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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Mark Cotta Vaz Publisher: Chronicle Books |
When someone reads a title, such as “The Art of Bolt,” it is obvious that the book is going to be about artwork
instead of text. This book, by Mark Cotta Vaz, is lacking in the realm of writing, even compared to other books in this
collection. With the exception of a dozen pages of text, everything else in the book is quotes. At times, the book
almost feels like it should be titled “The Art of Paul Felix” considering the fact that it is filled with digital paintings by
Felix, who was art director on the movie. There are also digital paintings by artists including Greg Miller, Jim Finn, Ric
Sluiter, Kevin Nelson, Sean Samuels, as well as a few graphite drawings by Bill Perkins.
The word for the art direction of this film is described as “painterly.” There are examples in the book of render tests,
and what they illustrate is that in CGI, “painterly” translates to softer textures and a brushstroke feel, but the
backgrounds are still controlled by the perfect geometries of a computer-generated image.
One area in which CGI doesn’t have to play a near second to the traditional arts is in the realm of characters, and
there’s plenty of character design artwork in this book. The book offers solid and appealing designs by lead
designer Joe Moshier, supported by work from Jin Kim and Chen-Yi Chang. There is never any real exploration of
the graphic possibilities, such as what one saw in Teddy Newton’s inventive character exploration work on “The
Incredibles.”
Something that readers won’t be seeing in the character designs is a single vision of the universe, especially not in
the way that was evident in the work of Chris Sanders on American Dog, the earlier manifestation of Bolt. Not only is
the work of Sanders absent in this book, but his name has also been entirely omitted from the production history.
Anyone that considers themselves to be a film historian, this type of omission will raise some anger, but it is hard to
know the behind-the-scenes story that led to his name being omitted from the book. In the book, Vaz writes that Paul
Felix started figuring out the look of the film in 2005.
In a hint at why Sanders was let go, Lasseter writes in the foreword that in Bolt, “as innovative as the production
design is, the artists made sure the style was always serving the story.” It is obvious that the style they ended up
using wasn’t so safe and generic. The Disney studio has built a reliable animation brand that falls to the “Illusion of
Life” philosophy, but many won’t believe for one second that to achieve that they need to dumb down their design
sensibilities and regress to bland films. As is evident in films like “Fantasia,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “101 Dalmatians”
and “Lilo and Stitch.” It’s a flexible idea that can accommodate more creativity and experimentation than the artwork
that’s shown in this book. “The Art of Bolt” may not have the most interesting or inspiring art, but let’s hope at the
end of the day, at least it serves the story, as Lasseter believes it does.
instead of text. This book, by Mark Cotta Vaz, is lacking in the realm of writing, even compared to other books in this
collection. With the exception of a dozen pages of text, everything else in the book is quotes. At times, the book
almost feels like it should be titled “The Art of Paul Felix” considering the fact that it is filled with digital paintings by
Felix, who was art director on the movie. There are also digital paintings by artists including Greg Miller, Jim Finn, Ric
Sluiter, Kevin Nelson, Sean Samuels, as well as a few graphite drawings by Bill Perkins.
The word for the art direction of this film is described as “painterly.” There are examples in the book of render tests,
and what they illustrate is that in CGI, “painterly” translates to softer textures and a brushstroke feel, but the
backgrounds are still controlled by the perfect geometries of a computer-generated image.
One area in which CGI doesn’t have to play a near second to the traditional arts is in the realm of characters, and
there’s plenty of character design artwork in this book. The book offers solid and appealing designs by lead
designer Joe Moshier, supported by work from Jin Kim and Chen-Yi Chang. There is never any real exploration of
the graphic possibilities, such as what one saw in Teddy Newton’s inventive character exploration work on “The
Incredibles.”
Something that readers won’t be seeing in the character designs is a single vision of the universe, especially not in
the way that was evident in the work of Chris Sanders on American Dog, the earlier manifestation of Bolt. Not only is
the work of Sanders absent in this book, but his name has also been entirely omitted from the production history.
Anyone that considers themselves to be a film historian, this type of omission will raise some anger, but it is hard to
know the behind-the-scenes story that led to his name being omitted from the book. In the book, Vaz writes that Paul
Felix started figuring out the look of the film in 2005.
In a hint at why Sanders was let go, Lasseter writes in the foreword that in Bolt, “as innovative as the production
design is, the artists made sure the style was always serving the story.” It is obvious that the style they ended up
using wasn’t so safe and generic. The Disney studio has built a reliable animation brand that falls to the “Illusion of
Life” philosophy, but many won’t believe for one second that to achieve that they need to dumb down their design
sensibilities and regress to bland films. As is evident in films like “Fantasia,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “101 Dalmatians”
and “Lilo and Stitch.” It’s a flexible idea that can accommodate more creativity and experimentation than the artwork
that’s shown in this book. “The Art of Bolt” may not have the most interesting or inspiring art, but let’s hope at the
end of the day, at least it serves the story, as Lasseter believes it does.
