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Artbooks - The Best And The Worst

78fed18e52744114beff04f716e61a4b.jpg


Just got this beast the other day and I'm in love. It has art from pretty much everything including the spinoffs and even a little bit of XI.

I skimmed through it in a import book shop last week. It took all my might not to buy it.

I think I'll go buy it tomorrow.
 

brinstar

Member
Thanks man! It's cheaper at Amazon JP. I'll probably order it from there then.

I haven't had any DQ artbooks yet. Do you think the DQ 25th anniversary encyclopedia is worth it?
This is the only DQ art book I have... if that's the one with all the monsters in it then I've seen a friend's copy and it was pretty great too.
 

randomkid

Member
Did some winter cleaning and realized I got a lot more of these than I thought I had, considering I don't go out of my way to collect and tend to wait for deals. Some of these have kind of skyrocketed in value!

Random game stuff:

Megaten stuff:

Amano stuff:

I got opinions on all of these that I won't bore you with, and there's some stuff I know is missing too! The ones that are most personally precious I guess are that 1 of 1000 Sky Amano Hardcover and Digital Devil Apocalypse.

I should get around to grabbing all the Kaneko Works before they're like $500 each instead of just like $200.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Did some winter cleaning and realized I got a lot more of these than I thought I had, considering I don't go out of my way to collect and tend to wait for deals. Some of these have kind of skyrocketed in value!

Random game stuff:


Megaten stuff:


Amano stuff:


I got opinions on all of these that I won't bore you with, and there's some stuff I know is missing too! The ones that are most personally precious I guess are that 1 of 1000 Sky Amano Hardcover and Digital Devil Apocalypse.

I should get around to grabbing all the Kaneko Works before they're like $500 each instead of just like $200.

What are those SMT II books?

And I only have Kaneko Works I, Pandemonium, and DDA, but that's a nice start.

I have the Devil Summoner World Guidance, too. Really need to get the Persona one someday.
 

randomkid

Member
What are those SMT II books?

And I only have Kaneko Works I, Pandemonium, and DDA, but that's a nice start.

I have the Devil Summoner World Guidance, too. Really need to get the Persona one someday.

those are just some random guides that were real cheap on Amazon, I think one of them is called "Steven Report", they were both like $20 together if I recall.
 
I really want to get the Killzone saga artbook:

toHLtKc.png


but it's exclusive to amsterdam based art dealer Cook & Becker... so the taxes + shipping exceed the cost of the book itselft...

Earlier this year they told me that by the end of the year they would try to sell it through conventional channels but no luck yet.

Going to mail them again I think. I need that book
 
I really want to get the Killzone saga artbook:

toHLtKc.png


but it's exclusive to amsterdam based art dealer Cook & Becker... so the taxes + shipping exceed the cost of the book itselft...

Earlier this year they told me that by the end of the year they would try to sell it through conventional channels but no luck yet.

Going to mail them again I think. I need that book

It's also up on the playstation gear store (on sale right now too), but that may just be a solution for USA residents.
 

ScOULaris

Member
I really want to get the Killzone saga artbook:

https://i.imgur.com/toHLtKc.png

but it's exclusive to amsterdam based art dealer Cook & Becker... so the taxes + shipping exceed the cost of the book itselft...

Earlier this year they told me that by the end of the year they would try to sell it through conventional channels but no luck yet.

Going to mail them again I think. I need that book

I got this book from the Playstation Gear store. It's excellent.
 

dracula_x

Member
I really want to get the Killzone saga artbook:

toHLtKc.png


but it's exclusive to amsterdam based art dealer Cook & Becker... so the taxes + shipping exceed the cost of the book itselft...

Earlier this year they told me that by the end of the year they would try to sell it through conventional channels but no luck yet.

Going to mail them again I think. I need that book

btw, speaking of Cook & Becker, they recently released Sonic The Hedgehog 25th Anniversary artbook – https://www.candb.com/en/artwork/20...versary-art-book-standard-hardcover-sega.html

 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Anybody have that 120 Years of Vlambeer book? Looks nice, but is it high, quality material?
 
It's also up on the playstation gear store (on sale right now too), but that may just be a solution for USA residents.

I got this book from the Playstation Gear store. It's excellent.

Jesus, Playstation Gear Store was announced for Europe but I can't find it... Or maybe because I'm currently in south america, it redirects only to US store ?

French store displays a message (I could access through VPN) but it says a third party can't honor all orders so the store is shut down...

I'll never get this book... :(
 

1upsuper

Member
OK, so I've had time to pore over the 30th Anniversary Dragon Quest Illustrations art book. In a word, it's beautiful.

First, the presentation is great. It comes in a thick cardboard sleeve with a lenticular cover and back (It's not typical lenticular plastic though; it's printed on the cardboard itself. If you've seen Yugioh starfoil cards you'll know what I mean. If the light hits the cover or back, you can see a rainbow pattern) and a small slipcover. The attention to detail is great. There are even a few monsters on the inside of the cardboard case itself! The book itself also has a big slipcover with a different design than both the cardboard sleeve and the the book cover and back proper, which is also a nice attention to detail. The book is a good size. It feels substantial without being cumbersome to read.

As for the contents, the book is not quite as lengthy as you might expect. It's a thick book but the pages themselves are high quality cardstock and so it only has a page count of 240. When you couple the page count with their goal of providing at least some artwork for almost every game, spin-off or otherwise (we'll get to that), it means that you don't get a whole lot of art for each game. That's definitely too bad, but what is here is excellent.

The book goes in chronological order, however artwork for remakes follows the artwork of the original release, so there is some back and forth time-wise. It's really interesting to see how Toriyama drew, say, the hero from 5 for the Super Famicom release versus the PS2 release on the next page. Seeing the evolution of his artwork is one of the best parts of the book. Now, most of the artwork in the book, at least in the latter half, consists of PC, NPC, and final boss designs as well as promo artwork for each game. The DQ I-VI sections do include a fair amount of monster designs but it isn't comprehensive. If you're a DQ diehard like I am, this probably means you'll also want to pick up the Monster Encyclopedia released for the 25th anniversary if you don't already have it; conversely, that book doesn't make this one obsolete given their difference focuses.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, *almost* every DQ and remake is included here. It even includes some of the pretty obscure ones, like Kenshin Dragon Quest, Yangus's Mystery Dungeon, and Torneko no Daibouken 3. However, these more obscure spin-offs only get a couple of images; usually the cover artwork and maybe a character design. They actually did include Battle Road 1 and 2, but only barely; their presence in this book is limited to a couple new illustrations of past DQ heroes. It also includes the DQ XI hero design at the very end, which is a nice touch. It also includes the box art for Joker 3 and Builders as well as the original characters from Heroes II, so the book feels very up to date.

Now I'm gonna be super nitpicky here for a second. The book doesn't actually include art from absolutely every game. It's missing art from Monster Parade, a couple mobile games including Super Light, the cellphone remake of the Monsters games (though it includes the box art for the PSX remake), Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest Wars, and most notably, Itadaki Street. I'm a bit surprised by that last omission, honestly. As for the others though, their absence is barely noticeable.

There's very little text in the book, and what little there is is in Japanese, of course. The book begins with a foldout timeline of the series' various releases, and the book ends with some brief discussion of the progression of Toriyama's art for the series and a little message from Yuji Horii. Otherwise, the text is limited to the names of monsters/NPCs/character classes and the context for the promo or packaging art. If you know Hiragana/Katakana it's cool to read the Japanese monster names, but if you don't, you're hardly missing anything at all. It's very import-friendly.

In sum, this is a must-own art book for any DQ fan. The presentation is top notch and it has great breadth. However, due to the breadth and the 240 pages, it lacks depth for a lot of the games included. It would be awesome to someday get a series of art books which include *everything* but for now, I'll gladly take this release.

Edit: One more thing. The book includes one image for one of the Dragon Quest animes, but none for Dai no Daibouken.
 

LegendX48

Member
Hyrule Historia was disapointing ... lots of games have just one or two pages and lots of focus on text and timeline and stuff.
Hyrule Historia wasn't an art book though o_O

Or was it meant to be one? Never viewed as an art book.

Anywho, the TLOU art book is pretty damn rad.
 

Mieu

Member
Can somebody enlighten me on the Final Fantasy XIV artbooks?

It looks like there are four:

A Realm Reborn CE
Heavensward CE
Art of Ishgard
The Art of Eorzea -another dawn-

And the reprinted encyclopedia.

Edit: A realm reimagined showed up in my amazon search


Are all of these different or do they have some shared same content to an extent?
 
How are Persona 3 & 4 artbooks ? Are they just promotional art collection or do they have creative process, commentary, stuff like that ?
 

Mieu

Member
How are Persona 3 & 4 artbooks ? Are they just promotional art collection or do they have creative process, commentary, stuff like that ?

I don't have my copy yet but you can check the Amazon review section. There's a video that gives you a glimpse of what the pages look like. It's a quick flip from start to end.
 
Ji8hytO.jpg


3 books .. it is huge ... but since pretty much every art is full page, lots of art were left out, specialy from the later FF that had fewer amano art

I bought this for a friend and got to look through it. It's gorgeous, and heavy as all hell too, haha. The collection could kill someone if it fell off a shelf. I really love Amano and wish they'd make a game closer to his actual concepts -- maybe in a rendering style akin to El Shaddai.

Semi-related, but I was at a local thrift store and found a Warhammer 40k art book for $5. It was this one:

emperorsswillcoverqeu0p.jpeg


It's really dark and has amazing iconography, but I have next to no connection with 40k so I didn't pick it up. I kinda regret not doing so, but I already have bookcases full of books.
 

Dantis

Member
My Persona 5 artbook should arrive next week. Would have been sooner than it is, but Amazon JP decided to put the wrong address on it. :(

How are Persona 3 & 4 artbooks ? Are they just promotional art collection or do they have creative process, commentary, stuff like that ?

They have sketchwork and commentary from Soejima, if that's what you mean.
 

dracula_x

Member

cj_iwakura

Member
I bought this for a friend and got to look through it. It's gorgeous, and heavy as all hell too, haha. The collection could kill someone if it fell off a shelf. I really love Amano and wish they'd make a game closer to his actual concepts -- maybe in a rendering style akin to El Shaddai.

Semi-related, but I was at a local thrift store and found a Warhammer 40k art book for $5. It was this one:

emperorsswillcoverqeu0p.jpeg


It's really dark and has amazing iconography, but I have next to no connection with 40k so I didn't pick it up. I kinda regret not doing so, but I already have bookcases full of books.

rnj9cfb7o3cg.png


Kind of hard to believe a thrift shop had 40k stuff... I'd have bought that on general principle.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
The best art book i have (in terms of physical quality) is the god of war 3, and in terms of contents there are quite a few imo
Amano The Sky
Monster Hunters
Art of Uncharted Trilogy
Okami

Here's a partial look at what i have
uyJ25Oih.jpg
 
The artbooks for The Division and Dragon Age : Inquisition were both very good. Dishonored (1)'s art/lore book was super interesting as well, great presentation.
 

Tzeentch

Member
It's also up on the playstation gear store (on sale right now too), but that may just be a solution for USA residents.
I got it from the Playstation store.

The book is great overall, but some of the inserts printed on what looks and feels like one-ply tissue paper are annoying as hell.
 
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