The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure [Hardcover]

(I've updated this review a bit after watching the movie.)

If you're blown away by the visual quality of the Pandora, as shown in the trailers, you'll be glad to see that majority of the art in this book are on the environments. There are also designs for the plants, animals, vehicles and the Pandora inhabitants, the Na'vi. Weta Workshop is also roped in to provide some models and help in designing the Na'vi. The creativity behind the design and the scale of work is of course amazing.

The downside is there are only 108 pages, which is underwhelming considering that every set and prop in the movie is made totally from imagination. They certainly could have packed more pages but the price is also lower for that matter.

This book didn't include as much preliminary designs as I hoped, like the iterations they had to do to get to the final designs. The only area where there are iterations are the character designs for the Na'vi. The rest, like the flora, fauna, vehicles and sets look pretty close to the finalized designs.

Most of the art in this book look computer generated (not that it's a bad thing) and there are very few pencil sketches. Quite a few pieces created with mixed medium are a bit jarring to me, like mixing photos with digital painting for backgrounds. Again, nothing wrong with mixing medium but some of the styles just clash and calls for attention in the wrong way.

The writeup talks mainly about the design concepts and very little on the production. Stereocopy, which James Cameron is an advocate of, is used, but it's only briefly mentioned.

I'm intrigued that James Cameron actually wrote the script in 1995. But he had to wait until 2006 before technology was (deemed) advanced enough (for him) to make the film. I thought technology was already available when Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released in 2001. So what technology are we really talking about here? It's not mentioned but, well, this isn't a making-of book. I'll definitely be getting the disc when it comes out.

Overall, this book looks like a rush job. Page 82-83 has an image of the flying Ikrans printed upside down. I can't imagine how it's possible to place an picture on a page (on the software) without looking at the picture. There are very slight pixelation with the really big pictures, something I don't normally see with other movie books.

It's a nice book but more for Avatar fans. But be prepared to be underwhelmed, especially after you've watched the movie.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

For months, people have been talking about James Cameron's sci-fi epic "Avatar" -- the exotic alien world of Pandora, the clash between the blue cat-elf natives and Earth's military, and the Pocahontas-ey love story that all movies of this type have.

"The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure" could easily fill a vast tome that follows this movie from conception to finished product... but instead we get a lushly-illustrated, thinly picture book that dips into the origins of Pandora's designs, but not much else. It feels less like an "art of" book that explores the visuals, and more like a pamphlet advertising the movie.

Most of the conceptual art seems to revolve around the Na'vi's world of Pandora -- there are floating mountains, lush misty rainforests, vast lakes and twisting mushroom-shaped trees. Additionally, there are some studies of the bizarre flora (luminous, fungus-like plants and ferns) and fauna (the six-legged viperwolf, the vaguely reptilian/leonine thanator). Not to mention the Na'vi, the aforemented cat-elf aliens.

And there's also some focus on the human technology -- the sterile grey "shack" known as Site 26 and the Vietnam-era base around it, the clunky mecha "amp suit," the Dragon, and the chopperesque Samson (which looks a lot like something I saw in the anime movie "Appleseed").

Any movie as huge, elaborate and intensely alien as "Avatar" -- especially one decades in the making -- must have a small library's worth of concept art, outlines, backstory, and design work. And I'm sure this exists somewhere... just not in "The Art of Avatar," which is heavy on the finished visuals, but rather light on conceptual art, the evolution of the movie's style, and artistic bumps in the road.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this book is that it spends a lot of time telling but not showing. The creators of the sets and special effects talk about all sorts of fascinating creative dilemmas and unconventional artistic decisions (aerial mountain shots! Francis Bacon! Undersea life!). But.... we don't see a lot of it, or the various steps that took them from A to Z. We're just told that hey, they had troubles with the six legs or the sleek biolab designs, and that's it.

And there's no real exploration of the epic Na'vi/human climactic battle, except for some pretty pictures of the AMPs charging around shooting and blowing things up. Or the science of Pandora's epic-looking landscape (just how do those mountains float?). Additionally, the prose parts of the book are as skimpy as cheap pantyhose -- every couple pages we have two or three brief paragraphs, and that's it.

I will say this: the art is STUNNING. Luminous, filled with light and mist, with plenty of epic shots of Pandora's rainforesty fantastical world. And they have some foldout sections that give further exploration of Pandora's wildlife (such as floating firefly... lizards?).

HOWEVER, most of the pictures are straightforward digital pictures, with a relatively small representation of maquettes and pencil/watercolor concept art. Most of what there is.... pretty much looks like the actual creatures/places in the movie -- for instance, there are only a few concept images of the Na'vi that don't look just like the finished product (head tentacles and cat lips). It took twenty years to design all this?

The digital art is vibrantly, exquisitely lovely, but "The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure" isn't much more than a sci-fi picture book. Nice to look at, but it just left me frustrated by what WASN'T there.

This is a great book for any fan of film art books.
I'll agree with some other reviews that it could have more pages, as every single one has vibrant, detailed and high quality shots but I think overall, especially for the price, you cannot fault the book at all. It covers all the main aspects of the film, from locations (both native and human), animals on Pandora, the Na'vi and the human equipment.
It has 2 fold out pages, not really for any reason as they both have numerous pictures, it isn't to have large, panoramic pictures, which would have been quite good.
After seeing the reviews of the film that hit the net today it looks like it's going to be huge, and this book is a great gift in time for Christmas.
A must buy for any fan of the film and movie geeks!