Frozen is so weird. I really do love it but now that we're beyond the crazy days of fighting about it online...like...I can admit a little louder that producing Frozen was an exercise in choosing the worst design option EVERY SINGLE TIME. (Except Elsa's hair.) It's almost infuriating to see all these interesting concepts for Elsa that made her not an Anna clone, these neat silhouettes for the Queen, Kristoff clothes that were just pushed a LITTLE more and look a trillion times more authentic...and then they went for the bland equivalent of Elsa's piercing blue monochrome dress over and over and over again.

It's also a little tiring to read Disney straight-up say they're doing designs and environments here that've never been done before but like you guys didn't invent snow

That aside, Frozen also does have some of the coolest studies and concept art. Most of the paintings created for lighting tests and environments are honestly stunning, and it's fascinating to read the bits about what needs to be considered when translating storyboard to rigs. There was a little bit in there of them talking about how someone drew Kristoff taking off his hat, but to move it into animation they had to consider the fabric, how it attaches to his head, everything that would move with it, so on. And the amount of considerations with how snow and lighting interact will certainly make me keep a closer eye on the environments next time I watch it!

I have still never watched Frozen and don’t know if I ever will, BUT I love learning about the behind-the-scenes process for anything creative. It’s interesting to read about the inspirations with characters and designs, the Sisters Summit, and all the beautiful architecture. Gosh, so much work goes into the process of these full-scale animated films like rigging lights, sound design, personalized body movements, themes, what you want the audience to feel, and trying to make everything as realistic as possible in a 3D- cartoon world. There’s especially ample planning in these Disney movies, which is why it sort of irks me when an adult animation think weed and sex-jokes are all it has to offer. Back on topic, I enjoyed the Art of Frozen. ( )

What's great about this book is that it includes page after page of gorgeous concept art going way back to sketches Marc Davis did for the "Snow Queen" project that was abandoned and resurrected decades later. The movie is cute and all, but this book reveals the incredible depth of imagination and artistry of many people that went into its making. ( )

I think I was expecting something more like "the making of Frozen," but this is exactly what it says. Someone interested in animation art would probably get a lot more from it than me, although the art is beautiful. ( )