Book Review - The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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- 6 min read
April 10th 2026
The Mad Dogs are back! After ending in 2022, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been missed by its fans, leaving them wanting more from Raph, Leo, Donnie, Mikey, and the rest of the cast. Fortunately, the wait for that is over, as a look back at Rise and its artwork is now here with The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The book was made by Colin Stein and IDW Publishing with a release date of April 14th 2026, giving fans the chance to celebrate this take on the Turtles with a new addition to their shelf. A copy has joined the collection here, so I can give my thoughts and share some previews of the new release!
Build Quality
The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes as a 23.5cm x 31cm hardcover, delivering 320 pages of content inside. The paper is gloss and a little thinner than found in other books, but it’s high quality and is a great choice for a release with so many pages. The spreads open with ease and the binding feels secure, which isn’t always the case with thicker paper when you cross 300 pages, so it’s a thoughtful move. The print quality is also excellent and allows the bright colours used in Rise to pop as well. It’s what you hope for with an artbook and I’m happy to say IDW delivered.
Content
I could make this a long review, because despite coming with a large page count, there is still so much packed in to each spread. Animated shows and movies inherently have a lot of art to showcase (it’s what they are made up of after all!), but the variety and amount here makes it an impressive volume that fans will no doubt appreciate.
It opens with a foreword from Rise co-creators Andy Suriano and Ant Ward, as well as Colin Stein, the author, curator, and designer of the book, each sharing what the show means to them. This leads to the ‘Pre-production’ chapter that has the co-creators sharing their early journey and how Rise came to be. Here you learn about the goals of the show, making it visually distinct, and more, alongside early concept art and animation frames. This is expected in a book like this, but it’s wonderfully executed and a fun read.
As always, I don’t review the art itself, it’s very subjective after all, but it’s something that stands out for this version of the TMNT as seen throughout the book, even in the early sketches. The bold style that uses sharper edges, strong line art, vibrant background colours, and unique character designs, all made it an interesting visual take on the iconic franchise. This is displayed throughout the pages that does a great job at highlighting pieces that show both this and the talent of the artists. It goes without saying that if you enjoyed the art style of the show and movie, you’ll love what you see here too.
This brings me to my favourite chapter, ‘The Rise Style Guide’. This stood out because it’s look at the cheat sheets and drawing guides for the show and for individual characters that will get a lot of people reaching for a pencil. While these get included a little in other books, here it is taken a step further with a look at line weights, background lighting, texture brushes, and tips on the anatomy and shading for the Turtles. These are specific to Rise which is what I like most, not just a generic ‘How to draw’, but rather their own rules and guides that may break those of the real world, but helped create something special with the show.
The ‘Mad Dogs’ chapter look at the Turtles, April O’Neil, and Splinter, diving into their designs with insights from Suriano, Ward, and the voice actors. It’s a good way to set up the biggest chunk of the book too, the episodes of the show. Here there is a mixture of artwork, from sketches and early concepts to final designs and storyboards, making the pages fun to look at and highlights unique elements to each episode. Other characters and elements get the spotlight here, as well as the Turtles eccentric costumes and some animation drawings, all of which I enjoyed seeing on the pages together.
Alongside this, there are details from the writers that break down what the episodes featured, their thoughts about it, influences, and more. These aren’t just generic notes, they give fans interesting insights that make this more than an artbook, but a true deep dive into the show at all levels. ‘The Movie’ chapter takes what the book shared previously and combines it for the feature film, sharing the early development through to its final scene, with both written details from the creators and the work of the artists. It also includes cut and alternative scenes through storyboards, an element I always love to see in artbooks.
The approach here for the show and movie feels well thought out, taking time to cover everything in enough detail to allow those that enjoyed Rise to experience it again in a new way. It would have been easier to combine art for the characters, locations, and assets for the show as a whole across its pages, but separating them out to detail each episode through to the 2022 film really raised the bar.
It doesn’t end there though, because sadly Rise was ended early, but some of what wasn’t created is highlighted in the ‘Lost Episodes & Beyond’ chapter. With less artwork as expected, it’s still a brilliant way to give a description of the episodes that were cut and share some early storyboards as well. Fans always love to see what didn’t come to fruition, making this another highlight of The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The book ends with a look at the comic book covers and interior pages of the 40th Anniversary comic, again making this the ultimate celebration of Rise for those that loved its world.
This is all a very impressive approach to exploring Rise, likely in large part because Colin Stein is a superfan himself, so he could really get as much as he could into the book while targeting fellow fans. The insights and the huge amount of artwork is well balanced throughout. There is so much to pore over, but the space given to the creators, artists, writers, and voice actors, still allows for meaningful details that you won’t want to skip.
Credits
Credits are shared on some of the pages, especially for the storyboards, with some others scattered here and there. With so much included, fitting them all onto each page for each piece would have been difficult as you can see in the previews. Although this is the preferred approach, the creatives are still all celebrated at the end of the book and that’s great to see.
Use of Space
One of the strongest aspects of The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is how it makes the most of the space inside without feeling cluttered. Most spreads feature a lot of artwork and this can either become overwhelming or formulaic, but here the page layouts vary and art gets room to breathe without awkward placements of the images or text. The paper choice and binding help here too, as everything is visible near the centre and the few pieces of art that do cross the fold have minimal image loss. All of this is a huge win for the book.
Value
The pricing of the book is another positive for fans, as it comes with an RRP of $39.99 or £36, lower than most artbooks, and given the large page count, build quality, and sheer amount of content, this is a great price for the book. Collector’s are typically looking at $45-$60 for an artbook in 2026, so coming in under that makes this very easy to recommend from a value perspective.
As always though, I compare prices on Amazon to see what you can order the book for, which is even lower at the time of writing this, the week before its release. In the US it is 7% off and in the UK it is under £30 at a huge 27% off. It was already a fantastic deal at full price, making anything lower a steal and that is already the case for bargain hunters out there.
Verdict
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may have ended, but this book is a love letter to the show that adds to its legacy and gives people more to enjoy from its world. It delivers on all fronts with a wealth of art and its bold visual flair, a look at the early designs, and engaging details from the minds behind it, all wrapped up in a well-made and designed book. This rich volume of art is the perfect companion to the show, while also sharing what you didn’t get to see on-screen, cementing it as a release that deserves its place on your shelf. Put down the pizza and pick up The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Those that enjoyed the review and would like to add the book to their own collection can order a copy here;
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