The Art of Turning Red

by Walt Disney Company, Domee Shi (Contributor)

This stunning volume is an exclusive look behind the scenes of Disney and Pixar's original feature film Turning Red.

In The Art of Turning Red, explore the art and making of Disney and Pixar's newest original feature film. Mei Lee is a confident, dorky thirteen-year-old torn between staying her mother's dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren't enough, whenever she gets too excited (which for a teenager is practically ALWAYS), she "poofs" into a giant red panda! With character designs, storyboards, colorscripts, exclusive interviews with the creative team, and much more, this vibrant volume shares a behind the scenes look at this new animated film, for aspiring artists, animators, and fans alike.

EXCLUSIVE BEHIND-THE-SCENES: Fans will want to delve into and explore this new Pixar film through production art, stories, and making-of details exclusive to this book.

PART OF THE FAN-FAVORITE SERIES: The collectible Art of series from Disney and Pixar are perfect for animation enthusiasts, filmmakers, students, and fans of Pixar alike. Add it to the shelf with other books like The Art of Coco, The Art of Luca, and The Art of Pixar: The Complete Colorscripts from 25 Years of Feature Films (Revised and Expanded).

Perfect for: animation fans; Pixar fans; Disney fans; students; aspiring animators and filmmakers

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Animation, Film

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2022

About the author

Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.

Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company.

--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pixar's movies because of their character developments and ability to touch on harder emotions! This is a great example of that said development, and what comes with growing up and the messiness of teenage changes. I have heard the retort in the past where the heroine spends the majority of the time as an enchanted creature, and worried that it might do the same where we may lose that heroine's identity in the cute and cuddly mesh of the enchanted form. Yet Mei and her red panda form share the screen time quite equally. The red panda represents multiple aspects of those teenage years that you know are messy and emotionally wild. The movie delves deeper into the idea that Mei has to come to terms with her own identity and to break free from her parents (particularly her mom) and develop without them judging or hovering over her. There is definitely a nostalgia of the early 2000's here, and obviously the multiple cultures and diversity that are found in Toronto, Canada. There's definitely huge nods to mahou shoujo (the magical girl comics and anime series), Ranma 1/2, and even Studio Ghibli films. Love that Ghibli aspect with amazing detailed food, the early emoting character designs reminding me of Spirited Away's Chihiro art, and the heroine finally controlling her power to panda poof propel/fly to her destination was reminiscent of Ghibli flight scenes. A common aspect in Ghibli movies that was seen here too was the character's hair went from tight barretted and primed, to more loose, wild and altered as does Ghibli's heroines when they show daring character change. Seeing the art color pallet, and how these characters developed, the fun of 2000's nostalgia, and even seeing some of the drawings for parts that were edited out was amazing for this coming-of-age project.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely adored the movie so I immediately bought the art book. While I loved the artbook, I wish there was more text with it, not a ton!! But more like the Mitchells vs the Machines artbook, with more explanations and development decisions. Turning Red has some but I would’ve liked more.

[will loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful showcase of culturally and youthfully-inspired art displaying the design and ingenuity behind Turning Red, a great film about adolescence, awkwardness and finding yourself that everyone should watch. It was interesting seeing how it came to be and how it could've been. I always find myself learning more from these art books than I did in college art classes. Is that sad? The sheer amount of inspiring work and unique perspectives that are shown in Pixar art books makes ignorant posts on social media claiming the studio has become "lazy and soulless" all the more laughable. This is a perfect book for inspiring artists, storytellers and animation enthusiasts alike.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't spoil what it is but there is an absolutely hilarious surprise hidden in this book and that alone would warrant the 5 stars!

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This art book has a lot of fantastic illustrations and character development for Mei Lin, but I wish there were more earlier sketches of her friends and dad.

I love the range of art styles in this book: gorgeous landscapes depicting the city or a particular scene to early digital sketches.

This book is definitely more art heavy and has less commentary, which I don’t really mind. It lightly touches on color theory (like how Mei has pro-dominantly red colors and Ming has more greens) but never mentioned anything about her friends colors.

[Zian B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by this art book since there was slightly more artwork than descriptions about aspects of the movie. I really enjoyed seeing all of the color pallets used and the concept art for the characters, especially Meilin’s previous look. My favorite part of the art book was whenever the storyboards for scenes was shown since I loved seeing the process in creating such unique scenes in this movie.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delving into the cultural and emotional influences of the hit film Turning Red, this art book gathers sketches, digital pieces and colour-script bolstered by commentary from the creative team to provide fans a new perspective on the heart behind its titular movie. Docter and Shi provide a cute and wonderfully paced glimpse behind the scenes, touching yet humourous in all its little touches.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of the book to review for WDW Magazine. Link to come.

I don’t always add art books here, but I did for this one because I read it cover to cover. It’s really good, and does a great job explaining the thought behind Turning Red as it was made. :)

[Emily Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept art and I enjoyed the quotes from the all female leadership team that animated, directed, and produced this film. I do wish there was more text to give more background about their research and design process for the film.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are a 4*Town stan. I am a Meilin stan. We are not the same.

I know this is an "Art of" book, but I would have loved if there was slightly more text that accompanied the amazing art. I am completely obsessed with the Turning Red which is why I want to know everything about the movie.

[Meinardas Valkevičius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nuo pradžios iki galo puikiai išpildytas PIXAR/DISNEY studijos filmo TURNING RED kūrybinis kelias! Tokio tipo knygos gali būti profesinių žinių gilinimui svarbios arba tiesiog norui sužinoti kaip buvo kuriamas filmas. Daugiau nei 300 žmonių dirbo net kelis metus.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously BEAUTIFUL artwork and a tremendous insight into the making of a fantastic film. I wish there were more blurbs and commentary about what I was looking at (the Strange World Art Of book had more, I felt).

[Steph G · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone with a deep appreciation of animation and it's process it's always cool seeing the full behind the scenes look and to read about the thoughts behind things like character design, color use and lighting. Love this movie so much!

[Ark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

[Dan. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful art, character design reminds me of studio ghiblis work which just makes the characters so much more expressive & funny.

[Samiha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Turning Red and the artwork in this is gorgeous. I particularly love the booklet with Mei Lee's doodles. I just wish it had slightly more text with behind the scenes info

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny foreword and character designs, too many storyboards, no text explanations at all only short quotes, no technical things or 3D

[cherice · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that they included Mei's notebook in this 😭

[Robert Imperial · Rating 5 out of 5]

there was a page that had me like wait is this play about us