Skip to content

THE ART OF ONWARD

Written By:

Stephen Pierce
art onward

THE ART OF ONWARD / PUBLISHER: CHRONICLE BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Art of Onward is the latest in the hardcover Pixar book and truly something that it need by both art lovers and film aficionados alike. The introduction by the film’s director Dan Scanlon is particularly insightful as it gives a very personal and quiet in-depth look into his though process and what he set out to do when making the film something that is very rarely found in art books. This then leads into a look at Pixar’s internal screenings progression it describes how each Pixar film goes through eight screenings every three months there is a chart that attempts to explain this.

We then move into more of the art side of things. What’s particularly noteworthy is that the art in the book is in order and follows the plot of the film there is a ton of images from the finished product as well as concept and unused art. One of the many stand out pages, we learn how the Lightfoots (main characters) pet dragon Blazey was created. They used the director’s own dog; when viewing the images side by side, it becomes very clear as to where they got their base material from – his face, in particular.

One of the first pieces of concept art for Onward was that of a talking tree, which the director thought summed up the film beautifully. Unfortunately, it did not make it into the movie which we do feel was a missed opportunity.

Another thing that becomes apparent when you are going through the art work is how some of the concepts of the fantasy based inhabitants look a lot like some of the citizens from Monstropolis, the city where Monsters, Inc. is set. One of the things that’s very easy to miss when watch the film is the side gags and how clever they are on some of the products in the film two of the writer’s favourites are a parody of Mountain Dew (Mount Doom) and the other is Cheese Puffs (Gorgonzola’s Cheese Puffs).

All told this is one of the more in-depth art books to be released with text to accompany the imagery and gives some insightful looks as to how a Pixar film is made.

Stephen Pierce

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More