NEW🔥Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta MINI VERSION! (40th edition) book comparison with the XXL

[@ahmeteminerdogan9266]

Thanks for comparison. This was the most comprehensive Frazetta book and I always wanted to have it but it was too expensive. Now thanks to Taschen it is affordable, I also have their Masterpieces of Fantasy Art which was well worth the price.

[@SketchedbySte]

Thanks for commenting! I am always so tempted by the masterpieces of fantasy art, I like the look of a lot of it, and them some bits probably not so bothered by, I think the main reason I didn't get it in the end was space! I am still tempted to pick it up though haha

[@ahmeteminerdogan9266]

@@SketchedbySte Well Taschen one is really good for it's price, I guess there are near 400 illustrations. It includes some very old fantasy paintings from artists that were not given a proper section in the book. Some artists they included could have been replaced by some more fitting ones I think. Ken Kelly could be there, Bernie Wrightson's only two illustrations are there. They should have had their own sections.

[@SD-oe6vv]

Man thanks so much for explaining this, I saw the same book on Amazon with 2 edition but could not figure it out why one is $30 and another is $200 and hence here on your video. Mini edition look like size of hand palm? would it be ok as reference book? or go with large size?

[@SketchedbySte]

Hey, great question! I always thought it was weird when I have found some of Taschens other books twice on Amazon and it didn't make sense to me, so it would be easier is they just called it the mini edition of something haha. I would say it's a fair bit bigger than a hand palm still. It's roughly 21 cm x 15 cm (8.5" x 6") and that's the measurement of the pages, the cover is a touch bigger. I am really fussy about the quality of reference I use i.e is it too small etc, so I wondered the exact same thing! In fact that's pretty much the main reason I bought it. I think for the most part it is, but some images are smaller on the page than others, so maybe not all of it will be ideal. It also depends what you are studying. For example thumbnailing and colour theory even the smaller images would be fine. All in all I think it's a pretty worthwhile purchase when you consider the price! Hope that helps and thanks for watching!

[@Ian-z8p3f]

Great video! I know you’ve shown a lot of Frazetta books on your channel so I was wondering, does this book contain the majority of his work from his other smaller books? I’m thinking about getting the big book

[@SketchedbySte]

Great question! This is one thing I wondered myself a lot before purchasing the book, and if I am being honest I am still unsure - there are so many Frazetta books, which all seem to have a decent overlap, that I have struggled to go through them all to compare. I definitely think that this is the most 'complete' one I have found so far, at least of his finished paintings ( compared to the Frazetta sketchbooks for example, which of course contain more sketches as opposed to paintings). But I am definitely struggling to decide which are missing - probably not very helpful sorry! Hopefully some other Frazetta fans in the comments might have an opinion on this too. Thanks for watching

[@Ian-z8p3f]

@@SketchedbySte That’s ok haha. I think I’m going to go ahead and get this one. It seems to be widely regarded as the most definitive Frazetta art book from the reviews I’ve seen. Thanks for your reply!

[@RoniRodriguez1]

I know this is unrelated to this video, but do you have any recommendations for perspective books? I already know the basics; right now I'm looking for books that teach how to construct environments to create scenes with characters.

[@SketchedbySte]

Hey, I got this exact comment twice, so I am assuming it was you that asked on a different account? If so, see other reply :)

[@disfortunate]

amazing video!!

[@SketchedbySte]

Thank you!

[@AFANartist]

Having just bought and compared this "compact" edition to the content of the first XXL version (thanks to a long video showcasing all the pages) I've found out that some drawings and paintings have been left out. Despite they would have occupied just a dozen more pages (keeping the total amount below the 512 pages limit of the 40th series,) Taschen decided to make them exclusive to the bigger format. It confirms once again the same editorial policy followed for previous smaller reprints. That's a little bit disappointing since I was really hoping to get a faithful reproduction of the large book to use as an "almost" definitive reference catalogue.

[@SketchedbySte]

@@AFANartist ah man that's a real shame - I bet that took quite a lot of watching videos to check that many pages/ painting accurately! I have hearted your comment so that hopefully other people can see, in case it helps their decision. Thanks for sharing the info with us. It does seem a shame that they haven't included the missing few for the amount of pages extra they would need. Are you going to keep it or send it back?

[@AFANartist]

​@@SketchedbySte Aside from some missing content, the overall quality is good, even though certain images seem to be darker and lack the color vibrance and details of the larger book (some paintings edges have been recut to fit the pages but that's not an actual drawback). Though I would have appreciated an editorial note at the end of the book mentioning the missing artworks and/or explaining the reason behind leaving them out. All in all, since the XXL format is still too expensive, this one will probably remain my main Frazetta reference book. I really hope Taschen won't apply again this editorial policy to the upcoming trade edition of "Stanley Kubrick The Shining" (the first collector's edition was simply too big and unaffordable).

[@AFANartist]

I'm glad the 40th edition version still contains the same content of the first mammoth edition. I think it's because the amount of text and images included in the first one occupies just 468 pages, that's far less than the standard 512 pages limit of the 40th series. Indeed, I've noticed that it isn't always the case when it comes to Taschen more affordable reprints: the resized version of the 620 pages "Walt Disney Film Archives" lacks quite a lot of images from the XXL edition, while strangely including some illustrations printed in different layouts with details left out in the bigger edition. By the way, I wonder where you found your copy. Even though it's listed as available on Taschen website since the end of September, many retailers don't ship it before the end of October.

[@SketchedbySte]

Wow 620 pages that's nuts! I bet that book is difficult to even open!? This is the first 40th edition I have owned. I just got my copy on Amazon, but I did notice the date kept changing too, it may also depend where you are based, I think I got mine on the UK Amazon - amzn.to/482ySrG

[@dragon_fruit3665]

Thanks for sharing

[@SketchedbySte]

My pleasure, thanks for watching!

[@DennisCNolasco]

For art books, I'll always prefer the larger size, although they are pricey.

[@SketchedbySte]

Yeah no doubt the quality is always going to be better on the bigger ones, but you make a good point about price. The XXL version of Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta retails here for about 150, where as the smaller book is only around 20-25. The XXL Frazetta book is definitely the largest book I own though and I must admit, it's too big to be 'usable' for me haha - still love having it though! Do you have this one?

[@DennisCNolasco]

@@SketchedbySte No, I have a couple other Frazetta books already. Maybe I'll consider it for Christmas.

[@koyomineko8655]

Awesome！

[@SketchedbySte]

Glad you like it! :)

[@LilituLitu]

I love the small one! I have too many large art books lol

[@SketchedbySte]

I have too many art books period😂 It is a pretty cool edition to own though I must admit!

[@lost_sounds_]

I got the big format book and I returned it. I was disappointed by the use of AI upscaling on some B&W sketches from the first chapters. Normal people will not notice but for some, it's annoying as you can see the AI artifacts. It's a shame as the rest of the color chapters look great.

[@SketchedbySte]

@@lost_sounds_ very interesting thanks for sharing! I must admit I hadn't noticed it myself either but I have the bigger one packed away almost more of a collectors item, so I'll probably end up using the smaller one more in terms of flicking through it. Hopefully being smaller it might not have the issue (or maybe won't be as noticable?) Thanks for watching

[@cgc008]

Nothing special. Too many black and white pages. The one is too big; the one is too small.

[@SketchedbySte]

Yeah that's fair. As mentioned in the video, I'm not huge personally on the black / white comics and the text heavy intros, so I do agree that a book somewhere in the middle, let's say A4, with half the pages, but just fully gallery images / art work, would be the ideal book for me, and at a price point mid way too. Although black and white pages in general are not an issue for me on the bigger illustrations as I really like Franks inking work and pencils. Thanks for watching!

[@serlymarton]

@@SketchedbySte exactly my same thougts : one is too small for enjoying the pictures and full of white texted pages or black borders, other is too big and hard to balance in your hand/lap while reading. I've bought the big one for 100 instead of 150 EUR, but I am still close to regret since the small contains the same content for 1/4 the price and easier to store or held in hand if not laying flat open - anyway as popular it is, I guess I can easily sell the big one if I want to. Thank you for the comparison and the video!

[@SketchedbySte]

@@serlymarton Yeah somewhere in the middle, middle ground price too, would have been ideal right!? That being said.. When you have the big one in hand, something about it is pretty epic I must admit, the quality really is top notch! It sounds like you got it at a pretty good price though, so like you said, if you change your mind you could probably get the full amount back ( maybe even make some profit on it to be honest! ) as I haven't seen them go low at all even pre owned! Thanks for watching

[@incognitoman4400]

I know this is unrelated to this video, but do you have any recommendations for perspective books? I already know the basics right now I'm looking for books that teach how to construct environments to create scenes with characters.

[@SketchedbySte]

Placing characters into space / perspective / scenes is something I am always on the lookout for, because I think a lot of perspective books seem to lack organic objects ad information like that ( although they probably expect you to convert it into a box and figure it out, but I would still like to see organic examples ). There are plenty of great perspective books like the Scott Robertson How to Draw book that people love, but for me it's a little too ..calculated? or technical, I'm not sure. I prefer something like the Dongho Kim space drawing book (see review - kzbin.info/www/bejne/amWwmYGCh9aYbas) because it keeps things quite simple and appeals to me more in that it does not require you to get out a ruled and be accurate, but teaches more about freehand. I think books like Peter Hans drawing bible might also be similar and have chapters on perspective that could be helpful. Another one that comes to mind is Sorie Kims new book (video here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHvYgKysg6uAmbM) And last of all, the TomFox draws book is quite good at learning and understanding the shapes of organic figures in perspective, although I don't think he places them into scenes - kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4CTk32Pa95-oqs Almost forgot about this one as it's pretty old now, but I do remember a lot of helpful info in here, general perspective and some about characters - kzbin.info/www/bejne/m17chWupZdSqgac Hopefully some of that helps!

[@incognitoman4400]

@@SketchedbySte Thank you for the reply. I'll watch all those reviews. Before seeing this comment, I ordered the book "Framed Perspective, Volume 1" by Marcos Mateu-Mestre that's yet to arrive. He also has a book on drawing environments called "Framed Environment Design" that's releasing in December. Maybe you might be interested.

[@SketchedbySte]

@@incognitoman4400 Thanks for sharing! I have a framed ink book, it's very highly rated, but i haven't read the framed perspective books yet, I know they are also reviewed quite highly on amazon so I keep meaning to check them out! Framed environment design sounds interesteing - I had no idea there was a new book coming out so i will take a look now thank you!