The Art of Pixar: 25th Anniv.: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation [Hardcover]

Amid Amidi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2011

Over the past 25 years, Pixar's team of artists, writers, and directors have shaped the world of contemporary animation with their feature films and shorts. From classics such as Toy Story and A Bug's Life to recent masterpieces such as Up, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, this comprehensive collection offers a behind-the-scenes tour of every Pixar film to date. Featuring a foreword by Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, the complete color scripts for every film published in full for the first time as well as stunning visual development art, The Art of Pixar is a treasure trove of rare artwork and an essential addition to the library of animation fans and Pixar enthusiasts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Both insightful and inspiring, The Art of Pixar would make an excellent addition to the library of painters, animators and storytellers." -Forces of Geek

"...this book is a must have.." - Pixar Talk

"A must-have for animation and illustration fans. Author Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew has a solid track record, and even for their lesser films, these Pixar Art Of books, usually devoted to a single film, are always brimming with wonderful art. What sets this particular book apart is that it spans the studio's entire catalog and reproduces each film's colour script - a series of lush, colourful preliminary paintings that are to the emotion of an animated film what storyboards are to the action." -Drawn

"Pixar and Chronicle have prepared a jaw-dropping collection of colorscripts and other pieces from its productions in a brand new coffee-table book...that will look great in anyone's collection." -Upcoming Pixar blog

"There's nothing quite like watching a Pixar film in a theater alongside hundreds of fellow moviegoers. But taking your time with a book like The Art of Pixar is an unexpected and essential adjunct to the experience. It's a path through the minds of the artists, and as a result, a look inside at the characters, scenes, sets, and environments that shape the many movies that together form Pixar's enviable collection" -CNET

"offers a fun behind-the-scenes look at some of the most beloved Pixar films" -The Hollywood Reporter

About the Author

Amid Amidi is an award-winning animation historian and the author of numerous books on the subjects of animated film and cartoons. He is also the co-founder of the leading on-line animation news resource Cartoon Brew. He lives in New York City. To learn more about his work, visit AmidAmidi.com.

John Lasseter is a two-time Academy Award-winning director and the chief creative officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (November 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811879631
• ISBN-13: 978-0811879637
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Genre Films
  • #6 in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Animation
  • #15 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism

More About the Author

Amid Amidi is a Brooklyn-based author and historian. His next book "The Art of Pixar: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation" will be released in Fall 2011. His earlier book "Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation" won the prestigious Theatre Library Association Award for best English-language book about film and television in 2006. He is the co-founder of CartoonBrew.com, the most highly-trafficked animation blog on the Internet.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous and inspiring November 3, 2011

By Parka TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Length: 1:28 Mins

The Art of Pixar is a gorgeous book that represents the humble beginnings of an animation studio that is now loved by fans worldwide.

The first colorscript was drawn by Ralph Eggleston for Toy Story. That was in 1993 and it had enchanted John Lasseter, Steve Jobs and the rest of the then little studio. Today, many years and films later, it's nice to see that Pixar is still creating them, using them to communicate the emotional arc of their stories.

Collected within the 320 pages of this beautiful book are the colorscripts up to the latest movie Cars 2. Also included are the colorscripts for the many animated shorts that, if I'm not wrong, are all appearing in this book for the first time. The 100 over pages at the back are for selected pieces of art, one printed per page. These are the work from the last 25 years.

It's quite cool to see the artistic styles used by different artists to create the colorscripts. I love the pastel ones by Ralph Eggleston and Dominique R. Louis. The vector style art of Lou Romano for The Incredibles is still a refreshing departure of usual style of drawing them with pastel. Later on, the colorscript slowly evolved to being drawn digitally. The ones by Sharon Calahan for Cars 2 are so detailed I'm not sure if they aren't film stills.

The book claims to have the complete colorscripts but that's not exactly true. Since I have the other Pixar art books published by Chronicle Books, I went back to compare the content. I found out that the book didn't include some of the colorscripts that were featured in the earlier art books. Some from The Art of Finding Nemo weren't included.... However, this book includes a lot of new colorscripts that aren't in the earlier books. In particular, there are many more extra pages of colorscripts for Cars and Cars 2. The colorscripts for Ratatouille in this book are not even in The Art of Ratatouille.

As for the selected pieces of art, many are from earlier art books. I guess there some are new pieces but I didn't do a detail comparison. Even if there are some duplication, you'll still want the book because of the colorscripts, all conveniently collected and beautifully laid out.

The Art of Pixar is a tribute to art, animation and the amazing people working at Pixar. It's an inspiring book authored by veteran animation writer Amid Amidi. Highly recommended.

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

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly beautiful book October 27, 2011

By James D. Strawn

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you have the regular 'Art of' books for each film, there is not a lot of new content here. Also there is not much commentary from Pixarians or otherwise. Still, it is just what is says it is, the COMPLETE color scripts... so they're all in there for every film and short, in their entirety, and they're absolutely gorgeous. Also, there is a comprehensive section containing 'world' art, which is basically environmental concept sketches.

Bottom line, if you don't have the full Art Of (film) series, get those first because they cover each film in detail with a lot of great art and first-hand commentary. If you already have all those books (or at least the ones you're interested) and you would like to re-visit all the films and shorts in a new and abstract way then you cannot go wrong with this comprehensive volume.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gorgeous Look at the First 25 Years of Pixar Art. October 31, 2011

By George H. Taylor Jr.

Format:Hardcover

All you need to know is that this is a gorgeous book. Like other Art of... books published by Chronicle, this book showcases some beautiful and historic artwork.

Amid Amidi is a well known animation journalist, historian and author. He is the co-founder of Cartoon Brew and has written several books covering animation. This is not his first Art Of... book (The Art of Pixar, The Art of Robots and Cartoon Modern) from Chronicle and I hope it won't be his last.

"In an inspired spurt of a week or so, [Ralph Eggleston] painted the colorscript, a roadmap for the way the color (and thus emotion) would be applied throughout the film."

The idea of a color script might be a new concept to you (it was to me). It is a defining work or a canon on a film that shows the progression, changes and mood of the color as it relates to the stories and the characters. From what I understand, it goes hand-in-hand with the storyboard and might be created before the storyboard has begun. A few studios used the color script before Pixar, but not for every single film and short. Ralph Eggleston created the first color script for Toy Story and it captivated John Lasseter and Steve Jobs. It became a standard tool after that.

Beyond presenting every color script that Pixar has created (at least the ones that were saved), the Art of Pixar shows how the artistry has evolved. It was very surprising to see how close the color script stayed to the final film as well as how different films changed over the course of production. Amid included the color scripts for the short films so you get a look at how the process differs for the shorts. With a company like Pixar, you would assume that all of color scripts would be computer-based art.... Surprisingly,they were done with different media, including pastels.

The second half of the book is dedicated to "Select Art from 25 Years of Pixar Animation." There are over 100 pages of artwork sharing the creative process of the 12 feature films. This is closer to what we are used to with a typical Art of... book. The artwork shines and is an impressive look at how the films develop. Amid discusses that the artwork we see is part of the Pixar Living Archive that was created during the development of A Bug's Life. Pixar was shipping its art to the Animation Research Library when Pixar decided to keep its own artwork and create a "morgue" for their artists to use.

With most art-related titles, it is sometimes easier and more effective to let the images speak for themselves. Many of these images would be welcome in any art gallery.

The Art of Pixar is a welcome adition to the body of literature on Pixar. The color scripts offer fantastic insight into the development of the modern animated film. It is a part of the animation process that has not garnered a lot of attention previously. This is a gorgeous book that will leave you speechless at times when you realize how dazzling the artwork is and that more attention needs to be given to the art of animated films. Read more ›

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice, but not what I was expecting. March 5, 2012

By Jeff Sprague VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

True to the late Steve Jobs's philosophy, this is an impressively high-quality art book that would look great on your bookcase or coffee table, but be warned that it appeals more to the artist than to the movie buff.

I expected storyboarded scripts that used actual stills from the movies, with perhaps the dialog printed below each frame - something between a script and a graphic novel - but what they really are are sketches, some more primitive than others, and each done in a different artistic style. Some of the styles just don't appeal to me at all, such as the harsh art-deco cut-out look they used for The Incredibles, or the darker, low-contrast, primitive chalk sketches used for A Bug's Life.

I also thought these were supposed to be complete scripts - a storyboard for every major shot in the movie - but for Ratatouille there are fewer than 4 pages of images - not even an image per scene. There is absolutely no text - either dialog or direction - associated with the "scripts".

I have known the kinds of folks at whom this book is aimed - people who sit around coffee shops with sketch pads and art & animation junkies - and I think they will adore it, but this book is not meant for the masses, and is certainly not meant for younger kids - they won't appreciate it.

It is not my intention to anger those folks who will truly appreciate this book, this book has an audience that will appreciate it for what it is, but the casual Pixar movie lover or parent should be warned that this book is probably not what you're looking for. That is the reason for my 3-star review: I think this polarizing book will have a small audience for whom it will be a 5-star book, and a larger audience for whom it will be a 1-star book. You need to know which camp you fall into....

I love movies. I love Pixar. I love quality books. This book represents all those things, yet I do not find it interesting and regret having purchased it.
Sorry. Read more ›