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Home > Categories > Books > Pictorial > White Cloud Worlds review
The success of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy played a significant role in igniting local artists' imaginations and elevating the genre of fantasy art to a new level in New Zealand. This project and other like it have opened the doors for New Zealand's creative industries and our highly talented artists to demonstrate their creative excellence internationally.
Some of these artists have been quietly and successfully working on some of the most recognisable multimedia projects and games of the last decade. But who are these talented artists? In this stunning new book - White Cloud Worlds - Weta Workshops senior designer Paul Tobin collects together an anthology comprising 27 established and emerging artists who have chosen to make New Zealand their home. The artists are profiled with a selection of their own art accompanied by text written in their own unique voice, sharing their origins, inspirations and a rare glimpse into how they work.
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Review by: tucker (Karl)
Dated: 11th of February, 2011
For many years, new Zealand has been that Aladdin's Cave of hidden talent, a hothouse of inspiration and innovation that was overlooked because we have the bad luck to be stuck way down in the bottom-right corner of almost every map you see. Sir Ernest Rutherford - the guy who figured out the first realistic model of the atom - was a Kiwi. The crew who finally took the America's Cup off the Americans were representing New Zealand, in a radical Kiwi-designed keel. The Producer behind some of the biggest blockbuster movies in the last 10 years is a Kiwi. And now this book is revealing that there is a lot more Kiwi talent behind the movies and games we look at every day and didn't realise it.
Flicking through this book is a like getting a sneak peek through some kind of magic mirror, showing the reader glimpses of worlds that are ALMOST beyond imagining. Worlds filled with robots, aliens, creatures from the deepest hidden recesses of horror, incomprehensible machinery, mutants and zombies, kids and cats... some weird and wonderful places indeed. As is to be expected, the artwork is top-notch, if somewhat a little watery and vague in places... but that's their style, and it works well. Some artists are given 4 or 5 pages, some get a bare double spread, but all are filled with an infinity of talent expressed.
Overall, though I think the book may be a little steeply priced for the average reader, anyone who has aspirations of getting into this kind of work will find it an invaluable resource, full of examples of 'what works' and showcasing the huge range of art styles, mediums, and tools that can be brought to bear. Hardcover, sturdy, and colourful, this is a book every artists should have on their 'inspiration shelf'.
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