CLICK HERE FOR AUCTION LISTING!"Batman Animated" is a coffee table book by "Batman: The Animated Series" Producer/Story Editor/Writer Paul Dini and Chip Kidd, first published by Titan Books in 1998. The book features numerous sketches, storyboards, character designs, finished paintings and other material from the popular animated series and details Batman's development from series producer and co-creator Bruce Timm's early sketches to his eventual finished look in the series, as well as the newer designs Timm made for the follow-up series "The New Batman Adventures." Offered here is 19.25x24.25" framed display w/13.5x16.5" acetate sheet featuring 4-3/8x6-3/8" full body image of Batman (depicted as the character appears in "The New Batman Adventures") in mid leap. Cel has been framed in an almost shadowbox manner, w/fully painted original art bkg. showing a nighttime scene of Gotham City skyscrapers, including the gargoyle-adorned skyscraper Batman appears to have just leapt off of. Batman cel has been finished/painted by Bruce Timm himself and is a rare example as such, w/the only other cel work Timm may have worked on being the original proposal short for "Batman: The Animated Series." Both the cel and bkg. art were commissioned especially for "Batman Animated" and were featured on the rear endpapers of the book. Designer Chip Kidd explains further - "So, in 1997, when I was working on the 'Batman Animated' book, I quickly settled on the design for the front endpaper spread, which was a super-enlarged rough ink panel (silhouette of Batman jumping off a rooftop) from an early storyboard sketch that Bruce Timm had done years before. I liked that it was literally a 'jumping off' point for the book to get it all started. Since so much of the book is a deep exploration of the process of making the show, I featured a lot of examples of initial rough art/storyboards and then the finished art/frame shots that appeared on screen. I wanted the rear endpapers to echo this approach, but there was no finished art that corresponded to that particular initial rough sketch. So, I commissioned it - Bruce would do a finished/painted cell of Batman in mid-air, and two of the background artists, Keith Weesner and David McBride, drew and painted the background, respectively. The result was stunning, and provided the perfect 'To Be Continued' moment to lead the reader out of the book and onto further adventures. I purchased the art from the artists upon completion of the project, and framed it as if it were an actual cel set-up from the show. You really need to see it in person to appreciate how beautifully crafted it is." The entirety of the cel has been completely hand-done at the Warner Bros. animation studios, not overseas.Top/bottom corner edges of cel have strips of lt. dust soiling but o/w makes for an Exc. display. Visually stunning and a must for any Batman fan's collection. Comes w/signed copy of "Batman Animated" hardcover. From the collection of Chip Kidd, renowned author, graphic designer and pop culture enthusiast extraordinaire.
