The faces behind the fantasy

Since then, Robertson, who also now heads Art Center's entertainment design department, has published 23 titles out of his busy Culver City studio space, with six due out this year. Although many of the volumes can be used as texts and/or reference books, the surprising bounty can be found in the volumes that finally put the spotlight on the individual artists who visualized these worlds but often remain just out of the frame.

"It's gratifying," says Rick O'Brien, whose book, "Counterweight," was recently released. A painter and sculptor who makes his living as a property maker for film and television, O'Brien is used to jumping in and fabricating something on call -- whether it's a 7-foot leaf made out of foam or "a face coming out of a tree stump." He says he relishes the "opportunity to show who you are . . . and what you've learned and show not just your experience but the process."

"Artists aren't magicians, though sometimes they appear to be," says Chris Ayers, a character and concept designer, whose upcoming book is "The Daily Zoo," a sketchbook he assembled that visually chronicled a year of his life -- through a character a day -- after he was diagnosed with leukemia. "But Scott makes that, what's behind that feeling, available to other artists. To all of us."

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lynell.george@latimes.com