In his comprehensive 2004 autobiography AN ANIMATED LIFE, stop-motion animation grandmaster Ray Harryhausen finally gave his admirers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life behind the scenes. His artistry at conjuring creatures of fancy and nightmare and breathing life into them is both well known and captured on film; what AN ANIMATED LIFE revealed was the mechanics of the magic. Happily, this peek behind the wizard’s curtain did nothing to rob Harryhausen’s work of its beauty and mystery. If anything, a new respect for the man and his resourceful and innovative methods was forged. The most surprising lesson gleaned from the tome was the degree to which Harryhausen was involved in all aspects of his productions. From concept to pre-production and planning through location prep and shooting, to re-shoots and editing and scoring, up to the laborious hours spent at the animation table long after the picture had wrapped for everyone else, Ray Harryhausen was behind it all, and AN ANIMATED LIFE celebrated all of it. Due to its expansive scope, the book could only skim over Harryhausen’s most impressive contributions short of his legendary animation skills: his extravagant charcoal renderings and deftness in the art of sculpture. A new companion book, THE ART OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN, utilizes the same sweeping grandeur of the previous effort in focusing on the artist’s lesser-known and seldom-seen talents.

This lavish volume features preliminary sketches, movie storyboards and other artwork that was crucial to the sale and production of Harryhausen’s various projects. It also highlights his processes in crafting models and reveals Harryhausen’s current efforts to preserve his fragile, time-ravaged latex creations as relief casts and bronze sculptures. 211 color and 75 black-and-white illustrations are handsomely reproduced in this oversized, 240-page hardcover from Billboard Books, and are accompanied by detailed essays that trace Harryhausen’s influences and single-minded determination to realize his celluloid flights of fancy. At long last, the full extent of this filmmaker’s talent and vision is unveiled. Inspired by the original King Kong, the teenaged Harryhausen understood that the fulfillment of his dream to bring his own creations to the big screen would require far more than mere technical and creative proficiency at model animation. He enrolled in art classes to enhance his drawing and sculpting skills, perfecting methods that would serve him well in his blossoming career.
Long before his dinosaurs, aliens and mythological creatures roared to cinematic life – indeed, long before they were even designed and built – Harryhausen used intricate conceptual drawings to visualize the exploits of his fanciful

characters and sell his ideas to skeptical movie producers. These pre-production sketches, and the means by which the creations they envisioned were granted three-dimensional form, comprise the core of this tribute. And a remarkable tribute it is. In comparing Harryhausen’s charcoal sketch of any given scene with the actual film sequence that evolved from it, it seems hard to believe that the drawing came first. Such was Harryhausen’s ability to conjure, compose and render a planned action sequence and later deliver on his promise to accurately capture the vision on film. His prowess at designing lifelike creatures and creating the armatures to sustain and animate them made for the perfect marriage of art and engineering, and THE ART OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN illustrates how one man mastered both the technical and artistic aspects of filmmaking.

Ray Harryhausen, an authentic Renaissance Man, was one of the true auteurs in the business. This book underscores both his creative genius and his ability to translate images from his imagination to the big screen. Coupled with AN ANIMATED LIFE, it chronicles the life and work of an artist who inspired the collective imaginations of generations of filmgoers. From concept to rendering to model design to animation, Harryhausen did far more than simply dream the impossible. He delivered it in grand style.

Buy The Art of Ray Harryhausen

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