Writer: Alex Toth and Darrel McNeilArtist: Alex Toth
Publisher: Saga Pix/Gold Medal Productions
Price: $24.95 (Out of Print)
Format: TPB Softcover
Includes: Animation conceptual drawings, turnarounds, storyboards, essays, and commentary about the animation field.
Alex Toth and Darrell McNeil in 1996 published Alex Toth by Design. The book collected 350 model sheets that Alex Toth had done over the course of his career in animation.
Unfortunately, because they never obtained the rights to use copyrighted material, like Superman, Batman, Herculoids, etc., the book was discontinued with only a limited print run.
Currently, you can find copies of the book on Ebay, but be prepared to pay a very high price ranging from $125 to $250.
This book is a wealth of knowledge, personality and insight to Alex Toth and the world of Hanna- Barbera cartoons.
I have only seen this book because a co-worker owns a copy. I have, on several occasions, tried to buy a copy on Ebay but to no avail.
I hope one day that a publisher will see the value in doing the legal leg work necessary to get this book reprinted and in the hands of Toth fans.
This book is a MUST HAVE for Alex Toth and 1970's Hanna- Barbera Superhero fans.
Here is an index of the book...
pin-up: BATMAN (1)
TV Cartoons (10)
Toth biography
prod. art: The Angry Red Planet storyboards (6)
prod. art: Jonny Quest modelsheets (5)
prod. art: Space Ghost modelsheets (10)
prod. art: Three Musketteers storyboards (9)
prod. art: Three Musketteers modelsheets (1)
prod. art: Space Ghost modelsheets (1)
prod. art: Dino Boy modelsheets (1)
prod. art: Herculoids modelsheets (1)
prod. art: for Ruby-Spears (90)
presentation art: for H-B (28)
text by AT: Alex in Wander-Land (9)
(illustrated with designs for Hot Wheels, Sky Hawks and others)
prod. art: Sea Lab storyboards (4)
prod. art: Sea Lab modelsheets (20)
prod. art: Oliver Twist modelsheets (6)
prod. art: Josie and the Pussycats modelsheets (10)
prod. art: Lost in Space modelsheets (2)
prod. art: Super Friends modelsheets (16)
presentation art: for Super Friends (1)
prod. art: Super Friends storyboards (16)
prod. art: Super Friends modelsheets (21)
prod. art: Super Friends storyboards (18)
(storyboards for a complete episode)
prod. art: Thundarr designs (5)
prod. art: Bionic 6 modelsheets (50)
assorted art for the studios (11)
text by AT: About the authors (text w/illos and doodles) ibc (1)
(illo rep. SAN DIEGO CON PROGRAM 1972)
4 comments:
I was lucky enough to snag this book years ago when it first appearaed in the solicitaion in Diamond's catalog. When it came in, one of the employees actually wanted it, but unfortunately on him, I was friends with the comic shop owner. Great resource with so much learning material inside. :)
That's a lot of Bionic Six! Is it of the main Bionic/Scarab team? Or is this all the background characters? I might plunk down the money if it's the latter.
Followup question, how much overlap does this Bionic Six collection have with "Genius, Animated"? I own Genius, Animated, but I'm very tempted to buy the $200+ copy of In Design if it has more Bionic Six production art...
I own this book, having just casually purchased it off the shelf from a comic book store when I saw it for sale. It's such a great resource, I use it for inspiration and reference often, for both "tech" design (it's not often mentioned, but Toth was good at this) and especially character design--one beef against some artists and cartoonists is that they often draw only one generic character "types," especially in backgrounds, but Toth was so good at capturing a variety of facial and body types that also conveyed personality and character. It wasn't until sometime in the last decade did I learn that this book was rare, having been taken off the market for using copyrighted material without permission. So I definitely feel fortunate to have this as part of my extensive Alex Toth collection!
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