The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series Book 1: Air

In 2012, the creative team behind the popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender produced a sequel series focusing on the next Avatar, this time a headstrong teenage girl named Korra in a darker and more mature series.Since I am a fan of both Avatar shows and already own the book Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series, I immediately pre-ordered this product when it was announced.Unlike The Last Airbender, which was based in an feudal Asia inspired world with some examples of technology such as airships and tanks, the Legend of Korra has a 1920's theme with much of the series taking place in Republic City, an urban metropolis that resembles Manhattan but with Asian design principles, with more developed technology such as airships, automobiles, motorcycles and factories that heavily emphasise a steampunk theme. The Legend of Korra combines the mystical, fantasy and martial arts themes of The Last Airbdender with real life aspects such as technology, modernisation, organised crime and a group of extremists that become the main antagonists of the series.Like the previous series, a book of artwork was released for the Legend of Korra, but because this show has had only one season so far, this book is 40 pages shorter than the book for The Last Airbender, which contained production art for the entire three seasons, but the quality of material shown in this book more than makes up for the decrease in quantity. It should also be noted that the front cover to this book is different to the one advertised, as it features a solo painting of Korra and it is not a group shot of the main cast, though that is included in the book.This book is filled with hundreds of pieces of artwork that includes the design process from initial sketches of the main cast, animals, props, vehicles and environment to their final versions and colour tests. The majority of the book is taken up by individual chapters that focus on each of the first season's 12 episodes, including storyboards, expression sheets, background paintings and designs for supporting characters and new vehicles as they are introduced in the series. The book concludes with ancillary art by the production team, such as designs for DVD covers, promotional posters, random illustrations and two group shots, one of the new 'Team Avatar' and the second showing the original Team Avatar as adults, which is a nice touch by the series creators.The amount of artwork in this book showing the creation of a new location and era for the Avatar series is immense, you can see examples of the architecture used in designing Republic City, designs for city monuments such as the Avatar Aang Statue (which was inspired by the Statue of Liberty), detailed drawings of the hot rods, automobiles and trains that populate the city streets and conceptual art of the Avatar series' new sport Pro-Bending, ranging from the arena and uniforms to the conceptual illustrations that were pitched to the studio executives.The book itself is very well made, printed on high quality paper with a good layout and informative annotations by the series creators. There are some pages where ink has slightly transferred from the opposite page but this is barely noticeable and a minor detraction from what is a very inspiring look behind the scenes of a critically and commercially successful animated series.In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to fans of the Legend of Korra and fans of the Avatar universe in general, and animators and enthusiasts of production artwork for animated series and films would also enjoy this book. Like the book Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series, it is a high quality piece of material and should a similar book be published for the Legend of Korra's upcoming second season, then I will likely buy that as well.

Brilliant thank you

This is a really brilliant animation book and provides you with a detailed insight into the world of Korra, explaining how Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino developed upon The Last Airbender Series.As a big fan of the show and a keen artist I am thrilled with this book and everything it includes. It is definitely one of my favourite art books.

Truly a wonderful book with so much detail about the different characters and thought processes towards developing them. The art is stunning, the art work showing the development of the characters and the environments is amazing. Worth the cost for sure.

Great book, daughter loves the upgrade from her standard edition with added content

Lots of good model sheets and final designs but it did come slightly damaged as seen in one of the photos. However totally worth it if you are a big fan of the show and are interested in learning how it was developed.

Avatar Korra in all her sketched beauty. Breath-taking detail on the design of Republic City. Page after page of excellent background and foreground art. What's there not to like?

Nice book in ideal condition! Papers are thick and in good quality. Photos are clear and absolutely amazing. If you are a fan of Avatar series, this book would be a choice you would never want to miss.

Para mi, es complemento friki perfecto para fans incondicionales de la serie, y también para ilustradores o quienes disfruten dibujando. Vienen muchísimos bocetos y desarrollo del diseño de personajes, vestuarios, escenografía... es una joyita.Tapa dura, y está en inglés, pero se entiende bien.Desde aquí voy a animar a hacer piña a ver si conseguimos que hagan una edición en dvd y blueray tanto de Aang como de Korra con opcion de audio y subtítulo en castellano añadidos en todas las temporadas!!! Muero de tristeza de no poder comprarlo :(

One of those purchases I'll always be happy I made.

If you want to have a glimpse into the huge amount of work and dedication that went into producing the show, this is a great insight.If you look for inspiration to become a better artist for your own projects, this is a great tool.All in all a very lovingly put together snapshot of the production. 5/5 would buy again.

As a huge fan of this series and its predecessor, I simply had to have this book. And I was very pleasantly surprised by its contents. The Early Development section gives us a comprehensive overview of what went into starting this series as a whole... why they chose the artists that they did, and how the setting for this show developed. You'll see fantastic concept art, great expression sheets for the main characters, and also some never before seen paintings and sketches that marked the beginnings of this series. Kudos to Mike, Bryan, Joaquim, and Ryu who came up with such fantastic characters... and also to those fabulous artists who rendered them so flawlessly with their background paintings and color designs. All in all, a fantastic buy for a fan. I loved it and enjoyed it immensely!

Como uma fã de Avatar e de animação no geral, eu sabia que esse artbook era para mim, mas eu nao esperava tanta qualidade.O livro é uma bela capa dura com folhas que parecem plástico. Já sobre o conteúdo do livro eu nao tenho nada a reclamar, é incrível. É mostrado os processos de criação de cada personagem e como surgiu a ideia de criar a série.Recomendo muito para fãs da série ou amantes da arte!