'Comic Sketchbooks: The Unseen World Of Today’s Most Creative Talents' gets inside the private notebooks of more than 80 of the planet's most inventive, innovative, and successful artists, alongside new talents and emerging illustrators, in a breathtaking range of imaginative output.
Here is a chance to see the thinking - the image-and-word play, narrative sequencing, or just plain doodling - that leads to fully formed visual ideas and stories.
Value purchase
If comic art is your thing, Comic Sketchbooks screams value at £24.95. A huge tome compiled by renowned design expert Steven Heller, the book takes a fascinating glimpse at unseen sketches from the likes of Bill Plympton, Posy Simmonds, Colonel Moutarde, Rian Hughes and many, many more.
Short profiles of the artist are offered next to full-page, beautifully presented sketchbook pages.
This book looks and feels gorgeous - down to its slightly rough paper stock and spot varnished cover. But the content is what really sells it.
Like Heller says: “Looking through artists’ sketchbooks is like viewing those artists naked through a picture window.” One for the coffee table and bookshelf. And a source of incredible inspiration.
Words: Steve Harnell
This review first appeared in Practical Photoshop magazine, the number one magazine for lovers of photography and image-editing.