A wise man once said, "Looking through an artist's sketchbook is like seeing that artist naked." With this brand-new series of hardcover books, Nerdcore is proud to undress some of pop art's most daring and original creators, beginning with Joe Ledbetter's Sketchbook. Like never before, fans will be welcomed into the creative process, warts and all. Each of the 184 pages in this volume was hand-selected by Mr. Ledbetter from various personal sketchbooks, dating back to 2003 when his now-iconic characters like Mr. Bunny were barely-recognizable scribbles. You'll be treated to character design experiments for creatures that never were, doodles for vinyl toys that still aren't, concepts for paintings that already are, and plenty of surprise smudges just because we can. It's a new kind of artistic intimacy.
184 Pages of Lots of Stuff.
Joe Ledbetter's Sketchbook is anything but polished, featuring raw and unfiltered images from the last six years of the artist's career, including:
+ Rough compositions for famous paintings + Mockups for collectible vinyl toys + Illustration concepts + Logo trials + Weird ideas + To-do lists + Random phone numbers + Smudges, fingerprints, moisture rings, ink splatter, and lots of other detritus of creativity about Joe Ledbetter.
Influenced by classic animation, graphic design, and daily life, Joe Ledbetter 's art is... well... a lot of things. Light-hearted in its approach, he often combines cute and cuddly creatures with unfortunate -- albeit humorous -- situations. With a lean on the subversive and absurd, these scenarios are all too familiar, questioning our tendency of taking life (and ourselves) too seriously.
While working as a graphic apparel artist for three years, Ledbetter got involved in the LA underground art scene, beginning with group shows like Cannibal Flower. By the summer of 2004, he had honed his trademark visual style of emblematic line-work, vibrant colors, and endearing characters to the point of quitting his day job. His incredible cast of creatures have since been emblazoned on over 100 designer vinyl toys, as well as apparel and lifestyle brands, the world over.
Each edition is hardcover bound and ecologically friendly, printed on premium 100% recycled paper.
184 pages; HARDCOVER; 7.25 x 10 inches, Hundreds of sketches!
