Out Now: The Art Of Cartoon Saloon: 25 Years

Any animation lover worth their salt should have a decent collection of art books. Dedicated to particular films, series or games, studios or even individual artists, they're a must-have for fans. There's nothing quite like a big beautiful coffee-table book jam-packed with stunning artwork. New for this month is a hefty tome that ought to be on your radar- The Art Of Cartoon Saloon: 25 Years.

The book is the official visual retrospective of the first 25 years of the Pride Of Ireland, Cartoon Saloon, the internationally renowned animation studio behind Song Of The Sea, The Secret Of Kells and Wolfwalkers. 

The book is packed with gorgeous artwork, behind-the-scenes and production materials from their movies, TV series and shorts over the course of a quarter-century. It's several art books in one, boasting artwork from The Secret Of Kells, Song Of The Sea, Wolfwalkers, The Breadwinner, Puffin Rock, My Father's Dragon. and more. It's bang up to date too, featuring materials from last year's short film Éiru and the forthcoming Julian. It spans an impressive 304 pages.

There's enough deep cuts here to justify a purchase even if you have already got artbooks for their individual films. Their artbooks for their earlier films can be hard to get hold of, so this goes some way to remedy that.

It contains an in-depth history of the studio and of the production of each of their films, TV series and shorts. The book is written by respected animation writer and critic Charles Solomon, and even features a foreword written by the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins. But the main appeal is in the many pages of artwork, from sketches and concept art, via storyboards to fully finished artwork. Cartoon Saloon are rare in that their finished films actually live up to the concept art. 

Cartoon Saloon was co-founded in 1999 in Kilkenny, Ireland by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey and Paul Young. In their early years they relied on commercial work and CDROM productions. It wasn't until 2005 that they went into production on their first feature film, The Secret Of Kells. Eventually released in 2008,  Kells established them as a major new creative force and won them their first nomination for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. They went on to be nominated four times for Best Animated Feature and once for Best Animated Short. We would be surprised not to see them back at The Oscars in the future- and maybe go one better and actually win this time. Song Of The Sea followed Kells, then The Breadwinner, My Father's Dragon and Wolfwalkers. In between, they produced several TV series, commercial spots and shorts. The studio now employs around 200 animators and co-established (with Mercury Filmworks) a spin-off studio Lighthouse Studios in Canada, which worked on Rick and Morty and The Bob's Burgers Movie.

Any serious Cartoon Saloon will want to add this to their collection. It's a bit pricey (it retails for $60.00 but currently goes for around $50.00) but you do get a lot of bang for your buck. It's available to buy now in the United States and will be available to buy in the UK from August 6.