Adventure Time The Art of Ooo – Book Review 19 December 2014 // Reviews Steve Henderson Editor







The boisterous adventures of Jake the dog and Finn the human have proved continually popular for all ages since the series debuted in 2010. Pendleton Wards post apocalyptic series presents a childish glee that entertains a broad spectrum with its energetic, action packed episodes. However the imaginative series didn’t come from nowhere and with this packed publication you will be shown the key ingredients used to make this superb show.

Like most Art of books Adventure Time The Art of Ooo is a crammed with drawings and doodles, but being based on a TV series it has a slight uniqueness that other books of this format don’t have and it is nice to see a series represented in the shape of storyboards, sketches and character guides in the place of the usual techniques employed in feature films. Like the show, the book is an individual that stands apart from the others of its ilk.

The book is separated by its distinct chapters, all interesting and complimentary to one another taking the reader through the journey of the series from creation to accomplishment. Chapter one “Dawn of Ooo” takes the reader back to the very beginning and the way the relationship that created the series was forged through interviews with key people from the show such as creator Pen Ward and Eric Homan alongside series style guides, logo development and napkin doodles. Pat McHale offers fascinating night into dissecting the style of Pen Ward and translating it into something that all the animators can use, although there seems to be a looseness to the design of the show it is actually quite regimented with some artist flourishes permitted. “All Globs Creatures” delves into the main characters through interviews with designers and voice artists such as John DiMaggio, sketches and screenshots.

“Building the Treehouse” takes us through the topography of the land of Ooo from Finn and Jakes treehouse through the candy kingdom and beyond, dealing with layout. The various stories and monsters that fill the land of Ooo are covered in “Dungeon Crawling” alongside a deeper look into the story with interviews from Rebecca Sugar and Kent Osborne as well as in depth looks at guest episodes such as the famous David O’Reilly episode. The book pays tribute, in its final chapter “Beyond Ooo” to its huge fan base and the ways the show has inspired fans with fan art, alongside crew art and a look at the extended adventures in the boom comic series. With an introduction by master of monsters Guillermo del Toro. As a huge fan of the show the praise he heaps on the series proves that Adventure Time is something very special indeed.

Volume wise this book is much thicker than the average art of book and is bursting with enough Bubblegum Princesses, Vampire Queens and Rainicorns to keep any fan of the show or anyone who wishes to get an idea as to why Adventure Time is so popular very happy indeed.

You can buy “Adventure Time – The Art of Ooo” from Amazon for £16.00 by clicking here.