The Art of Monsters University by Karen Paik

The Art of Monsters University Reviews

• 
  morgan ᱬ

  This is really really cool
• 
  Indah Threez Lestari

  637 - 2020
• 
  Adriana

  Really 3.5 stars, because while it does give some great insights into the thought process that went into making the movie, the "art" elements is a bit weak. There aren't as many of the great process sketches and side elements displayed as I've come to expect from a Pixar art book.
  I also found that this is the only "Art Of" book that I've ever read that doesn't make me want to immediately watch the movie once again.
• 
  Ingrid

  A great book for anyone who's as obsessed with animated movies as I am. I loved reading everything about what went into it, from the story itself to the artwork. It was interesting to read about the creators' inspirations, and how their original ideas grew and evolved into what made it into the final cut. The pictures in it were also great quality and amazing to look at.
• 
  Zachary

  Another excellent Art of Pixar Movie book filled with excellent art and plenty of insight into the making of the movie.
• 
  Felicia

  2.5 stars, a decent read but I expected a larger range of character art to be honest.
• 
  Avedon Arcadio

  Beautiful look into an awesome sequel (prequel)!
• 
  Aspasia

  I have always been interested in the progress of things, the way people, and how they do things. If you know me, you know I like to rewatch videos to see how things are done, watch makeup artists and watch their hand movements, and watch behind the scenes videos. I just like knowing the thought process behind things. Finding this book on sale at Five Below was perfect timing. At the time I was rewatching a ton of Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks movies as well as doing an assignment based on Disney movies. We learned Disney tends to use the same formula for their movies. All I wanted to do was learn about these animated movies. This book fed that need and I can't wait to pick up many more.
• 
  Rubi

  I really enjoyed book. It was sooo much better than "The Art of Monsters Inc." Which is sad because that movie was more epic :(
  Anyway, the author does an awesome job in giving the details and stories behind the production decisions. Such as, making the head of the Scaring Program a female vs. a male. Or making the story about Mike vs. Sully.
  I loved the explanation of why a prequel instead of a sequel with Boo. I'd been disappointed at first to learn the new Monsters movie wouldn't have Boo and was a prequel, but (besides it being a decent movie) the reasoning made sense and I was glad they made that choice.
  Some of the story lines in the movie were so predictable, but it was nice to see the details that made it different.
  The dedication to small things such as lighting and color were inspiring and really make one realize how much work goes into one of these movies.
  Best of all I loved the message they were trying to get at. When I first watched the movie, I was all, "poor Mike. He failed." Then was ok with knowing he'd make it eventually.
  But the producers really wanted to take "failure" and turn it into an open door and they did a great job. We are fed the lie "You can do anything if you work hard enough" and our work just never seems to be enough. So what do we do? That is what this film explores.
  Not everyone can make it big, but on the way maybe you find you're good at and find a new path. Never give up, find a new direction. It's a different message, but it's one worth learning. The book explains it better, but just for that insight I'd recommend everyone read this :)
  The art was awesome, too! The scale much bigger than the original film, using advanced technology. I loved the artwork! The vivid colors and textures were just beautiful. Pixar truly has a talented team. This book contained much more art in various forms. We saw pastel, paintings, sketches and even 3d models of the characters. Karen Paik did an incredible job with putting this together and I look forward to her next The Art of....book.
• 
  Parka

  
  (
  More pictures on my blog)
  
  I like the first
  Monsters Inc artbook and this one is great as well.
  
  There are more character designs. Mike and Sully are still the main characters but you'll also some a few familiar faces in their younger self in college. The monsters come in different shapes, sizes and colours. They are in sports, partying, playing pranks and coming up with all sorts of mischief.
  
  Since the film is about college life, you'll see more art of the Monsters University campus. When I think of monsters, I don't usually associate them with bright and cheery hilly campus, but that's what you get with a Pixar film. You have Mike and Sully jogging in the stadium at dawn with sun casting a beautiful warm glow. It seems there's always a colourful party going on somewhere. The campus has several buildings and the main one is the School of Scaring. You'll also see the dorm rooms, fraternity houses and areas of Monsters Inc that are not shown in the first film.
  
  The interviews with the artists and staff provide some insight into the design of the film. They talk about the differences and similarities between the two films, such as the old school scaring technology that you'll see.
  
  It's a great book with lots of beautiful concept art.
  
  Be sure to check out the first Monsters Inc artbook as well, which was sold out and reprinted.
• 
  Tim Evanson

  Second time's a charm, right? No.
  
  This book is one of a series of coffee-table books about the art of Pixar movies. A previous edition, The Art of Monsters, Inc., was a disappointing hodge-podge of art from the motion picture of the same name.
  
  I had high hopes for The Art of Monsters University, because the first book's failings were, I thought, pretty obvious. Unfortunately, this follow-up volume is very bland. Perhaps that's because there really wasn't much for the artists to do. The key charactes of Mike, Sully, Randy, and the rest were already designed, and there wasn't much anyone could or would do to alter that. With the look of the "Monsters, Inc." universe now set, the artists did'nt have much freedom to create new monsters and characters.
  
  My sense was that this would have given Pixar some encouragement to reveal how they storyboarded their films. Pixar makes it quite clear in these books that character development, artwork ideas, and story all come together at the same time. So where is that documented here? It's not. It's almost as if Pixar vastly underestimated their reading audience.
  
  The book, like all of these Pixar artwork books, is oversized and contains large, wonderfully printed images. The number of images is extensive, and some cover two pages. The book is well-designed and well-printed, and will stand up to repeated opening.
  
  I just wish the content was as high-quality.
• 
  Giulio Damiani

  If you're thinking about picking this up and you love art, technology and overall HOW A FILM IS MADE, this is THE BOOK FOR YOU! It had beautiful illustrations, projects, deleted scenes and characters that were in a way and then got changed, for example did you know that Deanscrabble was a MAN? WOW. It gives you lots of explenations and you can see right through the pages that this film means a lot to whoever worked on it. (My favorite artist was ShellyWang and Norlius I think his name was) actual rating: 4.5/5 GREAT BOOK, STRONGLY RECOMMEND.
• 
  Melissa

  This book was so, so good. I loved the sheer amount of detail! The sketches, concept arts, colour scripts and detailed height refrences of the monsters was amazing! There was just so, so much more than the first book. I wish The Art of MI was made like this. I have so much love for this book. It was totally worth buying.
• 
  τλιϓλ

  بيكسار تلافت هذه المرة الأخطاء الموجودة في الكتاب الأول فجاء الكتاب الثاني منظما وبكمية تفاصيل ورسوم جيدتين للغاية. راقني هذا الكتاب اكثر من سابقه.
• 
  Abraham Ray

  great book, a little short for me, but great about the art of the movie!
• 
  Amber

  Wonderful drawings and nice to read the stories about how they came about the movie.
• 
  Elyse

  beautiful illustrations
• 
  Thia Reads A Lot

  Review coming soon!