TheColor Of Pixar by Tia Kratter (book review)
I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting when I spotted ‘The Color Of Pixar’ by Tia Kratter in the advance list from Abrams/Chronicle. With only a brief introduction by John Lasseter, Kratter explains her role at Pixar was in selecting the colours and textures that were used in the company’s films. Basically, this is to make the colours signature to convey emotions.
Each page has a frame to show this from across Pixar’s twenty years, even Luxo gets a look in. I was a little worried by the frames being bordered by different colours but once I started going through them I was less concerned and just focused on the art. Even with Pixar, you take so much for granted when you see things in motion, you forget just how much work is in each frame. If I have to be critical, then I wish the frames were larger than shown.
I’m not entirely sure who the audience for this book is. Yes, children will like looking at the pictures but they are in assorted order so don’t think you’re looking at them from a story point of view. The adult reader will probably have a greater understanding of blue being used for coolness and red for warm scenes.
I wish Kratter had supplied some more explanation on the various choices and how much variance there was between each film but I suspect she wanted to keep some of the magic to herself.
An unusual curio and probably seen as a supplement to other books about Pixar Chronicle have printed.
GF Willmetts
July 2017
(pub: Chronicle Books. 348 page oblong illustrated hardback. Price: £21.99 (UK), $29.95 (US). ISBN: 978-1-4521-5920-1)
check out websites: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/ and http://abramsandchronicle.co.uk/books/art-and-design/9781452159201-the-color-of-pixar