★★★★★ 4
Great artwork for a great series!! Recommended to artists, animators and fans of the series
It's been a while since the Avatar: The Last Airbender series ran on TV. I really loved that series because it dealt with a lot of eastern cultures themes and it was not the average children TV show. Despite its children characters the show runners manged to find a balance between drama and comedy.
Now about the art book: that series (Avatar) had its own book (all seasons in one single book) but this time we are getting one book entirely dedicated to the first season, which makes it great. Why? Because we are getting more artwork per episode, most of it in full-color.
I would have liked to see more of the character design, I mean how they got to the final version. Most of the characters are shown in their final version with some costume variants but that's it, no development. One thing missing this time (both from the series and this book) is the animal designs. They had a lot 2-animal-fusion designs on the previous show but this time we get to see almost nothing. I know it is because the series is takes place mainly in Republic City. And wow! what a nice city it is.
All the artwork dedicated to set Republic City's mood, the 1920s, the steam-punk influence, the fashion, everything just fits perfectly! There is a couple of aerial views (day & night) which are my favorite from the book. This new guy they hired to do the background paintings has done a great job!
Every background and every building design have so much detail that they will make your jaw just drop. I like the fact they are paintings with no pencil lines, just paint brushed over the design, which makes it look richer!
Now, I am giving this book a 4-star rating because of the reasons I have already explained and the fact that we are not getting that much in-depth information like we got from the Avatar art book . I must say this is not an animation book, this is an art book that depicts backgrounds, characters and vehicles. You will get to see a few storyboarded sequences but this book is not intended to teach you about animation.
I seriously recommend this book to any person interested in art and animation. The artwork is so well achieved that you will be left wanting to see more.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2014
