Book Review- Art of Luca

I've always been a huge Disney and Pixar fan which only got stronger when I realised I wanted to be an illustrator. Over the years I've collected a lot of the Art of Disney books which are made as a sort of behind the scenes look at all of the concept art, storyboarding, initial roughs, colour scripts and thinking's in a beautifully thought out book. Some of these include The Art of Up, Tangled, Big Hero 6, and most recently, The Art of Luca (Casarosa and Strijleva, 2021). This film is so incredible so I decided to get the book. Since reading and loving it, I thought I'd make a post about it. 

Luca (Luca, 2021) was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in 2021, directed by Enrico Casarosa. The animated film is set in the imaginary Italian town of Portorosso and follows Luca, a sea monster who lives in reefs under the town with his family. After his curiosity about Alberto, another sea monster who has adapted to living on land gets the better of him, he learns how to live as a human as they attempt to blend in. Together they discover a love for exploration and adventure, meeting a girl called Giulia whose energy mirrors the vibrance and liveliness of the small coastal town. It's such a visually beautiful film with both underwater and on-land scenes as the characters travel between the two landscapes. Since there were so many landscapes, the book shows how they kept continuity through the colour schemes, keeping the traditional, rustic architecture. 

I could have taken pictures of all of the pages but I chose a few to show how the book is laid out, with the 'Foreword' at the beginning, to the 'Out of Picture' section at the end, showing scenes that didn't make it into the movie but influenced the geography and character of the landscape.

Illustration by Daniela Strijleva, ink and watercolour. Foreword by Enrico Casarosa.

The foreword was written by director Enrico Casarosa, on whose story Luca is based. It is a true story based on his childhood spent growing up in Genoa, Italy with himself represented through Luca, and Alberto based on his childhood best friend Alberto Surace. Most Disney movies are based on true stories with a different director each time, I love how they come from real life and have so much emotion behind them; it must be so amazing to have the opportunity to turn your story into an animation to be loved worldwide. 

'We were both eleven when we met. I was shy and sheltered, and he was outspoken and gregarious- a largely unsupervised troublemaker. We hit it off right away. Alberto had a different interest every other week, and I was happy to follow him.'

Enrico Casarosa, Director, 2021

Illustrations by Daniela Strijleva, ink and watercolour.

Left: Deanna Marsigliese, ink and digital paint. Right: Greg Dykstra (Clay), Jennifer Chia-Han Chang (Digital paint), Tanja Krampfert (Digital sculpting).

Left: Deanna Marsigliese, ink and digital paint. Right: Greg Dykstra (Clay), Jennifer Chia-Han Chang (Digital paint).

In each book, there's a section for the characters showing how they started out with simple sketches to the final clay models. It's interesting to see how the personality can be altered through facial shapes, stances and hairstyles, changing the way we connect with the character. With Luca and Alberto, it was made more challenging as each needed a human and sea monster persona. I love the traditional Pixar style with big eyes full of wonder and cheeky facial expressions, as represented in Luca's character who learns of all the opportunities he has on land.

Sylvian Marc, Digital paint.

Harley Jessup, Photo collage.

Left: Don Shark, Digital paint, Jennifer Chia-Han Chang, Digital paint.

I think my love for observational drawing and utilising primary imagery may have been inspired by these books. Each movie is years in the making, with research teams travelling to different locations to learn about the culture, local stories, architecture, climate, and lighting which all influence the development of the landscapes and characters. Another example is Encanto (Encanto, 2021) where research teams travelled to Columbia to learn about the Latinx community.

Bill Cone, Pastels.

Daniela Strijleva, Pencil, ink and gouache.

Daniela Strijleva, Ink, Bert Berry, Digital, Josh Holtsclaw, Ink and digital.

I love seeing the 'easter eggs' aka smaller details that are hidden in the film; things that are fully realised and might only be seen for a few seconds in a scene. I often watch Inside Pixar and one of the episodes 'Inspired: Deanna Marsigliese, The Art of the Pivot' (2020), showed how ever-changing the process is, and how artists can work on a particular scene for weeks for it to be cut from production. This is why these books are so good to see everything from the artist's perspective, looking at how these initial illustrations shaped how the movie evolved.

I think I'll always dream of working at Pixar, there have been many years I've looked at applying for the Pixar Internship at the Pixar studios in Emeryville, California. It looks so incredible but you have to have experience in animation and 3D rendering which are definitely out of my skillset. Seeing the illustrations in these books I know I'd be able to do the concept development and sketches so it will forever be a goal to produce work at that level and possibly try and get a job at Pixar in the future. Through my master's, I hope to continue developing my skills with traditional materials, learning more about character design and building compositions.

Daniel Lopez Munoz, Digital paint. Section including scenes that didn't make it into the film but helped the artists and directors understand the landscape and how the two worlds met- how the sea monsters lived in the extensions of the the houses on land, built around rocks and coral like an underwater maze.

Casarosa, E. and Strijleva, D., 2021. The Art of Luca. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Luca. 2021. [DVD] Directed by E. Casarosa. USA: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Pixar Animation Studios. 2022. Luca. [online] Available at: <https://www.pixar.com/luca> [Accessed 14 May 2022].

Encanto. 2021. [DVD] Directed by B. Howard and J. Bush. USA: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

'Inspired: Deanna Marsigliese, The Art of the Pivot' (2020) Inside Pixar, Series 1, episode 2. Disney+.