Art of Up
The cover art of The Art of Up is out. I've all of Pixar's movie art books. This will just be another great addition. The movie's going to be out 29 May 2009, and the book 13 May 2009.
Links: Pixar's Up | Wikipedia | Trailer | Amazon
Art of Pixar Short Films
Most of the short films are available for viewing at pixar.com. The book should be out 21 January 2009.
Link: Amazon
The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens
Here's Dreamworks' animation for 2009, Monsters vs. Aliens. The movie will be out 27 March 2009 and the book in March 2009.
Links: Official movie homepage | Wikipedia | Trailer | Amazon
The Art of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
This is Studio Ghilbi's animated film for 2008, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Actually the Japanese version for the art book is already out. I'm just waiting for the English version from Viz Media which should be out 3 March 2009.
Links: Wikipedia | Jap preview 1 | Jap preview 2 | Amazon
Watchmen: The Art of the Film
Watchmen, yes. The movie trailer is looking pretty promising. The book should be out 10 Feb 2009. The movie starts 6 March 2009.
Links: Official movie homepage | Trailer | Wikipedia | Amazon
Watchmen: The Official Film Companion
I hope this is the making-of book and I hope it's a good one. Coming out on 10 Feb 2009 as well.
Links: Amazon
Watchmen: Portraits
This is a risky book to get. I've absolutely no idea what's inside.
Links: Amazon
Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
I guess over 600 user reviews averaging at 5 stars says that this is a very good book.
Links on Amazon: Absolute edition | Hardcover | Paperback
Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and Comics and Sequential Art (Will Eisner Instructional Books)
I bought Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative which was pretty good. These two shouldn't be too bad. The reviews are very positive on Amazon for Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and Comics and Sequential Art.
Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig
Iain McCaig is the guy who drew many of the character designs for Star Wars. The art book is actually available for sale, and is one of the more pricey ones I've seen so far. You can read the user reviews that are already up on Amazon.
Color and Composition
The author's Hans Bacher. He has been a production designer in the animation industry for many years. I've his previous book Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation, which is really good. On his blog, I read that he's working on this book for late 2009.
The Art of Halo 3: Prima Official Art Book
I've heard great things about the book on internet forums. The book is already out and there are user reviews on Amazon.
The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King
I like the fact that the publisher is Insight Editions. They have pretty good art books for movies. The ones I have are Open Season, Surf's Up, Kung Fu Panda, Monster House, Madagascar, Shrek and Trick 'r Treat.
Links: Amazon
Animation Unleashed: 100 Principles Every Animator, Comic Book Writers, Filmmakers, Video Artist, and Game Developer Should Know
Because the book title had the word "animation" in it. I like to read stuff about animation — you can easily guess that — although I'm not really in the animation industry. The book is already out and the user reviews are very positive.
Directing the Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques for Live Action and Animation
Oh, I'm also interested in storytelling. This book is also currently available for sale on Amazon. If you're into storytelling, there's a great book called Ideas for the Animated Short that you should probably check out.
Massive Black Volume One
Massive Black is a full production artwork and asset outsourcing studio that has contributed to over 85 projects for multiple video game platforms, film, print, toys, comics and more. Ballistic will be publishing the art book and is now taking pre-orders. It should be out Jan 2009. You can read more information and some preview pages on the forum at conceptart.org
Star Wars: Frames
This book represents the ultimate test for wealthy Star Wars fans. It's limited to 1138 copies going at USD4000 per set. You can read more information at starwars.com. Amazon's selling at USD5500 but I'm sure the price will match that from Sideshow Collectibles at USD4000 soon. A sample copy will be on display at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.
This ultimate collectible is from Insight Editions and will be available in May 2009.
Oh, no, I'm not going to get this one. It's way out of my galaxy. Besides, getting the Blu-ray version of the movies will still be a whole lot more affordable.
So what art books are you getting for 2009?
I have a huge backlog of books I'd like to get - and it's not getting any smaller due to your blog :)
ReplyDeleteLet's see...
The Massive Black artbook is my number one purchase obviously. I rarely do preorders, but this book is one I will splurge some cash on immediately. I've been a fan of Jason Manley's stuff before conceptart.org was put together and even though this book probably won't feature his art, I'll still get it and gladly support ca.org and MB since they've done some huge, huge things for the art community.
I'll probably finally get the SW Dressing the galaxy book that I've been eyeing for quite some time. Have to grab it before it goes out-of-print. Not to mention the Episode III artbook just to complement I&II, even though the movies aren't my favorites.
There's a ton of stuff I'd like to pick up - The Fenner Frazetta books, all of Kazuo Oga's artbooks, maybe one or both of those Vagabond ones, but the money's tight as usual.
I'd also really like the Justin Sweet Droar sketchbooks, however there's some mixed info on his site if they're available outside US or not - and they're a bit pricey considering the page count. I love his art though.