The Art of Robots [Hardcover]

Amid Amidi (Author), William Joyce (Author), Chris Wedge (foreword) (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2004

The team behind the blockbuster animated hit Ice Age—Twentieth Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios, and Academy Awardwinning director Chris Wedge—joined forces with acclaimed children's author William Joyce to create another visually magnificent, animated classic in Robots. Conceptualized by this stellar creative team and voiced by stars such as Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Stanley Tucci, Greg Kinnear, and Amanda Bynes, Robots is a magical contribution to the art of animation. Here to celebrate the film is The Art of Robots, offering a sneak peek at the early visual developmental stages of the film. Featuring the spectacular concept art created by the team at Blue Sky Studios and by producer and production designer William Joyce, this innovative and imaginative book is an exclusive backstage pass to the hidden animation artistry behind Robots.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amid Amidi is the publisher and editor of the highly acclaimed magazine Animation Blast and co-founder of the animation industry weblog CartoonBrew.com. In addition to writing, Amid works in the animation industry. He lives in Los Angeles.

William Joyce is the producer and production designer of Robots . He is also the celebrated author and illustrator of several award-winning, best-selling classics beloved by children and adults alike. Two of Joyce's characters have been developed into television shows: George Shrinks and Emmy Award-winning Rolie Polie Olie . He lives in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Chris Wedge is the director of Ice Age and the Acadamy-Award winning short Bunny . He is co-founder and vice president of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios. Wedge has also directed the character animation sequences for the Warner Bros./Geffen Films Production Joe's Apartment and supervised the creative teams for several other feature-length films. He lives in Katonah, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (December 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811845494
• ISBN-13: 978-0811845496
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #616,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful record of Robots evolution, March 13, 2005

By 

goldfishy (New York City, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Robots (Hardcover)

If you are a fan of the Art of Pixar books, Robots is easily on par. It has some of the most talented, amazing and awe-inspiring pre-vis work I have ever seen in an art book. The entire Robots world is contained inside these pages, its entire evolution plotted out with hundreds of drawings, paintings and sculptures.

My biggest problem with "Art of" books is when they show too much finished film imagery. Why would I buy a book with the same images from the movie? I want to know where the film came from, not where it ended up. Art of Robots shines in this respect. In only a few places will you find actual images of the finished CG renders. The rest are raw, traditional works of art that give valuable clues into the films development. I especially like the pages that show a painted character and the photographs used to reference their color and texture for the film. Great information on the film-making process at Blue Sky.

Despite the obvious shortcomings in the film's story, this book stands on its own as one of the better "Art of" books I have seen. A real honor for all the artists who poured their talent into this film.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth The Money, August 13, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: The Art of Robots (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:51 Mins

This book can be easily be mistaken as another Pixar artbook. The quality and selection of art included is huge.

There's lots of character and set design. Interestingly, there are pages with characters and photos of materials they used for texturing their 3D models. Tips are given on how texturing is approached on the film.

You'll see characters evolve from pencil drawings to 3D models and clay. They have included a few photos of rendered models without colours and textures, which I thought was quite cool.

Hundreds of drawings fill the pages. You won't see a lot of movie stills, which is great, of course.

Blue Sky Studio takes you through the process of creating and art directing the design of the movie. It's well worth the money for any artbook collectors. There's plenty to read and look at.

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great art inside, January 13, 2008

By 

Paul H. Wei - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Robots (Hardcover)

Has some really nice work inside and it's nice to see the process they went through making the movie.