Book Review: The Art of the Trolls

I didn't know what to expect of this book but it turned out to be surprisingly good. Who knew cute troll art can look good?

This is a large 160-page hardcover with silver-trimmed page edges. The presentation has a scrapbook style look to it, thankfully without any of those gimmicky paste-over goodies except for a large removable print at the back of the book. By scrapbook, I mean some of the concept art are actually collages and the layout is packed with lots to see and read.

There are loads of character designs, environment art, sketches, storyboards, and the occasional film stills. The art is cartoony and humorous. Having rainbow shoot out of Mr Dinkles' bottom is one of the visual gags. To me, the animated designs of the trolls look so much more attractive compared to the actual real life dolls. Other than the characters, there are also many fun troll creatures, bugs.

The environment art and props look great. There's the children book look although some places are designed to look drab (on purpose) but they all have that whimsical look and feel.

The text mainly talks about the designs. There's a section that talks briefly about the different process of making an animated film, such as from creating a story, to modeling, rigging, animating, lighting and rendering.

Overall, the artworks are beautiful and appealing, and certainly very imaginative. It's a fun companion to the film.

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