Authors: Ramin Zahed (editor)
Publication Date: 2014
Publisher: Abrams
Pages: 324 pages
A NOTE ON THE FROZEN REVIEW: This will be going up later this week!
DreamWorks Animation Studios has had a pretty turbulent history, to say the least. When they’re on form, they have been known to produce some of the most stunning and brilliant animated works known to cinema (not an exaggeration), but when they’re not… yeesh. Still, with such an eclectic mix of pictures under its belt, what could be more fascinating than to see a selection of concept art from them all side-by-side with each other in one volume? Edited by Ramin Zahed, The Art of DreamWorks Animation is a sturdy book that gives you exactly that. Featuring a subtle cover design combining concept images of various DreamWorks character on a clean white background, this may not be one of the “wordier” art books out there, but it certainly has plenty to offer to fans of the studio’s work.
It opens with a foreword by co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, a man who has caused some… polarising of opinion among animation fans, to put it mildly. Needless to say, his intro neatly sidesteps the messy issue of his departure from Disney (although he doesn’t hesitate to name-drop all the early Renaissance classics). This is followed by an introduction from Bill Damaschke, who was then Chief Creative Officer at the studio (but he stepped down from this position the following year). After this, we get into the meat of the thing.
The bulk of the book consists of thirty “chapters” devoted to each of DreamWorks’s first thirty feature films, including Aardman ones which they distributed. (For some reason, the exception to this is Penguins of Madagascar, which isn’t included). A selection of choice concept works for each film are included on high-quality paper, accompanied by snippets of info from their creators in text boxes. The films, in order, are Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, Shrek, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Rise of the Guardians, The Croods, Turbo, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Home. After this, there’s a short section detailing Awards and Nominations received by each film.
The book is a real treasure for DreamWorks fans the world over; honestly, I’d love to see something similar created to celebrate the Disney canon, as many of their older films have still not got art books devoted to them (imagine what a book on The Rescuers Down Under could look like). The best thing about this book is that we finally get to see some concept art from the film’s four early hand-drawn films – The Prince of Egypt, at least, has also got a full book of its own (which I’ll review in time), but the same can’t be said of the other three. If you like DreamWorks, this one is a no-brainer – you’ll want to add this to your library at the first opportunity!
Buy it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-DreamWorks-Animation-Ramin-Zahed/dp/1419711660 – UK
https://www.amazon.com/Art-DreamWorks-Animation-Ramin-Zahed/dp/1419711660 – US
Feeling Animated 
I’ve actually checked this one out from my local library a couple of times, and I quite appreciate the presence of concept art from the four hand-drawn films (which I call “the DreamWorks Classics”), as well. My only complaint is, there isn’t quite enough of it…
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Definitely agree! They need their own books (glad PoE has one anyway)
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