Transformers: Art of Prime

"Transformers: The Art of Prime" is a rare book: a hardcover volume detailing the artistic creation of an American animated television series. There have been very few books in this category: Paul Dini and Chip Kidd's classic 1998 book, "Batman: Animated," which showcased the revered "Batman: The Animated Series," is an excellent example. "The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars," by Frank Parisi and Gary Scheppke, published in 2009, gave readers an inside look at the ambitious movie and TV continuation of George Lucas' "Star Wars" Saga. Most recently, books have been released featuring the making of the Nikelodeon Channel cartoon creations "Avatar: The Last Airbender ('The Art of the Animated Series,' from 2010)," and "The Legend of Korra ('The Art of the Animated Series: Book One - Air,' published in 2013), both written by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. These books offered animation fans enriching looks into the challenging work involved in the making of an animated series for television. "The Art of Prime," written by "Transformers" enthusiast Jim Sorenson, is a beautiful addition to this rather exclusive library of books. "Transformers: Prime" was a grand reinterpretation of the ongoing "Transformers" mythos, using computer graphic animation. Over three seasons and a direct to video movie finale, "Prime" gave giant robot fans and lovers of animation an exciting adventure cartoon with engaging stories and memorable characters. It also created its own distinctive vision of the decades old war between "the peace loving Autobots" and "the brutal Decepticons." "The Art of Prime" is a lavish showcase of the creation of that vision, brought to animated life by a band of talented people from around the world, an earth-born "Team Prime." The book is divided into three sections: "Character & Prop Design," "Background & Sets," and "Color & Effects." Each of these sections feature chapters displaying page after page of wonderful art reproductions in full color or black and white sketches as well as detailed illustrations of such things as: drawings and multiple views of the Transformer and human characters, background paintings of such show settings as the town of Jasper, Nevada (the home of young characters Jack, Rafael, and Miko), diagrams of "Team Prime's" base in a former nuclear missile compound, and illustrations and schematics of the Decepticon's monstrous and massive starship, the Nemesis. The artwork showcased in "The Art of Prime" is complimented by occasional quotes from the illustrators, expressing their ideas and inspiration for the visuals they imagined. There are also interviews with members of the TV series' creative team, including: David Hartman, Supervising Director/Art Director; Jose Lopez, Art Director/Characters & Props; and Vince Toyama, Production Designer. These interviews provide the reader fascinating insights into the challenging process of producing an animated cartoon. They also reveal the love these artists have for the "Transformers" universe. This 208 paged tome has a few flaws. A small number of the illustrations are printed too small to fully appreciate them and some of the full color paintings are reproduced too dark. But from the book's title page which features an almost iconic image of the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime, taken from the episode "One Shall Rise, Part 3," to the stark illustration of the metallic world Cybertron, a two page painting that opened Chapter 5 of this volume, plus much more, "The Art of Prime" is a wonderful return to the saga of the brave robots and humans called "Team Prime." For fans of the "Transformers: Prime" animated series as well as fans of animation, this book comes very highly recommended. Long live Optimus Prime and Team Prime!!

If you are looking for a good reference for the characters of Transformers Prime, look no further than 'The Art of Prime'. The book not only has full-body references for all of the main characters, there is also insight from the people who worked on the show itself, as well as stunning images of the scenery and other stills from the series. This is an invaluable resource for fanartists and those who want to begin working on their own characters.

This is a great buy for someone who's a fan of this series or someone who's a fan of computer animation. the book is mostly concept art work for the settings props and characters and it shows the proses for animating each of the characters. My only complaint would be that it doesn't include a lot of the earlier designs that the designers went threw (I would have liked to see those personally) and only includes the final ones that were used for the show.

This book is a gem; the artwork is lovely and it is very informative. It gives detailed images of each character and many of the set pieces as well. There are interviews with creators and lots of inside info and why they did what they did in the show. A must have for any TF Prime fan. :)

This is an awesome book! It shows the characters in the series, their design and even moods. The book also contains pictures of beautiful backgrounds.

Here's the artbook for the CG animated TV series Transformers: Prime. It had three seasons plus a TV film Predacons Rising that was released in October 2013. So this artbook came out in December 2013 which is quite fast. The 208-page hardcover book is split into three parts covering the characters & prop designs, environment, and finally colour & effects as they are used in the shows. The highlight of the book is of course the character designs for the Transformers Autobots and Decepticons. They take up half the book. The designs are really cool. There are some similarities with the other shows or movies that ran before it, but it has its own unique artistic style. Perhaps because the characters are to be animated, they appear to be quite organic in design, with more curves going on. You won't mistake them for other robot franchises. Fans will love this section. There are plenty of characters to look at. And the book's quite big so they are printed big too. There are nice close ups on different body parts, props and relic designs. Transformation sequence art for several characters are included but unfortunately they are printed a bit too small. The environment background art are beautiful but I felt that many pieces can be quite dark making it difficult to see the details or maybe that's to hide the details. This would be the weak part of the book. The last part covers the art direction, talking specifically about the colours and effects. Throughout the book, there are some lengthy and insightful interviews at the end of chapters. They include interviews with David Hartman (supervising director/art director), Jose Lopez (art director/characters & props), Vince Toyama (production designer) and Christopher Vacher (visual effects art director), and also captions accompanying the concept art. Lots to read on the production side of making the animation. Overall, it's a good book to get if you're fans of the animated series, Transformers or robots in general. My quibble is the dark environment concept art pieces. (See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

多くのアートコレクションにある、世界観、背景画のイメージイラスト中心の本ではなく プライム〜ビーストハンターに登場するロボットたちがメインで、設定画を中心に構成されています。 背景資料も多く、解説（英語）もかなり多いですが TFプライムファンなら持っていてもいいんじゃないでしょうか。

Nell'animazione giapponese libri come questi sono nella norma da 30 o 40 anni, libri di approfondimento sul mecha design, sul character design...ci sono sempre stati e sono sempre stati un piacere per i fan. Finalmente anche la saga transformers si arrichisce di questa caratteristica, non tutti i transformers fans sono dei bayformers, c'è chi ancora apprezza l'approfondimento, il design, il dietro le quinte e gli artisti che stanno dietro ad una serie animata e di modellini come Transformers Prime! Consigliatissimo, godetevelo!

Amazing art book with comprehensive design work of Transformers, their respective vehicle modes, human characters, and environments in the stylized aesthetic that the show is known for. If you liked the Transformers Prime series, it's a no-brainer to get this book chock full of eye candy. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it is still an amazing catalogue of semi-realistic and stylized machines/robot design if that's your thing (definitely mine). It is an astounding amount of quality content for the price, so you really can't go wrong with adding this to your library.

A much more smarter book then I first imaged, with awesome images and art of the Transformers prime series! The books shows each character designs, from the mighty Optimus Prime too the very self obsessed Knockout! Landscapes and settings come alive in the images created by the team of artists, and also features interviews of some of its members! A read, not hugely text heavy and stunning on the eyes!!! ITS A MUST HAVE!!!

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