Dec 23, 2018

"Hotel Transylvania 3" art book is now online and free

With all the attention focused on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it's easy to forget that Sony Pictures Animation released another feature in 2018: Genndy Tartakovsky's Hotel Transylvania 3.

For fans of that earlier film, there's a nice Easter egg on Sony Animation's website: a comprehensive Hotel Transylvania 3 digital art book with hundreds of pieces of pre-production artwork and other goodies. The digital art book idea is one that Sony first tried out last year for The Emoji Movie - possibly the only good thing that came out of that film - and it's nice to see them continuing the tradition with HT3.

It seems that they're only doing these digital art books for films that don't have a printed art book, so don't expect one for Spider-Verse, which has its own art book that you can purchase here.

In many ways, I actually prefer these digital books. The files are nicely sized and downloadable, untouched by a book designer who might shrink or otherwise tamper with a particular piece that I want to see in its full glory. It also allows for the inclusion of much more work than is possible to fit in a printed book, so you're not seeing some book designer's curated version of a film's artwork, but a more complete look at the entire design process.

The online format also allows for the inclusion of video progression reels and other video content, like character model turnarounds. Further, the artwork is organized multiple ways, including by individual artist, a handy feature that allows one to see an artist's contributions to a film as a body of work.

Frankly, if the artwork were available in full resolution and downloadable, I would much rather pay for the digital version than a printed book.

Here's a taste of what you can find in the Hotel Transylvania 3 digital art book:

Gremlin Airplane design by Miguel Gil. n