Disney The Art of Moana

I haven't been this excited for a Disney animated musical film since... The Lion King? — MOANA — Moana is the newest Disney "princess" for our times. She's strong-willed, independent, and trying to save her island. Now, I admit, I'm a little bias with this film. I'm from Hawai'i and by association, Polynesia. This movie is based on Polynesian culture and myths, and Disney has created a completely new world, but grounded to the real one. I think they did a bang up job creating new mythology appropriate for kids and adults. — THE BOOK — This is my first (of many) Disney Art Of books. This is a gorgeous hardcover filled with lots of conceptual designs of characters, props, and locations. You'll see multiple character designs for major characters, ideas that could've been. There are things like Moana's necklace or Maui's magic hook which had many different iterations. From most of the options, I think it must have been tough to choose from for the creatives involved. The content is well-organized; everything is laid out cleanly and evenly without being too overwhelming or too underwhelming. The sketches and artwork are colorful and very detailed [see photos]. The typography is top notch; there isn't much "artsy" white space. There are hardly any screenshots of the movie in here (don't you get annoyed at the books that reiterate things you've seen?). A majority of what's in here hasn't been seen before so it's like discovering a whole new world of Moana. — SUMMARY — This is a beautiful Art Of book to look at or to find inspiration in and would make a great addition to your home library. Recommended.

Moana is now my favorite Disney movie, by far. I fell in love with the water animation (and the music, and Maui, etc, etc) immediately and I was thrilled to find this book to give my daughter who loves to draw video game characters. I read the book from cover to cover and enjoyed it. If you are looking for photos from the movie, you might be disappointed here. This book is more about the process that occurred before the movie was made with lots and lots of pictures of the concept art drawings that were made ibefore the final art was chosen. It was interesting to see these and in almost all cases to feel that the had chosen the best one in the end. There was also information about how a team visited Fiji, Bora Bora, Tahiti, and Samoa and met with elders and learned about wayfinding, boatbuilding, village life, etc. I enjoyed this and also the information about technical animation/computing challenges that had to be solved in order to make it as beautiful as it was. Don't worry - they didn't go into much technical detail. It's a beautiful book and it's inspiring and interesting to see a little bit about how the movie was made. They have similar books about the art of other Disney movies, like Tangled, but I think Moana is the most interesting because of the cultural authenticity and the exceptionally gorgeous nature art.

Beautiful book! Love the character concept sketches and various designs.

The Art of Moana Illustration Booklet was a Christmas Gift for my sister, who is a 3-D artist with stone and tile. In one of her 2015 projects, she designed and created whole-wall Mosiac's of Hawaii / Polynesian Marine subjects, like monk seals, manta rays, dolphins, etc, for our Infinity Pool. The author has added copy to his illustrations to make them come alive ... She and my other sister (a ink & paint artist) loved the movie, Moana and commented about the characters, and the striking resemblance and match to the ones in our Infinity pool. Of all the Christmas presents, this was one of those where she disappeared for hours to take her time in relishing each page of designs, artwork and illustrations ... Clearly, not just for kid's ... a great art/illustration Polynesian-based book of inspiration for everyone else too!

This book is beautiful and well put together. We love Moana and this book gives additional insight into the making of this amazingly beautiful movie. The book is heavy, well bound, uses quality paper and one for the library. The art designs are so cool and this book will take time to read. There’s a lot of writing in here. I’m now going to purchase some other titles now. Enjoy.

Beautiful book! Moana is made with amazing detail, but you won’t really realize that until you read this. From the shape of the trees to the different clothing, there’s something fascinating and inspiring to see in here. I especially love to see how the opinions of the Polynesian people helped guide the movie in making important decisions, both storyline and visually. If you’re an aspiring artist, designer, or animator and love movies, definitely check this book out.

I have a lot of Disney art books and I find that this one is as high quality as others that I own. As expected, there is a lot of storyboards, concept paintings, and character designs. My one complaint is that there are never enough conceptual designs of characters but as that is the industry I am working towards, I always want to see more of that type of art so that's just my bias. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Disney, Moana, or art and design in general. This gives a really beautiful look into the making of a wonderful film.

I happen to love all of the Art of Disney books. I only own about 5-6 but am hoping to add more. The illustrations and details are beautiful. Can’t go wrong