The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens Book Review

The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens

Text By Linda Sunshine

Foreword By Stephen Colbert

Published By Newmarket Press, March 2009

Page count: 192 pages

Size: 11 x 10

Includes: Text and 400 illustrations

http://www.newmarketpress.com/title.asp?id=895

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The Art of Monsters vs Aliens Review By John C.

The Art of Monsters vs Aliens is a beautiful reference book that coincides with the new film from Dreamwork's Animation. It is filled with concept and character art, that gives you a sense of how the different characters came to be. Some of it is really funny, especially a lot of Timothy Lamb’s two page spreads, (particularly the one on pages 46-47), Lamb was also the one that does a lot (if not all) of the cool retro-style character posters.

Having not yet seen the film at the time of writing this, I now cannot wait to finally get to see it. If the book is any indication, (which it is), than this film will be spectacular in 3-D, but still great to look at in 2-D.

While the film is entertainment, this book reminds us that it is also art. A fact that will sadly be forgotten by a lot of people when they go see it this weekend.

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The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens Book Review By Erin V.

As an artist myself, I find these kinds of artwork books fascinating. Well written and easy to read, The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens is a great look into the making of this movie, as well as the art process for films like this in general.

In this book, we can really see what a challenge Monsters vs. Aliens would have been to create, because the characters are so huge. Along with making sure that the proportions are consistent between the characters, they have to keep them beside something that we recognize the approximate height of, such as a building or regular sized human being. Otherwise, we would have no way of telling just how big they actually are. Reading through the book, you will come to realize just how hard it is to make a movie like this - especially in 3-D. While it may look easy on screen, it is cool to get a little bit of perspective into just how much work is actually involved.

This book is filled with 400 amazing illustrations ranging from concept art to storyboards, and is divided into an introduction + five parts for ease of reference. (Character Design, Locations, Special F/X, The Making of Monsters vs. Aliens, and Out of the Picture.) The foreword which opens the book is written by Stephen Colbert, who voices the President of the United States in the movie. Very informative, this is a great tie-in to the movie. It must have been a hard task to assemble all of the interviews and text together, and decide what went in the book and what didn’t. While I have not read the whole book cover to cover as of yet, I can tell you right now that it is definitely worth adding to your collection.

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You can read our interview with author Linda Sunshine here, and find out more about The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens on Newmarket Press's website here.

Quick note: Our reviews of the film will be coming soon...