The Art of WALL.E

I think this book is out there with the rest of the Pixar marvel books.
Great visuals and detailed digital paintings. I highly recommend it.

I pre-ordered this book as soon as it became available, a few months before I even saw "WALL·E"...as the film got closer I started having second doubts "what if I HATE it?" and "it can't POSSIBLY live up to the expectations I have"...do I really want to own a book all about artwork for a movie I didn't like? But I did like it (LOVED it, in fact), and it did live up to my expectations. It lived up to everything I was hoping for (and more) and I am SO happy that I own this book...aside from the two collectors "toys" I have (of WALL·E and EVE) sitting on my computer desk, this is something I am really happy to own from what has been my favorite film of 2008 thus far. Now I know, when it comes to Pixar, I really shouldn't be concerned about them coming through and delivering quality product like I'd expected when I first pre-ordered this...next step, WALL·E BluRay!

P.S. I got this book for the awesome Amazon sale price of $25 or so bucks...it's worth the whole damn $40 that coverprice lists!

Once I got the book, I couldn't put it down. As a person trying to break into the industry with a traditional animation background, it's good to know that Pixar still pushes "Old skool" style. The backgrounds are amazing, the artwork is spectacular, and their mission to let the animators "animate"? I LOVE PIXAR! I think this book is for the animator in all of us dying to get out and put their skills to the test. It explains obstacles you have to overcome when something is taken away. Storytelling through expression and art is somewhat of a lost art. Pixar has that magic touch to bring it back to the animation field and Im all for it! Chuck Jones once said about the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies that you can turn off the volume to the t.v. and still understand what is going on. If anyone can do that I believe Pixar's the one.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QHHL95BIIAMW This book carried a much darker tone due to the environment -- Earth with tons of trash. The colour palette from the movie was limited to very dark tones. This book isn't as colourful compared to other Pixar art books as a result. But that is not a bad thing.

There are a few pages right up front on visual storytelling. It provides a nice introduction into the conceptualizing of the movie, and into producing a movie where the main characters have with no dialogue.

In the first chapter "Cinematic Dictation", it talks about how storyboards helps make the movie. Included in this chapter are lots of storyboards in different styles by different artists.

"Trash Planet" is the name of the second chapter. It also happens to be the same name for the movie for more than ten years before it was changed to WALL-E. Here we have sketches, paintings and colorscripts for the trash filled environment WALL-E was set in. There are also character designs for WALL-E and EVE. It's amazing to look at these paintings and see how they have evolved into actual movie scenes.

The last chapter is called "The Axiom". It contains concept art for the spaceship, robots, interiors. There are also discarded ideas such as using alien blobs instead of humans.

Missing from this book are pastel drawings, the common ingredient found in Pixar art books. Ralph Eggleston, production designer for Finding Nemo, changed to a different style!

This is another marvelous art book for any Pixar fan.

There are more pictures on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.

What a beautiful book! Thumbing through it, I was struck by how many different types of art are represented: rough pencil sketches, full-bleed background images, pen and ink, pen and marker, digital imagery, even drawings made of "charcoal and hairspray" and "marker and correction fluid." I enthusiastically recommend The Art of WALL.E for aspiring artists, movie fans and anyone wanting to see behind the curtain at the Pixar wizard's inner workings.

My teenage daughter loves it.

In the foreword, WALL.E director and writer Andrew Stanton reveals the line that inspired the movie: "What if mankind were forced to evacuate Earth and someone forgot to turn the last robot off?" This book shows the journey from that initial sentence to the completed animated movie.

Spread throughout the pages are quotes from the movie's production team. "I wanted to do 'R2-D2: The Movie,'" says Stanton. Art director Anthony Christov notes that the movie's trash world was inspired by Chernobyl. "Everything is abandoned. Everything is leveled. Nobody can live there."

Under the dust jacket is a plain yellow cover, with a logo for BnL (Buy & Large, the film's super-corporation) embossed on the front and the title in white on the spine.

Headed to the movie? Here's Amazon's page for showtimes.