The Art of the Iron Giant

The Iron Giant remains one of the most highly-regarded animated movies. It's a beautiful film, and to coincide with the release of the signature edition blu-ray set, Insight Editions has published a book equally as beautiful. The Art of the Iron Giant contains what fans have been waiting for a long time - an in-depth look behind the scenes of the film and it's art department.The book begins with a foreword by director Brad Bird, who writes about his involvement in the project. The text then discusses the challenges of the film, with focus on the design and animation processes. The artwork in the book varies greatly -- some of it is from a previous incarnation of the film that was planned prior to Bird's involvement; and then obviously the artistic progression into the final visual style you recognize on-screen. Those who know the film will know that it has a unique look which blended a computer generated 3D-character and a traditional 2D environment.The Iron Giant himself went through various design iterations, and it's fun to see what could have been. Many of the designs are cool-looking, but the final design also gives the character a real personality. Additional chapters show the art of the human characters, as well as the settings in the film (including Hogarth's house and the power plant). Finally, the book concludes with a look back at the legacy of the film and an appreciation of the artists involved in making it a reality. Dozens of team members recall their experiences - including storyboard artists, animators, and composer Michael Kamen.This is one of those few books that will likely rise greatly in value over time. Sometimes I recommend waiting to buy art books for a few months until the retail price drops and remainder copies go on sale - but in this case I recommend picking this one up as soon as possible because a fresh new copy may be difficult to find down the road (Amazon is already showing a 1-2 month backorder at the time of this review).

The movie had an attractive art style so I was looking forward to seeing the art behind it. Unfortunately the concept art did not match the quality of the movie. There seems to be some missing stages between what's shown in this book and the final designs and art. If you are looking for the same art as shown in the movie you will be disappointed. The book is still interesting and shows a lot of bts stuff so if you're just a fan of the movie in general its a good purchase.

Very thoughtful look into an amazing movie. Learned a lot I didn't know. This film was more personal to the filmmakers than I thought. My only nitpick is the inconsistent placement of the photo captions. Kind of all over the place and sometimes bunched together far away from the actual subjects.

I loved it. This is everything I expect from an Art of book. It has everything. Pictures with the name of the artist who did it and a description, interviews, whole lot of concepts about how the movie was intended to be in the beginning, and a whole lot more of good info. I highly recommend this art of book.

I absolutely love this movie and this book. This was more of a sentimental purchase than an art purchase at first - The Iron Giant has always been a favorite for my son and me. Great purchase for any fan or artist.

Beautiful, beautiful book! I grew up with this film and was excited to see there was an artbook being released, so I pre-ordered. It was very much worth the wait. I highly recommend to those who grew up with this or enjoy it in this day.

I loved the film, so I jumped at a chance to see this book. There is much to like in the book, but I also understand the disappointment some reviewers have expressed.I enjoyed revisiting the art of the movie, understanding its evolution, and meeting some of its parents. But the large amount of early art that didn't make the final version is made to seem more intrusive by the structure of the book. The book unfolds by character and scene, not by stage of development. So there is a lot of jumping back and forth between early art and the final versions. It is a bit distracting.Because the book is episodic there is a sense narratives stepping on each other. Yet there is a lot of interesting information in the book. If you are a fan of the Iron Giant this is a book worth having, but you will have to take it on its own terms and fight the format a bit.I was provided a copy for review by the publisher.

Overall this was a good book. I believe it could have been greater had they added more concept design for the characters. There was a lot of early Hogarth sketches I would have loved to see. This particular book focuses primarily on large, illustrated imaged of the giant himself.