Michael Wm. Kaluta Sketchbook
(1993 - Kitchen Sink Press)

Not to be confused with any of IDW's MICHAEL WM. KALUTA SKETCHBOOK SERIES seen below. This volume scores far better than them, and is recommended before them (with WINGS OF TWILIGHT, and ECHOES still scoring even better). The book is the smaller 7-by-10-inches and has 96 pages along with the painting on the cover. 74 of those are each large reproductions of single works, a good number in color (one pencil work splits across the book's central-gutter and fails from the distortion there). Many of the works may have *started* in his sketchbooks, but those have apparently been 'finished' by Kaluta and published afterward in the form that they are exhibited here - indeed, I recognize more than a handful from books they illustrated. Four other pages are text from the artist waxing poetic (& practical) about sketchbooks, pencils, erasers & a cat. His voice continues to be heard through choice bits of commentary inspired by several of the displays. Not much is captioned, but a single acknowledgement page in the rear does provide where some of the art was utilized. The remaining pages are the types of exercises you would expect to find in a sketchbook, frequently indistinct & indeterminable, along with pictures & designs from a production of Starstruck. There is some nudity to be found among the fantastical proceedings.