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Artbooks - The Best And The Worst

GAMETA

Banned
Artbooks (games, movies, experimental) are really difficult to find and extremely expensive around here... Importing from the US is so GODDAMN EXPENSIVE. :(
 
In my country its hard to find these book because librairies don't import book in foreign language or rarely and artbooks are sometimes distributed by small editors and they have no presence in France.

So I either buy them in very niche shop that import them and resell at high price, or amazon.fr that is basically the only online retailler for these books...

But today I found out that amazon.uk is selling these book for sometines 30 to 40% cheaper than amazon.fr and shipping is still marginal from the UK to France.

I'm so happy :D
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
I always loved the art in the original Zelda instruction manual, but in terms of actual art book I would say the first mass effects art book was awesome.
 

Spirited

Mine is pretty and pink
Ended up pre-ordering the Zelda art and artifacts book that releases in the west tomorrow, anyone here knows if it's any good?
 
I'm not biased



Bonus points for this awesome concept:

Got this one for my birthday a coulple years ago, it really is great.

This is the last one I got and I love it:

61JxY3Z-daL._SX352_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 

Mieu

Member
Ended up pre-ordering the Zelda art and artifacts book that releases in the west tomorrow, anyone here knows if it's any good?

It looks good based on the preview I saw. I think this is also more of an encyclopedia just like Hyrule Historia but the content is as rich. There are very few pages from BOTW according to the one who got it early.

Not much of a difference from the LE which costs 4x as much.
 

shandy706

Member
I just got my Zelda Art and Artifacts. This book is an absolute Beast! 424 Pages, LOL. I thought I got a brick in the mail.
 

Dunan

Member
It sure is disappointing to see prices go parabolic on some of these once they go out of print. The Gravity Rush artbook, which cost about 2000 yen ($26 when it came out and the yen was very high; under $20 now) is going for 6000 yen or more on Amazon.jp, and the English translation of the Valkyria Chronicles Design Archive, available at the cover price just a month or two ago, has suddenly soared to over $100! (Even the Japanese VC1 book costs over $30 used. I'm glad I didn't sell mine.)

I'm a big fan of pre-release development artwork and love books that contain it; several of Square Enix Ultimanias have a lot of it (FFXII Omega, FFXIII Omega) and I wish they would enlarge the black and white drawings so that we can also read the little notes that the artists put in the margins. These almost never get translated!

Two favorites of mine that deserve recognition: the hardcover Deus Ex: Human Revolution strategy book (insanely priced now) that has a special section at the end with art and interviews, and Huke's Steins;Gate artbook. I have a big heavy S;G and Chaos;Head strategy bookwhich is pretty good, too.
 

Mieu

Member
The Valkyria Chronicles 1 book rose its price right after the launch of the ps4 remastered and it looks like someone bought all the stocks in Amazon and B&N lol.

I do have the 2nd and third one but I haven't really read them.

The books can get pricey so it's really hard to get a copy of two each.
 

yunbuns

Member
It's currently exclusive to the UCE but it does have a some substantial amount of art in it.

When you say FF books are not much, are you referring to something similar like The Sky?

Aw that's sucks. It's nice they the UCE had a good artbook. I found the artbook for the X/X-2 remaster really disappointing since it was filled with art that has been easily avaliable on the internet for years and renders. I wanted more rare art especially since it was for a CE.

I have the IX artbook which I feel has more content but I again I found it lacking with no early concept of characters and stuff. I would rather see things like that than art of a bunch of nps.

I have the LR artbook which I got for free from the SE store and I actually quite like that one. I don't own The Sky because I'm not really an Amano fan but I'll probably get it eventually.
 
Yes, I have the Horizon Zero Dawn book sitting right here next to me. I really like it. It has a good combination of full page concept art as well as pages dedicated to various people and places in the game.

There is also text explaining some of the locations and creatures in game. I'm very happy with the purchase.
 
Easily my favorite artbook to date is the Eorzea Encyclopaedia.

Not only does it contain beautiful artwork but it also provides a massive lore information on FFXIV.
This came back into stock last week and I was hesitant to get it but this post swayed me, plus I wanted a job pin also. Now it's out of stock again:/
 

Mieu

Member
If you're looking for the out of print Marvel VS. Capcom: Official Complete Works, the cheapest option would be by buying the digital, or the retail version.

The artbook is digital only though through the game's gallery.
 
Can anyone recommend this book?

51M1-WMJpqL.jpg

when the game was announced and before the critical acclaim, i was more interested in the artbook than the game itself because...i mean c'mon, robot dinosaurs? The concept art and render will be interesting.

So i preordered the book before the game....

I am now playing the game too of course.
 

Mieu

Member
It's pretty great, I actually cancelled my collectors edition preorder and got this plus the game instead.

Excellent quality, and lots of content. I have only skimmed it as I didn't want to see too many spoilers though.


Cancelled my CE too in favor of this. For me it's better than the statue and amall book.

There's that robo dinosaur figure coming up right?
 
Can anyone recommend this book?

51M1-WMJpqL.jpg

It's a nice book. But it lack concept studies and trial & error.

It's basically a world art book, in the sens that it shows in details the work put in the final game. It shows details on the different tribes, their style, people, armor, houses, weapons... with great text explaining design decisions, philosophies and focus...

But it feels like a collection, not like a creative process, with the progress, the errors, the exploration around shapes, colors, forms... And I like that in my artbooks but this one just is not about that.

I would still, recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the game. It's beautiful and its really paying tribute to the amazing work and details done on the game's massive universe, on the tribes, the locations, the housings, the armors...

But like any good artbook, the more it shows, the more it lacks because it can't show EVEYRTHING :D
 

Mieu

Member
Does anyone have the official Persona 5 artbook?

I'd like to see a comparison between the official guide and the one in Take Your Heart edition.

The udon books are usually thick ang brimming with info but based on the videos, most pics in the THY ed are promo materials.
 
Does anyone have the official Persona 5 artbook?

I'd like to see a comparison between the official guide and the one in Take Your Heart edition.

The udon books are usually thick ang brimming with info but based on the videos, most pics in the THY ed are promo materials.

Wait for the real thing :

zMd5BZn.png


432 pages, available un june and Amazon already offers it at 32$ instead of 40.

You should NEVER buy limited editions for their artbooks : they are tiny and useless...
 

Mieu

Member
Wait for the real thing :

zMd5BZn.png


432 pages, available un june and Amazon already offers it at 32$ instead of 40.

You should NEVER buy limited editions for their artbooks : they are tiny and useless...

Oh i will double dip. I already have the jap version. True the CEs or LEs are disappointing. Thanks for letting me know that this is already happening

The Megaman book with the Megaman Zero concept art is one of my favs

But that's expensive!!

Wow, there's an artbook for Soul Sacrifice?

That game has some of the best art direction I've seen in a game imo. I need it.

Japan only?
 
I like Art and Design books myself where the creators go into how certain things cameabout, why certain aspects were chosen over others, and insight into the process. It's way more interesting with context rather than just art.
 
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

I just had to buy a new shelf yesterday. The amount of huge artbooks I also have bent the shelves warping the entire thing and it started falling apart
 
SFV's is Garbage Tier

KOF XIV's is really nice

If you count Zelda Historia, that was really good!

I've been meaning to get this book. I know Capcom kind of skimps on their Art Books. The worst one for me was Resident Evil 5 - All of the art was the renders that were already released via press.
 

Mieu

Member
I like Art and Design books myself where the creators go into how certain things cameabout, why certain aspects were chosen over others, and insight into the process. It's way more interesting with context rather than just art.

Persona 4 had this. Most official artbooks normally have these unless they get lazy LOL!!

Already posted in the dedicated thread, but Read-Only Memory's Genesis book reprint is up for preorder:

https://readonlymemory.vg/shop/book/sega-mega-drive-genesis-collected-works/

Not only contains beautiful images but is expertly designed and has some cool interviews.

I want to order but the shipping would kill my wallet.😂😂😂

I just had to buy a new shelf yesterday. The amount of huge artbooks I also have bent the shelves warping the entire thing and it started falling apart

Arrghh!! They can get pretty heavy!!

The Last of Us CE came with its full artbook as well, and it was only $90 I think. Complete steal.

Are you referring to the post-pandemic edition?

I've been meaning to get this book. I know Capcom kind of skimps on their Art Books. The worst one for me was Resident Evil 5 - All of the art was the renders that were already released via press.

The Udon books are usually nice but the one in the SFV CE is meh.
 
This one. Damn good.

I have the Art of Mira book and it is both best and worst. I'm mostly interested in character art and I found that lacking in the Mira book. A few of the main cast got a lot of coverage and everybody else was relegated to a single render.
 

Joqu

Member
I wish I owned the Journey artbook. Shit's ridiculous now

I only own Okami's, Hyrule Historia and Amano's The Sky. They're all really nice books though.

I plan on getting Art and Artifacts next, Art of Splatoon is coming up too, looking forward to that. Long term I really need some SMT and Persona artbooks
 
All of the Persona art books so far have been amazing.

Alice Madness Returns one is great

Not really video games but I did just get the Ghost In The Shell (movie) artbook and its pretty damn amazing. If only the movie had been as good as the art.
 
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