‘The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings’ published
by Chronicle Books, is a window inside the latest film from LAIKA Animation
studios, ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’. It guides you through every artistic
decision made throughout the film – such as why certain effects, settings,
colours and lighting were used in the film and why, and every little detail is
laid out in such a way that once you open it up, you won’t want to look away.

This book
is incredibly, lovingly detailed in its explanation as to why a particular
element of the film exists, even if it is minute in the massive scale of the
stop-motion film. It’s a testament to the work of LAIKA themselves – a company
who have produced other films such as ‘Coraline’, ‘ParaNorman’ and ‘The
Boxtrolls’, each taking years to create due to the hard work and dedication
that each LAIKA team member takes to help bring the films to life through a
mixture of blood, sweat, tears, stop-motion and CGI animation. Through ‘The Art
of Kubo and the Two Strings’ it is clear that their latest film is absolutely
no exception – and that they continued to put incredible care and love in its
creation.  

It’s clear
from just the foreword of the book itself, written by CEO of LAIKA, Travis
Knight. In it, Knight tells the story of his childhood and how that inspired
the story for ‘Kubo’. This really sets the stage for the intricacy of the book
itself, which is beautifully presented so that you only need to land on a
random page to be blown away by any piece of the art or design that’s included
– it’s so intricately, eye-catchingly laid out. Filled with lush character
designs, film stills, graphics and photographs of every stage of the film’s
creation to the finished motion picture, we are truly privy to see the inner
workings of not just great filmmakers, but of a great film through this
similarly great book.

Thanks to
the detail of the art-book, we know that every set, every character, even the
film plot itself has been carefully crafted. Including everything from details
of the research that the LAIKA team went through to accurately create the
historical Japanese time-period that the film is set in, or the different
designs of everything from background characters to costumes, as well as an
outline of the film itself – it’s clear that ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ is a
labour of love, as is ‘The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings’, which so
beautifully shows us all this through its outstanding attention to detail.

A
breath-taking book, perfect for any fan of animation and film.

THE ART OF
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS / AUTHOR: EMILY HAYNES / PUBLISHER: CHRONICLE BOOKS /
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW