NEW GOGOS BOOK DUE NEXT MONTH!

"This book is a loving tribute to all of Basil’s fans. They love the Monsters, this is for them,"

-Linda Touby

When I saw the ad in the MONSTERS IN MOTION newsletter, I thought it was just a second printing of the book that had come out a few years ago. Boy, was I surprised when I starting reading about it, and come to find out it's a brand new book on the art of Basil Gogos!

Now, any reader of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, especially during its first 191-issue run, who doesn't recognize the name, Basil Gogos, should crawl right back under their respective rock along with the rest of the coelenterates.

Simply put, Basil Gogos is the face of FM. Sure, it was Warren's and FJA's brainchild, but it was the iconic  cover images created by Gogos that drew Monster Kids by the thousands to grab each and every issue off the stands, sight unseen. After all, with covers like these, how could there be anything wrong with the inside?

Gogos' fire-bright color palette of monsters literally jumped out at you, and it was not long that he was identified as the FM artist.

So, we all celebrated a few years ago when Vanguard published "Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos", which at the time, promised to be the ultimate collection of Gogos' work. What was missing, though, was a good look at his painting techniques and rough sketches that became finished products.

It seems like this wish will be granted next month, when FantaCo Enterprises releases a new book of Gogos art, "The Monster Art of Basil Gogos", written by his wife, Linda Touby. An artist herself, she shared studio space with Basil and was well-versed in his creative process.

Deluxe leather-bound edition.

Here's information from the publisher:

An exquisite, super deluxe softcover, full color collection of Basil Gogos' wonderful monster sketches, illustrations and paintings! Over 200 lavish pages of rare art compiled and annotated by Basil's long time life partner, Linda Touby. Shipping late August 2019.

This softcover book is like nothing you have ever seen before. We will show you the careful steps Basil took to prepare his famous paintings. The art comes from Basil's private studio files and almost nothing has been seen before.

Each book will be carefully packaged and shipped in a specially designed book box to prevent any damage.

Linda let us know from the beginning, "this book is for the fans." As well as being Basil's wife, Linda, is also an artist, they shared a studio, created, worked and traveled together. She generously provided full access to the studio, in New York City's upper west side, and many insights to Basil's life and his artistic process we have included here. Linda lovingly tells the story of when she first met Basil - she wasn't yet aware of his work with Jim Warren. Basil was disillusioned with the industry and wasn't doing monster work anymore. It wasn’t until she attended a convention appearance with him (one he had to be talked into) that she realized the effect Basil's work had on generations of horror fans. "They loved his monster paintings and they loved Basil," Linda told us. Helping Basil return to painting and drawing monsters, reconnecting him to his fans, and giving us many more years of his art, is something she should be credited with.

Hardbound edition.

What this book is:

What we set out do initially, was to show the sketches, drawings and paintings that had not been seen before, or that may have not been yet collected. It became so much more. As we began to pour over the immense body of Basil's work at the studio he shared with Linda, several things became apparent. The first was that there was a massive amount of art, and a process to its creation. As we learned, Basil seldom did anything half way when it came to his art. There were sketches, overlays on vellum and tracing paper, and incredible drawings done on paper napkins. "I am still finding these drawings he would do on a napkin, or a receipt, in his coat pockets." Linda explains. Often, Basil worked and reworked the art, and more than a few paintings were discarded before he considered it up to his standards. "Basil would never paint the same thing twice, even when working on a commission of one of his classic Famous Monster covers. He would change some aspect of the painting to make it clear that he was not repeating himself." Linda explained. He was an original who would not stop evolving, either In content or style. This added another layer of complexly to compiling a book of Basil's work.

The second thing that became clear in putting together this book, was that Basil painted and drew  certain monsters a lot. It is evident when you look through this book, which ones were his favorites. Karloff's Frankenstein's monster, Bela Lugosi's Dracula, followed by Lon Chaney, Jr.'s Wolfman, the classic Universal monsters. lt became clear that to organize Basil’s art for this book, we would have to do it by the monster. Digging through the many versions, starting with his favorites and working our way through them. Uncovering multiple variations of the same drawing or painting, we put them together to give you a side-by-side comparison of how the art progressed and was changed, moved or deleted. One of the things we did not know when we began to compile the material for the book, was that Basil worked a lot with tracings to get a profile, figure, shadow and even the colors just right. Today's artists use layers, effects, and digital painting programs to get a desired result. Basil's method often was using tracing paper until he got what he was looking for in his subject. What we have done is to show the tracings and buildups with the paintings, in some cases right on the paintings, to take you into Basil’s process. We can never truly know what Basil's thoughts were while creating, but we have the physical drawings that he left behind. By arranging them, together we can gleam how he got there.

What this book is not:

You only have Google Basil Gogos to view thousands of images of his finished work on magazine
covers, CD's, T-shirts, posters. books collecting cover paintings and the paintings so many of us know
and love. This book is not one of those. We set out to show the process behind the master artist, a view behind the scenes of the art. Creation is often a messy process, and some of the art included is unfinished, written on, folded or torn pieces of paper with stains on them. This is the process we wanted to show, the work behind an iconic painter, the messy creations and the process behind one of the great artists of our times.

Order your advance copy HERE.