Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Book Review: Art of Kung Fu Panda

This book shot darts of awesome-ness into my eyes! (Man, that was cheesy.)

It also screamed "character design" after you flip through the pages. Nicolas Marlet designed all these beautiful characters in the world of Kung Fu Panda.

Pages after pages were devoted to character design. (Variety.com had an interview with Nicolas Marlet on the character designs if you're interested.)

Each major character had their own chapters and comes with an interesting background story, explaining how the characters came from research, went into concept, and then designed.

Every prop and design had a purpose and meant something relating to Chinese history. The artists understand body language very well, and they show it by posing the characters to reflect that knowledge.

Large frames were printed throughout the pages, depicting movie scenes. The level of detail was very high if you look at the drawings done on the set. Even the title typography of the book was designed to mimic Chinese words.

This book is worth getting even if you haven't watched Kung Fu Panda. It's inspiring for anyone who loves art, or work with art.



Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Art of Kung Fu Panda

Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.

Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Check out other books I've reviewed also, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list

2 comments:

  1. Awesome. :D Was just thinking of buying this and I'm glad you've assured that it's worth the money. Good thing I saw your post on CA.org!

    Thanks very much. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This really is an awesome book. It has the perfect balance of eye candy to chat. More pictures less words and is worth it woth Marlet designs alone

    ReplyDelete

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