Book Review: The Art of Iron Man 2

The Art of Iron Man 2

I'm pleasantly surprised that this book actually comes with a slipcase. The cover art for the slipcase and book are also different from what's shown. The hardcover is very beautiful, smooth matt, and features a painting of Iron Man by Ryan Meinerding, who's still the concept artist for the second movie.

At 224 pages, this book features much more Iron Man designs that the first book, The Art of Iron Man. There's the new Iron Man suit which you can recognise by the triangle RT on the chest, the Suitcase Suit, The War Machine, plenty of drones and Whiplash. There are illustrations, 3D models, screenshots, physical sets.

The Iron Man suit designs are really fantastic. It's more streamline, cooler and just mean at the same time. They are beautifully drawn with lots of details. You can see the different plates, metal shine and even battle damaged suits, which will make you go "Ouch, that must have really hurt." Many of the designs have the high drool factor and deserved to be made into action figures.

If you've watched the trailers, you'll see that Iron Man was surrounded by lots of drones. Well, those drones are also included. There are Army, Navy, Airforce and Marine drones. As if it's not enough, there are Feebles also, which are the mechas designed by other countries. Feebles are really cool because they convey personality of their home countries through the designs. Mecha fans will be delighted.

About a quarter of the book is on the environment and set. And the bulk of that is actually on the Stark Expo, featuring illustrations, miniatures, etc. Right at the back there are some storyboard sequences and more miscellaneous art like the re-designed RT, Stark's cars, labs, and other stuff. Whiplash armor is actually a physical set and there's an impressive photo showing all the parts separately, like LEGO bricks, but in metal.

This book is as good as or even better than the first art book.

Highly recommended.

-

The Art of Iron Man 2 is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | JP | CN) and Bookdepository (US | UK).

The Art of Iron Man 2
This is the front cover of the actual book. There's no dust jacket.

The Art of Iron Man 2
And this is the back cover of the book.

The Art of Iron Man 2
The design by Jonathan Bach is on the left. Ryan Meinerding updates the suit a bit on the 3 right images.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Some of the many designs by Ryan Meinerding.

The Art of Iron Man 2
A run sequence with the Suitcase suit in action, concepts by Aaron McBride

The Art of Iron Man 2
Design of the Suitcase suit by VFX house Double Negative.

The Art of Iron Man 2
There are battle damage concepts for all the main Iron Man suit design in this book.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Physical suit designs by Legacy Effects.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Ouch.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Some of the many design on War Machine by Adi Granov.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Ouch!!

The Art of Iron Man 2
Whiplash, also from Ryan Meinerding

The Art of Iron Man 2
Drones. ILM designs at the top, bottom from Ryan Meinerding

The Art of Iron Man 2
Besides the Marine Drones (above), there are also the Army, Navy and Air Force drones.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Whiplash, upgraded.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Notice the Hall of Armor at the back of the garage.

The Art of Iron Man 2

The Art of Iron Man 2
There are around 40 pages on set designs.

The Art of Iron Man 2
Storyboard sequence of the Expo landing.

The Art of Iron Man 2
RT designs

The Art of Iron Man 2
You might have seen some of these promotional posters.

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

If you buy from any links on the blog, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books to feature.

Places to get The Art of Iron Man 2:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn | Bookdepository.com | Bookdepository.co.uk

Tags: 

20 Comments

I was a little disappointed

I was a little disappointed in the page quality, there are several pages that have a different weight ( the fold out pages ) those pages are really nice. I found the other pages to be thin and some what wavy. But the content of the book makes up for that.

Awesome movie, I really love

Awesome movie, I really love comics, I hope that someday I'll work on this kind on movies... But... Just a little question... They are japanese models? Anime designs? Or there are American designs? I mean, the style of the models, AMERICAN or JAPANESE?

I was excited about the book

I was excited about the book as soon as i saw your post, but when i actually got it, content was great, though i did wish the color correction or separation was of better quality, the images look dark and somewhat dull, like the luminosity was lost, i understand CMYK prinitng does that but aren't the publishers supposed to do some color correction or somethig? Anyway, i'm looking to get the first movie artbook, supposed to be more concept designs in there.

i think the designs are a

i think the designs are a mixture of both (although i'm pretty sure the designers are not japanese), japanese and western designers tend to compare each other's work and assimilate what they find practical or functional....

Add new comment