The Art of Love, Death + Robots

by Ramin Zahed

Immerse yourself in the official collection of artworks from the first three volumes of Love, Death + Robots, and discover the stories and inspirations behind this beloved Netflix series.

Love Death + Robots is a Netflix series like no other--a breath-taking journey of mature, high-concept tales told with seductive characters, astounding plots, and explosive action. With each episode crafted by different animation teams across the globe, the thought-provoking anthology covers a vast range of animation styles from edgy 2D to stop-motion to anime to hyper-realistic 3D CG.

In this luxury book, discover the wealth of artwork and stories behind the creation of the series' first three volumes. Includes interviews with key artists and creatives such as series creators Tim Miller and David Fincher, and is full to the brim with everything from beautiful concept art, character studies, costume sketches, paintings, vehicle designs, storyboards, and early vision decks, through to finished frames. Perfect for any fan of animation.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

265 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 23, 2022

About the author

Ramin Zahed is the Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles-based monthly publication, Animation magazine. He has been covering the animation and visual effects world for over 15 years. Before joining Animag, he was a senior editor at Daily variety. His articles have also appeared in Variety, Hollywood reporter, The Los Angeles times and The Christian science monitor.

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Netflix gets a lot of flack for being this homogenising, corporatised streaming service that insists on a level of control extending to the types of cameras and lenses used on its shows, producing what detractors call ‘the Netflix look’.

But when it does honour innovation and talent and is willing to give a project the budget it deserves, the results are spectacular. And LDR is a great example of that balls-to-the-wall commitment, a groundbreaking anthology series in the legacy of Heavy Metal that gave free reign to some of the best and most talented working in animation today.

In addition, the stories in the series are based on a veritable roll call of ‘who’s who’ in the SF genre, from JG Ballard to Harlan Ellison, John Scalzi, Neal Asher, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton, Ken Liu, Joe Lansdale, Paolo Bacigalupi, Michael Swanwick and Bruce Sterling.

Ramin Zahed’s book is the perfect LDR companion, giving just enough technical insight and behind-the-scenes geekery on every episode thus far. The real treat though are the gorgeous photographs, storyboards, sketches and other visual material that makes for an absolute feast for the senses. Let’s hope we get a Volume 4 of LDR!

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kudos to Netflix for platforming this series, it's so innovative and visually stunning that it deserves such a coffee table book with many high-quality images. Zahed's collection contains short texts on every episode of the first three seasons of the anthology series developed by David Fincher and Tim Miller of Blur Studio, and it showcases why it has garnered several Emmys by displaying large spreads of artwork development. Beware though, the texts focus mainly on technological aspects and the ideas behind the varied aesthetics of the short films, executed by animation specialists from around the world.

The narrative art as in plotting, pacing, etc. takes a minor role, although the episodes are mostly based on short stories by writers such as J.G. Ballard, Harlan Ellison, and Ken Liu - there would have been a lot to say about messaging, story construction, worldbuilding, text & context, and it's a real shame that's omitted.

Favorite LD+R episodes:

Season 1 (18 episodes)
"The Witness" (the films by Alberto Mielgo have the best aesthetics in the series, IMHO), "Beyond the Aquila Rift", "Good Hunting", "The Secret War".

Season 2 (8 episodes)
"Snow in the Desert", although The Drowned Giant has the best story- it's just that there's no real benefit in adding moving images to Ballard's highly contemplative tale.

Season 3 (9 episodes)
"Bad Travelling", "Swarm", and my favorite episode ever, the masterpiece that is "Jibaro".

Season 4 is not included in the book!

A great collection for people interested in the visual artwork, less so for the literary crowd.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great behind the scenes on each of the stories I sort of wish it were structured a little differently than just the a chapter per episode felt like some interviews or more concept art would have been great.

[Vladyslav Ieliashevskyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Люблю артбуки, і цей не може бути винятком, адже заснований на прекрасній антології.

В процесі звернув увагу, що не висвітлена одна серія, почав досліджувати це питання і виявилось, що українське видання не додало розділ про епізод Blindspot, так як його малювали в російській студії. Я розумію, чому так було зроблено, але не можу сказати, що я за це прямо вдячний. Подобається людям це чи ні, але Blindspot є частиною антології, та й в 2019-у коли цей епізод малювали, світ працював по іншому, ніж зараз. Це ще дивніше враховуючи, що не був вилучений розділ про епізод The Secret War, в якому всі персонажі є червоноармійцями, а події відбуваються в Сибіру. І получається, що епізод знятий в Угорщині, та котрий містить більше совєтської символіки попадає в артбук, а епізод знятий на болотах, але котрий не містить жодної пропаганди - вилучається. Цікаво...

Таким чином, для мене українське видання не є повним, та не може заслуговувати на найвищу оцінку.

[Dead Inside Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудовий бонус для фанатів антології, який особливо цікавий буде звичайно всім хто має справу з візуальним мистецтвом. Дуже радий, що з українського видання забрали один з розділів 1 тому, а саме - "Мертву точку". Причини, думаю, очевидні - вона створювалась студією з росії, країни-агресора. За це величезний respect видавництву ArtHuss.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite show so how could I not love the book?? The art is beautiful and the behind the scenes information was great.

[Naya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Як великий шанувальник артбуків, та антології Любов, смерть + роботи - 10 роботів з 10.
І величезне дякую ArtHuss, за те що в книзі не згадується про одну серію. Дуже приємна несподіванка.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Artbook that takes you through the developments of the different concepts and ideas of the diffrent episodes of the show - if only pretty briefly.

My favorite episode is "the witness" which i
I feel like I didnt get enough content about but considering they had to include everything and not make the book 10 times as heavy i can understand the decision to be more brief.

I really enjoyed it and the show!

[Ronnie Fairley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book explaining the process of putting someone's idea into animation and bringing the stories to life in a different form. I like that the book discusses each episode individually and explores what inspired each of them. I have the physical copy, so seeing the art on the pages is cool.

[Oksana Artemenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Якби не книга, то може б ніколи і не подивилась цей серіал. Серіалу ставлю 10, книзі - 6. Не дивлячись на якісне оформлення, товщину, яскраві ілюстрації, сам зміст не достатній. Декілька абзаців тексту про кожну серію, це замало. Той, хто не дивився серіал, взагалі нічого не зрозуміє. Інформативності мало. Про авторів ми можемо почитати і в титрах. Впевнена, що було що розповісти, але чому автори цього не зробити, залишається питанням.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Arturo Cortes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very cool, wish it had more tbh, in terms of the making of things

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il dietro le quinte di questa incredibile serie di animazione per adulti non poteva che essere stupendo.
Ho ammirato e stimato ogni singola pagina.