The Art and Making of ParaNorman

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

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 expectations The book itself is the normal coffee table size and the quality of the pages are thick and high quality. tl;dr: fantastic

This book was very well composed and contained a plethora of information, not only about the art of the film, but the process of creating it and the thought behind it. It was incredibly interesting to see how LAIKA studio worked, and it covered all the different aspects of making the film, from the original idea to concept art, from the art to the making of the puppets, and then to all the extra effects and everything in between. The images are gorgeous, and all the concept art and photos of their workplaces are wonderful to see. The writing is also very nice as well, and really helps bring everything together. Very well done! Definitely one of favorite books!

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.

I have several "The Art of..." books. Each shows the conceptual drawings and discusses the creative steps that led to the "Making of..." The Art and Making of ParaNorman is different. Of course the movie itself is different. Like its predecessor, CORALINE, this film is stop-motion, meaning "puppets" were used, with each frame photographed after facial changes were made, and the characters were moved a tiny bit. The production studio, LAIKA, is making a name for itself with fine craftsmanship and amazing stories. This book is different in its own right, as every detail of the making of the characters, and the film, is documented, and the construction of the characters on their armatures is shown in detail. In fact, at the end of the film, Norman is shown being modeled over his own armature in stop-motion. A good amount of time is spent discussing the thought process that led up to the choice of character designs, and both conceptual drawings and final designs are compared. One fault I have with "The Art of the Incredibles" is that very few actual scenes from the film are included, as if they were not considered Art, compared to the concept drawings. I loved PARANORMAN, and the book is a great addition to my collection.

To give you some idea how amazing this art book is, I had to write a review to do it! If you're into the "art of" books, this is a definite purchase. Not only does it have exceptional pictures of storyboards, movie shots and sketches, it also goes into detail of all the creators who helped in making this movie from the CEO to the hair stylist. You can tell that there is a lot of passion and admiration into creating this artistic piece. It doesn't go into the specifics of the characters but rather the creation of the movie as a whole. I kinda wish there was a bit on Aggie but other than that, a flawless book. Also, the publisher is Chronicle books and they also do all the recent Disney "art of" books, like Bolt, Tangled and Brave, so if you like those, you'll definitely be into this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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.

I got this book for a friend who is a big fan of the movie, and she was beside herself when she opened it. It arrived in excellent condition, and the slick pictures and well-written commentary gave an excellent behind the scenes look of one of the best movies this year.

Paranorman (L'étrange pouvoir de Norman) est un film d'animation sorti en 2013. Il se différencie de la production habituelle car c'est une production en image par image du studio Laika (Coraline). Leur prochaine production, The Box Trolls, a l'air tout aussi intéressante et drôle que Paranorman, au passage. Le livre rassemble donc les illustrations, recherches et dessins préparatoires de la production mais aussi des photos des objets, et de l'animation telle qu'elle a été produite. Les dessins sont de bonne qualité, on trouve beaucoup d'études et de tests pour chacun des protagonistes de l'histoire. Les textes sont assez nombreux et on revient en détails sur les étapes de la construction du film. La partie la plus intéressante (et originale) concerne toutes les sculptures et les décors réels. On se rend compte de la taille de ceux-ci, parfois imposants, et du nombre incroyable d'éléments créés pendant la production. C'est un travail titanesque. Les photos des ateliers sont époustouflantes. Chaque étape de création d'une poupée est détaillée, du moulage au squelette articulé, jusqu'à la peinture puis l'animation image par image. Comme avec l'artbook de L'étrange Noël de Mr Jack, on est toujours bluffé par l'animation image par image et sa cohorte de matériel et de gens.

Per gli appassionati di stop motion questo libro è un gioiellino da non farsi sfuggire! Lo custodisco gelosamente in libreria! Assolutamente consigliato!

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.

Kindle版を購入しましたが、キャラクターが作られていく過程や、世界観資料が沢山掲載されていて、勉強になりました。 ParaNormanに対する制作スタッフの愛情が詰まったMaking本です。

I ordered this for my sister to give to her fiance who is an animator and loves this film. The book is beautiful and he really loved it.