The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Hardcover)

~ Frank Parisi (Author), Gary Scheppke (Author), Dave Filoni (Introduction), George Lucas (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The imaginations and passions of a whole new generation of Star Wars fans have been ignited by The Clone Wars the new animated TV series from Lucasfilm; over 8 million viewers tuned in to watch the series' debut on Cartoon Network. This richly illustrated book is the only publication about the art and making of the popular series, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the immensely talented Lucasfilm Animation team and its groundbreaking work. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Frank Parisi is an editor at Lucasfilm and has written dozens of articles about video games, film, comics, music, and Star Wars under a half-dozen nom de plumes.

Gary Scheppke is design and continuity coordinator at Lucasfilm Animation.

Dave Filoni realized a lifelong dream with the opportunity to work as supervising director on Lucasfilm Animation's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; Special edition (July 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811871029
• ISBN-13: 978-0811871020
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 10 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,469 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Digital painting galore, August 14, 2009

By	Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:24 Mins

This book is actually published by two publishers, Chronicle Books and Titan Books. I've seen both and they are the same except the price which depends on the country you're in. Chronicle Books is also releasing a US$120 limited edition as well but it's cheaper on Amazon. It comes with a white slipcase with 8 prints in an envelope inside the back cover.

The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a pretty thick book at 272 pages. It covers art for the movie as well as the TV series. The chapters are arranged according to the 22 episodes with the last chapter containing a sneak peak into Season II.

We have character designs, ship designs, storyboards, environment design, lighting studies, some film stills and plenty of beat boards (scenes featuring major story points). The artistic style and feel here are very different from the usual Star Wars art books since this is for the animated series. The characters might be a little over stylized but that's why it's done in animation.

A great deal of illustrations are digitally painted, to a point I feel there's an overdose and makes traditional pieces stand out by contrast. The detailed pieces are great because they have a hint of textures. The less detailed paintings look like a speed painting pieces with that blotchy feel. Curse the round-point tip brush! I guess I still like to see textures created by brush bristles.

The pencil sketches and other non traditional medium pieces are delightful to look at because they are more organic and the style is a breath of fresh air compared to the digital paintings. Many of the sketches come with handwritten notes from the artists.

Film stills are very few and there are almost no 3D models. This book really focuses on the pre-production concept art.

All the drawings are captioned by the artists and production team. They talk about the concept and sometimes some production stories, such as rigging, modeling and texturing. The pencil drawings on General Grievous's original form before mechanical "improvements" are interesting to look at, and read since the artists couldn't decided whether he's should be a gorilla or cockroach.

Overall, I consider this art book is worth the money because of its satisfactory volume, and art of course.

My reservation is only to the insane amount of full coloured illustrations digitally created. It's a personal preference.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Clone Wars, September 22, 2009

By	David Pruette "Rancors Love to Read" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Hardcover)

The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a coffee table book that looks excellent and is packed with renderings from the theatrical release and Season I of the TV series. The book also includes a quick peek at Season II. The emphasis is on concept art and you can get a real feel for the development of characters and places. My suggestion would be to take your time going through the book. Study the pictures and absorb the artwork.

Each picture in the book has a caption explaining specifically what you are looking at and what the artist's name is. Many of the pictures also come with much longer explanations giving excellent background information, e.g., a particularly interesting write-up on the influence of Ralph McQuarrie. We hear from Director Dave Filoni a good deal as he explains the initial concepts of The Clone Wars and takes us through some of the changes that took place as the project came to fruition.

If you are a fan of The Clone Wars and enjoy the visual presentation, then this book is for you

4.0 out of 5 stars I found it nice, September 22, 2009

By	Danilo F. Silva "Danilo FS" (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Hardcover)

It covers a lot of good things, all episodes of season 1 are included in this book. So that's so good, with so many precious images...