The Art of Coco Book Review

After some delay, I'm finally here for my review of Chronicle Books' latest Pixar offering, The Art of Coco! If you know me or have been following along here for any amount of time, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of this series which dates back to 2001 with Monsters Inc. Since then, there has been an "Art of" release for every Pixar feature film and I've had a blast collecting each one!

Before I get into my inside look, I have to say a huge congratulations to the entire Coco cast and crew! If you didn't know, Coco took home the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film last night and I couldn't be more thrilled for everyone involved. In honor of that, I felt today was the perfect time to finally get to this review. Note: You can watch Director Lee Unkrich's acceptance speech HERE.

Like usual, the cover art for the sleeve and the sturdy book itself are both fantastically done. It's always exciting to see which concept art image will make it to the cover with each subsequent release. Miguel and Dante on the marigold bridge was the perfect choice with this one! Take off the sleeve and the book itself is black with embossed guitars taken straight from the film's iconic logo.

As with the best of the "Art of" releases, this beautiful hardcover book is full (162 pages to be exact) of concept art, digital renderings, research photography, clay sculpted maquettes, storyboards and written insights from the creators. The only things this time around that seem to be missing are any kind of color scripts and deleted scenes (which at least should be on the home video release), but all the standard content is here and looks absolutely fantastic. Each page is as vibrant as the next.

After John Lasseter's Foreword (always well written) and two powerful introductions (one by Director Lee Unkrich and one by Co-Director Adrian Molina), this book wastes no time getting into what you want to see—all the stunning art from the earliest of ideas to the more finalized designs! The book closes out with some acknowledgments (special thanks) by the producer of the film, Darla K. Anderson.

A special memory I have with this book is when I went out to Pixar this past fall to view the film for the first time, I was honored to also open this book for the first time afterwards with my friend Daniel Arriaga— who was the Character Art Director for Coco. It was such an amazing moment, sitting there with him and his wonderful family in his living room flipping through these pages and getting first hand insights into the art and artists. I'll never forget it!

When you look through this book, keep an eye out for much of Daniel's work. It's everywhere! Below you can see a photo of him holding a xolo dog for research.  

Now here's your peek at some of the many wonderful pages you'll find inside. And don't worry—if you haven't seen the film yet (I know it still hasn't opened in the UK), there will be absolutely no spoilers in the art I chose to show you here.

 

Here's a cool insight you might not know! Below is some concept art for Miguel with his skeleton face paint and two photo references. The boy in the photos is none other than Daniel Arriaga's son!

Well there you go—and that's just a small taste at what you can expect inside. Per usual, this is a really beautiful tribute to the incredibly talented artists who worked so hard at making the film what it is today, yet who too often go unnoticed. Do you have a favorite Pixar artist whose work you look forward to seeing?

If you're a fan of Coco or animation in general, you won't want to miss this one. It's a great learning tool and a feast for the eyes. There are so many details in this book that you really could look through and study it for hours. If you're interested in adding this to your collection, I recommend picking it up at Barnes & Noble or on Amazon using the direct link below.

Look forward to my next "Art of" book review, "The Art of Pixar Short Films", soon! Then come June, I'll of course be taking a look at "The Art of Incredibles 2." Stay tuned for those!

Size: 11.4" x 9.4"
Retail Price: $40 (though it's always on sale for less, usually around $27)
Original Release Date: October 10th, 2017
My Rating: 9/10