Customer Reviews

The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.)

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.

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?

It is really a shame. One of the best movies I've seen, and one of the best collection of art from that movie is in this book, great details and descriptions and it gives you a general touch of the imagination of James Cameron... that's the good news.

James Cameron and his crew should get in touch with the publisher immediately!!!! So far I have two copies of this book, and both of them have bad binding. The pages literally fell apart in the second week. I bought a second copy, but one of the centerfold spreads was sliced instead of folded, and again the pages are popping out of the book. Also the book cover jacket was not folded correctly. Being a published Science Fiction writer myself and noticing some problems with my own works, I was able to correct with my publisher on any problems... This book has major binding problems. Both copies were bought with three weeks in between so as not to get the same batch.

If not for the pages falling out, this review would have been a full five stars.

There were a fleet of concept artists who worked on this film, and my hope was that this book would contain a lush group of sketches, matte paintings, concept designs and 3d models along with a commentary on the creative process and perhaps some insight into the process of translating acting directly into character movement and expression. Instead, low resolution images fill two page spreads, as do incomplete digital collages clearly created to sketch out lighting for a scene and not to illustrate a landscape itself. Dialogue is largely fawning over Cameron's creative genius and focuses very little on the process by which images were created by the artists, whose names are mentioned en-masse in the opening pages and sparingly if at all for the remainder. Everything you see in the book, you will already have noticed upon first viewing the movie. Binding started coming apart from the first opening and upon flipping through for the fourth time since buying the book, four page segments have fallen straight out. I really really wish they had taken advantage of all this book could have been. The placement and sizing of images is beyond amateur.

If you are interested in concept design elements of this movie, buy "Avatar, an activist survival guide". Many more images, including those of earth. Better presentation and softback binding that doesnt fall to bits. Whilst the text is entirely fictional and presents no insight into the creative process, nor does The Art Of Avatar.

For months, people have been talking about James Cameron's sci-fi epic "Avatar" -- the exotic alien world of Pandora, the clash between the blue cat-elf natives and Earth's military, and the Pocahontas-ey love story that all movies of this type have.

"The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure" could easily fill a vast tome that follows this movie from conception to finished product... but instead we get a lushly-illustrated, thinly picture book that dips into the origins of Pandora's designs, but not much else. It feels less like an "art of" book that explores the visuals, and more like a pamphlet advertising the movie.

Most of the conceptual art seems to revolve around the Na'vi's world of Pandora -- there are floating mountains, lush misty rainforests, vast lakes and twisting mushroom-shaped trees. Additionally, there are some studies of the bizarre flora (luminous, fungus-like plants and ferns) and fauna (the six-legged viperwolf, the vaguely reptilian/leonine thanator). Not to mention the Na'vi, the aforemented cat-elf aliens.

And there's also some focus on the human technology -- the sterile grey "shack" known as Site 26 and the Vietnam-era base around it, the clunky mecha "amp suit," the Dragon, and the chopperesque Samson (which looks a lot like something I saw in the anime movie "Appleseed").

Any movie as huge, elaborate and intensely alien as "Avatar" -- especially one decades in the making -- must have a small library's worth of concept art, outlines, backstory, and design work. And I'm sure this exists somewhere... just not in "The Art of Avatar," which is heavy on the finished visuals, but rather light on conceptual art, the evolution of the movie's style, and artistic bumps in the road.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this book is that it spends a lot of time telling but not showing. The creators of the sets and special effects talk about all sorts of fascinating creative dilemmas and unconventional artistic decisions (aerial mountain shots! Francis Bacon! Undersea life!). But.... we don't see a lot of it, or the various steps that took them from A to Z. We're just told that hey, they had troubles with the six legs or the sleek biolab designs, and that's it.

And there's no real exploration of the epic Na'vi/human climactic battle, except for some pretty pictures of the AMPs charging around shooting and blowing things up. Or the science of Pandora's epic-looking landscape (just how do those mountains float?). Additionally, the prose parts of the book are as skimpy as cheap pantyhose -- every couple pages we have two or three brief paragraphs, and that's it.

I will say this: the art is STUNNING. Luminous, filled with light and mist, with plenty of epic shots of Pandora's rainforesty fantastical world. And they have some foldout sections that give further exploration of Pandora's wildlife (such as floating firefly... lizards?).

HOWEVER, most of the pictures are straightforward digital pictures, with a relatively small representation of maquettes and pencil/watercolor concept art. Most of what there is.... pretty much looks like the actual creatures/places in the movie -- for instance, there are only a few concept images of the Na'vi that don't look just like the finished product (head tentacles and cat lips). It took twenty years to design all this?

The digital art is vibrantly, exquisitely lovely, but "The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure" isn't much more than a sci-fi picture book. Nice to look at, but it just left me frustrated by what WASN'T there.

If you like films, if you liked this one, if you're an artist like me, or not, you're probably going to buy this. Period.

I would have liked it to be a few hundred pages longer, but then it would have cost more than my starving artist budget would allow.

I read one review which muttered about the roughness of some of the art. Hello! It's pre-production art! The film is fantastic photorealism, the concept art is a whole 'nother style, or set of styles.

As in the "Survival Guide", you get a closeup look at many things that go by in a flash in the film. You get insights into the creative process. Like many movie production art books, it would make a good teaching tool in an art class; showing the progression from idea to finished product.

The book is beautiful, offers a fair amount of behind-the-scenes information and sketches, but feels somewhat like it was rushed to production. Case in point, page 82-83 features a large image that spans the pages with the Great Leonopteryx. Guess what? The image is upside down! After working for 12 years in prepress, this sort of thing simply is not allowed to happen unless there is a mega rush. Also several of the larger images are pixelated, which to me is also a misstep. I also agree with other reviewers that there could have been a lot more detail on the planning process of the various creatures and Na'vi. I hope something more significant comes along that is more fulfilling. That said, however, this is still a beautiful book and recommended to any Avatar fan.

The art of "Avatar" is complex and this book, although very well illustrated and fine printed, shows only a few of this complexity. Blue prints, sketches, studies of views of Pandora and its amazing creatures are carefully reproduced, but you may find yourself wanting something more.

We've all read the main complaints: Too short, too costly, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I rather enjoy this book. It may not be the BEST art book, but it is full of amazing artwork. And even though there are only about 100 pages, these pages are freakin' HUGE, with two or three GIANT fold out pages of conceptual artwork. The whole thought process behind creating the creatures of Pandora (including the ever so beautiful Na'vi) is captivating to say the least, and I'm not just saying this because I intend on seeing the movie ten more times.

I also suggest the Pandora Activist Guide if you're more prone to smaller carry-with-you books. But, trust me, there are several worse ways to spend twenty bucks.