Books I'm getting for April 2009

STEAMBOT Studios is finally releasing their first art book called Exodyssey: Visual Development of an epic adventure by Steambot Studios. They have created concept art for big name clients including EA, Ubisoft, Disney, Hasbro etc. They are into concept design, 3D asset development, matte painting, high-end illustration, consulting and seminars.

To get a feel of what's to come in their art book, just check out their gallery at www.steambotstudios.com. They also have a blog at steambotstudios.blogspot.com.

This is one art book I'm pretty excited to get.

Below's a video interview with STEAMBOT Studios. Oh, they are a 5-man team, currently. Pretty amazing considering the amount of work they have done.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I've been raving about The Art of Tekkon Kinkreet few days ago. I'm just blown away by the details in the background painting, you can see some scans I found online. Online, it's available on Amazon Japan.

Zits is one of my favourite newspaper comic strip. I've all previous Treasuries as well. Jerry Scott (wiki) is the creator of Baby Blues and co-creator of Zits. The illustrator is Jim Borgman (wiki).

This is The Alchemy of Animation by Don Hahn. Don Hahn (born 1955 in Chicago) is a film producer who has produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years.

You can get a preview of this book at his homepage, donhahn.com

Links: Don Hahn homepage | Don Hahn on wikipedia

Archetype is Timothy Bradstreet's new art book. His blog can be found at timbradstreet.typepad.com.

Here's the product description from Amazon:

Desperado is proud to present a retrospective volume devoted to the entire career of one of today's most popular artists, Tim Bradstreet. This book offers readers and fans a chance to witness his immense and phenomenal career from the early days to the present, offering glimpses of previously never-before-seen material from his files and sketchbooks, his enormously popular comic work, art from his career in movie design and posters, his gaming illustrations, as well as beautifully reproduced images of his personal favorites with insights into his life and creative process.

Just wanting to read about how sci-fi art has evolved.

The Art of Alex Nino. There are some preview pages here, but not much.

Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics From the Ground Up

100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures. The artist here is Francis Tsai.

This is a fantasy art annual that was published in 2008. By the way, results for Spectrum 16 are out. To find out who the winning artists and the full list of artists that will be appearing in the book, check here and here respectively.

How to Make Webcomics.

The Art of the Video Game. This time round, I will get this book. I've postponed buying this book for the longest time.

I'm also helping a friend at ordering the following books. He runs a political cartoon blog relating to Singapore and can be read at seijieiga.blogspot.com

Of particular note, I want to highlight the two books called Drawn to Life Vol 1 and 2. They are instantly on my shopping list when I first read it on Hans Bacher's blog.

Press release from Don Hahn:

I am so pleased to announce that for the first time ever, we have assembled all of Walt Stanchfield’s amazing handout notes and lectures into a two volume collection titled, DRAWN TO LIFE - 20 GOLDEN YEARS OF DISNEY MASTER CLASSES. Walt was an animator, trainer, mentor and coach for decades at Disney and helped breathe life into the new golden age of animation with his teachings. He influenced such talented artists as Tim Burton, Brad Bird, John Musker, Glen Keane, Andreas Deja and John Lasseter.

To me, DRAWN TO LIFE is one the strongest primers on animation ever written. The material spares no detail on the craft of animation, but also digs deep into the artistic roots of animation. It is a publication that has been anticipated for many years by every artist and student that Walt ever came in contact with. It has been a labor of love for me and I am so proud that Walt’s teachings will live on in these two volumes.

You can also view a trailer at donhahn.com and very soon, this trailer will be available on focalpress.com and amazon.com. Both volumes will be available in bookstores on March 27.

American Presidents

Dungeon 2: Twilight: Armageddon (v. 2)

Miss Don't Touch Me