Contest: What are your favourite art books from 2010?

1- The Art of Toy Story 3. Fantastic character/set designs
2- The Art of Tangled- Glen Keane :)
3- the Art of HTTYD- Dragons! Vikings! Nico Marlet!

My top 3:

1. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter

A really good follow up to Imaginative Realism. Mr. Gurney gives invaluable advice to painting in both books, I pre-ordered this one right when it showed up on Amazon and it was well worth the money.

2. Alex Ross: Rough Justice
Kind of a book I just stumbled upon at Borders, and ended up ordering on Amazon later. Amazing sketches.

3. Spectrum 17
A great collection of art as usual with Spectrum. I have 3 different Spectrums now, which kind of pales in comparison to other people, but meh whatever.

Awesome blog :D

1. The Art of Tangled - It's packed with gorgeous concept art, and it is very enlightening to see the 2D foundations of the movie.
2. How to Train Your Dragon - Beautiful visuals and stunning character designs. The dragons are the best part!
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender - The book reveals a beautifully conceived world with equally emotive characters. I did not appreciate the television show until reading this book.

1. Framed Ink- fantastic boards, so beautiful to look at and a handful of info on visual storytelling.

2.Composing Pictures- Just re-released after being out of print for some time. A must have!

3. Moonshine- Maybe the best collection of art from animation industry professionals I've ever seen. The calibre of talent in this book is unreal!

3 and a half- Art of Toy Story 3- Just fantastic.

3 and three quarters - Deviations by Lubomir Arsov -Super talented and inspiring artist (and friend) https://lubomirarsov.blogspot.com/
check him out!!!!

1 - Art of Toy Story 3; absolutely stunning - not only did the movie itself revive my whole childhood, but this was just the cherry on the top to the whole series.

2 - Framed Ink - I haven't had the chance to really look through it quite yet, but I do follow the artist's blog, and have seen more than a few pages... he strikes me as someone that focuses on the really important ideas that everyone else seem to miss.

3 - Can I just say Art of Toy Story 3 again? There really isn't too much praise you can heap on that. <3

The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: One of my favorite art books this year to accompany one of my favorite films of this year. Just like the previous book, The Art of Kung-Fu Panda, the book is a Nicolas Marlet gold mine.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series: There was a lot of insight and process provided by the two creators of the series. The amount of research and detail that went into this series is just fantastic. Also showcases Korean animators that are hard to come by in any art book released here.

The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: The Uncharted series has reached the top as one of the best games I've played in the past couple of years. I was totally engrossed in the environments and invested in Nathan and crew. Not surprising to see and read about all of the hard work that went into it in the art book. The production values are off the chart and have enjoyed delving into all of content in the book.

1. The Art of Drew Struzan - It's the ART of DREW STRUZAN. With his little grey lead, colour pencils and airbrush, he pulls off art with light and chemistry.

2. Moonshine: DreamWorks Artist...After Dark! - Great compilation of diverse styles from the individuals who work to give us animated movies. in other words...that was yummy...

3. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter - Delight to look at, and more informative than many other books that cover the same subject. To the point of showing me perfection then snatching it away....(I'm being melodramatic...)

1. Art of Tangled - This is one of the best "Art of" books I've seen yet. Loads of concept art, character designs, and commentary. I liked that it didn't shove pages and pages of screenshots of the movie like some other "Art of" books tend to do. I would highly recommend it to fans of the movie, fans of Disney, or just a fan of illustration.

2. Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee - A great addition to any comic book lover's library. The book spans Jim Lee's career and gives lots of good commentary. I loved that the book showed the different stages for many of the drawings. I tend to avoid art books that are simply just full of printed pictures because I much rather enjoy gaining more insight into the finished product.

3. Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Design - Another great artbook from Disney and a fantastic addition to the Archive Series. It's a beautiful collection of concept art that spans an enormous amount of time. I only wish there was more text to provide greater insight into the design process.

1 - Hidenori Matsubara Illustration Works II because I loved his works since the first time I watched Ah: My Goddess decade ago.

2 - prismtone by Range Murata, a beautiful artbook regrouping his animation works like Last Exile and Blue Submarine 06 in high quality paper. His sketch pages are really sweet.

3 - Dofus by Ankama Games, a collection of game concept arts with Zav's great, original and colorful chara design.

1. expose 8
just because.. it's the best!

2. tangled
loved the book, saw the movie, loved the book even more..

3. megamind
just look at this book, at all these drawings... man...

3. or maybe how to train your dragon...
just a-m-a-z-i-n-g !!!

oh boy this is so "not easy"...
:-)

in no particular order and let me say, picking three just isn't enough ^_~

1. - アサシン クリード アサシン クリード2 設定資料集
it is a japanese book that collects art from Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2; luckily there had been an artbook for the former, but the latter only got one of these little DVD-package sized, 36-48 page mini-books so I was happy as a clam when I found this one, even if some of the art has been published elsewhere before. Seeing them without the need for a magnifying glass is worth it.

2.) - The Art Of How To Train Your Dragon
what could I add that hasn't been said before. It's a lovely movie and an artbook that features lots of Nico Marlet's art can't be that bad... oh, and it has dragons of course ^_^

3.) - Icons - The DC Comics And Wildstrom Art of Jim Lee.
Getting this book was a no-brainer, as someone who likes comics and counts Jim Lee among her favourites I just had to get it and the book does not disappoint: sketches, pencilled, inked and coloured pages and all of this in an oversized format.

honourable mentions:

- The Art Of Darksiders
The thought of a game that feels like walking through a world designed in the over-sized vibrant style of Joe Mad! gave me shivers, the news of an artbook for this game did something similar. Lots and loads of pages filled with the increadible work that made this game, the only downpoint is the bad binding of the softcover edition.

- The Art Of StarCraft 2 Wings Of Liberty
I love Blzzard and their artbooks... heck, I have the artbooks for World Of WarCraft and the expansions, though I never played or intend to play WOW. They are all filled to the brim with the art gives Blizzard games their own touch and charme. My only issue is that Terrans aren't my favourite race in StarCraft, so I'm hoping for the Collector's Editions and respective Artbooks for Heart of the Swarm and the Protoss Add-on.

- Junk One
Last but certainly not least comes Junk One. It is "a collection of artwork by Skottie Young" and features drawings from sketches to finished pieces in his imaginative style on varying topics, however he deliberately does not feature any of the more famous comics he has worked on. Despite or rahter because of this, it is a must have for anyone who likes Skottie's art.

1. The Art of Tangled:
I really love this book AND the movie. The visuals are just stunning and it was really great to see the work in progress. If you haven't seen the movie, I really recommend that you watch it as soo as possible. Disney art at it's best.

2. The Art of How to train your dragon:
Yet another example how to make a great artbook. You just have to love the concepts of the vikkings. And I won't even mention the variety of dragons featured in this book.
(The soundtrack of this movie is great as well)

3. The Art of Shrek Forever After:
I'm sad that I don't manage to get the first artbook of Shrek. But this book is a good alternative. The fact alone, that it's published by Insight Editions is worth the money.
I still can't believe how perfect their books always are.

Merry Christmas to everyone :)

1. Disney Animation Studios: Design
this book is glorious! just amazing designs that enlighten you!!

2. The Art of Tangled
im a little bit on the fence about whether the Art Of book should be released before or after the movies released, as i am yet to see the movie, im still unsure! hahaa but as far as the book goes, delicious as usual..

3. The art of Toy Story 3
AMAZING.. NUFF SAID hahaha

Thanks for a great year of reviewing Parka!!

1. The Art of How to train your dragon - The book is just as charming as the movie! And I liked all the different kinds of dragons which weren't in the movie.

2. The Art of Tangled - I especially liked that the background of the pages showed
the same art Rapunzel painted on the tower walls. I think it is one of the best Art-of
books I've seen so far, because it's full of beautiful concept art and doesn't repeat
the movie with mostly showing lots of screenshots.

3. The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast
- Well, I love Beauty and the Beast and to have a beautiful book about the whole
production which even covers the broadway version just has to be on my favourites' list. ;)

1. The Art of Wallace and Gromit
I just love this. I have a GREAT respect for stop motion animators, probably because I don't know how to make a stop motion animation. haha. I also grew up watching Wallace and Gromit so that's why it's on my #1!

2. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series
This is really beautiful! I watched this too much and even have the series in DVD just so I could watch it over and over again. It's such a shame that the movie wasn't as good as the animated series. :(

3. Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie
This movie is AWESOME. That's the only reason why I chose this, and maybe because I have a growing addiction to comics. :)

1. Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes - The book is packed with AMAZING artwork but what was very impressive to me was the preliminary sketches and commentary by Hughes himself on every cover in the collection.
2. The Art of Blade of the Immortal - A gorgeous collection of Hiroaki Samura's masterful artworks. Truly inspirational.
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series - Really makes one appreciate the artists and consistency of imagination required to create such a stunning and wonderfully realized animated series.

2010 is/was a really good year for artbooks - Struzan, Wendling, Tangled, plus Charles Berberian signed/dedicated my copy of Dupuy/Berberian artbook. But if I must choose only 3...

* The Art of How To Train Your Dragon -
I just love Nicolas Marlet' artwork;

* Nicoletta Ceccoli - Beautiful Nightmares -
cute and creepy on the same time, and a really beautiful book
(cover can be seen here in my blog - https://pikseldused.blogspot.com/2010/09/nicoletta-ceccoli.html)

* Hi-Fructose Collected Edition 2 Box Set -
massive collection of articles and images in a box
(some pics of the box - https://pikseldused.blogspot.com/2010/12/hi-fructose-box-2.html)

1) The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop - Big big fan of district 9 . Love their concept , too cool\

2)The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Loads of environment design .

3)The Art God of War III - Character kick ass.

Hmmm- everyone likes the same 3 or so books.
I'll mention one that hasnt come up yet!

The making of Empire Strikes Back

Probably my favorite movie of all time.

I believe I have every star wars book there is, I also worked for LucasFilm, and this book has plenty of concept art in it that even I have never even seen, and like I said, Ive seen a lot.

Must have for any fan of this movie or sci-fi art freak.

The Art Of: Tangled - Fantastic character designs and drawings by Glen Keane and two 'Kim's

The Art Of: How To Train Your Dragon - Beautiful dragon designs that defy cliched conventions

The Art Of: Uncharted 2 - How a video game 'art of' book should be made.

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series - An AWESOME book that shows form the beginning stages of the idea to the end. So awesome that i bought one for my self. XD

2. The Art of God of War III: An incredible game, an incredible book. Nuff said.

3. The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: One of my favorite featured animation. Great book showing the development of idead for the movie.

1. Color and Light
I was blown away by the many things that I've learned from James Gurney. This was my number one artbook pick for this year because I'll always use this book as a reference in my studies.

2. Spectrum 17
There were so many great artists featured in this book, some well known names along with some fresh new talent. I look forward to seeing 18 next year, and hopefully I'll be in it:)

3. Digital Art Masters Volume 5
I'm still going through this one. I'm not much of a 3D artist , which is about 35% of the book. The rest of it is very details in the steps and process and provide lush images that stay stuck in your head.

The Art of God of War III - I haven't gotten it yet, but it's on my list of to-grabs, same as the Bayonetta art book. Myths + video games + delicious art? What's not to love?

Udon's Art of Capcom 2 - I love all the varied artworks from various artists. Gorgeous pieces and the book is finely built and wonderful to look through.

Girl, Illustrated - Another on my to-pick-up lists. Big bishoujo art fan, so it'd be a shame if I didn't have it for my collection.

1. The Art of How to Train Your Dragon

2.The Art of Drew Struzan

3.Star Wars Art : Visions

These are my three favourite books of 2010.
Thanks!

1.)Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter - James Gurney Rocks! his books are helpful, very readable and the artwork superb!
2.)Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes - Adam Hughes is phenomenal, and him doing DC characters just can't be beat.
3.)Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series - i'm a big fan of the TV series, this book hits the spot!

1. Framed Ink: I learned alot in the concepts of storytelling from this book. It is really visually informative on how to portray the story.

2. Icons:Art of Jim Lee: I looked though this book and failed trying to get the special edition because its visually that good. Huge pages of Jim Lee's drawings are worth it.

3. Fables Covers: I missed out on the first printing and regretted it. I have it now and I loved the beginning stages and the double page spread of the gatefold covers.

Steampainting: Spark > I absolutely love the kind of art featured in the book, and can't believe they can be done with Photoshop! The step-by-step examples look really helpful - I would love to try this out on my iPhone sketch apps.

Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Design > I LOVE Disney! 'Nuff said!

100 masters of Bishojo painting > Really cute collection!

Ramayana: Divine Loophole > This really reminds me of the animation Sita Sings the Blues. I love Hindu epics and read them in my grandfather's store room library when I was young. This book has graphics 100x better! The Ramayana is a great story!

Print and Pattern > Chock-full of design ideas!

my top 3:

1. Art of tangled
2. Art of uncharted 3
3. Art of darksiders

thanks for the giveaway!

thats a hard question... so i will just give my top three without rank indication:

disney: the art of tangled; disney is back! glen keane! even some craig mullins!

karl kerschl: the abominable charles christopher, book 1; story arc one of karl kerschls webcomic of the same name. hes a very strong draughtsman, a good storyteller and such a great observer of oh-so-human behavior

kristian schuller: 90 days, one dream; this one hit me completely by surprise. mr. schuller is a fashion photographer and was cast to be on the jury for this years installment of germanys next top model. this is his work he did during and aside the show with the contestants. i expected a cheap tie-in to the show to print some money. i got a photo book that absolutely can stand on its own and even fits the topic of this blog, since his work is very much fantastic and surreal. :)

1. Dofus 2.0
The cover of this artbook grabbed me right away. The plain white with hints of brown and the neon yellow/green smack-dab in the middle of the cover really pipped my curiosity. The book also has multiple character designs in color, ink, and pencil - there's so much variety! I also like the minimal white pages the book has - it just seems to add a little professionalism to the entire book- like the creators actual took the design into extreme consideration.

2. Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean
How can I not add this to my favorites?! It was thanks to this review that I first discovered James Jean. Again, the book has the pencil, ink, color combo that I simply love. To see the artist progression is almost like learning from them! Not to mention the creators also took time to make a decent cover that has texture to it - another plus in my book.

3. The Art of Tangled
My most recent fav. I actually saw this review and then decided to go watch the movie. It only made me appreciate the visuals of the movie even more. The amount of detail in the design and execution of the animations just wowed me. The inclusion of storyboards and background images was great and helped me enjoy the movie on new levels. And, the book is in landscape format! Can I get an awesome? Awesome.

Hard to choose, but because I'm a Pixar Fan: Toy Story 3 takes first position.

1) The Art of Toy Story 3
2) The Art of How to train your Dragon
3) The Pixar Treasures

All fantastic books and thanks for your reviews Parka!

Animator13

1.The Art of How to Train Your Dragon

2.Color and Light

3.Art of Tangled

These are my three favourite books of 2010.
Cheers!

1. The Art of Tangled: Stunning artwork, full of breath-taking artwork and full of Glen Keane awesomeness! My favorite art-of books of all time by far!!

2. The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: Beautiful Nico Marlet concept art as well as many many talented artists!

3. The Art of ToyStory3 : Such a wonderful film, astonishing color keys by Dice Tsutsumi and so many more amazing artists!

Thank you for doing wonderful book reviews on Amazon! They're super helpful! :) Happy Holidays!

[1] Structura: The Art of Sparth
I sure didn't think this was going to get number 1 but there's something about Nicolas Bouvier's work that gets me. I think it is his apparent lack of detail in certain paintings that gets shattered once I look a bit closer. Each piece is layered; I can quickly glance over an image and see the effective composition or I can 'zoom in' and see the fine detail. This Frenchman is one talented guy.

[2] The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
I can casually dip into this book and get exactly what I want from it; not the nerdy technical specifications of some spaceship but rather the enthusiasm the creators had for this film. The book is well paced and the black and white photographs are humorous to just about anyone.

[3] The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
If the star wars art book is a casual read then this one is exhausting to look at! I can hardly make it through the whole book without needing to take a break. It somehow covers 3D work, sketches and fine painting to an amazing level. I wonder if there could ever be a better art book than this?

Many thanks for your reviews Parka. I started paying attention to your opinion after you reviewed some unknown book called 'Exodessey' (what a purchase that turned out to be) - keep up the excellent work.

Mike

1 - Everything James Jean (FABLES, KINDLING, RIFT, etc)... Nothing more needs to be said.

2 - The Art of Darksiders... A gothic art masterwork from one of the best comic artists ever, Joe Mad!

3 - The Eyes of Bayonetta... Seriously cool Japanese fantasy/anime art to a seriously bad ass game.

4 - Worlds & Wonders (Aleksi Briclot)... One of my new favorite artists. Just straight up amazing artwork.

1) Art of Tangled - Glen Keane! Character design is outstanding. The movie was amazing and makes me think that Disney ANimation Studios is back.

2) Art of Toy Story 3 - Best movie of the year. Great companion piece to the film.

3) Art of How to Train Your Dragon - Good to see that Dreamworks has the capacity to make a film not driven by huge celebrities and pop culture references.

Got so many of those books on order or for christmas, so sadly I can't review them all. One major book that should be up on the list is LMS when it finally ships. But until then...

1) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
This book just left my jaw on the ground when I saw it. Amazing artwork, attention to detail, character models. I didn't care of the hefty price tag, as this is a thing of beauty.

2) Rough Justice: The DC Sketches of Alex Ross
My favourite artist delivers in a wonderful book. I get so much joy and inspiration looking at these sketches, looking at them from thumbnails, to getting developed further towards the final images. I love all the design work, all the notes, truly is a magnificent book.

3) Icons: Art of Jim Lee
Another fave artist, and love for the book is very similar to Alex Ross. Love the sketches, the designs and the final illustrations. Also, a good, tall hardback that looks impressive on the book shelf.

So many great books its hard to choose. Most will be getting delivered by Santa in a few days so my list may change judging by the reviews parka has given them, but I'll stay true to the books I actually own at the moment.

How can next year possibly top such a great year for art books?

1) Art of Tangled
2) Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Design
3) Peck N' Paw and the Black Mirror

I'll preface this comment by saying that 2010 was a good year for animated movies. Can't say that there was a bad one in the bunch. Thus...

1. Art of Tangled: Two words: Glen. Keane. Love his work, and the movie was amazing. The background artwork was just stunning. The image of the kingdom with the lanterns was probably one of the most beautiful images I've seen.

2. Art of Toy Story 3: Well, I love all the Pixar art books, so this was a nice addition. I liked seeing familiar character designs, but then the new characters as well. And always a favorite: the color scripts.

3. Art of How to Train Your Dragon: This is kind of a first for me, as prior to this, I always wrote off Dreamworks movies as Pixar-wannabes. But this movie kind of proved me wrong, so I checked out the art book, and found it just as enjoyable as the Pixar art books. I liked all the different viking designs.

1 - The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - The book is great for not only environment and character artists/fans, but also for 3d artists. My favorite page is one that shows the environment wireframe, showing how it was built inside the game. Rarely do you find books for games that show the wireframe overlay that explains how the object is optimized for the game console.

2 - The Art of How to Train Your Dragon - I love the depth of design put into dragons that didn't even make it into the movie. It really shows you the process and detail that the film's team put into each creature/character's design.

3 - Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Design - The book shows just how good the classic Disney designers were. It's a good read and a flip through.

- Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
Just got this and it seems excellent! Great info from a master illustrator.

- The Art of Drew Struzan
I've been a fan of his posters for ages and have been waiting for a good book on his work. Really something everyone should peruse, since these types of posters are now in the minority, which is a shame.

- Art of Uncharted 2
Don't have this, unfortunately, but from the looks of it there's boatloads of good stuff in it.

*Special mention*: The unreleased Rockstar artbook collection!
Everyone, and I mean -everyone-, got excited about this... but it didn't happen. A tragic day for artbook collectors everywhere.

The Art of God of War III: Beautiful and visceral art! A comprehensive compilation of everything that made the game great - from character concepts to environments to 3D models. Love it, love it, love it! Produced by the same publishers who brought us the Art of Oddworld and the Uncharted 3 artbooks - Ballistic. If it weren't for them I'd still be buying the game guides that only had a smattering of pages dedicated to the art. Top-notch, high quality production that complements superb artwork.

UDON's Art of Capcom 2: Second volume from Udon which offers up another serving of awesomeness. Love how they took the iconic Japanese versions of Capcom's signature characters to new heights - all with a flavor that is unique to Studio Udon. Bring on volume 3 Udon! I wanna see Marvel vs. Capcom 3 interpretations.

The Art of Uncharted 2: A perfect artbook to showcase what is the BEST game on the PS3. After looking through this book you can see the passion, blood, sweat and tears that went into the game design - loads of concept art and finished pieces. There's enough leftover and unused art to make another game. A visual delight to those of us who want to peer behind-the-scenes of such an epic production. Uncharted 3 is coming - which means another artbook is around the corner too!

In no particular order:

Framed Ink- Not that ideas in the book are revolutionary, the same thought process about storytelling has been written about for years, but in this book it is very clearly presented, the illustrations are great, and it is one of the few books I read that totally inspired me to tell stories.

LifeStyle Illustrations from 60's- Wow, these guys/gals could draw! An awesome HUGE book with a ton of wonderful illustrations. Great fashion reference, great technique reference...all the pieces have wonderful feel to them.

Life in Pictures: Jim Starlin- A coffee table art book on one of the best storytellers in comics. Looks at Starlin's work on Warlock, Captain Marvel, Young Gods, Breed, Dreadstar, and all the other titles. Also has a section on his book illustrations and paintings. Totally enjoyed it.

Alex Sheikman
Art Blog https://sheikman.blogspot.com

In no particular order:

Animation (Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series): One page of text and 200 of images of disney animation since before "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs".

Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast: It's amazing to see the Beast art by Glen Keane before the Clean-up.

The Art Of Tangled: My book didn't arrive yet, but just for the reviews I know this book is amazing. The concept arts by Glen Keane, Jin Kin and others remember the gold era of traditional animation in Disney Studios.

My top 3 (in no order)

1- The Art of How to train your Dragon: Simply amazing. I love the movie and the art of Nico Marlet is awesome.

2- The Art Of Tangled: I am waiting for someone who buys me the book for christmas. But all i saw and read about the book made me sure about the quality of this book. Of course, if i don't get it for christmas, i'll buy it the next month.

3- Toy Story 3: My girlfriend gave it to me as a pre-christmas gift just today. It is not what i hoped, cause i thought it has a lot of cool character designs (well, it has, but i was expecting more XD). But instead of this we have a lot of wonderful color keys. Love those colors.

1) The Art of District 9 Weta Workshop: impressive, that's all I can say. It's full of interesting and amazing ideas and illustrations;
2) The Art of Megamind: great pictures, beautiful environments/colors/concept art and I really dig how they did the double cover;
3) The Art of How to Train your Dragon: loved all the dragons/vikings designs, funny stuff - the environments are breathtaking, some mad painting skills.

Bought a lot of books in here, thanks for your wonderful reviews and happy holidays Parka! :-D

1)L.M.S. - Killbook of a Bounty Hunter:

Visually and graphically this book is stunning. Having met Dan Luvisi, the creator, and seen his artwork I can honestly say I am continuously blown away by the amount of realism he implies in his work, but the real treasure of this book is the text. The storytelling, told through notes by the main character, Gabriel, keeps an attitude and toughness that is so consistent its as if Gabriel wrote this book and not Dan Luvisi.

https://www.heavymetal.com/shm/product_info.php?products_id=5485

2)REDLINE Photo Album:

REDLINE, the animated film directed by Takeshi Koike and produced by MADHOUSE, is a racing of insane proportions. With a purely hand drawn animation style this book is a must have for any aspiring comic artist and animator. As an animator myself, this book shows the pencils of many of the key animation frames and story boards and brings an insight to the execution of the film which I really enjoy.

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=NEOBK-889960

3)The Art of Tangled:

Disney was the biggest influence on myself as an animator and I was always yearning for a more classical look into Disney's production art, like the Art of Hercules, but there was never something I enjoyed. The Art of Tangled succeeded and instantly smacked me with nostalgia as I saw the classic looking backgrounds,character sheets and paintings. The instantly recognizable style of Disney is something I truly hold close when designing characters and this book is always by my side when I work.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Tangled-Jeff-Kurtti/dp/0811875555/ref=sr_1_1…

In no particular order:

1) Fantasy Genesis: A Creativity Game for Fantasy Artists - definitely something I need in my shelf as a (beginning) fantasy artist.

2) Steampainting: Spark - another promising reference; speedpainting is definitely a skill I want to acquire.

3) Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite fairy tale of all time.

Others that are also on my top, but have been mentioned more than once by others are: The Art of Tangled, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon, and, Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series.

Thank you very much, Parka, for all the wonderful reviews and these contests! Happy holidays!

1. The Art of God of War III: one awesome artbook for one awesome game for the year. tons of design concepts and beautiful illustration are illustrated in this book. the presentation of the book is extremely well done as well by Ballistic!

2. Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Storytellers Joe Grant & Joe Ranft: This is one of the lesser known book, imo. this is an inspiring book when it comes to read about the history of Joe Grant and Joe Ranft's past and their success. it's definitely a great read.

3. Book Review: Mega Man: Official Complete Works: this book brings me all the way back memory lane. from the start of mega man, his companions, and foes, this book got it all! the style of illustration is a bit informative, but it's like the dictionary of the mega man universe. it may not be everyone, but it's a book that i often find myself go back and flip through.

Thanks for the contest and keep the blog running, Parka :)

My favorites are The Art of Tangled, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon, and Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast. These are my favorite films on the list and I want to learn how to make the artwork from the movies!