I fell in love with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy the first time I laid my eyes on the comic – the artwork was so distinct and the protagonist so unique it was hard not to be drawn in. This beautiful art book is a comprehensive collection of sketches, cover art, posters, select panels and some unreleased artwork spanning more than 10 years of work from the comic.
Mike Mignola’s artwork is deceptively blocky and simple, but they convey so much detail and depth with minimal lines. A lot of course, have to do with his masterful use of light and shadows. Hellboy’s eye sockets are almost always shrouded in darkness by the shadows cast from his deep forehead and filed horns – if you pay close attention to the Hellboy films you will notice that they had to digitally fill in those shadows to give Hellboy that distinct, mysterious look we have come to associate him with.
(above) Absolutely adore the amusing backstory on Hellboy’s love for “Pamcakes.”
The copy I own is the out of print hard cover edition, definitely one of my favourite and treasured art books. The purchase link below is for the soft cover edition, but you can still find the hard cover version for sale from some sellers.
“The Art of Hellboy” Art book details :
– Dimensions – 12.3 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
– 200 pages
Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan
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Hellboy Artist Edition – Mike Mignola Comic Review
The DC Universe Of Mike Mignola Comic Book Review
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Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Mike Mignola Graphic Novel Review
Hellboy : The First 20 Years Art Book Review
February 16th, 2011 at 4:57 am
i’m definitely going to throw an endorsement on this as well. i got into Hellboy when i was still a teenager, and i still love the comics. i wish Mike Mignola drew more outside of just doing covers these days. he is honestly one of the most talented American illustrators out there, but he also seems like one of the laziest these days. just give us more beautiful illustrations, Mike!!!!
February 16th, 2011 at 10:08 am
HELLBOY is straight up cool…
February 16th, 2011 at 10:43 am
I don’t know how you do it, but you always make me purchase the books that I have saved in the cart immediately after reading your posts.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Zack/FAUNA – Much agreed – more adventures of Hellboy, please !
Otto – *laughs* Good for you. :]