Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #782591 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

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

Customer Reviews

Inspiring Photographs, incredible artists
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!

Wow!
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.

Great for inspiration
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!