Funny!: Twenty-Five Years of Laughter from the Pixar Story Room

Unlike the Art of books, which touch a variety of art works during the production, like lighting, shading, layout, modeling, sculpting and more.This book is all about storyboards, it's about the early development of ideas, it happens in Pixar's story department. Most of the works in this book are quick pen, pencil or digital sketches with little use of colors. They are like prototypes, they are supposed to be fast and cheap, and effective to communicate an idea.There aren't a lot of texts to explain the development of ideas, why some stories worked, why some didn't. But for that probably each movie will need its own book.

The media could not be loaded.  There are few companies out there as innovative as Pixar. One of the reasons for this is that they encourage creativity, and it's clearly demonstrated in the book "Funny! Twenty-Five Years of Laugher from the Pixar Story Room". The book is a collection of humorous drawings from Pixar story artists. Comedy is a key part of Pixar's storytelling process; filmmakers are often looking to add humor to their stories, but it has to come from the truth of the character and the circumstance.As artist Jason Katz says in his introduction, these are images "you were never supposed to see". Nothing you see in the book made it into the finished movie. Since Pixar films are extensively planned and prepped before a single frame is animated, this is as close as you will likely ever get to "deleted scenes". Some of the ideas clearly contradict the tone of movie and were probably just done for fun; but others are genuinely worthy of consideration and would seemingly fit right in. It just goes to show the abundance of ideas that come out of such an open and collaborative environment - for every idea that makes it into the movie, there are hundreds that do not. And while the ideas in the book might not have made the cut, they still played a crucial role in fleshing out who these characters are and what their personality will be.If it's not obvious, I should mention that I am a big fan of Pixar, having seen all their films multiple times -- and I'd imagine I'm not alone. The pieces of comedy on display in the book - sometimes a visual gag, other times a funny one-liner - are made even more interesting (and funnier) if you are familiar with the characters and the films. Whatever the idea is on the page, it's enhanced if you already have the knowledge of what the character looks and sounds like, as well as how he/she behaves in the film.This is a fantastic book of art and humor. If you love Pixar, then you really have to give this one a look. Highly recommended!

The media could not be loaded.  Funny! is a book of visual gags from Pixar's story room. With the exception of John Lasseter's foreword and Jason Katz's introduction, the whole book is on the funny ideas and jokes that never made it to the big screen. There are occasional brief commentary by the artists. The book includes all the films right up to Good Dinosaur.I enjoyed going through the book looking at the drawings, which are actually more like quick sketches.Humour is difficult to describe because everyone has a different sense of humour. Having said that, I feel that some of the gags would work better on screen than as standalone gags like they appear in this book. For me, this book's a mixed bag of funny and not so amusing cartoons. It's best that you have watched all the films so that you know the context behind some of the gags.My favourites are those from A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Monsters University and Ratatouille. I just feel that they are funnier. The rest of the book are mostly visual gags, not the laugh-out-loud type. E.g. Frozone cools the beer with his breath, Mater with a missile coming out of his month, Wall.E poking at the captain's fat tummy, grumpy Carl holding a bunch of colourful balloons. Merida the bear being launched from a catapult. Spot eating ticks off Arlo's head. They are like those single panel newspaper comics designed to bring out a smile.Overall, it's still an enjoyable collection of work from the story room. However, I don't see it as a book I might read again often.3.5 out of 5 stars.(See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

It takes 30 minutes to “read”. You will laugh out loud- for sure.

The book is a very nice detail for true Pixar fans. The images are stunning and beautiful. The text and general content, however, is very disappointing. I was expecting something truly interesting with behind the scenes stories but didn’t get that.

Awesome & awesome!Some of the best from Pixar sharing their sketches (digital & traditional) of the best characters to ever hit the big screen, absolutely rad to see them in sketch & storyboard form!Don't hesitate if you're a toon fan & definitely don't pass up if you're a Pixar fan!

Makes for a very enjoyable and entertaining (albeit fairly brief) read. You can kind of think of this as Pixar meets the Sunday funnies... (do they still exist?). It goes from Toy Story all the way through to The Good Dinosaur and gives a bit on an insight into how Pixar brainstorms it's jokes. Thumbs up!

I love this book! My husband bought it for me for Christmas and I pour over all things Disney.So this was a perfect addition to our bookshelf :)

It's all packed with one liners and gags that range from light hearted to dark. There's some pretty funny stuff, though you're not going to find any stunning background or character work. These are all quick sketches that are more for storyboarding, but it's good reference for such a field. It shows that draughtsmanship doesn't always have to be the most gorgeously illustrated and detailed, but rather clear and to the point, which is especially important in animation. And all the work here is very clear and fluid, and sells the idea behind the gag immediately without getting cluttered.Whether you're a board artist, an animator like myself or just an animation enthusiast I'd say this is worth having on your shelf.

I bought this book for my Son who is interested in animation. I think this book would suit people who are interested in the animation process from the ideas stage and not just the finished films.

Great little book. I had hoped for a little more write up as to stories behind the images. But the drawing are great, and it's nice to see what could have been :)

I really liked all the humorous concept art the information on who drew them!

A little disappointing in content