The Artist Within [Hardcover]

Greg Preston (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2007

The culmination of more than fifteen years of photography by renowned photographer Greg Preston, this book is a living history of the men and women who have shaped the imaginations of countless millions of people around the world through their work in the fields of animated cartoons, comic books, comic strips and editorial cartooning. The list of more than two hundred artists includes such luminaries as Frank Miller, Al Hirschfeld, Joe Barbera, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Moebius, Walter and Louise Simonson and many more, all in photographs exclusive and shot expressly for this book.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For 15 years Preston has been photographing cartoonists in their natural habitats, the studios in which they work. Revealing the faces behind the familiar drawings, Preston aims his lenses at artists engaged in virtually every realm of cartooning, including superhero comics (Alex Ross, Todd McFarlane); newspaper strips (Cathy Guisewite, Berke Breathed); alternative and underground comics (R. Crumb, the Hernandez brothers); and animation (Chuck Jones, Joseph Barbera). The best portraits capture the spirit of the subjects' work. Mad mainstay Sergio Aragones is surrounded by toy figurines. Loopy caricaturist Arnold Roth's mug sports a wacky grin. Art Spiegelman, known for his formal mastery of the comics medium, looks dead serious. The studio of gritty urban realist Frank Miller looks out on a brick wall. Most welcome are valedictory portraits of titans in the comics field who have passed on since Preston photographed them, including Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Carl Barks. Fans of cartooning and of photographic portraiture should enjoy Preston's evocative images of these often-reclusive figures in their working sanctums. Flagg, Gordon

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 1 edition (July 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593075618
• ISBN-13: 978-1593075613
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 12.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Photographs, incredible artists, September 4, 2007

By 

Keelan Parham "Professional Cartoonist" (Orlando, Fl United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Artist Within (Hardcover)

As an artist myself, I am always fascinated to see the working environments of other artists. This book shows a ton of them. It's a huge, over sized book filled with gorgeous photos. I highly recommend it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, December 12, 2006

By 

J. Thomas Peterson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Artist Within (Hardcover)

I've seen the draft of this book and all I can say is I can hardly wait to get a copy that I can linger over for more than an hour. The author did an incredible job compiling the biographies and his photography of the artists themselves is masterful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for inspiration, November 23, 2008

By 

R. Hirt (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Artist Within (Hardcover)

The Artist Within is a great coffee table book, whenever visitors come over they love to look at it. I mainly bought the book because I was looking for inspiration. It's neat to see what successful artists studios look like. When buying the book, I was disappointed that the photos were black & white. However I changed my mind once I saw it in person, it really brings out the details. I was hopping for more in depth interviews of each artist. Most descriptions are about one to two paragraphs. There is a lot of white space on the intro pages. However I'm pretty satisfied with the book because of the large amount of people are in it!