Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie by Ramin Zahed

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie Reviews

• 
  Rory Wilding

  Since Christmas 2018, I have been obsessed with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated film from Sony who, without the assistance of Marvel Studios, is able to do something fresh with a comic book property that has been around since 1962. The obvious influences behind this film are producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who wanted the film to centrally focus on the origin story of Miles Morales – an Afro-Hispanic teenager created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli during the Ultimate Spider-Man comics – and to create an animated film like no other. The final result is a perfect achievement on both those tasks, leading to see it five times at the cinema and umpteen times on 4K.
  
  Why the multiple viewings? Like I said, I'm obsessed with this film, which has so much detail in its unique mixture of 2D and 3D animation, you have to watch this numerous times to notice the tiniest little details. After devouring the special features on the Blu-ray, I still need to know more and six months after the film's initial release, I picked up the coffee table art book. Opening with a foreword by Bendis, who talks about how he and the Marvel offices came up with Miles Morales, and how this character, making his way onto the big screen has given him such delight (we were certainly delighted with what we saw).
  
  Written by Ramin Zahed, this book is more on the artistic nature of the film as oppose to the storytelling itself, of which you can listen to the filmmakers' commentary as well as the many YouTube videos that have dissected the multi-layered narrative. In creating a thoroughly modern hero with Miles, the filmmakers talk about why this character means a great deal, in terms of diversity and representation. For a whole generation of Spider-fans, Miles is their Spider-Man and to see him treated with the greatest respect for people who are also pushing the technical merit when it comes to animation. Although this film wasn't as commercially successful as Black Panther, but there are plenty of videos on the internet that are touching tributes to the film and its youthful hero.
  
  A big credit for the film's visual look is production designer Justin K. Thompson, who brought in an extraordinary art department. Looking at the comic books and using many of the techniques of the medium, it is also amazing to see the amount of concept art that the film recreates the style where the lighting is stylised, as well as maintaining the authenticity of New York, albeit an alternative universe version of the web-slinger's city. There are a number of pages where there is nothing but concept art and storyboards, some of which gives an idea about Spider-Verse in its numerous incarnations.
  
  Every principal character gets their own page or two, in terms of their background and the various character designs they went through, from the rogues gallery to his roommate Ganke Lee, who originally had a much larger role. As for the Spider-people, there are the more conventional designs of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, and then there are Peni Parker, Spider-Noir and Spider-Ham, each of the three have their own style, giving more justification on why this story had to be animated. One of the best treats on the character pages are the many facial expressions drawn by character designer Shiyoon Kim.
  
  There is only one sequence from the film where the book goes in-depth and this is the introduction of Peter B. Parker, leading to him and Miles swinging through New York, which is perhaps the most slapstick-y the film gets. It is funny and inventive with two characters have no control of the situation, during a beautiful snowy night. I wish there were more scenes – in fact, every scene – that got the spotlight, because after reading this fine book, I still feel like I'm scratching the surface and the ongoing question of how they achieved everything in Spider-Verse remains unanswered. If you are a fan of this Oscar-winning piece of animation, this is a must-read.
• 
  LaDonna

  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
  
  BEYOND AWESOME!!
  
  The movie WOWED me!! This book just added to that experience.
  
  Ramin Zahed truly pulls us into the Spider-Verse via the spoken word and detailed explanations of the artwork that comes to life on the big screen. We are shown how the art, we take fore granted, is a crucial character within its own right. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie, Zahed reminds us that the art, itself, helps draw us in; develop the story; and guide us through the Spider-Verse.
  
  

  Miles, like every incantation of Spider-Man, is someone whose nose is pressed against the window, wanting to be part of something that they think they’re not a part of. That’s a [sic] universal feeling for all of us.

  
  
  While reading this book and really seeing the art, for the first time, I found myself genuinely appreciating the time and effort that went into creating the film. The book concretely illustrates (no pun intended) a clear understanding about what Miles and his counterparts can mean for this and future generations.
  
  

  ...anyone can wear the mask...It’s up to future generation of this country to stand up and do the right thing.

  
  
  In case you missed it, I highly recommend this book!!!
  
  SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read the book, unless you’ve seen the movie. Otherwise, it may spoil your entire movie experience.
• 
  Neil R. Coulter

  If aliens landed on Earth and asked what kinds of superhero films we produce here, we could just show them The Incredibles and Into the Spider-Verse and that would be sufficient. Into the Spider-Verse is one of my favorite movies of the decade, so reading through this collection of concept artwork and reminiscences by the filmmakers is a total delight. The book affirms how much thoughtfulness and creativity went into the film.
• 
  Erin A

  One of my all time favorite movies was just made so much better from reading this book. This movie was one of the biggest reasons why I’m going into animation school next year, and it is so inspiring to see the process in this book. Every single piece of artwork is beautiful.
• 
  McKenzie Dean

  Honestly, one of the best art books in my collection! I love all of the insight it gave to the movie, even though I wish the book itself were longer. I adore this art style and would love an even deeper look into the process of creating this stunning movie!
• 
  Deivid León López

  Una lectura maravillosa que descubre el universo a aquellos que se enamoraron de él en la película.
• 
  Trike

  This is a decent movie art book that has some behind the scenes stuff but comes across as more of a PR exercise in than an incisive look into the creation of this amazing movie. (I fully expect the film to win Best Animated Film at this year’s Oscars.)
  
  It’s a little light on character design, favoring backgrounds and storyboards, and, as always, far too many pictures cross the valley. Some are low-information bits and being a 2/3-1/3 affair it’s not as bad as some other books, but it’s continually baffling why they do this. As with the terrible Aquaman art book, the few foldout pages are devoted to small pictures. In this case, it’s storyboards. What is the point of that?
  
  Okay overall.
• 
  Anthoney

  Hands down - one of THE best books I own - even though I have yet to read the texts - even if the writing is bad and details, info and insights into animator and designer's mind at play, inadequate (which I doubt it will be), doesn't matter. The art representation maybe digitally rendered but its a Work of Art nevertheless, Work of Art on a movie that itself has been a Work of Art. Stunning, stunning, stunning
• 
  ambyr

  Stunning art choices, neatly organized, and just the right amount of technical detail on the film's animation processes to intrigue but not bewilder this layman. I am not usually an art book person and would not have picked this up if not for the Hugos, but if you're looking for insight into modern animated films, this is a good place to start.
• 
  David Muñoz

  A STUNNING LOOKING ‘ART OF’ BOOK TO GO WITH A STUNNING LOOKING FILM!
  
  This was the 2nd ‘Art of’ book I got for the holidays and it’s for one of my favorite films of all time. The chunk of the book goes over the story of the film and their missions to bring that comic book feel to life. Obviously there’s also a lot of great art and in-depth looks at the different types of techniques they took to make the film. Great concept art and stunning paintings, mainly by Patrick O’Keefe (Art Director).
  
  You gotta check this out if you’re a fan of this wonderful film and I’d do it before this book goes out of print cause this is a 10/10 built book that is about a 10/10 made film.
• 
  Bel Riddle

  Me dolió un poquito que no haya NADA de la escena THE RISING OF MILES MORALES porque me quita el aliento cada que la veo (todos los días; aunque no mire la peli, esa escena la veo todos los días), pero este libro es ARTE PURO Y LO AMO.
• 
  Rebecca

  Flipped through. Concept art doesn't always do a lot for me, but this movie was so stunning and unique in its visuals, especially referencing old-school comics while being so modern that my eyes didn't know what I was seeing, that I was really interested in seeing some of the thought behind it.
• 
  Paolina

  I already adored the movie (who doesn't?) and seeing the creative passion behind the project has deepened my appreciation for it even further.
• 
  Chloe

  ‘Miles, like every incarnation of Spider-Man, is someone whose nose is pressed against the window, wanting to be part of something that they think they’re not part of. That’s a universal feeling for all of us.’
• 
  Mary

  Its a beautiful art book of the movie that takes you deeper into the world of the movie. Everything is so vibrant and beautiful and you can 100% see all the handwork and love that went into everything that was done.
• 
  Storm

  Read this to get the check mark on
  Reddit Fantasy's 2021 Bingo Square SFF-Related Nonfiction where this qualifies for Hard Mode as it is published within the last five years. Honestly this was a hard square to fill as my second bingo card is all BIPOC authors so I was very happy to find this book, as BIPOC authors are rare enough (for this genre) plus I rarely read "Art of the Movie" books, which this is a very, very good example of.
  
  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was extremely popular among critics AND movie goers, netting a huge box office. The introduction scene immediately grabbed and pulled me in as Miles Morales (whom I knew nothing about before the movie) strolled through New York chilling to Post Malone's Sunflower while comic book-like animation flowed across the screen. It's one of the baddest, coolest openings I've ever seen. I instantly needed to own the song.
  
  
  This accompanying picture book is a great way to "fill in the gaps". The introduction by Brian Michael Bendis, co-creator, tells us of the origin of Miles Morales, the Afro-Latino teenager who takes up the Spider Man mantle in that planet. It wasn't easy and he was extremely gratified that Miles really took off with the comic reading public. It's no wonder, his origins are humble many found his struggles as a bi-cultural teenager just trying to find his place in a big city, struggling against parental authority, extremely relatable. The book goes into great detail on how his family's cultural identity is present, even in tiny things like how the Brooklyn apartment and Miles' room is decorated.
  
  
  Ramin reminds us that a big part of his appeal is “Miles, like every incantation of Spider-Man, is someone whose nose is pressed against the window, wanting to be part of something that they think they’re not a part of. That’s a [sic] universal feeling for all of us. ”
  
  There are painstaking descriptions of how they rendered the art, trying to make it look as much like hand drawn comic book like panels. Personally I'm a fan of the more realistic rendering, so it was a revelation to read WHY they made the artistic choices they did for the movie, all accompanied by pages and pages of beautiful, colored art from the movie.
  
  
  There are, of course, the obligatory "character" concept art panels with less discussion than I expected on how these translated from page to screen. Panels from older comics. Even the "dot printing" method of coloring was discussed, much to my amazement. The New York skyline was consciously treated as if it is another character, which dovetailed nicely into the movie and gave us stunning scenes like this one.
  
  
  Finally there is what I was waiting for which were the details on how the rest of the spider verse characters were done, from the various spider people to the side characters and villains.
  
  
  Overall this is a pretty good "Art of" book, it is just missing that final "speculative" element to take it over the top.
• 
  C.J. Bunce

  Originally published online at BORG.com.
  
  Compared to most “art of the movie” books, a new behind-the-scenes book offers up a very different, modern update to our understanding of creating concept art for the cinema. The book is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — The Art of the Movie by Ramin Zahed, an account of the design development and visual production process for this latest Sony Pictures Animation/Marvel partnership.
  
  Concept art, sketches, and storyboards take on a different flare when you’re in the digital animation tech of today. But the images still reflect that powerful, colorful, and dynamic feel in their formation of a brand new superhero universe. Readers will find hundreds of images of developmental artistry behind the film, plus read exclusive interviews with the creators, including a foreword prepared by Miles Morales co-creator Brian Michael Bendis.
  
  As we found with George Lucas’s groundbreaking selection of screen captures or frames found in his multi-volume book Star Wars Frames, studying the selected individual frames from the new Spider-Verse reveals a film on par with the composition of the future world of Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner–a city that is realistic, yet futuristic and still obviously sourced in comic books. It’s a gorgeous movie–and the action sweeps by so quickly that most will miss the artistry found in Miles’ graffiti, storyboard sequences, and the nooks and crannies of each set layout. Set decoration takes on a new approach, as does prop design, art direction, and costuming, in Into the Spider-Verse.
  
  You can also pick up a rare edition of the book, limited to 175 copies, complete with one of the prop comic books made for the film (pictured above) hand-inked by Marcelo Vignali and a signed tip-in sheet by Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, and artists from the film. Check that out and the details at the Titan Books website.
  
  A great follow-up and tie-in for fans of the film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — The Art of the Movie is now available at book stores and online retailers, and available now.
• 
  Kay

  4.5 for a beautiful big book of movie and concept art for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
  
  Firstly, about the movie: I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I love comic book Miles and I love Spider-Man, but this movie just knocks it out of the park on so many levels.
  The writing was tight and perfect and as spot-on in character to Spidy as any Brian Michael Bendis Spider-Man comic. I cried so much during this movie -from both laughter, joy and heartbreak. It pulled at my heartstrings and didn't let me go until the credits ended.
  And visually, this movie is the most stunning thing I've ever seen. The animation is out of control beautiful, trippy, and innovative. I seriously have never seen colors like that before in my life!
  I can't gush enough about how visually stunning this movie is.
  
  So, writing all that about the movie... This book captures some of that innovation, those colors, and the character concepts and spreads. I loved the notes by the creators about Spidy and the characters they designed and the inspirations they drew from to create the world for this movie: real-world colliders, mailboxes, fire hydrants, New York city streets, signs and lights, and real scientists working on the Hadron Collider for reference.
  
  Beautiful coffee table book for a fan of animation, art, and Spider-Man.
• 
  Matt Graupman

  I really liked “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” when I saw it in the theater but, as I read think pieces and watched YouTube videos about the tremendous amount of creativity and attention to detail that went into making the movie, I fell head-over-heels in love with it. Groundbreaking on so many levels - from the plot to the score to the animation style and everything in between - the journey of young Miles Morales from insecure biracial Brooklyn schoolboy to web-slinging superhero is a feast for the heart, ears, and especially the eyes. Nothing else looks quite like “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” and perhaps not other animated film in recent memory so richly deserves an “Art Of” book. This beautiful oversized volume boasts page after page of visual brain candy. Character sketches, storyboards, lighting tests, set paintings, and so much more! I spent so much time on this first read-through just absorbing all the saturated colors and inventive designs and I know I’ve only just scratched the surface. I’m gonna be going back to this book a lot, I’m sure of it. The text was, unfortunately, a little generic (I would’ve preferred some more in-depth reporting on the moviemaking process) but when a book looks as good as “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - The Art Of The Movie” you can’t help but dive in and soak it all up.
• 
  Will Brown

  Really loved looking through all the concept art and reading about all the artists/art movements that influenced this movie though there's a couple things that took it down a star for me. For starters I wish we got more concept art for the character designs. Obviously some characters are more important to the narrative than others, but I think part of the initial appeal of Spider-verse (aside from the animation style) is that we get to see so many different incarnations of Spider-Man and his rogues gallery from throughout the multiverse. Seeing more about the alternate Spider-Men, the various costumes, and the villains would have pushed this book from being "great" to "awesome". This also might sound kinda picky, but I wish we got a bit less commentary from the higher-ups like Amy Pascal. Obviously Sony has a right to be proud of this movie and I LOVED the foreword by Brian Michael Bendis (who's apparently a huge fan of books like this), but I think books like this should be where we hear more from the creative minds behind the movie and less from executives. Otherwise it's a fun read and absolutely worth your time.
  
  Also: Yeah this should kinda be obvious, but this book is FULL of spoilers so go watch the movie before you read this!
• 
  Randy Lander

  This was a solid offering, but subtly disappointing in a lot of ways.i would have liked to have seen a lot more of the character design, for example. The biggest issue, though, is how self-congratulatory it was from executives and higher ups with little to nothing from the creators who got the whole thing started. No acknowledgement of where all those Easter eggs came from, and while Brian Michael Bendis gets plenty of credit, very few other creators are even mentioned.
  
  But also? The innovative, mind-blowing look of the film is not as evident in this behind the scenes art book, which is all too similar to a hundred books like it.
• 
  Mary Kate

  I mean, I don't know what I could say about this book or movie that hasn't been said a million times before.
  
  I saw this film after my first semester of Computer Animation classes (which was super rough, animation is very hard) but this film very much reaffirmed "this is what I want to do, I want to make art this amazing and revolutionary" and helped me going back for second semester.
  
  If you have any interest in animation, super heroes, storytelling, art, film making, etc. I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie, getting this book, and reading/watching any and everything you can find about the making of the film. It is absolutely amazing what these people managed to pull off.
• 
  LaNomada

  This book is brilliant! The story of how this amazing movie ("Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse") was made; this art book takes you step-by-step through the artist process. It's astounding to me how conceptual ideas, get manipulated and played with to create an amazing finished product.
  
  I just really loved the story behind the movie and enjoyed reading more about Miles Morales, and the rest of the cast of characters. I would definitely recommend this book. Just love - love - it was well worth the 4-month wait to get it. It took 4 months to get to me because so many people ordered it and they ran out of it. That alone should be a testament to how good this art book is.
• 
  María Ferre

  Libro del arte de la película Spiderman Un Nuevo Universo.
  
  Mi pareja me regaló este libro porque sabe que considero a esta película como la mejor película de Spider-Man y porque no paraba de robarle las fotos que echa en el Miles Morales de PS5 para coger referencias. Creo que esos datos resumen lo que siento hacia este personaje y su mundo.
  El libro está genial explicado, ordenado e ilustrado. Me ha encantado ver los bocetos originales de cada uno de los personajes; el boceto de Mary Jane para el estudio de sus colores me parece increíble, por ejemplo. Las páginas pleglables también son un puntazo. Este libro es la pura definición del concepto "aesthetically pleasing".
• 
  Felix Robinson

  I adore seeing creative processes, concepts art and everything you’d expect / get in ‘The art of…’ books, and this is one of my favourites for what it has :))
  
  The one thing I wish it had was more content on the process of production. As an example, ‘The Art Of Princess Mononoke’ includes a production diary, and explaining how the visual effects were done. Especially since into the spider verse has so much work gone into it, some unconventional and breakthrough work in film, so I just wish there was more of that? What’s in the book I adore I just wish wish there was more writing and breakdowns.
• 
  Zelly B.

  (forgot to review this a couple months ago.)
  
  literally one of the most beautiful books i own. it took me several months to actually receive it, due to backorders up the wazoo, but once i finally received it - oh, man. i must have read this book from cover to cover twice at this point. the imagery, the callbacks to spider-men in history, the inspiration from writers and artists who have worked on a spider-person comic/movie/video game ... it's honestly a must-have for anyone who loves this movie, but more than that, it's a must-have for anyone who loves spider-man and the spider-verse.
• 
  Alex

  I’ve always wanted to give a read to an art book and I finally did. Into the Spider-Verse was a glorious festival of creative animation techniques and the art book carefully explains all the processes used while giving full artworks and renders of characters and environments. And it also follows the scenes of the movie in order, which is always nice. The last part of the book is a focused analysis of a specific scene and, funnily enough, they chose just the only one I didn’t like in the whole movie. What are the odds?
• 
  Syd✨

  This is by far one of the best Art Of book I've ever read. Even one of the best art/animation books I've ever read so far!
  
  Like I said before, there was just so much passion put into this movie and book and you can just absolutely tell by reading this. I loved reading about how the movie was made and how the team did everything they could to push the animations and art to make it truly like nothing anyone's seen before.
  
  And oh boy did they succeed.
• 
  Héctor

  Un buen libro de arte que desgrana muchos de los entresijos del proceso creativo. Visualmente es bonito y contiene mucha información de primera mano por parte de los directores, productores, ilustradores y animadores.
  
  La única pega que le pongo es que conforme se acercaba el final del libro algunas ilustraciones y bocetos parecía que se habían escaneado en mala calidad o escalado demasiado. Esto ocurrió en contadas ocasiones. El resto del tiempo el resultado es bastante atractivo.