The Art of Rise of the Guardians Review - Making the Children of the World Believe... in Great Art Books!

DreamWorks are definitely in their golden age right now. The studio once derided as a cheap Pixar-wannabe has output hit after hit in recent years, with two of their latest films (How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2) holding their own against Pixar's offerings each year; with the latter actually besting the Toy Story studio! With their latest film though, Rise of the Guardians, - based on the Guardians of Childhood book series by William Joyce (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore) - DreamWorks look set to reach new heights in terms of sophistication, scale and visual splendour. So, I've been greatly anticipating the film, and - because of the previously mentioned visual splendour - the accompanying 'Art of' book!

A113Animation Competition - Win a Copy of The Art of Rise of the Guardians!

DreamWorks' latest feature film, Rise of the Guardians, is out soon, and it looks awesome! As per for an animated release, there's an accompanying 'Art of' book, and my review copy of it arrived today, courtesy of Titan Books. But this time we asked Titan for an extra copy - and they kindly obliged - so now we're giving you the chance to win a copy of The Art of Rise of the Guardians!

This is thanks, in part, for all of your great participation in our "A113 Ten Years" polls, and for visiting A113Animation. Plus, it's a really great book; I've only given it a quick glance so far (full review to follow), but so far I'm tempted to say this is the best 'Art of' book of the year!

What do you have to do to win? Well that's quite simple: you need to either Tweet us (@A113Animation), post on our wall on Facebook (facebook.com/a113animation) or email us (contact@a113animation.com), saying "I'd like to win The Art of Rise of the Guardians", or words to that effect. You can do all three if you like, so you can enter up to three times, and you have two weeks tomorrow, until 8th November, to do so. So get started, and good luck!

If you just can't risk not winning, then you can order the book via our Amazon Associates link below.

The Art of Rise of the Guardians, by Ramin Zahed, Titan Books (UK); Insight Editions (US). [16th October 2012, £24.99 (UK); 22nd October 2012, $40.00 (US)].

The Art of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Review - A Wild, Exciting and Fun Art Book

The kind folks at Insight Editions were generous enough to send me a free review copy of their latest book The Art of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which is available now. Since last year when I reviewed another DreamWorks 'Art of' book, The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2, I have purchased several more and varying 'Art of' books and acquired a greater understanding and respect for the process undergone in the production of an animated film and a keener eye for reviewing such books. That said, The Art of Madagascar 3 is fantastic.

Now, I've never been that great a fan of the Madagascar films; the first one was decent and pretty fun, the second was a marked improvement - funnier and more emotionally considerate - and this latest instalment is getting pretty good reviews so far. Moreover, I wasn't that keen on its artistic style either, it always looked a bit shoddy and rough to me. However, this book has done three things for me: once again, as with The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2, impressed me with the depth of production that goes into films at DreamWorks; given me a newfound admiration for, what I now recognise as, a very stylised artistic look, and got me more excited for Madagascar 3.