Al Williamson Sketchbook

For fifty years, Al Williamson has epitomized artistic integrity. From his collaborations with Hogarth, Frazetta, Krenkel, Wood and Torres, to his award-winning Flash Gordon, often imitated Warren Magazines, to his classic Star Wars and Secret Agent newspaper strip art, Williamson's adventurous romantic work has consistently elevated the art of the comic strip to the level of Golden Age illustration and museum quality fine art. Vanguard Productions started publishing periodicals in 1991. The Al Williamson Sketchbook (1998) is Vanguard's landmark, first publication in the book format.

Arts & Photography

Individual Artists

Vanguard Productions

Al Williamson is a legendary fifty year veteran comic-book and adventure-strip artist. Williamson has glorified E.C.'s Weird Science, won awards for his Flash Gordon, and Marvel-ous inking, inspired a generation of imitators with his Creepy and Eerie magazine work, and has been universally recognized as the truly classic Star Wars comics artist. Williamson's sketches are the closest thing the artist has produced to traditional fine art. They are in many ways his purest work. The Al Williamson Sketchbook is the only major collection of these works. The book spans the artist's most intimate musings, revealing hundreds of unpublished works dating from his years of collaboration with Frazetta, Krenkel, Wood and Torres, through all the classic Williamson subjects: dinosaurs, alien landscapes, fantastic ruined cities, exotic women, Star Wars, and swashbuckling swordplay. J. David Spurlock is an illustrator, publisher, and historian of popular culture.

Legendary Batman and X-Men artist Neal Adams said, "If you're interested in getting to the thought process that has gone into the work that I have done, this could be just the sketchbook that does it for you. Here, if you like, you can climb down into my mind. Just watch the first step, it's a doosey." Vanguard enlisted Arlen Schumer to help compile the Adams Sketchbook. Schumer has proven to be a top Adams historian, following his definitive, Neal Adams: the DC Years for Comic Book Marketplace and his, Neal Adams: the Marvel Years for Comic Book Artist magazine.

Neal Adams: The Sketch Book

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Jeffrey Jones Sketchbook

Beautiful pen and ink sketches by renowned artist Jeffrey Jones, with a sprinkling of his painted work interspersed throughout. Interior is black and white, with rich color dust-jacket. Compiled with the help of George Pratt and David Spurlock, with an intro by Michael Friendlander. Includes a conversation with Jeffrey Jones and George Pratt.

Spurlock, J. David

Pratt, George

Beautiful pen and ink sketches by renowned artist Jeffrey Jones, with a sprinkling of his painted work interspersed throughout. Interior is black and white, with rich color dust-jacket. Compiled with the help of George Pratt and David Spurlock, with an intro by Michael Friendlander. Includes a conversation with Jeffrey Jones and George Pratt.

History & Price Guides

The John Buscema Sketchbook spans the career of well-known Marvel Comics artist and art teacher, John Buscema. Hundreds of vintage, new and unpublished drawings are included. Also featured is an introduction by comic book creator, illustrator, filmmaker, and pop-culture historian Jim Steranko. The John Buscema Sketchbook is a valuable addition to the collection of comic book and Conan the Barbarian enthusiasts and is also of unique interest for aspiring artists. This deluxe, hardcover, limited edition of the John Buscema Sketchbook was hand-signed by the late Mr. Buscema and features a 14-page bonus portfolio, absent from other editions. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

John Buscema Sketchbook: Deluxe

John Buscema Sketchbook (Popular Artist Sketchbook Series)

Bucema, John

Nick Cardy has been a cartoonist and illustrator for over 50 years. Spanning the Golden Age to the present, Cardy's career began in 1939 with the Eisner/Iger shop, which produced the "Spirit" newspaper supplement, "Plastic Man" comic books and more. Cardy went on to illustrate newspaper strips, including "Tarzan", and enjoyed a 25 year association with DC Comics before moving on to magazine and movie poster illustration. As well as being one of DC Comics' top Batman and Superman cover artists, fans remember that in the 1960s, Nick helped define comics' Silver Age with sequential artwork on "Aquaman", "Teen Titans", and "Bat Lash". The artist's contributions to the comic book industry earned him the prestigious "Ink Pot Award" for Outstanding achievement. Cardy did occasional non-comics illustration work throughout the decades in which he focused primarily on comic books and strips. But in 1975 the artist decided to focus on illustration, particularly movie and television work. Some of the properties he worked on include "Bad News Bears", "Return of the Pink Panther", "Meatballs II", "California Suite", and even "Apocalypse Now". This volume offers an exploration of Cardy's art.

The Art of Nick Cardy

Coates, John

Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, Father of the Adventure Strip

Award-winning illustrated biography of Hal Foster, in which author Brian M. Kane examines the 70-year career of one of the greatest illustrators of the 20th century. Superman was modelled after Foster's drawings of Tarzan, Flash Gordon's Alex Raymond borrowed compositions from Foster's Prince Valiant, and many artists, including the famous contemporary Western painter James Bama, who contributed the foreword, count Foster among their greatest influences.

Brian M. Kane

After a noteworthy career with "Superman", "Indiana Jones" and "Deadly Foes of Spiderman", the work of well-known, veteran, comic-book artist Kerry Gammill mysteriously disappeared from the pages of "Superman" and "X-Men". This volume reveals the reason for Gammill's exodus - to fulfil a life-long desire to work on monster films. He has been working as a conceptual artist on film and television projects which include "Stephen King's Storm of the Century" TV mini-series, "Virus" (1999), "Species II" (1998), "Can of Worms" (TV 1999), Dean Koontz's "Phantoms" (1998), "Stargate SG-1" TV series, and "The Outer Limits" TV series. In this volume Gammill takes us behind the scenes on the very important but little-known world of film conceptual art with a focus on designing creatures for action films. This is not just a "how to" book, but also Gammill's autobiographic career retrospective, filled with art and anecdotes about his years at Marvel, DC and Hollywood.

Drawing Monsters & Heroes for Film & Comics

Gammill, Kerry

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Vanguard Productions publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vanguard Productions

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Vanguard Productions publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Al Williamson Sketchbook

Al Williamson Sketchbook

Neal Adams: The Sketch Book

Jeffrey Jones Sketchbook

Jeffrey Jones Sketchbook

John Buscema Sketchbook: Deluxe

John Buscema Sketchbook (Popular Artist Sketchbook Series)

The Art of Nick Cardy

Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, Father of the Adventure Strip

Drawing Monsters & Heroes for Film & Comics