Book Review - The Art of Elio
- The Artbook Collector
- May 24
- 6 min read
May 24th 2025
Pixar are back with Elio, their 28th animated feature that is set for release in June of 2025. As has long been a tradition for the studio, there is an artbook too and it is already available. The Art of Elio has joined the collection here so I can jump in and give you my review of their latest entry in the artbook series.
For those that have not heard of Elio, the movie follows a young boy who hopes to meet aliens and has his wish granted. However, following his abduction, he finds himself being thrown into the role of the leader of Earth in the Communiverse, surrounded by other strange and quirky leaders of alien species. Being Pixar, you can expect a heartfelt story for people of all ages, with top tier animation as always.
The previews seen below are spoiler free, so if you wanted to find out more about the book, but want to see the movie before reading it yourself, there’s no need to worry in this review. It was a strange choice to release the book before the movie, but Disney did the same thing with The Art of Moana 2 and The Art of Inside Out 2, so it's not a first for them. Animation artbooks have been very good at coming out alongside the movie they are based on, but early is an odd approach and it will be interesting to see if this continues.
As always, I will cover the book with my usual five points; build quality, content, credits, use of space and value, with an overview and my thoughts on each.
Build Quality
The book was once again published by Chronicle Books, so owners of other Pixar artbooks know what to expect here. The book comes as a hardcover with 174 pages, although online listings have it 160, but more often than not I have found that they are incorrect for artbooks. The binding is also very good in the copy I have and it’s a good size too, coming in at 23.5cm x 28.5cm.
For lack of a better word, the pages are very ‘glossy’, meaning that although gloss paper is often used in books like this, in this case they feel very slick. It doesn’t take away from the quality in anyway, they just feel noticeably different than in other books. The only small issue I can find is that the pages don’t want to lay completely flat against the covers when opened, not an uncommon issue, but it does affect some pages that I will touch on later.
The print quality of this book should be pointed out because it’s fantastic. The colours throughout are vibrant and everything is clear and crisp. Although most artbooks are strong in this regard, this did jump out at me more so than usual, especially as some of the art is full of bright colours.
Content
As you would expect from a Pixar book, The Art of Elio delivers a wide range of art for all aspects of the movie. Fans are treated to early sketches, concepts, storyboards, unused ideas, poster art for Elio’s room and some photos too. It would be easy to fill a book with amazing illustrations, but the studio has always been good at showing the early art and how it then develops. The early sketches are a highlight for me, particularly with the characters, as even though they don’t have all the fine details, the ability of the artists to convey so much emotion and personality is always impressive.
The art throughout from the team is superb as expected, filled with charm, expression, interesting locations and colours that jump off the page, all in a variety of styles and created with different techniques. The book has art made with pencils, pens, watercolours, digital painting, renders, clay and practical materials. It’s an interesting mix showcased here, highlighting the different skills and materials used in the creation of the movie.
The Art of Elio does a good job of balancing the different focuses, with main characters and locations getting more pages without neglecting side characters and background designs. Some books also have storyboards as their own chapter in a book, but they are placed throughout which I really like. The little snippets of unused ideas are also fun to see and always appreciated. The pages for Glordon and Lord Grigon are favourites of mine, seeing the art at different stages for both as their characters come together has me more excited to see them in the film.
Another nice inclusion in a double fold out for the colour script, which I feel is an improvement over other Disney artbooks. Although I’m personally not often a fan of a fold out, the extra space works and makes it clearer than seen in previous entries.
The text throughout is from the various members of the team, from the director and story manager, to the artists and designers, each adding details about the characters and locations, as well as the thoughts and approach to what they were working on. It’s not a text heavy book, the art is the clear focus, but the paragraphs used throughout are thoughtful and add interesting insights that are welcome additions to the pages.
For content then, you can’t go wrong with the The Art of Elio and I could write a lot more about the inclusions and what I like. Pixar have been doing this for some time, with this entry proving that they have mastered this aspect of creating an artbook.
Credits
Another win for this book comes with the crediting of artists, as each image is credited on the page, along with the technique used to create it. It’s the best way to do it and Pixar have always been very good at making sure you know who is responsible for what you see. There is not much else to say here, they aced this part of the review.
Use of Space
While 174 pages doesn’t make this the biggest artbook out there, they do make very good use of those pages and so you get a lot packed in. You won’t find wasted space or issues with image sizing, as everything is clear, readable and well organized. The page backgrounds come in different colours and the layouts vary from page to page to keep it interesting too.
My only issue here is that because the pages do not lay completely flat, images that cross the centre fold can suffer. It’s not as bad as it could be, the art isn’t cut off, but it is obscured because of this, though it is less of an issue toward the centre of the book.
Value
The Pixar artbooks have always been on the lower end of pricing, with the RRP for The Art of Elio being $45/ £35. This is a good price point and for fans it is well worth the money. However, artbooks can often be found below the RRP, even shortly after release and this one is no different.
I use Amazon for comparisons to stay consistent and on Amazon UK, the book is 30% off just days after its release, which was May 20th. Stock on Amazon US seems to be low at this time from third party sellers, but can be found from Amazon themselves at 7% off. The book did come out a week earlier in the US, on May 13th, so more stock may be coming. These are great prices, which is good news for those wanting to add the book to their collection.
Verdict
The Art of Elio is another superb book from Pixar that highlights the incredible talent of their team and offers a wonderful collection of art for fans. The mix of content and presentation will be welcome on the shelves of those who love Pixar, collectors and artists. The overall quality of the art itself, but also the book it comes in is as good as it gets, even more so at the price point. Minor setbacks aside, the artbook series from Pixar and Chronicle Books continues to offer those that love animation another great way to enjoy the worlds they see on screen.
If you are wanting to add The Art of Elio to your own collection, you can order the book here;
Tags;
Based On: #Elio Publisher: #ChronicleBooks Studio: #Pixar #Disney
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