Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)

I love all the work that went into making Smaug

Still a good-condition, intact, and inexpensive buy, so I’m not unhappy, but the book was labeled new and is absolutely not New condition. Scratches and scuffs on the cover, bent pages, and stickers on the inside are objective indications of this.

This is an outstanding companion that compliments the Hobbit Chronicles books very well. Smaug's design from concept to digital reality is marvelous. The book is wonderfully detailed with sketches, designs, concepts, and iterations of transforming Smaug from the reader's mind to visual splendor. It was nice reading all of the behind-the-scenes inputs from Alan Lee, John, and all of the WETA Digital/Workshop hands that brought Peter Jackson's vision to fruition. This is a must-have book for your collection if you love art design, and have been a collector of these movie books as well. Two thumbs up, and well worth the purchase to add to my library.

I purchased this book as soon as I knew it was out. Then the reviews started coming around and they've been mixed. I can honestly say I was worried that this book might not live up to my expectations.I had nothing to fear.This book is an amazing insight into the wonderful creation process that gave us the King of Dragons; Smaug the Magnificent.Like Smaug the book is magnificent filled with many, many images of would be Smaugs and just generally amazing dragon artwork. Some people have been complaining about the size of the images, there's no issue here. I can easily make out the subtleties of various stages of the artwork.If you buy this book you will not be disappointed. I am a huge Smaug fan and everything in this book makes me appreciate just how unique, wonderful and magnificent the King of Dragons is.Buy it!

I have really enjoyed this book, and it's a worthy part of the whole "Chronicles" series about making the Hobbit movies. The artwork is--as usual from Weta--spectacular, and I love the little insights into the creative process. Details that we don't really notice in the movie until you read about it here and realize it had pricked the back of your mind in a subtle way.My only quibble with this book is that it could have, and I think should have, been a chapter in "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - Chronicles, Art & Design" rather than a standalone volume.

Loved the detail in the sketches and other pictures. This book gives us insight into the making of the film, especially concerning the dragon. It covers the parts that were not shown in the sketch book of the film which I bought earlier. Now all is complete. I would recommend this book to anyone who loved the film as much as I did.

I always enjoy "Making Of..." books for movies and I also tend to pick up Cinefex magazine, as well. I mention those two things because this book bridges where both of those types of publications tend to go between creative and scientific. This book is an amazing insight into the creative, collaborative, and scientific process that iteratively brought Smaug to life.It is a very focused piece on one creature of The Hobbit films, so don't expect more than that. There are several other books in The Hobbit Chronicle series of books that explore other aspects of the film.If you are an artist, an animator, a scientist, or someone with an appreciation of the collaborative work of film, this book is for you.

I literally read this book from cover to cover from opening it December 25'th to about December 27'th. Fantasy artwork (specifically landscapes and dragons) has always been an incredible inspiration to me. I own tons of Dragon sketchbooks from various authors. This takes conceptual realism in a fictional fantasy species to a whole new level. Buy the book and find out How much pains taking work was involved in the photo-realistic beast you saw in the films. Not a fan of the films really (LOTR all the way. Why couldn't they have followed the book this time around anyway?) but the behind the scenes work is awe inspiring!

I was absolutely taken away by the quality of the other 3 Hobbit Chronicle books published by the WETA Workshop, and was interested to see what they would have to tell about Smaug that was not told in the Creatures and Characters. (There is very little on Smaug in that Chronicle book actually). I am not a computer graphics maniac or expert, but found this Chronicle Companion well worth buying. I now totally agree that designing and creating this one character for the film deserved it's own book like the Gollum book did written by Andy Serkins. This Smaug book is less a personal account rather than a compilation of very interesting comments made by all the contributors, shaders, texture artists, animators, sculptors, etc. all describing a little piece of their art that made this one amazing CGI character come to life. I am always humbled by the absolute maximalist approach of the WETA team, covered by Daniel Falconer. Beutifully illustrated with hundreds of original concept art, it is a true companion book to Weta's the Hobbit Chronicles series. If you like those, you can't possible miss this!

You love Dragons?...You Love Smaug?...Then scroll back up and click BUY!!! OMG!!!I was looking for more information about Smaug, because lets face it, he's the best Dragon brought to life ever!With all the other books about the Hobbit, there has been very little, if anything at all about Smaug, I even waited for the small section in the extended edition of the DVD's to see more footage..THIS book... every... EVERYTHING I wanted to see in all the other books out there. This is wall to wall Smaug! it makes my heart sing to flick through this thin, but glossy book.it's now going to sit with all my other dragon books.NOT disappointed one single bit!

This book is impressively detailed, covering all stages of development from initial concept sketches through all stages of computer design and animation. Would highly recommend to any fan of the film or modern films in general as an excellent guide to CGI use.

A very interesting book that shows how much work went into designing Smaug for the Hobbit films

Arrived as expected and still in the package as its a christmas gift