Since its debut in 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender has been one of Nickelodeon's most talked about and highest-rated animated series. Offering an epic storyline, engaging characters, action, adventure, and a powerful message about the importance of hope in a world besieged by war, it is also beautifully executed, harmonizing Western influences with aesthetic inspiration drawn from a diverse array of cultures, including those of China, Japan, India, and the Inuit. An unprecedented look at the concept, design, and production art behind this smash-hit, award-winning series, Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series features hundreds of images, most of which Nickelodeon has never released to the public, and chronicles the show's development - from the very first sketch through to the series finale and beyond! With extensive commentary from series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
133 of 135 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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Length:
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This is a wonderful art book for a spellbinding animation series. Making the series took 6 years, hundreds of artists, and hundreds of thousands of drawings. This book showcases a selection of some really beautiful illustrations.
There are loads of character and background designs inside, in sketches and in their finished coloured form. The main characters like Aang and others come with cool animation sequences created with pencils. Also included are many of the discarded concepts which were difficult to animate or doesn't suit the story. Appa had some really awesome spiral horns but were discarded, unfortunately. The character drawings are superb. Just by looking at their different expressions you can pretty much guess their characteristics.
Besides the characters which includes the town folks and soldiers, there are also drawings for many miscellaneous stuff like storyboards, airships, hybrid animals, wanted posters, promotional posters, chibi (or super deformed) style and random doodles from meetings.
Did I mention the background paintings? The world created is so beautiful!
The whole book is annotated heavily by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. They talk about everything on production, from creating the pilot episode to Nickelodeon approving the final season. You can see and read about their influences and inspiration everywhere, from Buddhism, Studio Ghibli, Gainax, Chinese martial arts, etc. It's very interesting to see how they apply what they learned from research to their drawings and animation.
This is a fantastic art book for the series and fans, which should appeal to anyone who hasn't watch the series. Good art appeals to all.
Highly recommended!
(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
There are loads of character and background designs inside, in sketches and in their finished coloured form. The main characters like Aang and others come with cool animation sequences created with pencils. Also included are many of the discarded concepts which were difficult to animate or doesn't suit the story. Appa had some really awesome spiral horns but were discarded, unfortunately. The character drawings are superb. Just by looking at their different expressions you can pretty much guess their characteristics.
Besides the characters which includes the town folks and soldiers, there are also drawings for many miscellaneous stuff like storyboards, airships, hybrid animals, wanted posters, promotional posters, chibi (or super deformed) style and random doodles from meetings.
Did I mention the background paintings? The world created is so beautiful!
The whole book is annotated heavily by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. They talk about everything on production, from creating the pilot episode to Nickelodeon approving the final season. You can see and read about their influences and inspiration everywhere, from Buddhism, Studio Ghibli, Gainax, Chinese martial arts, etc. It's very interesting to see how they apply what they learned from research to their drawings and animation.
This is a fantastic art book for the series and fans, which should appeal to anyone who hasn't watch the series. Good art appeals to all.
Highly recommended!
(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Johane Matte
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
An awesome collection of pre-production art; character designs, props, backgrounds, example of storyboards and animation. This book covers all three seasons, episode by episode, from its pilot episode to the grand finale of Sozin's comet.
It is a beautiful collection, presented in a nice hardcover book. There is so much material, it is almost a shame the publisher didn't do one book for each seasons and printed some of the pictures bigger.
If you're looking to have an inside look at the great artworks produced for this show, this is a must have book for all fans of the series.
It is a beautiful collection, presented in a nice hardcover book. There is so much material, it is almost a shame the publisher didn't do one book for each seasons and printed some of the pictures bigger.
If you're looking to have an inside look at the great artworks produced for this show, this is a must have book for all fans of the series.
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
For ANY fan of the series, this is an ABSOLUTE must-have. This book is jam-packed with all sorts of goodies, plus stuff I didn't expect to have. I've always loved seeing rough sketches and idea drawings, and this book does not fail to disappoint.
You get a huge treasure trove of backgrounds, paintings, character designs, and notes. It truly is an amazing read.
Like Johane said, it's almost a shame that there isn't a separate book for each season, because there's just so much good stuff in here. It's almost too much - I do wish some of the drawings were bigger. At 184 pages, I cannot help but wonder why the creators of this book didn't just spring for 200. On one page, there is a lineup of portraits of five Fire Lords, but they're so small that I have to use a magnifying glass to really look at all the details of these pictures (the images are no more than a couple of inches high) It would be nice to have several pages - even foldout - so we can examine these images to our fullest pleasure. It is due to the size of some of the images in this book that I cannot give it a perfect 5 stars - I can only give it 4.5 at best.
Still, this is a pretty sweet collectible full of lovely artwork and other goodies that should not fail to disappoint even the most die-hard Avatar fan. And if you have a friend or family member who is an Avatard, believe me, this is a gift that WILL make their day.
You get a huge treasure trove of backgrounds, paintings, character designs, and notes. It truly is an amazing read.
Like Johane said, it's almost a shame that there isn't a separate book for each season, because there's just so much good stuff in here. It's almost too much - I do wish some of the drawings were bigger. At 184 pages, I cannot help but wonder why the creators of this book didn't just spring for 200. On one page, there is a lineup of portraits of five Fire Lords, but they're so small that I have to use a magnifying glass to really look at all the details of these pictures (the images are no more than a couple of inches high) It would be nice to have several pages - even foldout - so we can examine these images to our fullest pleasure. It is due to the size of some of the images in this book that I cannot give it a perfect 5 stars - I can only give it 4.5 at best.
Still, this is a pretty sweet collectible full of lovely artwork and other goodies that should not fail to disappoint even the most die-hard Avatar fan. And if you have a friend or family member who is an Avatard, believe me, this is a gift that WILL make their day.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Excelent!!!
What can I say? A lot of pages, interesting information about the series and a beautiful artwork. I wished it to be a much more bigger book because their work is simply AMAZING!
Published 2 days ago by Henrique Jun Yoshida
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's better than i thought
If you love the behind the scenes stuff and the process of a show making this have to be in your library, fan or not.
Published 2 days ago by muhammed
5.0 out of 5 stars
Take an in depth look at the art of your favorite series.
This book is huge and chock full of all kinds of behind the scenes drawings of original character designs and storyboards and scenery. Beautiful and fascinating.
Published 12 days ago by A. Skees
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book for excellent series
This book is fantastic for anyone who loved the show and even better for people who love art & process. Read more
Published 17 days ago by JJ Causewell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must have for fans
Definately worth it. A good read that I found myself unable to put down. & artwork that truly blows your mind away. & makes you appreiciate how hard this show was worked on. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Javanovitch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Quality & Inspiration
This book is an absolute must for any Avatar fan. Understanding how much work was put into this masterpiece of a show gives an even greater appreciation for it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Christopher Atkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
A biography of the famous cartoon series, AVATAR!
This book is very detailed in which it talks about before they made avatar, to the idea, the production, the pilot, the series, and its end. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Chester
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for fans
For fans of the animated series this book is a treasure. This book not only highlights the artwork from the series, which is beautiful and highly detailed, but is a great example... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jacqueline A. Wessel
5.0 out of 5 stars
For Fans of Avatar (Animated Series)
It's a great book for fans of Avatar, there's a lot of concepts and sketches. Also, we can take a look at the originals concepts, and therefore compare with de animated art.
Published 1 month ago by Hako
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is awesome!
I would recommend this book to any die-hard avatar fan who wants to know more about the series and its art, or for anyone who just wants to add to their collection of avatar... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lisa Simpson
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