Bloomsbury Visual Arts - About Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts

About Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts

Practice makes perfect with Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts – the ultimate guide to a visual arts education.

This comprehensive resource offers instant, searchable access to over 170 books which combine visual inspiration with practical advice on idea generation, research techniques, portfolio development and more, across the main visual arts disciplines. Though the focus is on applied disciplines, many of the books also offer coverage of the historical and theoretical underpinnings of the fields of practice.

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Trials and Purchasing

It is an essential resource for students and teachers globally, working across multiple fields of practice, including:

Content Highlights

Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts offers access to a broad and expanding range of content:

200 highly illustrated books, providing structured and consistent coverage across the main visual arts disciplines to support a wide range of practice-led courses
A versatile combination of titles covering key skills and topics in each field and at different levels of study, sequentially from basic concepts to careers and professional practice
Richly illustrated content, with each title typically offering over 200 full-colour illustrations or images, expressly designed to meet the needs of visual learners
A wealth of practical pedagogy such as case studies, leading practitioner interviews, and activities allowing students and instructors to realise learning outcomes, while embedding students’ understanding of real-world applications and supporting portfolio development

Content update: July 2023

As part of our new content update, 26 additional titles are now available on Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts, spanning coverage across video game design, fashion, illustration, and typography among other practices.

The content update also comprises five new editions of pre-existing titles, including Textiles and Fashion by Jenny Udale, Fashion Thinking by Fiona Dieffenbacher, Visible Signs by David Crow, Visual Research by Russell Bestley and Paul McNeil, and Aaris Sherin’s Introduction to Graphic Design.

Read the full title list for the update here.

Coming Soon

New editions will be made available each year to ensure students are exposed to the best and latest technical know-how and trends in professional practice

About the series

Most of the books featured in Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts are taken from five core series:

Many different goods like typical Indian spices and curries are presented in bags for sale at the weekly flea-market.

Visual Dictionaries

The Visual Dictionaries offer clear, comprehensive and visually informative definitions of the key terms and concepts in the vocabulary of the visual arts.

An image of the ceiling and balcony inside Haghia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey.

Fundamentals

Books in the Fundamentals offer a broad overview of subjects like fashion management, illustration, interior design, digital photography and many more. They offer accessible introductions to core theories and techniques, illustrated with examples from creative practitioners.

A view of Fiji water bottles during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California.

Basics

The Basics series looks at the major topics within each discipline, from identifying an original idea, to designing intuitive user experiences and incorporating sustainability into fashion design. Packed with examples from students and professionals and illustrated with clear diagrams and inspiring imagery, they offer an essential exploration of each subject.

A Painting of a Tea Party at Lord Harringtons House, St. James

Required Reading

Titles in the Required Reading Range meet the needs of students in the latter stages of their degrees, they offer more in-depth explorations of subjects like designing and animating characters, helping filmmakers learn from art history and how smart design can bring about sustainable change.

A photograph of Castle Hill Mansion on The Crane Estate, 59-room Stuart-style mansion designed by architect David Adler circa 1928, Ipswich, MA.

Creative Careers

Creative Careers titles help emerging practitioners bridge the gap between academia and their first job in the creative industries – from graphic design, to illustration, game design and art direction.