The Art of Brave: Book Review

I received The Art of Brave as a birthday gift last month and though I don’t usually take the time to sit down and read the art of books (normally I just flip through them and look at the pictures every once in a while for a little hit of inspiration when I need one), I thought I’d actually take some time and read through this one especially since it was written by Jenny Lerew of The Blackwing Diaries, a blog I’ve followed since college.

The book starts off with some of the very first sketches of Merida and some travel photos from a group of artists and directors that went to Scotland to do visual research for the setting of the film. The photos from Scotland are a nice addition because the reader is able to see what the artists were focusing on in their research, it’s something that we don’t usually get to see in the art of Pixar books.
What became immediately apparent to me as I read through the book was the incredible artistry of Steve Pilcher. The lion share of the drawings in the book are by Pilcher (including the front and back cover art) as well as some of the more breathtaking photos of Scotland, but what is really impressive in my opinion is the myriad styles he employs to render his drawings. Some are exacting pencil sketches with lots of tonal cross-hatching, some are very textural digital paintings, some are clean digital scenes with flat colors, and they all look like they are done by totally different, masterful artists. Not many artists can do this.

The book also includes pages upon pages of storyboards that unfortunately are difficult to see because they are printed so small and a little hard to follow because there is no accompanying text to go along with them. Still, it’s nice to spend some time with the storyboards, looking from one frame to the next and remembering the scene from the movie.

In the book, Lerew mentions that there was originally a lot of planning for the film to take place in a snowy climate, an idea that was eventually scrapped in favor of the lush green environment seen in the finished film. There was never an explanation stated as to why that decision was made, though I think it was the right one. I would have liked to hear more about things like that, early plans and ideas that were cut out or reshaped, I would have liked to read more about the winding road to getting to the finished story. But I guess that’s why it’s called The Art of Brave and not The Making of Brave.

On the whole, it’s a great art of book and I’m looking forward to pulling it off the shelf from time to time for the occasional jolt of inspiration.

Little Books

I’ve been reading a few little books this past week. I love these bite-size reads that I can finish in less than an hour, they helped me break up the 1000+ page three volume paperback edition of 1Q84 that I’m right in the middle of (I’m really into it, but jesus it’s a long book).

F in Exams is a funny little book I picked up on a whim at Target. I thought it was really funny for a while, but this book is much better in small doses. It’s more fun to pick it up and flip to a random page (like I did at Target) than it is so sit and read it from cover to cover (like I did when I got home). There are also some pretty hilarious real world examples of bad test answers available for free online so I kinda feel like this book wasn’t worth the impulse buy.

Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory is a really inspiring little memoir/sketchbook journal. It talks about using the activity of drawing not just for an end product, but as a way of seeing the beauty in everyday objects. For Gregory, the time spent leisurely observing every curve and subtlety of an individual object is more important than the drawing that is created from it. As someone who is always stressed about my drawings, I think this is a really neat way to think about it.

I found Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon to be totally inspiring also. I really liked how he kind of lifted the veil surrounding creative types and showed that even the best, most talented people don’t just pull great ideas out of thin air, there is a source for everything. His tone is consistently encouraging too, which is very motivating.

The Sun Also Rises

Maybe it’s because I miss school a little bit or maybe it’s because I have masochistic taste in literature, but whenever I go to the book store I can’t help but pick something up from the table full of required summer reading material for the local schools. I hated summer reading when I was a kid (especially the summer I had to read Watership Down) but these days when the weather gets hot, I actually get in the mood for classic literature instead of a fluffy beach read.

This time I bought The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway. After reading The Paris Wife earlier this year my interest in Hemmingway has gone from absolutely none to somewhat curious. The only Hemmingway I’ve ever read was The Old Man and the Sea and I HATED it when I was in grade school, but I figure it’s high time I give the guy another chance.