The Art of Star Wars : Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

I would never have thought that I would stoop so low in nerd-dom and buy a book like this, but there is more to being a nerd than simply obsessing over your favorite fantasies.I love Star Wars, hate the Phantom Menace. And yet way back when the VHS release was going on, I too crowded into a Media Play at 12 in the morning with my buddy and his wife to get my advanced Widescreen Collector's copy. DVD has since come and taken away any significance to that item, but what did come along with it was a little booklet featuring excerpts from "The Art of Star Wars; Episode I." For a long time this little booklet and I rarely parted, and I thought I was so priviledged to have this particular booklet and that it would one day be a rarity.Imagine my surprise when I discovered THIS book, the actual Art of Star Wars. Not only does it have everything in my booklet, but it presents conceptual art from all corners of the movie. There's so much to look at, and so much that is fascinating to look at, you can't help spend hours just looking.The book is hard-bound, with pages made from such high-quality paper, it will make you turn them with tweezers, they feel so expensive. The art is presented in chronological order with the film, so that reading it cover-to-cover is almost like watching the film. For most of the artwork, a little background information is provided in the corner next to a numerical key denoting which works belong to which artists. As for the quality of reproduction; I am rarely satisfied when something I've drawn is scanned onto a color-copier, which often is the best option for reproducing them. I still lose something in the translation from pad to paper, a little bit of hue here, some shading here, depth of line there. However, in this book there is nothing lost. (Nothing is lost, or the originals must be stunning to look at!) The artwork shows you just why the movie relies so much on visuals (and not on strength of character or plot). Artists Doug Chiang, Ian McCaig, and Terry Whitlatch to name a few, are so skilled at vividness, their works immediately juice your imagination into action. Looking at concepts for space-ships, you can almost hear them fly.The emphasis is on Doug Chiang and Ian McCaig, one a brilliant architectural and mechanical artist, the other a genius at characters and costumes. Whitlatch seems to handle most of the aliens, while gorgeous matte-paintings by Doug Chiang depict, in color, some of the more finalised concepts.If you are a fan of Star Wars, this book is a must for any in-depth knowledge of how things developed behing the scenes. For film scholars, I would also recommend this book, for the glimpse it provides into the realm of pre-production, especially for you film scholars who have never set foot onto a film studio, or a design office.For fellow artists, I can only say that these works inspire to improve my technique and work even harder at my art. It's always the test of an artist when he runs i

Well,I am a great fan of the SW movies as I own them all and have watched them a couple of time,knowing the names of nearly every character and creature that appears.But if you`re a real fan,you shan`t just watch the movies. And if you want to see how it all began,then this book is a must have!Concept art of every character and creature appears in this book,along with comments by the artists,mostly Iain MacCaig,Doug Chiang and Terryl Whitlatch. NOTE: if you`re not familiar with the characters of the film,then this review can be hard to understand. My friend owns all the art of books for the old films. And yes,they are very fine too,and includes the screenplay,but the artists for them are not as talented as these. Of course,the numerous sketches of the queen`s costumes are splendid,as well as the sketches of Obi-Wan & Qui-Gon,which helps me drawing better people sometimes,but these are not the real highlights of the book. The real highlights are the sketches of Naboo`s and Tatooine`s forest/desert habitats and their inhabitants.Many of the creatures here did never made it into the film,as the giant armadillos of Tatooine and the birds of Naboo. They must have been inspired by real animals when creating them,and they really look fantastic. Now I can create own fantasy animal worlds based on these pictures,although I have not done that yet.Another highlight is the numerous sketches & paintings of Jar-Jar Binks. Nearly all the artists had to collaborate to make a good,goofy character. He even looks like Donald Duck some times!This might be the best example of a character`s development. In fact,I think that Anakin Skywalker looks better on these sketches than in the final film. And so does Boss Nass too!There is one more development example worth to mention. And that is Darth Maul,the best Star Wars villain!In fact,he began as a witch,but that was too frightening,so they changed him into various knight forms,before the final red/black tatooed face came in. Over all,this is a very great and inspiring art book and could be recommended as a great gift for anyone interested in Star Wars,storyboard art or just sci-fi art as it is.

We can see the influence of Ralph McQuarrie, the artist most responsible for creating the "look" of the original Star Wars, in Doug Chiang's acrylic production paintings, from the use of color to the brush strokes to the dramatic perspectives. Doug Chiang didn't just take the baton from McQuarrie--he ran with it like crazy. This is a beautifully produced book which brings the Art Department of Episode One to the forefront. Organized by the locations of the movie--Naboo, Tatooine, Coruscant and the Trade Federation--this Star Wars book stresses illustrations and paintings over screen shots from the finished movie and prop photos. Those wanting to see close ups of Qui-Gon's light saber will have to look elsewhere. In that sense it is the Art Department's book rather than ILM's. That may disappoint those out there who want to see the "finished product" more than the "process of creation." But for aspiring artists and designers, this book is will serve as an inspiration. It also shows the amount of work that's necessary to become a professional in this field. Judging by the sheer volume of sketches and paintings represented by this book, it looks like Chiang didn't get much sleep during his years working at Skywalker Ranch on this movie.

Hmmm. The reader from Coral Springs states that this book didn't have the range of artwork that the other "Art of Star Wars" books did. That's strange, because if you actually OPEN these books, you will see that (s)he is absolutely WRONG. This book is MUCH richer than the previous ones. The only explanation I can think of is that (s)he must have accidentally placed a review of the "Making of Episode I" here, instead of a review of the "Art of Episode I." (S)he also complains that the Star Wars Insider CD-ROM has more artwork on it. Well, of course it does! It's a CD-ROM! It has a lot of memory and you can put a lot of art on there! More art than can be put in a book! What a silly criticism! This is a FANTASTIC book! It actually tells you something about the artwork and the process that went into creating it. The previous books in the series should have been done this way! Hopefully Lucasfilm will do the remaining books in the series in a similar fashion. (Please, George?)

This is one of the best put together "Art of" movie books in a long time. It is highly recommended. You won't be disappointed.