In 1980 young artists James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade climbed aboard a boxcar in Los Angeles and road the rails East seeking visual adventures. Drawing anything and everything all along the way, they returned to California months later and chronicled their journey in a book, The Artist’s Guide to Sketching, that they wrote over long weekends while painting backgrounds for Ralph Bakshi’s and Frank Frazetta’s animated film, Fire and Ice.

Published by Watson-Guptill in 1982 The Artist’s Guide to Sketching was a modest seller and eventually went out of print; Gurney went on to his award-winning career in Illustration while Kinkade became the Painter of Light” with his line of prints and products. The Artist’s Guide to Sketching would become a much sought-after collector’s item and copies have routinely sold for $100 or more from antiquarian booksellers.

Now Andrews McMeel has brought The Artist’s Guide to Sketching back into print in a revised and updated edition and it’s as fresh and inspiring in 2025 as it was when it appeared in 1982.

Kinkade passed away in 2012, but Gurney was interviewed about the new edition on WMAC radio which you can listen to via this link.