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The Art of Gravity Falls
Take a road trip... back to where it all started.
For years, the true origins of Gravity Falls have been hidden under lock and key. Now, series creator Alex Hirsch and producer Rob Renzetti crack open the vault, revealing the definitive visual history of the hit animated series in this stunning collection of over 2,000 pieces of artwork and artist commentary.
Ten years after the finale to the beloved series comes the highly anticipated deluxe art book that belongs on every fan’s shelf. Illustrated with beautiful visuals from the show’s development, including never-before-seen concept art, character sketches, storyboards, color scripts, and stories with the production team, The Art of Gravity Falls draws back the curtain on the artistic process behind Disney’s award-winning animated series Gravity Falls.
In The Art of Gravity Falls, fans will find insights into the show’s artistic development. Series creator Alex Hirsch shares with producer Rob Renzetti in his own words everything fans want to know about the hit animated series, from technical behind-the-scenes details to the first inklings of the characters and world, lost episode ideas, cut jokes, deviously hidden easter eggs, and much, much more!
This definitive oversized full-color art book features a die-cut foldout case, a gatefold showcasing every single one of Mabel’s iconic sweaters, and hundreds of rare, never-before-revealed elements, including:
-The complete series bible
-Pilot development notes
-A collection of scrapped characters
-Exploration of the writing process and series plotting across the two seasons, including an “episode graveyard” of cut ideas
-More than fifty behind-the-scenes photographs from Alex Hirsch’s collection, including photos from the team at work at the studio and inspiration from his childhood
-Original concept art showing the character design evolutions of Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, and Grunkle Stan
-The story behind Bill Cipher’s origin and the series’ codes and ciphers
-Dozens of iterations of concept art and models of the Mystery Shack
-An episode-by-episode breakdown of the plot development and writing process across the show’s two seasons, featuring hundreds of pieces of corresponding background art, storyboards, cells, rough designs, color keys, animation frames, and final stills illustrating animation style refinement
-And much, much more!
With additional commentary from the creative team, including art director Ian Worrel, animator Joe Pitt, creative director Mike Rianda, location designer Sean Jimenez, and production designer Phil Rynda, and a foreword by animation legend James Baxter, The Art of Gravity Falls is a keepsake celebration of the incredible artists behind the beloved series, a blueprint for creatives who want to turn their own ideas into animated worlds, and an ideal gift for fans of the Disney animated series and for students, animators, artists, and collectors.
The Mystery Shack is waiting... Are you ready to step inside?
For years, the true origins of Gravity Falls have been hidden under lock and key. Now, series creator Alex Hirsch and producer Rob Renzetti crack open the vault, revealing the definitive visual history of the hit animated series in this stunning collection of over 2,000 pieces of artwork and artist commentary.
Ten years after the finale to the beloved series comes the highly anticipated deluxe art book that belongs on every fan’s shelf. Illustrated with beautiful visuals from the show’s development, including never-before-seen concept art, character sketches, storyboards, color scripts, and stories with the production team, The Art of Gravity Falls draws back the curtain on the artistic process behind Disney’s award-winning animated series Gravity Falls.
In The Art of Gravity Falls, fans will find insights into the show’s artistic development. Series creator Alex Hirsch shares with producer Rob Renzetti in his own words everything fans want to know about the hit animated series, from technical behind-the-scenes details to the first inklings of the characters and world, lost episode ideas, cut jokes, deviously hidden easter eggs, and much, much more!
This definitive oversized full-color art book features a die-cut foldout case, a gatefold showcasing every single one of Mabel’s iconic sweaters, and hundreds of rare, never-before-revealed elements, including:
-The complete series bible
-Pilot development notes
-A collection of scrapped characters
-Exploration of the writing process and series plotting across the two seasons, including an “episode graveyard” of cut ideas
-More than fifty behind-the-scenes photographs from Alex Hirsch’s collection, including photos from the team at work at the studio and inspiration from his childhood
-Original concept art showing the character design evolutions of Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, and Grunkle Stan
-The story behind Bill Cipher’s origin and the series’ codes and ciphers
-Dozens of iterations of concept art and models of the Mystery Shack
-An episode-by-episode breakdown of the plot development and writing process across the show’s two seasons, featuring hundreds of pieces of corresponding background art, storyboards, cells, rough designs, color keys, animation frames, and final stills illustrating animation style refinement
-And much, much more!
With additional commentary from the creative team, including art director Ian Worrel, animator Joe Pitt, creative director Mike Rianda, location designer Sean Jimenez, and production designer Phil Rynda, and a foreword by animation legend James Baxter, The Art of Gravity Falls is a keepsake celebration of the incredible artists behind the beloved series, a blueprint for creatives who want to turn their own ideas into animated worlds, and an ideal gift for fans of the Disney animated series and for students, animators, artists, and collectors.
The Mystery Shack is waiting... Are you ready to step inside?
- GenresArtNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 2026
About the author
Alex Hirsch
11 books1,109 followersAlex Hirsch is a writer, animator, voice actor, and director. He is best known for creating Gravity Falls on Disney XD and for co-writing the #1 New York Times best-selling book Journal 3. He was raised in Piedmont, California, and received a BFA in Character Animation from The California Institute of the Arts. He currently lives in Los Angeles, and is at work developing projects for Film & TV.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2026
Great in-depth look behind each episode, every character design, every background, etc.
Definitely not a half assed artbook—a genuine and heartfelt love letter to the show and its crew. It was just overall a very good time.
Definitely not a half assed artbook—a genuine and heartfelt love letter to the show and its crew. It was just overall a very good time.
September 17, 2026
I don't think I will ever get tired of revisiting the world of Gravity Falls. It is a truly magical place and holds such a special place in my heart.
This was also a truly delightful art book. From the initial fun of opening it up with that layer cover, through a special fold out page, to all the codes I saw hidden throughout that I will have to go back and decode at some point. This was a nonstop good time, as in I did sit down and read the whole thing in a single sitting. For being an art book this title has a surprisingly strong narrative element. Going through it feels like being told the story of the development of Gravity Falls from it's earliest conception to its final episode. It was clearly a walk down memory lane for the creators and a fascinating story to read through. All of this accompanied by some truly beautiful artwork of backgrounds and color blocking alongside some hilarious sketches and story boards.
I truly did love the chronological approach to organization this art book takes as you truly get to see the development of characters and story, while also getting to touch on everything. Every episode of the show gets at least a two page spread talking about it and showing off art specifically from it. And some episodes even get more pages that dive deeper into different aspects of them. And each page holds something new, the same kind of bts info is not shared for every episode in these spreads. Some are more focused on the themes of the episode, the characters being highlighted, the mysteries being set up, development challenges, or just an especially funny joke. Some highlight the art of the location, some the expression and actions of characters, and yet others showcase something else unexpected. Each turn of the page brings with it a new thing to learn.
And I would say that I learned a lot. Simultaneously a lot of thought and a surprising lack of it at times went into the creation of Gravity Falls. Alex Hirch and his creative team highlighted here developed such strong themes and character arcs while also putting together a solid and satisfying mystery. Getting a peak behind the curtain to just how much of this was planned verses just kind of accidental is fascinating, and I won't spoil what was and was not planned out. It was also interesting to see how the logistical realties of developing a TV show at times butted heads with the show in one way or another and how that impacted certain aspects. It was also interesting to see what aspects of the show were heavily pulled from the lives of Alex and his sister Ariel verses the experiences of another writer. There were several aspects of certain jokes that got highlighted here that I had never thought about or at least hadn't in a long time. It was also interesting to see what kind of things were inside jokes of the crew that made it into the show. And for as much as I know about Gravity Falls and all it's jokes I did have a moment of realization while reading of a joke/reference that has alluded me all these years that I have just never seen anyone mention or at the very least has yet to mean anything to me. But I finally get that the two time agents, Lolph and Dundgren are a reference to the actor Dolph Lundgren. I watched the original He-Man movie earlier this year so I finally have a point of reference and this joke finally clicked for me. Just one of the magical things of revisiting a thing from your childhood, you get more and more of the references you missed as a child.
I highly recommend this book to Gravity Falls fans. It was a great way to revisit a familiar place with a fresh set of eyes and is sure to only enhance future rewatches of the show.
This was also a truly delightful art book. From the initial fun of opening it up with that layer cover, through a special fold out page, to all the codes I saw hidden throughout that I will have to go back and decode at some point. This was a nonstop good time, as in I did sit down and read the whole thing in a single sitting. For being an art book this title has a surprisingly strong narrative element. Going through it feels like being told the story of the development of Gravity Falls from it's earliest conception to its final episode. It was clearly a walk down memory lane for the creators and a fascinating story to read through. All of this accompanied by some truly beautiful artwork of backgrounds and color blocking alongside some hilarious sketches and story boards.
I truly did love the chronological approach to organization this art book takes as you truly get to see the development of characters and story, while also getting to touch on everything. Every episode of the show gets at least a two page spread talking about it and showing off art specifically from it. And some episodes even get more pages that dive deeper into different aspects of them. And each page holds something new, the same kind of bts info is not shared for every episode in these spreads. Some are more focused on the themes of the episode, the characters being highlighted, the mysteries being set up, development challenges, or just an especially funny joke. Some highlight the art of the location, some the expression and actions of characters, and yet others showcase something else unexpected. Each turn of the page brings with it a new thing to learn.
And I would say that I learned a lot. Simultaneously a lot of thought and a surprising lack of it at times went into the creation of Gravity Falls. Alex Hirch and his creative team highlighted here developed such strong themes and character arcs while also putting together a solid and satisfying mystery. Getting a peak behind the curtain to just how much of this was planned verses just kind of accidental is fascinating, and I won't spoil what was and was not planned out. It was also interesting to see how the logistical realties of developing a TV show at times butted heads with the show in one way or another and how that impacted certain aspects. It was also interesting to see what aspects of the show were heavily pulled from the lives of Alex and his sister Ariel verses the experiences of another writer. There were several aspects of certain jokes that got highlighted here that I had never thought about or at least hadn't in a long time. It was also interesting to see what kind of things were inside jokes of the crew that made it into the show. And for as much as I know about Gravity Falls and all it's jokes I did have a moment of realization while reading of a joke/reference that has alluded me all these years that I have just never seen anyone mention or at the very least has yet to mean anything to me. But I finally get that the two time agents, Lolph and Dundgren are a reference to the actor Dolph Lundgren. I watched the original He-Man movie earlier this year so I finally have a point of reference and this joke finally clicked for me. Just one of the magical things of revisiting a thing from your childhood, you get more and more of the references you missed as a child.
I highly recommend this book to Gravity Falls fans. It was a great way to revisit a familiar place with a fresh set of eyes and is sure to only enhance future rewatches of the show.
September 16, 2026
It’s everything I wanted and more
September 16, 2026
This is amazing!! I will definitely be reading this again and again to try to absorb all the tiny details.
September 17, 2026
This gotta be the most beautiful and love-induced artbook I have ever held in my hands. It’s funny, creative, colorful and basically perfect. Just like the show.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews