The Art Of District 9 gives fans a behind-the-scenes tour through the most visually and technologically stunning film of the past decade. Written by Weta Works insider Daniel Falconer—a special effects wizard who worked on The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—The Art Of District 9 will answer the question everyone has been asking since the movie’s 2009 release: How did they do it?
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221 reviews for The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop
4.8out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
12
★★★★★
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★★★★★
EzyPzyJapaneze –
I loved the movie, it reminded me a lot of Half Life games, especially the second one and when I discovered there is an artbook available to get that covers the movie itself, I just couldn’t resist myself. It’s chock full of a large amount of scetches, marvelous weapon and monster designs and lots of other stuff. There is quite a lot of info under each section of the artbook too. I would definitely recommend this one to a fan of this movie.
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★★★★★
Silvolf –
I was looking forward to this book since I am a fan of District 9. The book didn’t disappoint. It takes you all through the processes they took on creating the alien species with lots of pictures of their work and how the Prawns were developed. It also includes pictures of the uniform logos, gun types and more. It’s a must for any fan of the movie. Nicely presented and informative without too much writing for those who wish to see more artwork but enough writing for them to explain each design well. It has a fair mix of both. I suggest if you’re a fan, you buy it before it goes out of print as artbooks seem to.
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★★★★★
Gwyllabrach –
Finally. FINALLY! An “Art of” book that actually has art in it. And not just the approved art, but loads of concept art to boot. More so than even I thought had been created. It’s always so frustrating when a movie studio releases a “Art of” book on a movie and there’s very little to show for it. I don’t want to see movie stills. I want the process that arrived to that point. What did they do for the first three months of production? Did they immediately arrive at the final product? Were there even artists hired to do concepts? I don’t need to know the actor’s schedule, or the conditions they had to deal with on set, or even a production diary. I want art! And this book delivers.
You have to hand it to the folks at WETA, they’ve done it again. I haven’t been disappointed yet by one of their productions and their latest release doesn’t disappoint by a long shot. I’m always amazed by the spectrum of talents by the WETA team and have been religiously following them since before The Frighteners. And, boy, do they fill this book with concepts. Like:
Did you know there were actually two exo suits? Well, they’re there in all their biomechanical glory.
Or that the aliens were actually lumbering brutes meant to be portrayed by a man-in-a-suit? Dozens of concepts of aliens based on Blomkamp’s original short film are there. Many are a radical departure from the approved aliens in the movie. You’ll be amazed by the routes that could have been taken.
How about this. Did you know that in the original treatments, Neil Blomkamp had a slaver race of aliens that ran the show? Oh yeah. Wicked creepy. Buy the book and see them.
This is a great book. Even the design harkens to the imagery seen in the film. It looks remarkably–on first glance–like a book on street graffiti. And considering how the aliens plaster themselves in refuse and how their writing captures a graffiti-like look, it’s not hard to see why.
I can’t give enough praise for this book. Go on, add it to your collection. I’m more than happy I did.
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★★★★★
Highly Recommend –
Great art and thorough design breakdown by the team. Highly recommend drawing many of the images if you’re working in the art industry.
Highly Recommend.
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★★★★★
Exi –
Si te gusta el Sci-fi es un libro que no te debes de perder
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★★★★★
Kasper –
Once again the folks from WETA Workshop give you a firsthand insight into the creative process behind the making of one of their movies. Captivating and detailed artwork lets you explore the world of District 9, along with text which explains the thoughts that went into the art department’s different designs, during the preproduction. The book explores the process of creating the movie’s aliens, right from unrecognizable creatures from the early developmental stages, to the familiar prawn we all got to see in the final film, along with the many different ideas for alien weapons, including some we never got to see on the big screen. If you want to know more about the making of the movie or just want to come face to face with the prawns (including Christopher Johnson and Little CJ) once again, consider picking up this book.
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★★★★★
Xiaolong Design –
The quality of this book is out of my expectation. The design looks very interesting. The book is not like usual book putting many film picture there. This time, there are a lot of concept art were collected into this book. We know the film has limited budget at the very beginning. For me, their design work does not looks like a low budget film Because they designed a lot. In this book , you can see the symbols when they design different robot. Tons of advanced gun design. I really want to have more books like this.
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★★★★★
Francesco Paolo M. Navarro –
It always amazes me how much work goes into the design of movies, and it leaves me incredulous at how much actually gets left out. I can’t say I know what the attrition rate is, but judging from the book, less than 10% of all the concepts, sketches, props, sets and whatever else gets used in the final cut of the film. Looking thorough all the items, you have to scratch your head and wonder why such brilliant pieces didn’t get used.
This book is a very worthy compendium of all the design and art that goes into the making of a movie. You will not be disappointed in purchasing this book.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Alfredo Rodriguez –
Amazing book, recommended for all VFX artist with a Good taste, we will keep it here in ILM for a while. Thanks! in super good conditions as the seller described.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Andrej Heštera –
I was looking up for this book since I was on District 9 movie in cinema. Interesting probe into mind of creators, even notes from director Blomkamp and insights from Weta workshop crew was really nice. But the book was little bit… plain. I was expecting a lot more design sketches and some deeper analysis. I know that all can’t be included in book and is much more pleaser for eye to look on CGI frame from movie that analysing some designer sketch for plot non essential item.
Don’t take me wrong, this things WERE in book, but scarce.
I will give 4 stars, because it fulfilled my movie-fan needs, but few more illustrations and it will be just… allstar.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Draupnir –
D’une richesse incroyable on découvre toute les étapes du film dans ses moindres détails. On voit le design des extraterrestres et des vaisseaux, c’est logique, mais on voit aussi tout les tests pour trouver le logo du MNU (50 essais), le slogan de la société, les étiquettes marquant les extraterrestres, les autocollants apposés sur les armures du MNU, les interfaces des ordinateurs. Bref tout et c’est un vrai plaisir de parcourir le livre. Petit bémol, le livre n’est disponible qu’en anglais et même si les illustrations suffises grandement il faut mieux avoir un petit niveau d’anglais pour comprendre les textes.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
sarah –
This is one of the most excellent art books I’ve purchased this year. The drawings are amazing, and they have things for almost everything. From the weapons, to signage, characters, alien machines. It’s all really well covered in this book, and it is such an amazing reference for these sort of things. So cool to look through.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
J. Gatsu –
Completísimo y cuidado al extremo,los detalles marcan la diferencia,y este libro x diseño,contenido (bocetos,3D,armas,grafismo…) y 20 euros no se puede pedir más.Gran compra o regalo.
EzyPzyJapaneze –
I loved the movie, it reminded me a lot of Half Life games, especially the second one and when I discovered there is an artbook available to get that covers the movie itself, I just couldn’t resist myself. It’s chock full of a large amount of scetches, marvelous weapon and monster designs and lots of other stuff. There is quite a lot of info under each section of the artbook too. I would definitely recommend this one to a fan of this movie.
Silvolf –
I was looking forward to this book since I am a fan of District 9. The book didn’t disappoint. It takes you all through the processes they took on creating the alien species with lots of pictures of their work and how the Prawns were developed. It also includes pictures of the uniform logos, gun types and more. It’s a must for any fan of the movie. Nicely presented and informative without too much writing for those who wish to see more artwork but enough writing for them to explain each design well. It has a fair mix of both. I suggest if you’re a fan, you buy it before it goes out of print as artbooks seem to.
Gwyllabrach –
Finally. FINALLY! An “Art of” book that actually has art in it. And not just the approved art, but loads of concept art to boot. More so than even I thought had been created. It’s always so frustrating when a movie studio releases a “Art of” book on a movie and there’s very little to show for it. I don’t want to see movie stills. I want the process that arrived to that point. What did they do for the first three months of production? Did they immediately arrive at the final product? Were there even artists hired to do concepts? I don’t need to know the actor’s schedule, or the conditions they had to deal with on set, or even a production diary. I want art! And this book delivers.
You have to hand it to the folks at WETA, they’ve done it again. I haven’t been disappointed yet by one of their productions and their latest release doesn’t disappoint by a long shot. I’m always amazed by the spectrum of talents by the WETA team and have been religiously following them since before The Frighteners. And, boy, do they fill this book with concepts. Like:
Did you know there were actually two exo suits? Well, they’re there in all their biomechanical glory.
Or that the aliens were actually lumbering brutes meant to be portrayed by a man-in-a-suit? Dozens of concepts of aliens based on Blomkamp’s original short film are there. Many are a radical departure from the approved aliens in the movie. You’ll be amazed by the routes that could have been taken.
How about this. Did you know that in the original treatments, Neil Blomkamp had a slaver race of aliens that ran the show? Oh yeah. Wicked creepy. Buy the book and see them.
This is a great book. Even the design harkens to the imagery seen in the film. It looks remarkably–on first glance–like a book on street graffiti. And considering how the aliens plaster themselves in refuse and how their writing captures a graffiti-like look, it’s not hard to see why.
I can’t give enough praise for this book. Go on, add it to your collection. I’m more than happy I did.
Highly Recommend –
Great art and thorough design breakdown by the team. Highly recommend drawing many of the images if you’re working in the art industry.
Highly Recommend.
Exi –
Si te gusta el Sci-fi es un libro que no te debes de perder
Kasper –
Once again the folks from WETA Workshop give you a firsthand insight into the creative process behind the making of one of their movies. Captivating and detailed artwork lets you explore the world of District 9, along with text which explains the thoughts that went into the art department’s different designs, during the preproduction. The book explores the process of creating the movie’s aliens, right from unrecognizable creatures from the early developmental stages, to the familiar prawn we all got to see in the final film, along with the many different ideas for alien weapons, including some we never got to see on the big screen.
If you want to know more about the making of the movie or just want to come face to face with the prawns (including Christopher Johnson and Little CJ) once again, consider picking up this book.
Xiaolong Design –
The quality of this book is out of my expectation. The design looks very interesting. The book is not like usual book putting many film picture there. This time, there are a lot of concept art were collected into this book. We know the film has limited budget at the very beginning. For me, their design work does not looks like a low budget film Because they designed a lot. In this book , you can see the symbols when they design different robot. Tons of advanced gun design. I really want to have more books like this.
Francesco Paolo M. Navarro –
It always amazes me how much work goes into the design of movies, and it leaves me incredulous at how much actually gets left out. I can’t say I know what the attrition rate is, but judging from the book, less than 10% of all the concepts, sketches, props, sets and whatever else gets used in the final cut of the film. Looking thorough all the items, you have to scratch your head and wonder why such brilliant pieces didn’t get used.
This book is a very worthy compendium of all the design and art that goes into the making of a movie. You will not be disappointed in purchasing this book.
Alfredo Rodriguez –
Amazing book, recommended for all VFX artist with a Good taste, we will keep it here in ILM for a while. Thanks! in super good conditions as the seller described.
Andrej Heštera –
I was looking up for this book since I was on District 9 movie in cinema. Interesting probe into mind of creators, even notes from director Blomkamp and insights from Weta workshop crew was really nice. But the book was little bit… plain. I was expecting a lot more design sketches and some deeper analysis. I know that all can’t be included in book and is much more pleaser for eye to look on CGI frame from movie that analysing some designer sketch for plot non essential item.
Don’t take me wrong, this things WERE in book, but scarce.
I will give 4 stars, because it fulfilled my movie-fan needs, but few more illustrations and it will be just… allstar.
Draupnir –
D’une richesse incroyable on découvre toute les étapes du film dans ses moindres détails. On voit le design des extraterrestres et des vaisseaux, c’est logique, mais on voit aussi tout les tests pour trouver le logo du MNU (50 essais), le slogan de la société, les étiquettes marquant les extraterrestres, les autocollants apposés sur les armures du MNU, les interfaces des ordinateurs. Bref tout et c’est un vrai plaisir de parcourir le livre.
Petit bémol, le livre n’est disponible qu’en anglais et même si les illustrations suffises grandement il faut mieux avoir un petit niveau d’anglais pour comprendre les textes.
sarah –
This is one of the most excellent art books I’ve purchased this year. The drawings are amazing, and they have things for almost everything. From the weapons, to signage, characters, alien machines. It’s all really well covered in this book, and it is such an amazing reference for these sort of things. So cool to look through.
J. Gatsu –
Completísimo y cuidado al extremo,los detalles marcan la diferencia,y este libro x diseño,contenido (bocetos,3D,armas,grafismo…) y 20 euros no se puede pedir más.Gran compra o regalo.