The Art and Making of ParaNorman

This is the second "Art of..." book that I've read from LAIKA. (They're definitely one of my favorite studios all around, and I can't wait to get a copy of the "Art of Kubo.")The images and artwork are fantastic. If you have any interest in how stop-motion animation is made, this provides a great overview to the ridiculous amount of work that goes into these short films. The images do a great job at capturing ParaNorman's shift from rough sketches to final puppets. Even more, they're sure to give some great "behind the scenes" shots for you to see the scale and scope of what these folks are working on.The only reason I docked a star is for the writing itself. It's functional, for sure, and it gives solid explanations of the process of creating this film. However, it simply feels functional, going through the steps to explain each portion. It just didn't "click" on a higher level for me. It's not bad, by any means, but it felt a bit forced, as if it was trying to hard. Still, this could definitely just be me.In the end, it serves as a great intro to LAIKA and the process of stop-motion through this wonderful film. If anything, I'd definitely recommend starting here, then moving to Boxtrolls, then Kubo, as they do seem to build on the ground they cover in this process.

As for the book itself, its an awesome look inside the artistry at Laika on ParaNorman. The content itself is fantastic, and I have zero issues with that. The digital version I downloaded for the kindle however, that, not so much... The presentation keeps nothing of the book's intended layout & design. It lets you zoom in on all of the hundreds of pictures, but the pictures are such low resolution its pointless. They are so pixelated and blurry you can't read any of the artists notes and scribblings, or make out any of the finer details in this outstandingly detailed movie. As for the digital version, I give it 2 stars. But the content gets an easy 5, that's why I gave the 4 star rating. Overall, fantastic book, but the digital edition leaves much to be desired.

I don't get a lot of paper books anymore - I have mostly gone digital for the environment's sake as well as my space-saving sake. But this is one you don't want to get in Kindle format. I got my copy for Christmas, so a big "thank you" to my gift-giver for that!The Art and Making of ParaNorman is a work of art itself, with each page having a beautiful artistic background which you will lose with current Kindle formatting, even with your pretty Fires.I've been a fan of stop-motion since Clash of the Titans, Rudolph, etc. It is such a fascinatingly intricate art, and I really admire all the work that goes into the creation of these films. I have been a big fan of Laika since Coraline. If you are into stop motion, or just ParaNorman, you will probably really enjoy this book. It really keeps up with the promise of being an "Art and Making of" book because there are tons of colorful photos of concept art, puppets, the movie, etc., but there are also lots of snippets of text which reveal the creation process behind ParaNorman, and Laika in general. Though they surely could have made a volume 25x the size of this one in order to encompass half of the creation process involved in this film, what you get is pretty meaty for an art book.I added a few pictures, not really to show detail, but to show a rough estimation of art to written content. You will get a lot of both in this great book! Also, you can note the nice formatting in the paper version vs. the Kindle, which at time of writing is the only view offered in the "Look Inside!" feature. Hope this helps! :D

The amount of talent, attention to detail, imagination and sleepless nights that went into Paranorman is simply amazing. This book provides ample insight into the story boarding, pre-production and mind-numbing craftsmanship that went into the film. Full of beautiful images it's nonetheless a bit of a cautionary tale for anyone who wants to go into stop-motion animation. If you do, be prepared to give up any thought of a social life.

Being a big fan of ParaNorman to start with, I never thought it would get an art book, but here we are, and damn, it's amazing.The concept and production photos are of very high quality and a joy to look at, as to be expected. They're detailed and flow along with the sections. Them alone could probably make a decent artbook.But the real joy of the book in my opinion is reading about the production itself, 'making' being on the cover and everything. All of the sections are broken into parts of production. I read it all in one go. The writing is simple yet engrossing and the LAIKA members have very fun and charismatic input throughout, sometimes heartfelt and personal. I was fairly emotionally invested in it by the end, even with it being an artbook, a type of non-fiction you normally would not expect to. Every department gets their fair share of recognition. It exceeded my expectationsThe book itself is the normal coffee table size and the quality of the pages are thick and high quality.tl;dr: fantastic

I received The Art of ParaNorman yesterday in the mail and I couldn't be more happy! It has become a wonderful part of my art of cinema collection. This movie is so unique compared to other stop-motion animations and the book truly showcases this. It's full of colorful concept renders, character designs, comments from the director and animators, models, and step by step process in how they achieved the movie. Highly recommended!

Content-wise; It's a really great book, awesome artwork and very interesting articles written inside. I love animated movies and learning and seeing the whole behind the scene process and concept art.I love the book's content, however the book itself was a bit damaged. But that's to be expected since it's a used copy. There's only one page in the entire book (it's one of the very last pages) that is severely damaged, it's very bent and folded in multiple ways.The dust cover has a few niches here and there, and there are some light scratches on it too.

From LAIKA, the studio behind one of my favourite films, Coraline, comes another stop-motion animation marvel, ParaNorman.This book features the detailed artwork that went into the film's creation, from character sketches and concept art to puppets, textiles, set dressing, and 3-D printed facial models.The Art and Making of ParaNorman feels like a studio tour as Jed Alger charts the progression of the film's production.We start with the introductions from LAIKA President & CEO (as well as being ParaNorman's producer and Lead Animator) Travis Knight and from the film's director's Chris Butler and Sam Fell. Then it's on with the tour, with a look at the different stages starting with 'Welcome To LAIKA' then onto the creation from original idea to physical puppet, building the puppets, the sets, the special effects and meeting the people behind the curtains.It's a really interesting look at the process of what goes into making a film, even more so with stop-animation, because of how much detail is put into the production. And another welcome addition to my library of movie art books.Definitely recommended.

Well, this is a beautiful book. Printed on thick glossy stock the artwork looks great.It's not a long read, as many of the pages are filled with pre-production art, as you'd expect.But it is a good read, with a strong sense of the order in which these films are made.There are only a few shots of people in front of computer monitors, which should please the old school amongst us!I would always prefer to see more photos of the sculpting stages in the puppet making process,but there are a few nice pics of Kent Melton's work.A few shots of armatures, but as the bulk of the puppets use replacement faces, don't expect to see a lot of Corpse Bride style mechanics.Lots and lots of character studies, from early pencil sketches, through digital renderings as well as early sculpts, though most of the photographs are of 2D artwork.The rapid prototyping process has really come on since Coraline, all those faces had to be hand painted, whereas, ParaNorman's have their artwork painted and baked right onto the translucent material. I'll be very interested to see how they look on screen.Again and again with this sort of book you are reminded how much craftsmanship, hard work and dedication goes into stop-motion filmmaking, especially on this scale, and it's especially gratifying to see how the old crafts and new technologies dovetail and bring something new to the stop-mo table.I still feel they don't put enough anorak detail in these books for my nerdy liking but at least the films are still being made, and still being written about.If you have an interest in stop-motion films and how they are made,I would recommend this,it's written in an accessible style and takes you through all the processes. Anyway, well done Jed Alger the author, and well done everyone at LAIKA!

Now 3D printers are involved in the process and replacement animation seems to be the next thing in Stop, then this is really the book for you for how a feature-film was made in this form of animation. As a third year animation student at Uni, this book is probably going to be a bible amongst others. 5 star, worth every penny!The book contents include:1.Welcome to LAIKA (Studio)2. Giving the Film Characters (Idea to puppet)3. Face Facts (Replacement animation has raised the bar)4.The Workshop of Little Wonders (Puppet Team)5.Building the World (Scene setting)6.Where the Story Comes to Life (Stage Floor)7.Bringing it All Home (Special Effects and Finishing Touches)

If you love stop motion animation then you must own this book. The book has beautiful illustrations of art work and behind the scenes photos. It's well written and informative without being to over technical for people that know very little about the process of stop frame animation. For those who have an understanding or have studied animation this is also a must have book, as it shows how technology and how the combining of techniques are giving stop frame a new lease of life.Overall a fantastic book that is full of inspiration and makes you realise that stop motion is an art form in its own right.

As an art student it's fair to say I've amassed quiet the collection of 'Art of-' books; and this has to be up there with some of the best! The care and passion that went into every single aspect of this film is clear through both the writing and concept work shown in this book. It takes you though an almost step-by-step process of how the film was made, from the initial images, to the small sculptures all the way through to the final thing. It's an absolute joy to read through or just for having a quick browse. What I really loved about this book was the different processes it showed that you often don't get with an 'art of' book; this is so much more than simply concept art! Would definitely recommend, even my mum loves it!