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A review by supremeleaderev
The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series Book Three: Change by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
3.5
This was another great companion guide to the art of LOK, and I thought it did a really good job showcasing the detailed designs and beautiful artwork. I would consider LOK to be much darker than ATLA, but this season in particular was really dark, and I liked seeing those dark themes through the artwork. We saw moments like P'Li's death story boarded, and we also say you Su's armor was specifically designed to have enough metal to completely cover her head and face. I liked learning about small details like that, and it made me appreciate the effort that was put into this show so that it would be as thorough and as detailed as possible. We got so much new stuff in this season, but we also sill held onto some visual elements that I really liked, like he presence of the spirit world and spirits. I mentioned in my review for the art book for Book 2 that my favorite visual element of the season was the spirits, and I like how that was still present in this season as well, even if it wasn't as big of a focus as it was with the last season.
In my opinion, Zaheer is the best villain in LOK, and his posse of equally awesome friends really made this season's conflict top-tier. The benefit of having all these characters meant that we got to see a whole bunch of fight scenes that were wildly different from each other. We got that amazing fight scene between Kya and Ming-Hua, and we got that even cooler fight between Tenzin and Zaheer, which is more than I would have hoped for. The storyboard of the fight between Kya and Ming-Hua was shown in this book, which was really amazing, and I enjoyed the extra comments sprinkled throughout the book because they provided some extra details about these villains that I love so much. I also really liked how much their personality was impacted by their designs, which is strange to say out loud, but now that I think about it it makes so much sense. I couldn't imagine P'Li without her height, her long braid, or her eye tattoo, because they giver her aura of strength, destruction, and power. I think that Zaheer, P'Li, Ming-Hua, and Ghazan's designs were perfect, and I really liked how much the book focused on them.
One big part of the story of season 3 is the return of the airbenders and this journey to train the new ones. It was a great part of the series, but I thought the parts of the book that discussed that side plot was really well done. We saw in the previous book some of the renovated air temples, and we got to see some more of it in this book as well. I really like the designs of the renovated air temples, and I also liked how we got to see some more location at the temple that we didn't see in the first two LOK seasons as well as all of ATLA. I also liked seeing the designs of the new airbenders and how they went around to creating all these new characters. I thought it was funny how they based one of the characters around one of the people who worked on the show, and it gives that character, even though they're a minor character, so much more personality and depth. I thought the height comparison chart was cool, and I've never considered how hard getting everyone's proportions and heights would be. That's one more reason why I never will work in animation.
One other part of the book that really stood out to me was the part that talked about Ba Sing Se. I'm very familiar of the art surrounding Ba Sing Se because so much of Book 2 of ATLA took place there, but it was interesting to see how the background changed in LOK. Ba Sing Se is so much more crowded, and I think it's cool how there are building built on the actual wall itself. I really liked the three pages that showed a whole bunch of the extras in Ba Sing Se. It's interesting how different the outfits are compared to other rings in the city, but I also can imagine how much work was put into drawing all these different people. It must take so much time to draw an original person and then design them an outfit that is unique to them while still blending in with the other outfits in the show. I just thought it was cool to see all these character designs and look at all of the details, because so much was put into these characters that you don't see for more than a few seconds.
Overall, this was another really great book that highlighted all the art from this season, which is my favorite season in LOK. I had fun with this book, and I learned a lot about animation, not only in an informing way, but in a "if you become an animator you will regret it" way. I think being an animator would be way too much work for me, so mad props to the people who can pull it off an put so much energy and detail into their work. I prefer just to watch the final result, but I still like learning about behind the scenes as well. I've enjoyed all of the art books for the series so far, so I know I'm also going to like the one for the fourth season as well, and I also need to get my hands on the one for ATLA as well.
In my opinion, Zaheer is the best villain in LOK, and his posse of equally awesome friends really made this season's conflict top-tier. The benefit of having all these characters meant that we got to see a whole bunch of fight scenes that were wildly different from each other. We got that amazing fight scene between Kya and Ming-Hua, and we got that even cooler fight between Tenzin and Zaheer, which is more than I would have hoped for. The storyboard of the fight between Kya and Ming-Hua was shown in this book, which was really amazing, and I enjoyed the extra comments sprinkled throughout the book because they provided some extra details about these villains that I love so much. I also really liked how much their personality was impacted by their designs, which is strange to say out loud, but now that I think about it it makes so much sense. I couldn't imagine P'Li without her height, her long braid, or her eye tattoo, because they giver her aura of strength, destruction, and power. I think that Zaheer, P'Li, Ming-Hua, and Ghazan's designs were perfect, and I really liked how much the book focused on them.
One big part of the story of season 3 is the return of the airbenders and this journey to train the new ones. It was a great part of the series, but I thought the parts of the book that discussed that side plot was really well done. We saw in the previous book some of the renovated air temples, and we got to see some more of it in this book as well. I really like the designs of the renovated air temples, and I also liked how we got to see some more location at the temple that we didn't see in the first two LOK seasons as well as all of ATLA. I also liked seeing the designs of the new airbenders and how they went around to creating all these new characters. I thought it was funny how they based one of the characters around one of the people who worked on the show, and it gives that character, even though they're a minor character, so much more personality and depth. I thought the height comparison chart was cool, and I've never considered how hard getting everyone's proportions and heights would be. That's one more reason why I never will work in animation.
One other part of the book that really stood out to me was the part that talked about Ba Sing Se. I'm very familiar of the art surrounding Ba Sing Se because so much of Book 2 of ATLA took place there, but it was interesting to see how the background changed in LOK. Ba Sing Se is so much more crowded, and I think it's cool how there are building built on the actual wall itself. I really liked the three pages that showed a whole bunch of the extras in Ba Sing Se. It's interesting how different the outfits are compared to other rings in the city, but I also can imagine how much work was put into drawing all these different people. It must take so much time to draw an original person and then design them an outfit that is unique to them while still blending in with the other outfits in the show. I just thought it was cool to see all these character designs and look at all of the details, because so much was put into these characters that you don't see for more than a few seconds.
Overall, this was another really great book that highlighted all the art from this season, which is my favorite season in LOK. I had fun with this book, and I learned a lot about animation, not only in an informing way, but in a "if you become an animator you will regret it" way. I think being an animator would be way too much work for me, so mad props to the people who can pull it off an put so much energy and detail into their work. I prefer just to watch the final result, but I still like learning about behind the scenes as well. I've enjoyed all of the art books for the series so far, so I know I'm also going to like the one for the fourth season as well, and I also need to get my hands on the one for ATLA as well.