Customer Reviews

The Invisible Art

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For anyone interested in either painting or the history and technique of film special effects, this book (and accompanying CD-ROM) is a must. Until the last 20-25 years or so, any filmmaker needing to create impressive historical landscapes, futuristic cities, or even just more elaborate interior sets than could be affordably made, turned to the matte painter for a solution. This massive and colorful book richly chronicles the development of using oil paints on glass to create stunning illusions.

From classic films like Thief of Baghdad, The Wizard of Oz, and Citizen Kane to crowd-pleasers Mary Poppins, The Birds, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars, the book (and CD) is filled with beautiful photos showing the matte, the "live" shot, and the composited result. What I really liked was all the photos of the artists at work both in the studios and even on location, creating relatively small paintings that would soar across screens. The final chapters cover the technique's transition to the digital age. The CD-ROM is espcially cool, as uses QuickTime movies to show how seamless the composite shots really are!

I would have liked to see samples from Blade Runner, but I suspect the writers wisely wanted to keep from overemphasizing the science-fiction genre. This is a great book that deserves to be under the Christmas trees of anyone interested in film effects.

I grew up in L.A. in the 50's and 60's when it was not OK to discuss matte painting as the studios did not want people to know that they really didn't go on location to film in exotic places. When people asked what my father did for a living, I said he was in "special effects." Then they would say "So, he blows up things?" "No, he paints in things that aren't there..."

Now, everyone can see what it is that he did for so long. He paints in things that aren't there. The authors did a fantastic job of explaining and demonstrating the incredible art of matte painting. Now I have the book to show my kids and others who never quite understood what it was that my father did. Also, this book has a great picture of him dancing with Betty Grable!

THE INVISIBLE ART is written by two special effects experts Mark Cotta Vaz who wrote two volumes of books about Industrial Light and Magic and by Craig Barron, a master matte painter who worked for Industrial Light and Magic. Together they have collected some of the most amazing artwork ever done because this art has to be good enough to make audiences believe it is something real and not just a painting. Some of the paintings are astonishing in their realism. All the great matte painters are represented here and the book is chock full of incredible paintings and behind the scenes photos. The book is sturdy hardcover and is printed on high-quality paper so it will last a lifetime. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in movies and visual effects and the best book on special effects since the last volume on Industrial Light and Magic.

Solong have I waited for a book like this, and it was over a year ago I heard Craig Baron of one of the best VFX houses out there, along with Mark Cotta Vaz, the best VFX journalist and writer out there, planned on making this book.
And it was worth the wait! This book is incredible. My favorite FX technique finally given the attention it deserves, and it is more extensive and detailed than I imagined. All matte paintings I've come to love over the years, plus an incredible amount of matte-painting-mastery I had never seen are represented by incredible photos, in their full glory. All are accompanied with a stunning print from the actual footage shot for it, or the final composite. Other pictures like photos from artists, cameramen, directors, sets, cameras and other equipment, but also original sketches and illustrations are shown throughout the book. This of course accompanied by Vaz's well written texts and anecdotes, informative, and energetic. The book has been divided in chapters that show the various stages of film history, as well as the several generations of matte painting wizards, and the development of the techniques.
I congratulate Craig & Mark on their beautiful acievement, very inspiring, stunning and moving, pure candy for the eye and mind. My library of VFX books and magazines seems finally complete!

This book is a unique collectors item. Many recent films have come out with a companion "Art of ____" book. There have been many special effects books that focus on one company or another (ILM, Digital Domain, etc). But the content of Invisible Art spans the entire history of film itself.

The focus of the book is matte painting, a specific branch of visual effects. It is a technique that has been used in films from the beginning. Over the last 10 years, matte painting has been transformed by the digital age. Before computers, many of the most stunning and beautiful effects were hand painted. Sadly, most of these paintings have been lost or destroyed. At the time of their creation, the paintings served a practical function. Looking at the pictures in this book make you realize that these paintings should have been saved and displayed in museums.

This is an outstanding document of art, film history, and some of the personalities involved in this branch of visual effects. It follows the history of film through artists working in the industry. In the last chapter, it bridges that history into the digital age. A major achievement.

I received this book last week, and had time over the weekend to enjoy a lot of it's contents.
Matte Paintings have always been my favourite aspect of SFX, so this book was one I have been waiting for. The price put me off, so I spent longer than I should deciding to buy it.
I diddn't need to worry. If you love the art of the Matte Painting, this is the one book you'll need, and the only one you'll need. From interviews with the Matte Artists themselves, and a complete history of the Matte painting, it simply covers all you'd want. A CD rom is included which compliments the book perfectly.
A beautiful book- Well written, and with the quality of layout that a subject like this deserves. Well done to the creators of this excellent publication!

I bought this book to mainly look at the pictures and thats mainly what I did. The writing of the book was so well done and knowledgable that I read a bit of it also. Before looking/reading at this book I believed that matte paintings were used for primarely sci-fi, fantasy, and other incredible landscape shots. This is not the case as most matte paintings are used for houses, interiors, street scenes, and many other shots that I never would have guessed they were used for. To think that all these years I've been fooled watching so many movies and seeing matte paintings and never even realizing it. An eye opening book to say the least.

If you are interested in the art of matte painting in the special effects industry, there isn't any comparison to this book on the planet. It is an understatement when I say that this book is DYNAMITE for lovers of matte painting.

The Invisible Art by Craig Barron and Mark Cotta Vaz is without question the definitive reference text on the fascinating art form of matte painting. Lavishly illustrated with B&W and color photos, The Invisble Art chronicles the history and present digital technology of creating matte paintings for films ranging from the silent era, and up through present-day filmmaking. I could not put the book down, and read every word and feasted on every photo. This book is a must-have for anyone even remotely interested in film production, and how one can save millions of dollars in production costs by using matte paintings and/or hanging miniatures to expand the scope and spectacle of a film's art direction and set design. Film producers especially should read this book.

Matte artists have always helped bring a movie to life, and until now, they were never really appreciated. In this beautifully layed-out book by critically-acclaimed writer Mark Cotta Vaz and insider Craig Barron, the history of matte painting is finally revealed. Living in Los Angeles, California, I was given the truly remarkable privilege to tour these once forbbiden glass artist studios and see a first hand account of what it was like to be part of the movie-making process. Matte artists have been such great assets to the movie studios in terms of saving a lot of time and money during what would be an other-wise laborious task to build an intricate set. What's great about this book is that it shows comparison views of a shot before and after a matte painting is included. Such famed directors as Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and George Lucas have used the artwork of these amazing artists to create worlds that would be almost impossible to make without. The book also includes a companion cd about the matte paintings, and includes scenes from movies such as "Star Wars," "Casino," and "Titanic." If you hadn't known these were paintings, you would never have guessed. Finally, these truly genuine artists are credited, and Hollywood owes many thanks to the epic scenes they were able to create! So to all matte artists everywhere, THANK YOU!