Interview: Colin Stein on Creating 'The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'

59 minutes ago
8 min read

March 18th 2026

Fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have a new artbook to look forward to on April 14th, with the anticipated release of The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! The 320-page hardcover will feature a wealth of artwork and insights, giving people the chance to experience the unique take on the Turtles in a new way.

Ahead of its release, I interviewed the book's creator Colin Stein to discuss his experience working on the volume and what we can expect inside. He authored, curated, and designed the book, so was able to share details on how the project began, partnering with IDW Publishing, and the work it took to put together. His love for Rise is clear and it was a great chance to learn more about how some artbooks come to life. Enjoy the interview below!

Thanks for speaking with me about your new book, The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! With the April 14th release date is now just around the corner, could you tell us how the idea for this showcase came about?

Stein: Thanks for reaching out to me. I’m so excited to talk about it with every Rise and animation fan! The idea came from simply being a life long TMNT and animation fan who loves behind the scenes artbooks.

I’m a big fan of TMNT and when Rise of the TMNT came out, it hit me at just the right time. In 2018, I was working at an advertising agency in Oklahoma City as a graphic designer and motion graphics animator and I was also helping with some VFX on some movies as well.

In my freetime, I was making Rise fan-merch. I made a variety of products I wanted to see from Nickelodeon and since no one else was making them, I decided I would. I made stickers, pins, 3D printed cookie cutters, desktop toys, t-shirts, magnets… I even made bath bombs with tiny 3D printed toys inside! Anything I thought would be fun! I had a Patreon, hosted community events, set up giveaways and contests. I put everything into keeping Rise alive!

During that time, there were a lot of TMNT projects launching on Kickstarter to great success. I thought maybe I could launch a Rise artbook there but I would still need permission from Paramount/Nickelodeon. I created a pitch deck with a detailed Kickstarter plan and sent it to everyone I could. Eventually, it got in front of the right people. They set up a meeting and I didn’t even have to pitch my plan! They already wanted to make an artbook and I was telling them I wanted to do it. It was a classic right place at the right time.

With everything I’ve done and given to the fandom, it was fitting that I would be the one who got to make the official Rise art book.

Sounds like a culmination of your love of the show! What was it like working with the team behind the series and getting access to the artwork that helped create it?

Stein: Working with everyone from Paramont, Nickelodeon, IDW, and the crew of Rise was fantastic! Everyone was so supportive and helpful when trying to make this book. Nobody wanted me to fail and I didn’t want to let anyone down.

I worked with so many people to make this book, I can’t thank them enough for their time. Including but not limited to; Ant Ward, Russ Carney, Ron Corcillo, Tony Gama-Lobo, JJ Conway, Ian Busch, Jesse Gordon, Dale Malinowski, and so many others! Thank you to all of you!

And of course, this book couldn’t have been made without the series co-creator Andy Surinao. He was the art director of the series and had all the art we needed to do this. Without him, Rise wouldn’t be what it was! This book couldn’t have been possible without him not only because of his art, not just because he preserved the files, but because he took a chance on me. He believed I could do this and I hope I lived up to that. This is not only a love letter to him but also to the many people who poured their hearts into the little series that could.

The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has "by Colin Stein" on the cover, highlighting that you not only authored the book, but also curated the content and designed its pages. It’s also the first book you have released, which must have made it an exciting and challenging task. Can you share what it was like putting the book together and how long it took?

Stein: We’ll never know how exactly many hours this took to make this but I do know it took years to create. I am not the same Colin as I was when I started. This was my life, my passion, my great white whale! I spent all day and all night making this. The days blurred into weeks, weeks became months. I was working 7 days a week doing 12, 18, 20 hour days and nothing else! I’ve never worked harder for anything in my life and gave everything to make this dream come true.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a bold take on the iconic franchise that lends itself well to an artbook. As a fan yourself, what were some of the highlights of working on this release?

Stein: I’ve been so scared about this whole thing. There’s a balance between getting people excited but I also don’t want to reveal too much. I want there to be surprises for fans when they flip the pages for the first time but I also want people to see what they’re getting. I’ve been working on this for years, I’m just ready for it to get out there!

On December 24th, 2024, the art book listing was leaked on Twitter! People were freaking out and so was I! Many people didn’t even think it was real because my name was on the listing. I wasn’t going to tell them it was real, I was under an NDA!

Each time there was a new piece of information, that was a highlight. The listing leak, the cover reveal, the Amazon listing page, the page previews. Each day we’re closer and closer to this being released to everyone to have!

Leaks can be a nightmare, but no doubt fans were very excited at the time. What were the most surprising or challenging aspects to creating an artbook?

Stein: Art books are so different from project to project, no 2 art books are the same. Each has a unique layout and style. When it comes to the commentary/script, it was really hard trying to figure out what I needed from the writers. I needed them to tell me their stories of working on the show but me trying to ask them was difficult for me to articulate.

We all know what we want to read from an art book but when you sit down to think about what you need to create said art book, that’s a challenge. They hadn’t worked on Rise in years so opening up old folders and recounting old stories was hard for them to do. They were all so incredibly patient with me and I can’t thank them enough for helping me through that.

The previews show a great mix of content, from concepts to final artwork, alongside insights from the creative team. What was the goal when you started the book, and did this change at all as you were curating the art and putting the pages together?

Stein: The ultimate goal was to archive the series the best way we could. Taking an amazingly animated series like Rise and condensing it into a print format is definitely a challenge.

Many of Rise’s fanbase are artists so I wanted to show those fans some internal production assets so that they can learn how to draw Rise from the crew themselves. Some people like early concepts and others like final production assets, but I also wanted to cover storyboard artists too. I did my best to try to keep everyone in mind, from animators to writers.

The first mock-ups are a landscape format but I learned I needed more space so a portrait layout allowed that. The original product listing said it was 240 pages but I had so much to put into this book, we ended up with 320 pages! It’s safe to say, it changed a lot from original concepts.

The book is a great opportunity for fans to dive back into the world of the Turtles, even more so with the page count increasing that much. Is there anything you included that you are most looking forward to people discovering?

Stein: Rise’s original run was cut short by 13 episodes in the second season. It’s an incredible story of how the crew shifted to finish their story before it was over. Other shows could just stop and let it end but Rise was special. They took their plans and condensed it into a 4 part finale to send the boys off right.

Since they had to re-write a series finale much earlier than expected, there’s several stories they never finished. There’s a section in this book dedicated to those lost episodes with synopsis and storyboards.

Now that you are adding your own release to the vast world of artbooks, it’s only right that I ask about what you enjoy. What are some of your favourite artbooks and did creating one change how you view them at all?

Stein: I love art books and I wish I had more! When I was doing research, I had dozens of art books on my desk, book shelves, tables, chairs, everywhere! All with sticky notes to mark things I wanted to copy and use as reference. The Art of X-Men, Futurama, TMNT (2012), Klaus, Spider-Man: The Game, Into the Spider-Verse, Pixar, Blender Open Movies, Over the Garden Wall, Adventure Time, Airbender, Go Team Venture!, and so many more.

But the biggest influence was The Art of DuckTales (2017) by Ken Plume. That book has so much style and substance at a quality I believe we matched. I want to do a deluxe version of my book like he did!

Thanks for taking the time to talk about The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! To end the interview, what do you hope fans take away from your contribution to the legacy of the show?

Stein: It’s incredible to have been able to contribute to the community, fandom, and franchise of TMNT as a whole. My name is on a TMNT book! That’s so cool!

I hope fans use this book, I want it to be worn and loved. This book is filled with great art, fantastic stories, and tons of unreleased material you won’t find anywhere else. I hope every Rise fan uses this as a companion piece and falls in love with the series all over again.

A big thanks again to Colin for sharing details on the The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and his experience putting together an artbook. It's not often we hear from the people that work on books, so it was nice to learn about one of the ways in which they come to fruition.

For those interested in adding this to their own shelf when it arrives on April 14th, you can pre-order the book here;