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What are your favourite art of/making of/coffee table books?

Mr. Sam

Mr. Sam

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,031
Recently I acquired a copy of-- well, apparently its official name is 'The Wes Anderson Collection: Isle of Dogs'. As well as concept art for the movie, it has interviews with the cast and crew, articles on the film's influences - including Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Kurosawa as well as more broad, cultural and historical influences - and tons and tons of behind the scenes details, including beautiful photography of the sets and models.

It awakened something in me because I've since bought The Making of Alien (excellent in terms of artwork and the conception of the film), The Art of Splatoon (as the title would suggest, more great artwork than behind the scenes stuff) and The Art of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (somewhere in between).

Pixar books are well-regarded, it would seem, but those that cover my favourite films of theirs seem to be out of print and therefore significantly more expensive. Studio Ghibli books, from what I've been able to glean from YouTube flipthroughs, seem to be a mix of just straight shots from the film and concept art (though some seem better than others in this regard). As far as videogames go, Breath of the Wild's artbook looks pretty definitive.

So. I've a coffee table. What books should I put on it?
 

Deleted member 17207

user requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
7,208
I love the Art of Star Wars books that have come out for the sequel trilogy. So much cool concept art for everything under the sun (settings, characters, plot ideas, etc.) - and each one is sort of explained by various people involved in the movie.

The Making of Star Wars books are also fucking awesome, but they're almost novels despite being large coffee table books lol.
 

Deleted member 543

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,065
Are we including art books here—stuff that's not necessarily linked to other media? I recently picked up Somebody is in My house - David Lynch. Very expansive overview of Lynch's visual art. I'm very very happy with it—it feels great to flick through and lets the work speak for itself.

I also have a Takashi Murakami art book from the MFA exhibition he did a few years ago. There's a bit more writing and the size doesn't allow the pieces the room some of them need, but overall another nice book.

I would love a lot more art books in general but they're so expensive and finding a single one which covers a wide variety of an artist's works can be quite hard.
 

BAD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,566
USA
Mr. Sam if you are looking for some beautiful or high end books, TASCHEN or Phaidon are the two big names there. They're beautiful and are more grown up if you want a nice design aesthetic.

Michelangelo.jpg

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Deleted member 58401

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Jul 7, 2019
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Kuraudo said:
I would love a lot more art books in general but they're so expensive and finding a single one which covers a wide variety of an artist's works can be quite hard.
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I think you almost have to shop used to get a decent collection. Or be rich.

I like history and maps, so I have some pretty cool (to me) coffee table books of weird old maps and stuff that kind of go through how borders shifted over time visually.

I also have a book called "Smoking" that is a coffee table book about tobacco and how it's historically been used and by who, and eventually it shows how it was marketed, visually. It's disturbing and awesome.

All my other art/making books are either tied to specific visual artists or like shit about Bob Dylan. Some cool stuff, but nothing super cool/unique.
 
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Mr. Sam

Mr. Sam

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,031
XandBosch said:
I love the Art of Star Wars books that have come out for the sequel trilogy. So much cool concept art for everything under the sun (settings, characters, plot ideas, etc.) - and each one is sort of explained by various people involved in the movie.
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Mm, I was looking at The Last Jedi's and it looks pretty impressive.

Kuraudo said:
Are we including art books here—stuff that's not necessarily linked to other media?
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I'm happy to include whatever. I'm not personally into... art art (but I love a good exhibition as much as the next man).

BAD said:
Mr. Sam if you are looking for some beautiful or high end books, TASCHEN or Phaidon are the two big names there. They're beautiful and are more grown up if you want a nice design aesthetic.
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Although - these do look pretty cool.

Edmond Dantès said:
The Codex Seraphinianus.
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Well. That's disturbing.
 
Goldenroad

Goldenroad

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,475
I don't know if this is still being published, but every house with anyone who is into music, should own a copy. So many cool stories and pictures. Really easy to just flip to any random page and read some of the coolest shit ever.

The-Beatles-Anthology-book-first-edition-2000-Chronicle.jpg


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WascallyWabbit

WascallyWabbit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,445
I know it's not quite what you're talking about, but if you're looking for a coffee table book you should think of the Atlas Obscura
Travel book about obscure and odd travel locations with great photos
 
Pepito

Pepito

Member
Dec 11, 2017
2,317
There's a great Guillermo del Toro one.

I also love the Orson Welles Portfolio filled with his sketches from over the years.
 
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