The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure [Hardcover]

Lisa Fitzpatrick (Author), James Cameron (Epilogue), Peter Jackson (Preface), Jon Landau (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2009

Academy Award-winning writer/director James Cameron, the maker of Titanic and the creator of the Terminator series, has been crafting Avatar for over four years. The film follows the story of an ex-marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on a distant planet filled with exotic life forms. As an avatar, a human consciousness in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. The Art of Avatar, the companion book to this epic 3-D action adventure, explores the developmental and conceptual art used by the creative team to create the original world of Avatar.

 

With over 100 exclusive full-color images including sketches, matte paintings, drawings, and film stills, The Art of Avatar reveals the process behind the creation of set designs for the imaginative vistas, unique landscapes, aerial battle scenes, bioluminescent nights, and fantastical creatures. Interviews with art directors, visual effects designers, animators, costume designers, and creature makers bring insight into this creative process. The Art of Avatar brings readers behind the scenes of this unprecedented moviegoing experience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lisa Fitzpatrick has been a writer and editor for over 15 years. She has created illustrated books for a wide variety of films and television shows including Kung Fu Panda, 24, Star Wars, Shrek, Madagascar, and The X-Files, as well as anniversary editions for Sony Pictures Imageworks and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She lives in San Francisco.

 

Peter Jackson is a three-time Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

 

Jon Landau is an Academy Award-winning producer and former executive vice president at Twentieth Century Fox, and is currently a partner in James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: Abrams; Media tie-in edition (November 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810982862
• ISBN-13: 978-0810982864
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 12.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Fitzpatrick is a non-fiction writer, editor and book packager; she has developed a wide variety of quality film, television, art and photography publications including those for branded entertainment properties such as 24, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Madagascar, Open Season and The X-Files (JJ Abrams). A graduate of the Stanford Publishing Course for Professionals, she also recently produced the 80th Anniversary edition for USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelming for a movie that was over the top, December 7, 2009

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:25 Mins

(I've updated this review a bit after watching the movie.)

If you're blown away by the visual quality of the Pandora, as shown in the trailers, you'll be glad to see that majority of the art in this book are on the environments. There are also designs for the plants, animals, vehicles and the Pandora inhabitants, the Na'vi. Weta Workshop is also roped in to provide some models and help in designing the Na'vi. The creativity behind the design and the scale of work is of course amazing.

The downside is there are only 108 pages, which is underwhelming considering that every set and prop in the movie is made totally from imagination. They certainly could have packed more pages but the price is also lower for that matter.

This book didn't include as much preliminary designs as I hoped, like the iterations they had to do to get to the final designs. The only area where there are iterations are the character designs for the Na'vi. The rest, like the flora, fauna, vehicles and sets look pretty close to the finalized designs.

Most of the art in this book look computer generated (not that it's a bad thing) and there are very few pencil sketches. Quite a few pieces created with mixed medium are a bit jarring to me, like mixing photos with digital painting for backgrounds. Again, nothing wrong with mixing medium but some of the styles just clash and calls for attention in the wrong way.

The writeup talks mainly about the design concepts and very little on the production. Stereocopy, which James Cameron is an advocate of, is used, but it's only briefly mentioned.

I'm intrigued that James Cameron actually wrote the script in 1995. But he had to wait until 2006 before technology was (deemed) advanced enough (for him) to make the film. I thought technology was already available when Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released in 2001. So what technology are we really talking about here? It's not mentioned but, well, this isn't a making-of book. I'll definitely be getting the disc when it comes out.

Overall, this book looks like a rush job. Page 82-83 has an image of the flying Ikrans printed upside down. I can't imagine how it's possible to place a picture on a page (on the software) without looking at the picture. There are very slight pixelation with the really big pictures, something I don't normally see with other movie books.

It's a nice book but more for Avatar fans. But be prepared to be underwhelmed, especially after you've watched the movie.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tasty, but skimpy, December 4, 2009

By 

R. Sardrena (shrinking tributary in Brazil) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure (Hardcover)

Have you ever eaten at a fancy restaurant? A massive plate arrives, with a tiny morsel of exquisitely-prepared food, sitting in a puddle of sauce. The Art of Avatar is similar. It's a lavishly-made tie-in for James Cameron's fantasy film. The brief bits of text mention that this film required an army of concept artists over a decade to create. Looking at the beautiful paintings within, one can appreciate that artistry. The problem is that this large hardcover book is so thin! It's barely one-hundred pages long, and feels like fifty.

It is a nice addition to one's "Art of" collection, but there are so many rival books that offer better value. The Art of Halo, a stylistically-similar book, is one example. Recent offerings by Design Studio Press might also appeal to the reader.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seriously? This thing is like a hardback magazine (skimpy), December 10, 2009

By 

Night owl (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure (Hardcover)

Sure, the art that's there is impressive, but there not much of it. Overblown single images spanning two pages that would have been better as a half page, little text, and barely over 100 pages. Sorry, but compared to most "art of" books out that this is a paltry little rip-off that should have been sold as a magazine. Where is the REST of the art? That can't be more than 10% (at best) of what was produced. Did the author only want to feature a handful of images from her favorite artists and ignore everyone else that had input into the film? Was it laziness, just rushed to the presses, favoritism or some absurd studio politics that made this volume so weak?