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The Art of Ratatouille

artofrat.jpgThe more I see of Pixar’s Ratatouille the more excited I am to see it. Perhaps I’m still suffering from withdrawal symptoms from not giving a rat’s ass (pardon the pun) about Cars. Yeah, I know, Pixar’s the king of story-telling and strong characters, but still — talking cars.

Every time a new animated feature is released, you can bet there’ll be the ubiquitous “Art of” book along with it. I regularly gobble these books up, because even when the movie isn’t great, a nice heavy book of glossy concept art just can’t be beat (heck, I even bought the one for Robots).

What’s particularly great about Pixar’s books is that they clearly demonstrate the amount of thought, detail, and stylistic cohesiveness that go into establishing the films’ looks from the earliest stages. The Art of Ratatouille may be my favourite yet.

It wasn’t long ago that human skin, delicate foods, and other things that require the most subtle and translucent interactions with light were difficult if not impossible to render convincingly. Now that Pixar no longer has to worry about whether they can render certain things, they are clearly spending their time making things look as lush and beautiful as possible. The book is loaded with some of the most stunningly warm, glowing concept art I’ve seen by the likes of Dan Lee, Nate Wragg, Peter DeSeve, Carter Goodrich, and many more. And if you watch the 9-minute sneak preview of the film, it’s clear they were able to translate that lushness from paper to screen. All this plus Patton Oswalt? June 29th can’t come soon enough.

Previously: Ratatouille trailer and interview with Brad Bird

  • http://wardomatic.blogspot.com/ Ward

    No lie, I JUST got a glimpse of this book earlier this week when someone at work brought it in. I loved the conceptual work done by Harley Jessup, myself. Excellent book! I’ll have to snag it soon.

  • http://wardomatic.blogspot.com Ward

    No lie, I JUST got a glimpse of this book earlier this week when someone at work brought it in. I loved the conceptual work done by Harley Jessup, myself. Excellent book! I’ll have to snag it soon.

  • Sherry Rogers

    Since the day I saw the first glimpse of this movie I have been wanting to see it. I can’t wait till June 29th either. Thanks so much for posting the link to buy the book. I just ordered it. It looks fantastic!

  • Sherry Rogers

    Since the day I saw the first glimpse of this movie I have been wanting to see it. I can’t wait till June 29th either. Thanks so much for posting the link to buy the book. I just ordered it. It looks fantastic!

  • ceenitb4

    Love the artwork in the book. Hate the story from Pixar. I will not be looking at it as I don’t want to support a story on a rodent being a chef or helping a chef….sortof like “Fushed Away” …no matter how cute…the subject matter of toliets, sewers, rats….uhhh….ewwww!!!!!

  • ceenitb4

    Love the artwork in the book. Hate the story from Pixar. I will not be looking at it as I don’t want to support a story on a rodent being a chef or helping a chef….sortof like “Fushed Away” …no matter how cute…the subject matter of toliets, sewers, rats….uhhh….ewwww!!!!!

  • http://wardomatic.blogspot.com/ Ward

    Last time I checked it was umm….like fiction, you know? As in, not real.

  • http://wardomatic.blogspot.com Ward

    Last time I checked it was umm….like fiction, you know? As in, not real.

  • http://www.graphicdesignbar.com/forum.html GDBar

    I totally agree with you about Cars. It was clearly a weird niche interest for Lasseter, which made it less interesting to many of us, unfortunately. I’m really looking forward to Ratatouille also — back to the great attention to detail, steller animation and character development that has made Pixar great. Woo!

  • http://www.graphicdesignbar.com/forum.html GDBar

    I totally agree with you about Cars. It was clearly a weird niche interest for Lasseter, which made it less interesting to many of us, unfortunately. I’m really looking forward to Ratatouille also — back to the great attention to detail, steller animation and character development that has made Pixar great. Woo!

  • Bennifer3000

    The Art of Ratatouille is one of my favorites, not as good as that of The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but it’s full of some great art, so I can’t complain.

    Lets hope the Ratatouille DVD is 2-discs and has some nice extras.

    I got to see the movie early and you can check out my review here:

    http://www.seistudios.com/blog/?p=20

  • Bennifer3000

    The Art of Ratatouille is one of my favorites, not as good as that of The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but it’s full of some great art, so I can’t complain.

    Lets hope the Ratatouille DVD is 2-discs and has some nice extras.

    I got to see the movie early and you can check out my review here:

    http://www.seistudios.com/blog/?p=20