The Art of Finding Nemo [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Mark Cotta Vaz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

Pixar Animation Studios, the Academy Awardwinning creators of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, and Monsters, Inc., are bringing a new animated movie, Finding Nemo, to the screen this summer. This visually stunning underwater adventure follows eventful and comic journeys of two fish-a father and his son Nemo-who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef. The underwater world for the film was conceptualized and developed by the creative team of artists, illustrators, and designers at Pixar, resulting in a lush landscape rich with detail. The Art of Finding Nemo celebrates their talent, featuring concept and character sketches, storyboards, and lighting studies in a huge spectrum of media, from five-second sketches to intricate color pastels. This behind-the-scenes odyssey invites the reader into the elaborate creative process of animation films through interviews with all the key players at Pixar. There will be childrens books related to Finding Nemo, but no adult titles other than this definitive volume. Revealing, insightful, and awesomely creative, The Art of Finding Nemo will delight film-goers, artists, and animation fans alike.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Books about animated movies are rarely artistically accomplished enough to astound. Not so Mark Cotta Vaz's coffee-table book THE ART OF FINDING NEMO which happily isn't a by-the-numbers look at how the hit film was made. Instead Vaz focuses on the illuminating concept art that inspired the digital artists at Pixar. And the result is magical. The artists were able to use a draft of the script as their blueprint (rare in animated films), and it paid huge dividends.
In many ways the concept art surpasses the digital art of the movie itself. There's an emotional (not sentimental), articulated depth to the work, particularly in the pastels and the charcoal renderings (by production designer Ralph Eggleston and Simon Varela, respectively) that digital art - for all the technology involved - simply cannot match. So cheer the movie's accomplishments and heart, but let the astonishing art included here flood your mind. - Premiere --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Mark Cotta Vaz recently completed his 19th book, a biography of Merian C. Cooper, creator of King Kong which is scheduled to be published by Random House in 2005. Vaz's books on movie history include Industrial Light + Magic: Into the Digital Realm , which

John Lasseter is Pixar Animation Studios's executive vice-president of creative and the director of Toy Story , A Bug's Life , and Toy Story 2 . He most recently served as the executive producer of Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo , and is currently executive producer of The Incredibles .

Andrew Stanton is the writer and director of Finding Nemo. He served as co-director and co-writer on A Bug s Life, led the screenwriting team of Toy Story 2, and helped write and executive produce Monsters, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 159 pages
• ISBN-10: 0811839753
• ASIN: B0007IP014
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,246,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Cotta Vaz is the author of over twenty-one books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His recent works include Mythic Vision: The Making of Eragon, The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion, and the biography Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong, which was a Los Angeles Times bestseller

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Beautiful Pastels, August 11, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: The Art of Finding Nemo (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:46 Mins

This cover is the most beautiful one of all the Pixar artbooks I've owned. That pastel drawing was done by Ralph Eggleston, production designer.

This book will only enhance that feel-good feeling you have after you watch the movie, probably several times if you have kids.

There are a lot of pastel storyboards drawn for lighting studies. They are incredibly beautiful and you can almost feel the texture to them. The colour theory used for the movie is explained to you by Ralph Eggleston.

The pages are filled with character studies, set designs and lighting studies. Most of the panels were captioned to explain the art direction behind. You'll feel as if you're going on a tour at the Pixar studio, looking at art with artists talking to you.

This book gives you the movie.

This is almost a required purchase if you like Finding Nemo or just beautiful art.

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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Finding Nemo; Amazing!, June 14, 2003

By 

TerryT (OK, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Finding Nemo (Hardcover)

This book is a gem. Reading it, you get an appreciation for all the WORK that was put into this excellent film! The amount of effort these people exerted to create the characters, backgrounds, computer-generated "water," and every other aspect of the movie, is incredible. Flipping through these pages, you really get a feel for that.

The pictures are beautiful and make you realize things you don't think about while watching the movie. You don't realize that the story wasn't always going to play out the same way. You don't realize that the characters may have looked different had the animators chosen to go in another direction. Looking at these early sketches, step by step pastel drawings, and much more, you see what it's really like to make one of these fantastic films.

The quotes throughout are humorous and enlightening. (I particularly like the descriptions of the sharks and the fishtank.) They even reveal a secret I didn't catch after seeing the movie twice; the man in the dentist's office with the skull on his shirt is supposed to be a grown-up Sid from "Toy Story!" That kid needed a trip to the dentist! Overall, "The Art of Finding Nemo" is an unbeatable coffee table book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Great Book., April 22, 2003

By 

A. Burbach "Michael B." (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Finding Nemo (Hardcover)

I was surprised by the "goodness" of this book. I have a LOT of The Art of [insert title of animated here] books. I am 13, and I would do ANYTHING to be an animator. If you want to see books similar to this, look at my listima list. One of the books on my list, is the Art of Monsters Inc. Its just like this book, but better. Nemo has pretty much all the same things as Monsters.... except it's just plain BETTER. The art is amazing and its really cool to see all the different mediums, from digital art to good ol' fashioned pastel. I highlt suggest this book, its at a great price. It was fit neaty and perfectly next to your Monster book, so dont worry 'bout that. It has a great dust jacket and the whole book is nice and hard, with thick, heavy paper. Buy it, I love it.