The other day I was lucky enough to find a copy of Skinner’s ‘Every Man Is My Enemy’ on my porch. For those of you that may not know who Skinner is below is a little piece from his about section on his site.

“Skinner is a self-taught artist from Sacramento, California who has meticulously crafted a balance of extraordinary mural work, mighty powerful wall to wall installations and a prolific commercial career. Influenced by 80’s pop culture, human struggle, myths and violence dungeons and dragons and the heavy metal gods, Skinner’s mind is one full of mayhem fueled by a calculated chaos.”

As for ‘Every Man is My Enemy’ it features much of Skinner’s work from the 2008-2011 time frame. This book includes gallery work, skate/snowboard designs, commercial work, and much much more. His awesome style is displayed inside a very nice hard cover and on very high quality thick paper. I really liked the quality of this book; Gingko Press did a really good job and produced really nice product.

What really works well with this book is how they used black backgrounds on a lot of the pages. The contrast between the background and Skinner’s art really helps the bright colors stand out on the page. Another thing I really liked about this book was the use of the metallic material for the title on the cover. (I’ve tried to showcase it below) This material and the bright colors will really make this book stand out either in the store or in your own collection. 

When looking through the pages of this book you can really appreciate the great amount of detail in Skinner’s work. It seems that almost every character has multiple layers. Whether it is the addition of clothing, veins, scales, or contrast there is always something that seems to be woven into his work. As I started to get pulled into the book I found myself looking deeper and deeper into each page.

Another nice feature is the addition of some of Skinners childhood drawings on inside both the front and rear covers.

If you are a fan of Skinner BUY THIS BOOK! If you have never heard of Skinner until now BUY THIS BOOK! This is a great collection for a fan that is looking to have a single place to view a lot of Skinner’s work. But, it is also a great place for anyone who is just learning about Skinner to really see a great overview of his stlye and different types of work.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You can pick up your own copy HERE for $29.95. But, if you are near Dragatomi you should head over Saturday (Feb 25th) from 1-3pm to meet Skinner. He will be meeting with his fans signing copies of the book!

-Travis