From page to page, there is beautiful art, side notes of inspiration, story board panels, alternate character designs, anecdotes, really excellent original art, thought processes and reasons why certain decisions were made – it’s a glimpse into the world behind the world that they’ve created, and at 188 pages, it’s pretty comprehensive. Fleischer, Miyazaki, and WWI are all things that pop up in the typed descriptions.

The hardcover is 9”x12” which is perfect to set on a table top to grab people’s attention, which is what a book like this is for. If you love it, you want people to know. Personally, for books like this, I prefer slightly bigger than perfect, cause I really want people to know I love it. We’re fanboys and fangirls and we’d ask for wall size, but reality sometimes is an unwelcome friend. It boils down to a nerd being picky.

The Avatar world, as a reader and creator, grabbed me deeply and will probably never let go. A book like this is inspiring, hearing about how difficult it was sometimes, how daunting, and yet the pride they take in their work is enough to make me flip over to another word document and work on my own stuff, which I’m just about to do. So, I’ll leave it at this. The Art of the Animated Series – Book Four: Balance is definitely worth the buy if you are a fan of the series, and Christmas isn’t that far away.