The Art of Kung Fu Panda

This book shot darts of awesome-ness into my eyes! (Man, that was cheesy.)

It also screamed "character design" after you flip through the pages. Nicolas Marlet designed all these beautiful characters in the world of Kung Fu Panda. Pages after pages were devoted to character design. (Variety.com had an interview with Nicolas Marlet on the character designs if you're interested.)

Each major character had their own chapters and comes with an interesting background story, explaining how the characters came from research, went into concept, and then designed.

Every prop and design had a purpose and meant something relating to Chinese history. The artists understand body language very well, and they show it by posing the characters to reflect that knowledge.

Large frames were printed throughout the pages, depicting movie scenes. The level of detail was very high if you look at the drawings done on the set. Even the title typography of the book was designed to mimic Chinese words.

This book is worth getting even if you haven't watched Kung Fu Panda. It's inspiring for anyone who loves art, or work with art.

If you're interested in artbooks, there's a complete list of artbooks reviewed, with pictures, on my blog, with pictures and flipping-pages video.