artist, and you a traditional landscape artist. The Style of Loish, Gurney's Color and Light, and Minnie Small's books are all lovely. SUPER agree that I wish I could frame Loish's book! I'd adore to see a full book collection video, even if you had to separate it out into smaller, themed, videos or if it's one big marathon. My recommendation for any working artist is "What They Don't Teach In Art School" by Will Terry-- it goes over freelancing, portfolios, networking, and branding, as well as having some interviews from other working illustrators. I'm angling to work in the entertainment industry and haven't broken in yet, but it's so nice having this like pep talk on the industry and making things easier on your journey :)

I’m really growing to love your content. You share a lot. But I also get a lot of ideas just listening to you discuss different topics. Thank You 🙏🏾

Your videos are always so inspirational and educational!! Thank you so much!! And I would absolutely love to see a complete art book video, I love seeing and learning about new art books! <3

The Artists Way is a life changing book! You’ve recommended a lot of good books I’m going to check out

I love this book! I did the free-writing exercises for a while, and they helped me out a LOT! :)

Perfect timing, since I'm already shopping for everyone else's Christmas gifts. Gotta love those savings! Love your content. You're a wonderfully skilled and dedicated artist, and a really beautiful woman to boot. Your are very inspiring and helpful!

I absolutely love artbooks whether it be concept art or educational! One of my favorite things to collect!

Kelsey loved the book you suggested. Can't wait to dive deeper into them

I picked up Color and Light (pickard not gurney) and I’m 50 pages in and it’s completely rocking my world. Every page I feel my brain gain another wrinkle 😂. Digital/hybrid artists NEED to check out this book

I love books and I have lots of them too! I hope you do more videos like this one, the selection is excellent, makes me want to flip through them all :)

Loved this! I’m always on the lookout for great resources to improve my art 😊 thanks for sharing your thoughts and recommendations 💛

PLEASE show us all your art books! I am an art book enthusiast and bibliophile and would love to see what else I'm missing out on. I'll definitely be getting some of the selection you showcased here. Thank you for this video!

Really enjoyed this video! Always looking for art book recommendations to add to my library. You mentioned a few I’ve read & loved, so I trust your recommendations! Gonna add some of these to my list!