Product Description

In 1986, gifted animator John Lasseter, technology guru Ed Catmull, and visionary Steve Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios. Their goal: create a computer animated feature, despite predictions that it could never be done. An unprecedented catalog of blockbuster films later, the studio is honoring its history in this deluxe volume. From its fledgling days under George Lucas to ten demanding years creating Toy Story to the merger with Disney, each milestone is vibrantly detailed. Interviews with Pixar directors, producers, animators, voice talent, and industry insiders, as well as concept art, storyboards, and snapshots illuminate a history that is both definitive and enthralling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22777 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Karen Paik is the author of The Art of Ratatouille. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ed Catmull is the president of Pixar, and a winner of the Coons Award, the highest achievement in the computer graphics field.

Steve Jobs is the former CEO of Pixar and a current board member of Disney. He is also the CEO of Apple, Inc.

John Lasseter is the chief creative officer at Pixar, and the director of Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Cars.

Leslie Iwerks is the author of The Hand Behind the Mouse. She lives in Santa Monica, California.

Customer Reviews

This book is so full of story
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R5CLRG2QVFHL This book is stunning. Simply stunning.

This is the latest collection to my Pixar artbook. Almost immediately, I wrapped the book up to protect the cover from the elements. The bright green cover is made of cloth-like fabric and attracts dust easily. After picking it from my desk from photographing it, some parts of the cover had already became dirty!

Old school photos, high resolution renders, great writing filled the pages made of high quality paper stock.

It tells the history of Pixar animation studios before there was Pixar animation studios, all the way up to the Disney bought-over. It stops just right before Ratatouille or there would probably be more written on Brad Bird. You'll find the true meaning of passion, determination and the love for their art.

If you've owned other Pixar artbooks, you'll be pleased to note that there are quite a lot of new, never-been-printed photos in the book. You're going to see tons of new images.

There are more pictures on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for my blog's link.

A loving, thorough portrait
You can sense the quality of this massive book before you even open it. The Buzz Lightyear image is a cutout piece of glossy paper, which is set into bright green fabric. The title appears on a translucent paper banner. The back of the book matches the front, except the cutout is of the back side of Buzz. Inside, a black satin ribbon is attached to use as a bookmark.

Fancy treatment indeed, but the text and images live up to it.

The text is thorough and well written, and sprinkled with dozens of interviews with key Pixar people, including Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. It's accompanied by hundreds of examples of concept art, photographs, storyboards and fully rendered film images. Everything Pixar is covered, starting with the ten formative years before "Toy Story" (including Lasseter's firing by the Disney Company), through Pixar's acquisition by Disney in 2006.

I especially liked the photographs of voice talent (Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen) taken during recording sessions, and the many behind-the-scenes stories about making the movies. In one, John Lasseter describes how funny Tom Hanks was recording the "Toy Story" scene in which Woody tries to use Buzz's arm as a stand-in for the depressed Space Ranger: " I was laughing so hard, I almost ruined the take," Lasseter remembered. "I had to leave the room and go into the recording booth with the sound engineer."

Here's the chapter list:

CHAPTER 1: Ed
CHAPTER 2: John
CHAPTER 3: Steve
CHAPTER 4: Pixar's Early Days
Spotlight: Sound
Spotlight: The Early Short Films
CHAPTER 5: Toy Story
Spotlight: Music
CHAPTER 6: Building a Studio
CHAPTER 7: A Bug's Life
Spotlight: "Geri's Game"
CHAPTER 8: Toy Story 2
Spotlight: Pixar University
CHAPTER 9: Pixar at Home
Spotlight: Voices
CHAPTER 10: Monsters, Inc.
Spotlight: "For the Birds"
CHAPTER 11: Finding Nemo
Spotlight: RenderMan
CHAPTER 12: The Incredibles
Spotlight: "Boundin"
CHAPTER 13: Cars
Spotlight: "One Man Band"
CHAPTER 14: Pixar Joins with Disney

How passion came to life
Dear animation lover. This book will restore your faith in the power of passion. With a never failing belief in the craftmanship of delivering a great story Pixar showed the possibilities of a good marriage between art and technique. Off course, some luck of being in the right place at the right time counts as well.

The book starts with the original background of the pixar machine as a calculating machine to the point where Disney takes over.

I also have almost every Pixar art-of book there is, but the movies described in the book (including all the shorts) are mostly viewed from a Pixar company point of view. This way you get a great overall view.

As it is my dream to come close to the Pixar company, this is probably the closest you can get the heart of Pixar when you are living far away...