Book Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design

This is a wonderful companion art book for the movie. In some ways, I like it better than the ones from LOTR.

The cover is beautifully embossed with texture and shine. It's 208-pages and big. Behind the cover is Thorin's Map that you can tear out from the perforated edges, and at the back is a long gatefold of Bilbo's Burglar contract should you want to read the fine prints to see what Bilbo has gotten himself into.

There's a generous amount of concept art included that feature the characters, props and environment. Yes, it's all fantasy art, and they are all very beautiful and detailed. There are art from Alan Lee, John Howe, Dan Hennah (production designer), Richard Taylor and many others from Weta Workshop. The book is all art and there aren't a lot of photos, so you won't find behind the scenes shots and there are only small thumbnails of the actors in makeup.

The majority are mostly character designs and the related, such as costumes, weapons and other props. There are Bilbo and his entourage of dwarves, trolls, goblins, and creatures. Each character has many designs variations shown, but mostly from the hair and facial hair — probably more hairstyles that you can find in a hair saloon brochure.

The environment art are mainly of close ups of locations and interiors. There are a few of those wide shots as well but could have been printed bigger. Many of the nice textured pencil drawings are from John Howe and Alan Lee.

Those who like production design will enjoy the insightful commentary. There's lots to read and often, there will be a few designers talking about just one character, about the design, clothing and their weapons. The extra information gives more depth to the characters.

The back cover mention something about this book being the first in a series of hardcover books. So unless they are referring to the other film companions, it means there would be art books for the next two films as well.

It's a fantastic artbook. Highly recommended to fans of the film and fantasy art.

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The price of the book varies depending on who the publisher is. You can get from Harper Design if you're in USA, and Harper Collins if you're outside USA.

From publisher Harper Design: Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

From publisher Harper Collins: Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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The price of the book varies depending on who the publisher is. You can get from Harper Design if you're in USA, and Harper Collins if you're outside USA.

From publisher Harper Design:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn

From publisher Harper Collins:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn