The Art of Epic. Here's the artbook for Epic, the film from Blue Sky Studios. It's 144 pages, hardcover, from Titan Books, whose earlier artbook was The Art of the Croods. It's a nice artbook with character designs and concept art. The costume designs for the soldiers are quite stylish. There are a lot of interesting forest characters such as those inspired from bugs, plants, flowers and other insects, but unfortunately they aren't dedicated more space. The illustrations are wonderful. I really like the colors of the sunlight in the forest. The environment art are pretty realistic in style as compared to the characters. The writeup is an enjoyable read that covers the design process, talking about the characters and how they evolved and a bit on the research for their designs. Nice book overall, but you would have to watch the movie first to like the book better. The Art of Epic is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.
レビュー: The Art of How to Train Your Dragon. The Art of Iron Man 2. I'm pleasantly surprised that this book actually comes with a slipcase. The cover art for the slipcase and book are also different from what's shown. The hardcover is very beautiful, smooth matt, and features a painting of Iron Man by Ryan Meinerding, who's still the concept artist for the second movie. At 224 pages, this book features much more Iron Man designs that the first book, The Art of Iron Man. There's the new Iron Man suit which you can recognise by the triangle RT on the chest, the Suitcase Suit, The War Machine, plenty of drones and Whiplash.
There are illustrations, 3D models, screenshots, physical sets. The Iron Man suit designs are really fantastic. If you've watched the trailers, you'll see that Iron Man was surrounded by lots of drones. About a quarter of the book is on the environment and set. This book is as good as or even better than the first art book. Highly recommended. This is the front cover of the actual book. And this is the back cover of the book. Ouch. Ouch!! The art of blizzard entertainment - - Fnac.es - Varios Autores. Lord of the Rings Sketchbook. The description from the book jacket is rather accurate and I'll quote it here: In The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook Alan Lee reveals in pictures and in words how he created the beautiful watercolour paintings for the special centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. These images would prove so powerful and evocative that they would eventually define the look of Peter Jackson's movie trilogy and would earn him a coveted Academy Award.The book is filled with over 150 of his sketches and early conceptual pieces to show how the project progressed from idea to finished art.
It also contains a selection of colour paintings reproduced in full-page glory, together with numerous examples of previously unseen conceptual art produced for the films and many new works drawn specially for this book.The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a fascinating insight into the imagination of the ma who painted Tolkien's vision, firstly onto the page and then in three dimensions on the cinema screen. The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure: Lisa Fitzpatrick, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Jon Landau: Amazon.com. The Art of Up.
If you're still wondering about the real story of Pixar's Up, this book provides very good clues (or spoilers). I'll just say it's about Carl, the old man, going on a journey in search for meaning to his life. The directive from the top was to make Up "the studio's most emotive film to date". Tim Hauser has provided a good writeup into design style and production process of the movie.
There's talk on the story arc, themes, the characters and a bit on the artistic side of production, like visiting a jungle for the research. The Pixar story team provided lots of quotes giving great insight into the story process. On the technical side to animating, nothing much is mentioned. The challenge for this movie is aimed at simplicity. The art included are character designs, storyboards, color scripts and few environmental paintings. What you're not going to see are film stills, background paintings and pastels. This book is really more for Pixar fans.
Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. The Art of Iron Man. This review is updated to include the paperback reprint. It features exactly similar content as the hardcover, right down to the paper stock. This book contains concept art, photographs, paintings, storyboards, miniatures and live models. All are in high resolution and many printed satisfyingly huge. For people who like mechanical stuff, you'll be glad that to know that plenty of Iron man designs are included.
The drawings are detailed to the nuts and bolts. 3D modelers who are looking for blueprints won't find them in this book. Also included are the drawings for the environment, props and gadgets. All the pictures in the book are well captioned and artists credited. The only bad thing about the book is the paper stock. I still gave it a 5-star rating on Amazon — more to 4.5-star because of the paper stock.
Paperback: Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | JP | CN) and Book Depository Hardcover: Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | JP | CN) and Book Depository Suit Up Gantry movie stills. BLAST: spaceship sketches and renderings. The Art of X-Men: The Last Stand. The Art of X-Men: The Last Stand: From Concept to Feature Film is very similar in style to the art book published for the second X-men movie. It needs more depth. To save some time explaining what's inside, I'll quote the product description: This lavishly illustrated filmbook boasts more than 360 illustrations, including striking movie stills and unique set designs, concept drawings, costume sketches, and storyboards, appearing exclusively in this edition.
Beginning with an introduction by director Brett Ratner, text includes commentary about the production of the movie, along with an original history of the X-Men by Peter Sanderson, the comics historian and author of X-Men: The Ultimate Guide, illustrated with archival Marvel comic-book art. The writeup by Peter Sanderson takes a look at the history of X-men, which was created in 1963. There's a good amount of art in the book. That's all. If you're intending to get the book, the paperback version is more worth it for the price. Book Preview: Nuthin' But Mech. Toy Story The Art and Making of the Animated Film. This is the updated review for the 2009 reprint. The first edition of this art book was published in 1995. After being out of print for more than a decade, Disney has finally decided to reprint it.
I guess that's because of the Toy Story 3 which is coming out in 2010. This book is only on the first Toy Story movie. The book measures about 18 inches diagonally, which is really big. Text is written by John Lasseter, the director, and Steve Daly. Profiles for individual characters are included, namely for Woody, Buzz, Andy and other toys. There are plenty of interesting quotes from the staff in the empty pockets of the pages.
If there's a message the book wants to bring across, it can probably be summed up by this quote from Joe Ranft: If the story isn't there, all the breakthrough computer graphics in the world piled onto it won't matter. That is so true when you separate the CG movies that you enjoy from those that are just eye candy. Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. The Art of Hercules: The Chaos of Creation. Here's another oversized art book for one of Disney's traditional animated film, Hercules. It's directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. This book is filled with character designs, storyboards and production stories. The variety of character design is really great, contributed by amazing artists including the directors themselves.
There are the paint, pencil, ink and watercolour. The character sketches are really a delight to look at. You'll see artworks from Andreas Deja, Joe Grant, Randy Cartwright, Andy Gaskill (art director), Gerald Scarfe (production designer) and Sue Nichols (production stylist) among many others. There's plenty of writeup also, which come in the form of interviews and quotes from the production crew, talking about the artistic style of the movies, the characters and, well, the directors. The Art of Hercules is a beautiful art book well worth the money, especially for the character art.
Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. The Art of Megamind. The Art of Megamind is another nice large format art book published by Insight Editions. It's 156 pages and sports a non glossy dustjacket for a change. The pages are filled with beautiful concept illustrations from DreamWorks artists. There are colour strips, character designs, background paintings, storyboards and designs on weapons of mass destruction, some robots and vehicles. The book is filled with plenty of vibrant colours besides blue of course. There are actually more superheroes than there are shown in the trailers, and they are included in the book.
There are sketches for each and you can see which ones made it and which were dropped. It's interesting to see how the news reporter Roxanne's early sketches resembles Tina Fey (voice actor) and eventually moved away from that. The environment designs are also very beautiful and nicely painted. The commentary is great and talks about the designs and characters. Overall, a wonderful book for animation fans and artists. Star Wars the New Essential Guide to Alien Species. Seems like the book had an earlier edition. Well, this 2006 edition now adds a full-colour illustration for each of the species. The art looks good, and that was what attracted me in the first place. The book certainly looks quite comprehensive, with coverage for all six Star Wars movies. There's plenty to read and muse about. There are species traits, habitat and sometimes even their pronunciation.
It provides the background to better understand the universe. There are actually 228 pages instead of 240 as listed on Amazon. Recommended to all Star Wars fans. Star Wars the New Essential Guide to Alien Species is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | JP | CN) and Book Depository Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. If you buy from any links on the blog, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books to feature. This book is available at:Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn | Bookdepository.com. Art Forms in Nature (Dover Pictorial Archive): Ernst Haeckel: 9780486229874: Amazon.com. The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Here's the art book for the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game from BioWare and LucasArts.
The book collects mainly character designs, environment art, and some spaceship designs. It's also a making-of book that explains at length on the production of a game with scope this big. I like reading insightful productions stories. The remaining text serve as commentary on the concept art. The art is sci-fi art, of course, for the Star Wars universe. The main draw of the book would be the environment art for the different locations and planets.
The downside of the book is layout. I've checked out the website for Star Wars: The Old Republic and there are lots of concept art there. This book is mixed bag. This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. The Art of Thor. Parka Blogs | Art Book Reviews, Anime Artbooks, Animation & some Pop Culture. I'm from Singapore. Galerie de Parka81. Valve's Dota 2 Character Design Guide PDF Download. The Art of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. レビュー: The Art of Captain America: The First Avenger. Book Preview: Alien Race: Visual Development of an Intergalactic Adventure. Here's an amazing book that I found at Design Studio Press booth #1701. Basically it's filled with concept art, sketches and fully illustrated.
It's coming soon but I've no exact date. Yes, if you're at San Diego Comic Con 2009 now, drop by their booth. There are lots of great art books! Product description: The alien bio-lab has appeared at the United Nations building in New York City. All images are from www.designstudiopress.com. Alien Race: Visual Development of an Intergalactic Adventure: Peter Chan, Justin Pichetrungsi, Thomas Tenery, Scott Robertson, John Park, Ben Mauro: 9781933492230: Amazon.com. How to Design: Concept design process, styling, inspiration, and methodology: Scott Robertson: 9781933492681: Amazon.com. How to Render: communicating form and rendering a wide range of materials: Scott Robertson, Thomas Bertling: 9781933492834: Amazon.com. The Beauty in the Beast: Neville Page: 9781624650031: Amazon.com. How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination: Scott Robertson, Thomas Bertling: 9781933492759: Amazon.com.
Face It: A Visual Reference for Multi-ethnic Facial Modeling: Patricia Beckmann Wells, Scott Wells: 9780240823942: Amazon.com. The Art of The Lord of the Rings. The Art of the Lord of the Rings is actually a condensed edition of the three LOTR art books published earlier, namely The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Art of The Two Towers and The Art of The Return of the King. This art book has 223 pages while the three art books have 192 pages each. So what's the difference? Well, the art here is arranged by artists and a few more unpublished illustrations are included. Other than that, the bulk of the work here is pretty a rehash of content from the those three art books.
The primary focus here is on the concept sketches of Alan Lee and John Howe, which takes up to 190 pages. The commentary and depth of the books are great. The books provide a great insight into the amount of art and details required to produce a movie — three actually — of such massive scale. If you already have the three art books, this book is definitely less appealing unless you're the got-to-have-it-all person. Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. Designing Movie Creatures and Characters. The full title of the book is Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes with the Movie Masters. The title cannot be more accurate.
The movie masters included are ADI, Aaron Sims, K.N.B. (Robert Kurzman, Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger), Carlos Huante, Steve Wang, Patrick Tatopoulos, Mitch DeVane, The Art of Making Molds, Monster Materials, The Science of Appliance, Kazuhiro Tsuji, Mark Setrakian, Jon Dawe, Beth Hathaway, Jeff Himmel, Spectral Motion (Mike Elizalde), Brian Steele, Weta Workshop, Cristina Patterson Ceret and Walt Conti.
Through each of them, they have create creatures, models, sculptures, animatronic characters, make up for countless blockbuster films. Titles include old movies like King Kong, Jaws to modern day blockbusters King Kong (Peter Jackson), Chronicles of Narnia, Hellboy, etc. Each design studio or artist is given a few pages of coverage in this book. Visit Amazon to check out more reviews. ImagineFX Fantasy Creatures: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Digital Painting Techniques. Two years after publishing Fantasy Workshop: Mastering Digital Painting Techniques, Imaginefx (Amazon) has finally come up with a second book of tutorials.
This time, it has fantasy creatures as drawing subjects. Similar to the previous book, this book actually collects the tutorials that originally appeared in their monthly magazines. So if you're already a subscriber of the magazine, you're basically going to see the same tutorials, hence no point buying (again). This book is a better deal for non-subscribers. There are 6 categories featured are namely 1. The presentation is also similar. Note that the demonstrations aren't the type of tutorials where you are to follow along and click stuff on the screen. The software used is mostly Photoshop, and there are a few chapters featuring Zbrush. The goal of the book, I feel, is really to give ideas, highlight possibilities and show you what the software is capable of. Here's the list of contents: 1.
A short gallery section at the start. Art of Marvel Studios: Marvel Comics: 9780785153375: Amazon.com. The Art of God of War III (The Art of the Game) (9781921002724): Daniel P. Wade. Avengers: The Art of Marvel's The Avengers: Jason Surrell: 9780785162346: Amazon.com. Marvel's Iron Man 3: The Art of the Movie Slipcase: Marvel Comics: 9780785168102: Amazon.com.
The Art of the Mass Effect Universe: Various: 9781595827685: Amazon.com. Structura: The Art of Sparth: Sparth, Lou Anders: 9781933492254: Amazon.com. The Art of Up: Tim Hauser, Pete Docter: 9780811866026: Amazon.com. The Science of Creature Design: Techniques In Creating The Real...To The Imagined: 9781933492568: Amazon.com.