Books about animated movies are rarely artistically accomplished enough to astound. Not so Mark Cotta Vaz's coffee-table book THE ART OF FINDING NEMO which happily isn't a by-the-numbers look at how the hit film was made. Instead Vaz focuses on the illuminating concept art that inspired the digital artists at Pixar. And the result is magical. The artists were able to use a draft of the script as their blueprint (rare in animated films), and it paid huge dividends.
In many ways the concept art surpasses the digital art of the movie itself. There's an emotional (not sentimental), articulated depth to the work, particularly in the pastels and the charcoal renderings (by production designer Ralph Eggleston and Simon Varela, respectively) that digital art - for all the technology involved - simply cannot match. So cheer the movie's accomplishments and heart, but let the astonishing art included here flood your mind. - Premiere