Month: July 2012

It’s always something. PHP (Personal Home Page) just upgraded their system in a way that made my online shop, the William Stout Bazaar, non-functional. You can’t see anything, you can’t buy anything (thanks, guys, for not making it retro-compatible).

Although there is never a great time for losing one’s website shop, this happened just as I had announced three new books (see previous post). A few orders got through, and I am filling them.

For those of you who haven’t ordered but were going to, you can always snail mail me a check at:
William Stout, Inc.
1468 Loma Vista Street
Pasadena, CA 91104-4709

The books are $15 each. Please add $6.00 shipping per order (that’s per order — not per book. In other words, if you order all three new books, the shipping will be just six bucks.).

Or, you can order my books on the net through my pals Bud Plant or Stuart Ng. They both are carrying the new volumes (plus a lot of my previous volumes). The front covers won’t be signed, though (although the inside front cover of every book is signed and numbered).

I’ll let you know when it’s all up and running again. My two genius sons tell me that it appears I’ll have to rebuild my entire website from scratch.

Aaaaaargh! as we say in the comics.

I prepared and published three brand new Terra Nova Press books in time for Comic-Con International. The first is William Stout – 50 Convention Sketches – Volume 18. There are actually more than fifty drawings in this book and is perhaps my most diverse sketchbook collection so far. It includes lots of new or rare monster drawings, movie poster studies, concept art, T-shirt designs and dinosaurs (of course!). There are even two drawings I did when I was just sixteen: a pen drawing illustrating a scene from Robert E. Howard’s “Red Nails” and a pen illustration for an Edgar Rice Burroughs story. Feel free to laugh!

Next up is Real Women Volume 3, my third figure drawing collection from my Sunday figure drawing workshop (also known as “Bill’s Church” by some participants or by my own term for the sessions: “Worshiping at the Temple of the Holy Female Form”). Over 75 drawings featuring a diverse range of beautiful women! I love every one of them — I hope it shows!

Last but by no means least is Zdenek Burian 2 – Prehistoric Man (sorry about the cover glare; it’s not actually seen on any of the books). This second volume by the Czech master illustrator collects over 120 black and white drawings (mostly pen, but also some scratchboard and charcoal drawings) of prehistoric man and his ancestors, never before seen in the United States.

This book is produced solely to expose more of Burian’s great pictures to art fans and collectors in the USA. Terra Nova Press lost money on the first book (Zdenek Burian 1 – Prehistoric Life) and it’s expected this book will lose even more (dinosaurs are so much more popular than cavemen). That’s OK by me — people need to see this great work!

This book includes a reminiscence on my 1980 attempt to meet Mr. Burian in his home city of Prague at the height of the Cold War. Was I successful? Was I arrested by the Secret Police? Read my essay and find out!

All three books are signed, numbered and limited and sell for the low price of just fifteen dollars each. They are available in the William Stout Bazaar section of this website.

Happy 4th of July, everyone! It’s my oldest son’s birthday and my oldest grandchild’s birthday today!

And isn’t it a bit strange how many American Presidents were born on the 4th of July?

I am spending most of today putting together three new sketchbooks to debut at Comic-Con International next week, as well as continuing the major reorganization and cleaning of my studio (it’s looking great, thanks to my friend Kris).

I hope to see a whole lot of you real soon!