Product-Review: The Art of Huck Gee (Published by Presto Publishing)

Clocking in at over 150 pages, is this handsome 6" x 9" book featuring the customs, production toys, and art of US-based Huck Gee, and this book "The Art Of Huck Gee" is by far the most inspiring of publication notions an individual artist could have (and hope to have), IMHO. (The above-two Gold Life-Dunnys are mine and did not come with the book lol)


Beyond featuring "commercially released" custom toys and production figurines, the contents of this book works as a record and a visual retrospective of what has gone on thru the artist's work-life thus far. From production turnaround drawings, to custom one-offs, to pop-cultural genre works (like the Hello Kitty and The Vader Project customs) to even bootlegs, the book shows ALL, and (to me) a testament of "planning", from the first click of the camera for that hi-res image, to keeping records of the drawings. Nothing seems wasted here, and everything is showcased.


Another aspect I like about this book, is the sheer lack of commentary by Huck himself, for the toy-work he has done, and frankly, I appreciated that, as my attention is focused purely on the eye-candy that laid within the pages before me. Paul Budnitz of Kidrobot picks up the 'slack' by providing the forward, and the tagline; "Huck Gee is the best custom toy artist on the planet", and you know what? A tangible product like this book in-hand, helps deter any doubts anyone coming into this might have - simply by flipping the page (versus the need to log on the computer and check out the website for snaps).


Published by Presto Publication, the Red-cover edition shown here (which I had received from The Baroness - thanks!) is the "Regular Edition" (edition size unknown at this time), while there is a White-cover Edition utilized for his book-signing tour (Limited to 800 pieces and priced at US$35 each). If you're looking for the White-edition, do check with the stores he had signed with for the tour for availability (Check here for posted locales) and do check with your fave retailers for price and availability of the Red-Edition.

Check out more snaps of the interior pages HERE on my FB-album (do not worry, I am not giving too much away here ;p). Do yourselves a favor, and pick this up - be it as an art toy-lover and collector, or an artist aspiring to publish your own book of works someday, as these are pretty inspiring indeed, IMHO.