Author: Tracey Miller-Zarneke
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: September 25, 2012
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
I am huge fan of the classic Universal monsters and films like Rankin/Bass’ “Mad Monster Party”. “Hotel Transylvania” feels like a 2012 new take on classic horror monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, Werewolf, and the Invisible Man. The film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (who also delivers a great foreword), creator of “Samurai Jack” and executive producer and director of “Star Wars: Clone Wars” animated series, so you know you are getting quality. “The Art and Making of Hotel Transylvania” is a very fun and very informative look into the film and its production. Titan Books scores again for sure. When I honestly see that they are doing an Art/Making of book, I get psyched because they never you let down. This book also got me 100% more excited to see this film now. Fans of classics monsters, definitely check this out!
The film features the classic monsters but in more modern settings like Dracula owns a monsters-only hotel. I think that is a fun twist and should please both kids and parents alike. This book not only covers the beautiful art of this animated CG film but also dives deep into the production. There are over 400 pieces of concept art, character sketches, storyboards and digital art. It is nice to also include the digital aspect of the film since it really gives an insight into how much work went into this film. I am just a huge fan of concept art, I don’t know what it is but I love seeing the artists different conceptual designs. Besides all art there is also numerous interviews with filmmakers and crew chatting about the creating this film.
This book is authored by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, who has credited roles on the feature films “Meet the Robinsons”, “Chicken Little” and “The Emperor’s New Groove”. So this lady actually knows animation very well. If you still need more proof, Tracey has also written a bunch of other amazing “art of” books including “The Art and Making of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”, “The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2” and “The Art of How to Train Your Dragon”. The book is very well presented and just looks amazing. The colors are very sharp and really pop off the pages. If their goal for this book was to really deliver us the world behind the film, “Hotel Transylvania”, (which I am sure it was) then they did their job very well. Highly recommended!