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Lisa Fitzpatrick

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The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure Hardcover – November 30, 2009

by Lisa Fitzpatrick (Author), James Cameron (Epilogue), Peter Jackson (Preface),

4.3 252 ratings

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Academy Award-winning writer/director James Cameron, the maker of Titanic and the creator of the Terminator series, first imagined Avatar while still in his teens. The film follows the story of an ex-marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on a distant planet filled with exotic life forms. As an avatar, a human consciousness in an alien body, this disabled vet is torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for both his own survival and that of the indigenous people. The Art of Avatar, the companion book to this epic 3-D action adventure, explores the developmental and conceptual art used by the creative team to craft this wholly original world. With over 100 exclusive full-color images including sketches, matte paintings, drawings, and film stills, The Art of Avatar brings readers behind the scenes of this unprecedented movie-going experience. This official artbook companion to the feature film reveals the process behind the creation of set designs for the imaginative vistas, unique landscapes, aerial battle scenes, bioluminescent nights, and fantastical creatures. Interviews with art directors, visual effects designers, animators, costume designers, and creature makers delivers unique insights into the team's creative processes -- all driven by James Cameron's one-of-a-kind vision.

Print length

108 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harry N. Abrams
Publication date

November 30, 2009
Grade level

8 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

12.25 x 0.63 x 10.38 inches
ISBN-10

9780810982864
ISBN-13

978-0810982864
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lisa Fitzpatrick is a non-fiction writer and editor. She hasdeveloped a wide variety of quality film, television, art andphotography publications including those for branded entertainmentproperties such as AVATAR, MAD MAX, the films of Clint Eastwood, 24,Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Madagascar, Open Season and The X-Files. Agraduate of the Stanford Publishing Course for Professionals, she alsoproduced the 80th Anniversary edition for USC School of Cinematic Arts. She lives in Los Angeles. Peter Jackson is a three-time Academy Award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jon Landau is an Academy Award-winning producer and former executive vice president at Twentieth Century Fox, and is currently a partner in James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0810982862
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harry N. Abrams; First Edition (November 30, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 108 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780810982864
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0810982864
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.03 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.25 x 0.63 x 10.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #316,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #364 in Art of Film & Video
- #2,074 in Performing Arts (Books)
- #4,074 in Movies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 252 ratings

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Lisa Fitzpatrick

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Author (AVATAR, MIB), co-writer, and book publishing veteran, Lisa Fitzpatrick has developed hundreds of nonfiction titles for film studios, production companies and book publishers as writer, ghostwriter, editor, book packager (Clint Eastwood: Master Filmmaker at Work) and brand copywriter (AVATAR2+ film series Bible).

As an art book editor, brand manager and licensing executive, a selection of Lisa’s titles includes: The Art of George Miller’s MAD MAX: Fury Road (on behalf of Warner Bros Global Publishing) and Mad Max: Inspired Deluxe Edition (DC’s Vertigo Comics); GODFATHER Treasures: The Official Motion Picture Archive; SHREK: The Art of the Quest; The Complete X-FILES; The Art of KUNG FU PANDA; The Art & Making of DreamWorks’s MADAGASCAR; 24: Behind the Scenes; a university package entitled Reality Ends Here: 80 Years of USC Cinema and Sharon Salzberg's Insight Meditation: A 12-Month Correspondence Course. A member of the Author’s Guild and veteran of both Stanford’s Publishing Course for Professionals and the University of Chicago (Editing Certificate), her focus is in long form prescriptive and narrative non-fiction.

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4.3 out of 5

252 global ratings

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Serena Madrigal

So cool

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024

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I love scifi and speculative fiction. And while the movie didn't offer that, this book does.

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ellen george

A gorgeous book that shows the process and beauty of Avatar

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2009

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I received The Art of Avatar yesterday and it was one of the most amazing looks into the brilliance of technology and James Cameron's vision I've ever seen!
I am a screenwriting student and film student and I was amazed at every page, every idea that is needed to put an idea for a motion picture to life. And it is mindboggling.
Cameron had to wait for the technology to catch up to his ideas, and that took almost a decade.
Peter Jackson's preface uses the phrase 'Suspension of Disbelief' as the world between the filmmaker and the audience. You as a member of the audience are watching a film in its real time. The world you are in is the world you see onscreen.
And to do that properly is the magic of film.
The Art of Avatar shows the people, the animals, the humans, the natives of the moon Pandora, in magnificent detail is worth purchasing the book. The process of the evolution of how a character or beast is created in amazing.
I cannot wait to see this film and given the taste of its beauty and plotting, am amazed this technology exists to give this to us.
The only negative I can give and it is nothing really, but the middle page of my book was not connected, and I don't think that was on purpose. There are fold-out pages that blow your mind in the book, but the middle photo encompased just the 2 middle pages.
If that is the worst criticism I can give to a book, fuggetaboutit! I did and carefully fitted the page back.
The Art of Avatar is a wonderful art showing unto itself, but if you are at all interested in seeing the movie, or are a film maker, you will appreciate this gorgeous book.

8 people found this helpful

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Parka

Underwhelming for a movie that was over the top

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2009

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The media could not be loaded.

(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 a 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

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

84 people found this helpful

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Austzulu

Fantastic Book.

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2023

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Fantastic book. Great condition. Fast postage.

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talos72

Disappointing designs...

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2009

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I was underwhelmed by much of the stuff in the book. The fact that it is a skimpy book didn't bother me as much as its content. There is a usual number of technically well executed images, but lacking inspiration: less the fault of the artists than Cameron's taste I would assume. There are some interesting creature and environment concepts, but it's stuff we have seen in countless video games and movies: mechanized suites, propellered ships, space marines... I was hoping for more exotic images of truly alien lands but not in this book. I know the film is supposedly filled with amazing night time shots of the planet with glowing plants and aliens but not in the book.

What you do see in the book are endless photo-manipulated Photoshoped imagery which is a great ad for Photoshop as an illustration tool. One image that somewhat irritated me was a two-page spread of the blue aliens having hunted a larger creature while they were cutting up the hunt. Well, the image looked familiar to me then I realized that it was actually a well known National Geographics photograph of Pygmies hunting and cutting up an elephant. The aritst seems to have simply manipulated the photo to create the piece. All fine if just used to show the director ideas, but to give the picture a two-page spread didn't sit well with me.

If you love Art of books, then by all means pick this up. But this book is certainly not the most awe-inspiring of the bunch.

7 people found this helpful

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Victor

It’s great.

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2022

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Beautiful condition, gorgeous art. I’d like to get more of my own hard covers laminate protected. It’s good for making them last even through gentle usage.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

book is on the thin side.

Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

i will order again from this seller. book was wrap with platic wrap. preventing the dust jacket from getting damage during shipping. that alone lets you know that the seller want you to be happy with your purchase. as for the product, not many pages in the book. should had another 25 pages. it just small.

daniele

RETROSCENA E PERLE DI UN GRANDE SUCCESSO CINEMATOGRAFICO

Reviewed in Italy on August 3, 2020

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Un libro visionario proprio come lo sono il film, e la mente del suo incredibile creatore e regista. Una corposa raccolta di immagini, sketch, studi e molto altro ancora su flora e fauna del pianeta Pandora, per scoprire i segreti dietro la realizzazione di questo capolavoro cinematografico.

One person found this helpful

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Leo Genovese

Nice

Reviewed in France on October 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

Nice

Havi

A really nice art book

Reviewed in Germany on January 11, 2019

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It is a really nice book if you want to look at concept arts and as a way to learn how the world of pandora looks like.

joaquin jorge

EXELENTE

Reviewed in Mexico on August 15, 2017

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A PESAR DE QUE TIENE 100 PAGINAS CUANDO OTROS LIBROS TIENEN ENTRE 200 Y 250, EL LIBRO TIENE MUCHO ARTE FINAL (SEGUN YO) DE ESCENAS ICONICAS DE LA PELICULA CUANDO OTROS LIBROS CONTIENEN MUCHOS CONCEPTOS QUE NO SE UTILIZARON AL FINAL. SALUDOS.

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