ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 30th October 2015 - "The Art of Wreck-It Ralph" by Jennifer Lee and Maggie Malone (Chronicle)

Our second Book of the Week this week is a truly dazzling look inside one of Disney's biggest recent hits, the truly stunning world of "Wreck-It Ralph"...
I am utterly hopeless at resisting the temptaiton of "The Art Of" books. I'd had my eye on this one for a while, and as Charlotte is also a big fan of the movie "Wreck-It Ralph" we had to pick this book up. Pricey though they are, the Disney "Art of" books are truly in a class of their own.

For fans of the movie, "The Art of Wreck-It Ralph" intricately goes through the processes involved in devising, designing and rendering the characters, scenery and props you see in the finished polished movie.

It's always most interesting to see how artists wrestle with a particular character, and in fact it's probably no surprise to find that producing a believable (and dare we say likeable) character who is supposed to be 'the bad guy' but is actually good, from a basic idea that he's an 8-Bit videogame character, is not as easy as it sounds.

Ralph himself went through dozens of transitions...

"I'm Gonna Wreck-it!"

...as did many of the other characters, and it's always hugely inspirational for would-be doodlers like Charlotte and I to see how professional artists work through a multitude of designs before hitting the right direction.

The book contains everything from really rough initial sketches to polished and glorious 3D renderings that look like they were directly lifted from the movie itself.

Our favourite section though, has to be...

Good enough to eat (and race!)

...those utterly glorious Sugar Rush Kart designs, each one looking good enough to eat but all retaining a certain character vibe that carries through to the final designs that are so beautifully and intricately detailed.

People are often really grumpy about Disney. "They're taking over everything, soaking up all the things I loved as a kid, how dare they!" but when you see the professionalism of their art teams and the pure unadulterated (and hugely enviable) skill that goes into coming up with brilliant designs for their movies, it's not exactly a massive surprise that the company goes from strength to strength.

Needless to say it's an obvious book of the week. Expensive? Sure it is but it's so worth it, and who knows, it might just get us to up our art game!

Charlotte's favourite bit: Seeing Vanellope Von Schweetz' original designs and of course those glorious scrum-diddly-uptious Kart designs

Daddy's favourite bit: Love how the designers obviously are huge video game nerds, and seeing their subtle influences making it into the original characters that appeared in the movie. Also love those karts to bits!

(Self Purchased - Not Sent For Review)

"The Art of Wreck-It Ralph"

Written and Designed by Jennifer Lee and Maggie Malone

Published by Chronicle Books

Publication Date: 1st November 2012