Somebody else's sketchbook book

Gris Grimly (one of my favorite illustrators) decided to publish a book totally full of sketches he's made over a 13-year period. (Which 13-year period, I really don't know.) It's called Gris Grimly's Atrum Secretum: 13 Years of Hidden Truths, and will be available on Amazon October 1.

The book is beautiful, inspiring and discouraging all at once. Some of what he considers sketches I wouldn't be able to do on my best day. They make me want to do better at the same time they're punching me in the face and screaming there's really no hope.

Except for a title page, one end page explaining about the book, and copyright info just inside the end paper, the book is all about the sketches. The only text in the book was written when the sketches were drawn, so pages aren't filled with insight and analysis or whatever filler usually invades books like this.
 

I bought my copy directly from Gris, so mine is a little different than the one available on Amazon. (Mine looks like the one above.) In mine, he drew an original sketch on one of the pages before he sent it out (image to the right) and included a signed and numbered sketch coupon "certificate" to authenticate the drawing as original.

The Art of Tim Burton

Guess what I totally got for Christmas!

(Hint:)

(My family rocks!)

And as if my family doesn't rock enough, I actually received two (!) copies for Christmas! But those nice people at Steeles Publishing were great. They took back the extra copy even though it wasn't within their return time frame (of seven days!).

So I guess it's looking like Steeles Publishing rocks, too!

[Please check back in February to see what my replacement gift for the duplicate book turned out to be. Oh, yeah.]

I've managed to look through about half of the book so far, and it looks really, really sharp. I have to keep wiping the drool off the pages, but still. Lots of fold-outs of extra long pages when drawings come in a series that needs to stay together. Lots of sketches that weren't meant to be seen by human eyes. Lots and lots of inspiration. And drool.

(an example of one of those massive fold-outs)

One tiny problem might be the black linen cover which will definitely get dirty from all the fondling and which will definitely be impossible to keep clean. I made a dust jacket for mine out of an old sheet of black drawing paper that I decided I'm never going to draw on.

I'm a nerd, I know. But I'm a happy, happy nerd with an awesome book with massive fold-outs and drool warming my drawing desk. I've learned to deal with it.