The Art of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

by Jim Sorenson

Blasting into theaters the summer of 2023, Teenage Mutant Ninja Mutant Mayhem is a completely new take on the heroes in a half shell. This volume offers an in-depth look at the unique designs and stunning visuals that make up this fresh spin on a classic franchise!

Includes character designs and turnarounds, vehicle concepts, location designs, and development art. Director Jeff Rowe, Producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and other leadership and crew from across the production were interviewed and shared a range of behind-the-scenes stories and insights that make this book a spectacular companion to the film.

Lovingly crafted by Turtles aficionado Jim Sorenson (The Art of the Angry Birds Movie, Legacy, A Visual History, The G.I. Joe Field Manual) , with a special interview with the incomparable Seth Rogen (Executive Producer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Mutant Mayhem and the voice of Bebop), an Introduction by Director Jeff Rowe, and a Foreword from Nickelodeon & Paramount Animation President Ramsey Naito; this book is everything a TMNT fan could ask for and more!

Genres: Art, Media Tie In

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2023

About the author

Jim is a super-secret spy, has a motorcycle, marooned in space, meets Hercules ... or not ...

He's been a long-time fan of science-fiction literature in general and Transformers in particular. His guidebooks are well regarded by the fan communities for their exhaustive attention to detail. Reports of his incarceration in another dimension should be dismissed as the unfounded rumors they are."

Reviews

[Mathis Clermont · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10 ✅

[Mutant Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my son but ended up reading the whole thing myself. I grew up with all the wacky misfit action figures like 'Mondo Gecko' and 'Stinkbug.' I never had the original Turtle characters, but I had plenty of them dressed as football players, rappers, and clowns for some reason. Needless to say, my turtle adventures scarcely resembled the ones I saw on screen. While thumbing through this, I was really happy to see some of those old weird characters pulled out of mothballs and updated with this cool, colorful, sketchy style.



The pages include plenty of creative insight from Director Jeff Rowe and Character Designer Woodrow White, along with a trove of concept art. There's a section that gives a brief history of the franchise, which I appreciated. An interview with Seth Rogen, who seems to have had a lot of creative involvement with the project, and a lot of discussion about the intentionally-amateurish visual style and how they were able to 3D render it. I was impressed to learn they took a lot of inspiration from the designs and colors of the old plasticky TMNT playsets I grew up with.



It's always interesting to see a fresh take on something old, and I think, at least visually and stylistically, this iteration of Turtles is the best attempt in decades.

[Meinardas Valkevičius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knyga vaizdinga ir išsamiai papasakojanti kaip vyko animacinio filmo ‘TMNT Mutant Mayhem’ gamybos darbai. Pats filmas priklauso naujai filmų eros kategorijai, kuri eksperimentuoja su vaizdu ir bando visaip kaip išvengi kompiuterinio ir švaraus vaizdo. Kaip knygoje režisierius minėjo, tai pagrindinis tiklas buvo padaryti maksimaliai kitaip: purviniau, bjauriau, eskiziškiau ir tarsi tai būtų daręs paauglys. Manau pilnai jiems tai pavyko padaryti!

[Caitlyn G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this movie, loved seeing the behind the scenes art and sketches that went into making the project because the art style for the film was so so fun! Lots of fun commentary and backstory to the turtles was included which was good for me because I’m not too well versed in TMNT lore. Some of the writings and pictures were a tad blurry and hard to read but I’ll just blame that on reading it digitally and not physically (?)

[Bernardo Martinho · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning art book! As one of the most visually innovative and impressive animated films in recent years, it was really rewarding to learn more about the origins of many of the ideas behind it. The book offers a perfect mix of artwork, interviews and fun trivia.

[Alex Sallee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This goes so hard.
Best art book I’ve seen :-). Thoroughly enjoyed every page, and didn’t find myself skipping through any sections.

[LatinaBunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great artbook; just a bit too dark (in lighting in print form) & wanted more details and/or turtle sketches

Really loved this artbook! I’m a fan of the Mutant Mayhem/ToTMNT versions of the turtles, so this artbook was up my alley. It has a lot of sketches and designs with some little quotes that explained the thinking and reasoning behind the designs. Lots of cool nice details.

There was also a section that explained why they casted real kids/teens for the voice acting and how they decided to have the voice actors record together as an ensemble unlike past TMNT and some other cartoons.

My only cons: it is a bit too dark in the hardbook format, but kindle edition is lighter, and I would have loved even more details and more sketches or artwork of the turtles. Besides that, it was a very nice artbook of one of my favorite iterations of TMNT. :) Recommend

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a nice mix of art and interviews here. Sometimes I feel these books don't get the right balance between the two, but I think they found it here. We still get a nice collection of art from pre-production all the way through to the finished product as well as notes from the design team and interviews from the writers and directors.

The movie had such a unique take in terms of the story, the casting and the overall design that this was a must have for me and I'd recommend it to any fans of the movie or the Turtles in general.

[Kirby Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love art books and I loved this movie. Learning about how they chose to create a unique visual style and tone for the movie in a very storied franchise is fascinating.

[Arturo Cortes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE IT, the format is great, the paper is great, the content and how it’s displayed is excellent, as an animator this book is so fun to look through for some inspiration