THE ART OF PIXAR (2011, Amid Amidi)

Amid Amidi, The Art of Pixar: The Complete Colorscripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2011.

/ Epub / English / 320 pages / 0811879631 / 978-0811879637

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FUNNY! (2015, Jason Katz)

Jason Katz. Funny!: Twenty-Five Years of Laughter from the Pixar Story Room. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2015.

/ PDF / English / 168 pages / 1452122288 /  978-1452122281

The funny pictures are always diformed, with certain characteristics exagerated. But the thing is you pretty much know who are these characters: speaks about how Pixar is now part of Pop Culture... Their characters are as recognizable as Mickey, Chaplin, Bugs Bunny, Michael Jackson, Nomi Malone or:

"I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?... You said I'm funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!"

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THE ART OF ZOOTOPIA (2016, Jessica Julius)

Jessica Julius. The Art of Zootopia. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2016.

/ PDF / English / 160 pages /  1452122237 / 978-1452122236

Some years ago Disney finally bought Pixar (and John Lasseter's soul muhahahaha). The idea was having them as a subsidiary separate studio releasing CGI animation features and to keep the Walt Disney Animation Studio making beautiful classic style "2D" animation... That didn't work, sigh... Classic animation is dead for the most part, sigh, sigh... But something odd happened... Disney did in fact absorb the Pixar style and business model (which is what they wanted), but, here is the weird part, they make it even better! like Wtf! And this days Disney is releasing super original, innovative work (like this feature Zootopia, a kids silly movie that is really about prejudices, stereotypes and racism!!!) and Pixar, or Disney-Pixar whatever you wanna call it, is stuck on safe cruiser mode: Nemo's sequel, Toy Story 11 (Woody should die already ok?: burn him alive), Cars Sequel again, The Incredibles sequel... Yeah they're still Top Notch film makers don't get me wrong, but something is not entirely there... Even Inside Out (beautiful and all...) but yeah: safe! Well, like 20th century's greatest poet used to say: Nothing Lasts Forever.

Ok, so another "Art Of" with all the usual stuff you find in this sort of books: fine... With a very minor look to what went into the making of the awesome film Zootopia (needs more words, interviews, the original script, some stupid production memo idk, something!...)

(by pelida77)

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THE ART OF FINDING DORY (2016)

The Art of Disney Pixar Finding Dory. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2016.

/ PDF / English / 179 pages /  1452122245 / 978-1452122243

In-depth looks into the process of of making the beautiful Pixar sequel to Nemo.With a preface by John Lasseter (Big Boss), Andrew Stanton (Director) and Steve Pilcher (Production Designer)

Early character sketches on scrap paper, to graphic artist renditions of logos or posters that dress the sets of the film provides digital paintings but also pencil sketches, storyboards, notes about color theory and how color and lighting is used to elicit particular emotions, colorscripts and text with even more insights into the art which fills the pages.

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THE ART OF BRAVE (2012, Jenny Lerew)

Jenny Lerew. The Art of Brave, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2012.

26 MB / JPEG / English / 160 pages / 9781452101422 / 9781452101422

I like Brenda Chapman. She's been in the animation business for nearly 30 years: begining as sync checker in Dennis the Menace the TV Series (1986); Then Disney: Storyboard in The Little Mermaid (1989); Story in Beauty and the Beast (1991); Story Supervisor in The Lion King (1994); Story in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Fantasia 2000 (1999). Moving to Dreamworks: Directing, The Prince of Egypt (1998). Story in Chicken Run (2000). Finally, directing Pixar's Brave (2012), creating the story and characters based on the relationship with her own daughter, and her love for Scotland. She has a sensibility that's quite rare in this boys club. 

She was replaced as a director due to "creative disagreements" (seems to me not everything is gold in the wonderful land of Pixar). Among many other changes, Disney-Pixar decided to make Merida thinner!!! I've always imagined Brenda to be just like her character, a fiery Scottish archer at heart (and she did not probed me wrong: pointed at Lasseter for her firing... I mean...yickes!) Certainly I admire her even more now: remained loyal to her believes on how female characters should be portrayed specially when your audience are kids. (by pelida77)

 

A lovely book: a preface by John Lasseter, Brenda Chapman, and Mark Andrews (the replacement). You'll see the very first drawings of Merida made by Steve Purcell (Story) after Brenda told him about her ideas; the artists trip to Scotland to "soak in the atmosphere of the country". How the designers created each character. The sculpts that helped the artists. The engravings are outstanding.

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THE ART OF WALL-E (2008, Tim Hauser)

 Tim Hauser. The Art of Wall-e, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2008.

32 MB / GonVisor File / 160 pages / 0811862356 / 978-0811862356

A nice film made by the famous Studio Pixar. The first half is touching, beautiful and poetic... and then the movie went to hell. It's like puting voices, dialogue and a narrator to a Chaplin movie. You don't do that!

This one should have been silent, a pure pantomime animation, and a master piece. Sadly is only a nice movie.

A short foreword by Andrew Stanton (Director). You really can't get much from it, besides how they faced a big problem to make the robot communicate just through its movements and R2D2 kind of sounds.

Usually in art-books, you only get images. But luckily in this book these are accompanied by words and quotes from the creators, explaining what were their intentions.

You get the thoughts from: Jim Morris, Ralph Eggleston (Producers); Alan Barillaro (Animator); Anthony Cristov (Art); Jeremy Lasky (Cinematography); Noah Klocek (Sketch) and many others, with, of course, two main protagonist: Stanton and John Lasseter. (by pelida77)

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THE PIXAR STORY (2007, Leslie Iwerks)

The Pixar Story / DIR: Leslie Iwerks / WRITTEN: L. Iwerks / CINEMATOGRAPHY: Suki Mendencevic / EDIT: L. Iwerks; Stephen Myers / NARRATION: Stacy Keach / MUSIC: Jeff Beal / PRD: Leslie Iwerk Productions / 2007 / 1h 27 m.

NOTABLE INTERVIEWEES: John Lasseter; Steve Jobs; Edwin Catmull; Andrew Stanton; Pete Docter; Brad Bird; John Musker; Lee Unkrich; Jim Murphy; Ron Clements; Frank Thomas; Glen Keane; Joe Grant; Tom Hanks; Tim Allen; Billy Crystal; Roy Disney; Michael Eisner; Randy Newman; George Lucas; Dennis Muren.

This is a tale about three guys, an unemployed artist, a computer geek, and a cheated entrepreneur, coming together to form the most successful pioneering animation studio since Walt Disney days. Pixar has rocked our world, presenting us the legacy of 20th century animation under new creative forms. This documentary tell us the whole story right from its beginnings; exploring the careers of this three Key-man of the Studio.

You will get to know the inventiveness of Edwin Catmull, a Ph.D in Physics and Computer Science, and a passionate admirer of animations; Working for George Lucas Special Efects department and developing CG tools to assist the animators.

Also, the vision... the Balls really!... of Steve Jobs; investing for a decade more than 10 million dollars of his own money in a very risky - non profit at all - enterprise. Keeping the boat afloat with the financial assistance of The Walt Disney Company; and when that media mega-conglomerate threat on retiring that suport, planning the public offering of Pixar stocks for more than 100 million, forcing Disney to sign a 50/50 partnership.

But what this documentary is really about, is the will of an artist: John Lasseter. A story of determination, of keep struggling against all odds. You'll see him being elected as one of the young promising talents by "Disney's animation program" in CalArts; and winning two consecutive Student Awards. Applying for a job at Disney, working his way up from the theme park attractions to the animation studio: where he got to watch Tron (1982) and acknowledged the potential of CGI. And the birth of a dream: to make the first computer animated feature. But things at Disney weren't the way they used to. Many were afraid of losing their jobs because of this new technology, and so... He got fired! A very touching moment in the documentary. Can you imagine what was that like for John? Getting kicked out of the animation Mount Olympus to an exile land, the reality, where nobody cared about the virtual world?(... a little melodramatic, here)

In the darkest hour of his career, John would unite forces with Ed Catmull: Little he knew, that this was just the beginning... (by pelida77)

MP4 / 573 MB / 1h 28m / Audio: Eng
Video: MPEG-4 / 480x360 (16:9) / 767 Kbps / 23.976 fps / 0.185 Qf
Audio: AAC / 44.1 KHz / 132.3 Kbps

Part One...
Part Two...
Part Three...
Part Four...

TOY STORY THE SKETCHBOOK

Disney Pixar Toy Story. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books, 1997.

PDF / 28 MB / Eng / 94 pp / 1557093407 / 978-1557093400

In November 1995, the feature length film "Toy Story" was released as a joint venture between Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Studios. Until 1999, when "Toy Story 2" was released, "Toy Story" was the third most successful animated film at the box office. This sketchbook contains: sketches and background studies done for both films. Intro by John Lasseter.

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THE ART OF MONSTERS, INC (2001, PIXAR)

Laura Lovett and Patrick Barber, The Art of Monsters, Inc., Singapore, Disney Enterprices, 2001.

JPEG / 18 MB / Eng / 144 pages / 0811833887 / 978-0811833882

- A brief introduction and comments by John Lasseter (Producer, head of Pixar) and Pete Docter (Director)
- Concept Art By: Harley Jessup (Production Designer); Bob Peterson (storyboards); Geefwee Boedoe; Dominique Louis; J. Otto Siebold; Jill Culton; Lou Romano; Ralph Eggleston; Ricky Nierva; Dan Lee;Tia Kratter; Lou Romano; Bob Pauley; Nicolas Marlet; Oscar Grillo; Jeff Pidgeon.

Nice Pixar Movie. In the same line as A Bug's Life; that is: maybe not as revolutionary to the media as Toy Story and Nemo or Ratatouille, still, a very nice movie. Lovable characters, great lines, a beautifully designed world... you know 10 years from today we will still remember how much Pixar amazed us back in the day.

(by pelida77)

"There's nothing more toxic or deadly than a human child. A single touch could kill you. Leave a door open, and one can walk right into this factory; right into the monster world."

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THE ART OF FINDING NEMO (Mark Cotta Vaz)

Cotta Vaz, Mark. The Art of Finding Nemo. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2003

PDF / 14.2 MB / Eng / 160 pages / 0811839753 / 978-0811839754

The thing I hate the most about CG animation is that behind the clean images you can sense the smell of money; They just make this stupid movies in order to take money from kid's parents. But fortunately thats not true with Pixar. The american studio took the legacy of traditional animation,adapted it, and brought into the 21st century the same old stories we all enjoy and love.

This book deals mainly with the concept art of Finding Nemo (2003)
- How they made the most famous scenes in the movie.
- The influences on the style: Bambi; Sleeping Beauty
- Hundreds of beautiful pictures (discussed and explained)... thousands, mua ha ha...

Some interviews with... and Multiple quotes of...:
- John Lasseter (Nemo film producer and founder of Pixar); Ralph Eggleston (producer, concept art); Graham Walters
- Andrew Stanton (Writer and director); Lee Unkrich (2nd Director... what is a 2nd director?)
- Robin Cooper; Randy Berret; Anthony Christov (Art)
- Dan Lee (Character Designer)
- Sharon Calahan (Director of photography)

(by pelida77)

And more... much more... but I have forgotten most of it... you know, I suffer from short-term memory loss. It runs in my family... At least I think it does... hm. Where "are" they?

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