‘The Art of Hotel Transylvania 2’ – Book Review
The second chapter of the Hotel Transylvania story follows Drac as he welcomes his new son-in-law into the family home. Following Mavis and Jonathan’s marriage, Drac and his ghoulish friends try to bring the monster out of his new half-vampire, half-human grandson Dennis.
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the film is full of everything we have come to expect from his style, from extreme character morphs to exceptional animated performances. All of which is wonderfully laid out in Brett Rector’s book – the pages are full of colour, character designs and tantalising insights into the process behind some of the more developmental processes, such as the work involved in creating Dennis’s exaggerated hair. The book runs through all the main areas of the film’s creation, including storyboards, set, prop and new character designs. As with the first Hotel Transylvania, what sets this film apart is the extreme modeling used in the film and incredible rigging that manages to capture the stylistic attributes that set Tartakovsky apart as a filmmaker.
Perhaps one of the newest additions in terms of the overall feel of the film – as well as its visual development – is the addition of the human world. As well as developing Dennis – notably more a human child than vamp – comes all of Jonathan’s family. The environments of the monster world are also expanded upon, from new rooms in the hotel to Grandfather Vlad’s castle. The challenge of these additional elements were clearly researched, developed and created to the full.
With the addition of the hotel’s now-welcome human visitors comes a ream of visual gags and technological advances, such as zombie Facebook pages and “blue tooth”. Another lovely addition to this book is the fold out page that goes into the colour theory of some of the more extraordinary visual scenes. This is teamed with a double page spread that goes into the light script, giving a sense of the planning and forethought that is given to all elements of the film. As always in these books there are beautifully printed stills from the film, as well as fully rendered concept paintings and initial sketches of characters and scenes, most notably the work of Craig Kellman, whose notable style and ability to capture characters’ twisted but expressive features are shown throughout this book. As one of the key character designers on the film, it is easy to see how these early sketches found their way into the final film.
The Art of Hotel Transylvania 2 is available now through Titan Books