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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Tim Hauser Publisher: Chronicle Books |
UP. People are always amazed by the high quality of Pixar films because of the fact that most of the films were
dreamed up by three guys sitting around a table drawing ideas on cocktail napkins about projects they would like to
work on. Lou Romano, a former employee of Pixar has shared many of the design concepts behind the studio’s work
on Up. Romano’s work took three years and he specifically credits nine other artists who helped to define the overall
look of the film. In “The Art of UP,” readers will get stories, quotes and concept art that eventually led to the final
product of UP
While taking nothing away from the story of UP, which is actually the best part of the movie, the movie definitely has a
very distinct look to it. It is doesn’t have the photorealistic look that was achieved with the adorable robot in Wall-E,
but that clearly wasn’t the goal with this movie this time around, as readers are going to be able to see in some of the
artwork that is included in the film. Romano has many images in the book showing the progression of the film and its
characters from the early stages in the production.
For those who are wondering what Pixar’s UP is really about, the book offers a lot of great clues, and some spoilers.
The basic storyline without giving away anything important is about an old man named Carl going on a journey in
search of the meaning of his like. This film reached what it was aiming for, which was to be the studio’s most
emotional film to date.
The author of the book, Tim Hauser, provides a good introduction into design style and the process of movie
production. There is some talk about the story arc, themes, the characters in the film and a little bit of talk about the
artistic side of the production, such as the need to visit a jungle in order to research for certain scenes. The story
team provided a lot of quotes that gave great insight into the story process, which the technical side of the animation
process isn’t mentioned as much.
While looking through some of the art that was designed for this film, readers will see that the movie is aimed at
simplicity. The character designs are based on simple shapes like squares for Carl, ovals for Russell and the
balloons and bullets for the dogs. This film has less sets and characters compared to other Pixar films. There seems
to be three main locations: city, the sky and the jungle. It is obvious that all the focus will be set on the characters
instead of what is going on around them.
The art in the book ranges from character designs, storyboards, color scripts and a few paintings of the
environments. Descriptions of each illustration come in the form of quotes. There are a lot of character sketches for
the main characters. Readers looking for the plot of the film will find that in the color scripts of Lou Romano.
What readers won’t find in this book ate stills from the film, background paintings and pastels. It is hard to
understand why there are rarely background paintings in the Pixar art books compared to non-Pixar art books.
However, in the end this book isn’t for fans of art, but instead fans of all things Pixar.
dreamed up by three guys sitting around a table drawing ideas on cocktail napkins about projects they would like to
work on. Lou Romano, a former employee of Pixar has shared many of the design concepts behind the studio’s work
on Up. Romano’s work took three years and he specifically credits nine other artists who helped to define the overall
look of the film. In “The Art of UP,” readers will get stories, quotes and concept art that eventually led to the final
product of UP
While taking nothing away from the story of UP, which is actually the best part of the movie, the movie definitely has a
very distinct look to it. It is doesn’t have the photorealistic look that was achieved with the adorable robot in Wall-E,
but that clearly wasn’t the goal with this movie this time around, as readers are going to be able to see in some of the
artwork that is included in the film. Romano has many images in the book showing the progression of the film and its
characters from the early stages in the production.
For those who are wondering what Pixar’s UP is really about, the book offers a lot of great clues, and some spoilers.
The basic storyline without giving away anything important is about an old man named Carl going on a journey in
search of the meaning of his like. This film reached what it was aiming for, which was to be the studio’s most
emotional film to date.
The author of the book, Tim Hauser, provides a good introduction into design style and the process of movie
production. There is some talk about the story arc, themes, the characters in the film and a little bit of talk about the
artistic side of the production, such as the need to visit a jungle in order to research for certain scenes. The story
team provided a lot of quotes that gave great insight into the story process, which the technical side of the animation
process isn’t mentioned as much.
While looking through some of the art that was designed for this film, readers will see that the movie is aimed at
simplicity. The character designs are based on simple shapes like squares for Carl, ovals for Russell and the
balloons and bullets for the dogs. This film has less sets and characters compared to other Pixar films. There seems
to be three main locations: city, the sky and the jungle. It is obvious that all the focus will be set on the characters
instead of what is going on around them.
The art in the book ranges from character designs, storyboards, color scripts and a few paintings of the
environments. Descriptions of each illustration come in the form of quotes. There are a lot of character sketches for
the main characters. Readers looking for the plot of the film will find that in the color scripts of Lou Romano.
What readers won’t find in this book ate stills from the film, background paintings and pastels. It is hard to
understand why there are rarely background paintings in the Pixar art books compared to non-Pixar art books.
However, in the end this book isn’t for fans of art, but instead fans of all things Pixar.
