★★★★★ 5
One of the best purchases I've made in a while.
Format: Hardcover
As a devoted fan of the show from almost the very beginning, I followed all the interviews, sneak peeks, and DVD commentaries aggressively, so I thought I knew a good bit about every aspect of the show, from its influences to its creation process to little trivia bits about the finished episodes. I told myself I didn't need the art book because it would tell me little about Avatar that I didn't already know. For a while I was able to hold off buying this book, but the art in Avatar is so beautiful that I finally broke down and got it, telling myself that I might as well dish out twenty bucks to have a nice hardcover Avatar book to add to my collection of flimsy cinemanga and Earth Kingdom Chronicles paperbacks. Now I'm writing this review to tell every fan out there who has had even a minute's hesitation in buying this book: DO IT.
Avatar: The Art of the Animated Series covers everything you could dream of wanting to know about the show. I should have known Bryke would never do anything halfway. I was blown away by the obviously intense amount of effort the creators put into compiling such a thorough and well-put-together inside look at the creation process. They explain everything about Avatar's production, starting with their very first fateful meeting and taking fans all the way up through the end of the epic series. It's so neat to read about all their inspirations (especially if you're an anime fan; you'll probably recognize a lot of names) and some of the difficulties they had to overcome in order to make the show what it is today. It is a fantastic read from cover to cover.
As you can tell when you use Amazon's "look inside" feature, the creator commentary is arranged in paragraph format with bold letters to tell which creator is speaking. They actually go into a lot more detail than I thought they would about almost everything. They spend a lot of time talking about the development of characters: their personalities, design characteristics, models, and any changes that were made and why. (Plus it's really neat to see the way some of your favorite characters looked like originally!) They mention the animals, settings, voice acting, martial arts influences, weapons and technology, and all sorts of other things, some that you may not even necessarily have thought about much before, like color schemes and drawing styles. I learned a lot of really neat things about the process behind Avatar's animation and about the Korean studio that did such a beautiful job animating the series.
The thing I like most about this book is the great variety of art it showcases. There are original character concepts by various crew members, background sketches and paintings, real storyboard action sequences, martial arts references, detailed clothing and weapon designs, descriptions and illustrations of Avatar-verse animals, screenshots from the show and the original pilot episode, press and/or promotional art, and even some photos Mike and Bryan took on some of their trips to places that inspired the layout of the Avatar universe. And to top it all off, there is at least a one-page spread for each one of Avatar's 61 chapters that highlights some of the strongest points in each episode, whether it's new characters, locations, technology, action sequences, or a combination of several of these. Needless to say, this book is a must-have for all Avatar fans. Whether you're a casual fan who just happened to fall in love with the art (and there is plenty of it in this book, all amazing quality despite the fact that much of it is simply sketched) or you're a die-hard Avatard who wants to know everything about everything, trust me when I say that this compilation is worth every penny and more.
As for the packaging and shipping, I have very little to say - the item was wrapped adequately and arrived when it said it would. No problems there. The only minor (and I do mean minor) problem that I had was that one of the corners was bent when it arrived. It probably would have happened anyway, though, through regular use, so it's not really something to complain about. Everything else was fine, and the price is excellent given the durable binding and beautiful thick pages (not to mention the content). I know I've said this so many times that it's probably starting to sound old, but if you want a good look behind the scenes of the greatest cartoon of our generation, this is it. Other creators, take note: this is how TV series art books should be.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2012
