Look up “Toy Photography” in an encyclopedia and I’m pretty sure you’ll see a picture of Brian McCarty. Brian takes amazing photos of toys in physical environments that capture and bring out their essence and personalities. After a long development period, Brian’s new ‘Art-Toys’ hardcover (240 pgs) from Baby Tattoo books collects his sweet toy photos as well as the process that goes into transporting the viewer into the toy’s world.
In addition to the standard edition ($40), there’s also a very nice special edition ($95). The special edition comes with a swanky clear slip-cover, a title-free cover (very cool) and the title page is signed by a large number of the artists whose toys are featured in the book.
I recently had the pleasure of dropping by the Switcheroo Workshop for a mass signing of the Special Edition with several artists including Bob Dob, Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden, Amanda Visell, Scott Tolleson, Yoskay Yamamoto, Luke Chueh, Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins, and Craig Anthony Perkins to name a few. Spread across several stations, each artist made their way through signing all 600 SE books.
When you look through the photos of the signing, you’ll no doubt notice the books with doodles on the covers. These are the artist-customized ‘misfit’ copies. Basically a small percentage of the 600 Special Edition books have covers that were damaged in shipping. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and when life mars the cover of an awesome art book, you cover the defects with what else, more awesome art! Where do you get the misfit copies ? At SDCC in the Baby Tattoo booth (#) Another thing you’ll likely notice is the couple of books that have serious doodling on the title page. Consider it an amazing bonus for a few lucky collectors.
Speaking of SDCC, Brian will be signing ‘Art-Toys’ throughout the convention. Here’s the full run-down:
Baby Tattoo Books (booth #601) – Wednesday @ 5pm, Friday @ 1pm, and Saturday @ 1pm
Hi Fructose (booth #4939) – Thursday @ 4pm, Sunday @ Noon
In addition to the two booths above, books will also be available at STRANGEco (booth #4629) in limited quantities.
That site for Craig Anthony Perkins (since he is the only one you didn’t link to) is http://www.genshi.com/