Have you ever bought or owned any sort of art/making-of books for films or video games?  Like I said somewhere before, I eat this kind of shit up with a ladle.  I don't have an insanely large collection, as I tend to only buy for the stuff that I'm really passionate for.  This is roughly half of my collection; I know I have quite a few on my bookshelf back at my parents' place, including a good number of preorder bonuses. 

This shot depicts some of my personal favorites.  I love the Capcom books best.  My most recent acquisition is that Udon Street Fighter Tribute book on the far right - an incredible collection of all things Street Fighter from fan artists around the world.  I really wished I grabbed Udon's Art of Capcom back in 2007.  What I saw when it was in the stores was a gorgeous looking collection, but now it's become near impossible to find.  The Lord of The Rings books are also put together really well, and although I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, I couldn't resist getting the prequel set for the beautiful planet designs.

Finally, this last shot shows the books (more like "tomes") that are just too big and unwieldy to fit on my shelf.   That Pirates of The Caribbean one is a monster.

Oh, and to you Valkyria Chronicles fans, did you happen to get the On The Gallian Front artbook that came with preorders of the game?  I've only played the demo, but I'm really digging the characters designs.  Any opinions on the book before I begin a seek-out?

Wild Arms 5 came with an art book since it was the 10th anniversary. Nice book, too bad the game wasn't worth keeping. I figured I couldn't sell the game off without the book so I don't have it anymore...

Great topic! I do have a few game related artbooks, most of which I will sell at some point, since I'm not sure why I got them in the first place... however a few I shall definitely keep. My favorite game art books are without a doubt the Blizzard Warcraft series! Each book (I believe there have been a total of 4 released) is hardcover, and is full of lush, beautiful, art

http://www.amazon.com/Art-World-Warcraf … 0744007259

As you can see from the link, people try to sell them at super-high prices, but typically they go for reasonable prices on ebay (I think, I haven't really checked recently). Now, if you ask, the greatest art books EVER, that are related to fantasy, video games, cards, comic books, etc. is without doubt, the Spectrum series. They began in 1994, and have since then been releasing a book once per year, collecting the best fantasy art!

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/books.php?id=567

cheers,

-avatar!

I got the Valkyria artbook. It took awhile because they shipped it to the OTHER Gamestop in town, but there was no conflict because I was the only one in town to preorder. *sigh*

ANYWAY, it's nice for a freebie. It gives location and character info on Gallia first, then the Empire, closing out with some comments from lead staffers. There's plenty of sketches for each character and a few screens, but no diagrammatic layouts of battlefields or weaponry, alas (and those looking for Swimsuit Alicia will be left looking). But it's only 32 pages counting the cover, so don't break the bank over it.

Versus Books was really good at putting an abundance of art in their guides, so I sought those out. To my shame, I don't have the FF7 one. Maybe I'll track it down this year.

I wouldn't call myself a collector but I have a bunch of art books. From games, I have many of the ones you do, Angela. A bunch of Street Fighter and Capcom books, the Xenogears one, Phoenix Wright, a bunch of Final Fantasy ones, SNK and King Of Fighters books, Art of MGS1, 1.5 and 2, From Myst To Riven. I think my fave is the big leatherbound Art Of Oddworld book. It's just a shame it has so little from Stranger's Wrath.

For films, I can't even remember what I've got. Most of mine are animation related like the Art of Batman Animated Series and a bunch of Disney ones but I also have the Star Wars books and a few others.

The only one I ever paid money for was the U.S. FF9 one which I never looked at, so I decided I probably shouldn't waste any more money on them.  I think I got some other ones as pre-order bonuses and I may have bought one or two for my sister as gifts, but that's it.

Let's see, what art books do I have?

- Tokimeki Memorial Illustrations
- Artworks of Guilty Gear X 2000-2004
- Golializze - Goli Matsumoto Archives (he does the character illustrations for Beatmania IIDX)
- Legend of Heroes IV Material Book
- Falcom History Legend of Illustrations
- The Legend of Heroes Gagharv Trilogy Complete Art Books
- Ys ~ The Oath in Felghana Official Visual Fan Book
- Ys Complete Works - Perfect Data of I~VI -
- Falcom World Guides 1-4
- Whatever bonus artbooks have been included in Nippon Ichi pre-orders over the years
- Bonus art books from a couple CDs (Mushihimesama Futari, Beatmania IIDX DistorteD LE)

I think that's it.

Where do you guys buy your artbooks?  Does anyone have any experience with this eBay seller?  His or her selection is impressive, although I wonder whether these are bootlegs.  It seems that most eBayers aren't perceptive enough to spot bootlegs, so a high feedback score is meaningless on that point.

While not necessarily an "Art" book, I'm excited for when I'll finally get my hands on this.

I'm uncertain if there actually is a bootleg market for art books, but I've gotten mine from a variety of places.  Amazon/Amazon Japan, Play Asia, and the occasional special order from Kinokuniya or Asahiya.

That Suikoden V art book looks really tempting.  (Suikoden is another series I'd love to get all the books for.  Some really wonderful character designs all throughout.)

I've seen this assurance on Otaku.com, which leads me to believe that there is a bootleg market for artbooks.  And considering that there are bootlegs of everything from razor cartridges to electric toothbrush heads, I'd be surprised if there aren't bootleg artbooks.

Good to know.  Definitely something to be wary about, then.  Thanks!

The only film-related art book I have is The Art of Mulan. I probably would've gotten more Disney art books in the 90's had they not been 60 bucks a pop.

As for video game art books, it depends on your definition of an art book. Most Japanese strategy guides effectively double as art books since they contain so much art. For instance, I have the Official Data Book for Shin Sangoku Musou 3, which, despite its name, is also chock full of character art, weapon designs, and rough illustrations.

Anything by Studio Bent Stuff always has a plethora of art. The All About Capcom/SNK Fighting Games books have character designs for each and every Capcom/SNK fighter up to 2000-2001. The character portraits are admittedly small, but they're sufficient. The books also have ending captures, character select screens, and even marquees.

I love in-game sprites/maps, so basically any strategy guide with maps appeals to me. The Legend of Mana guide released by Brady was useless in terms of strategy, but it did have lovely maps. The early Nintendo Power guides, on the other hand, were informative as well as absolutely gorgeous. The Link to the Past guide still astounds me.

I buy from Kinokuniya in NYC, and occasionally from Amazon.jp or HMV Japan. That seller's books look official to me. I've seen the Final Fantasy X guides he has at Kinokuniya and they look the same. He lists a lot of strategy guides as art books, but again, official Japanese guides almost always have tons of official art. I've never seen bootleg video game art books, but I think bootleg anime art books are pretty common.

I have the FF7 guide and from my recollection there wasn't all that much art in it, probably because it was an unofficial guide. I'm still shocked to see it selling for over 100 bucks. I mean, it was good, but it wasn't Ultimania good.

You would think Nintendo would actually get the picture that there is demand for this game when people go to the lengths of not simply translating the ROM, but making a full blown English book as well.  ::Sigh::

Hmm...would you say it's goodness on the level of $50? Hypothetically, of course.

Thanks to the NeoGAF guys for bringing these to my attention:

Mega Man: Official Complete Works
Mega Man X: Official Complete Works

The first is tentatively scheduled for an October 2009 release, while the second will follow a few months later.  The books, apparently, will be based off the already Japanese-released R20 Rockman and Rockman X Official Complete Works, a 336 A4-paged collection containing illustrations from both series.

Hold up. They're splitting it into two volumes? Damn it, Capcom.

Oh, and on a seperate note, it seems Gamestop is offering a 32-page artbook as a bonus for a home-delivery online preorder of Blazblue. The text on their site announcing it is completely ridiculous, however.

Want!

Angela, you own a copy of Perfect Works? AND FFIX artbook? Dammit . . . been searching forever for those

As for artbooks, all I've got are Soul Calibur II and Persona 4. Both of them promotional items.

That Okami artbook, I'd love to get that sometime soon, too. Maybe some Gundam artbooks, if they exist . . . ?

Do you have 'The Art of METAL GEAR SOLID: Version 1.5', Angela?

Does Snake sport a mullet?

Picked up the Rockman Zero Complete Works today.

I became curious about this and looked at my formidable bookcases. I found four books by H.R. Giger and one of them is specific to Alien. I do have a book titled Works of Art, but it's a collection of short stories by James Blish.

My retinas do rather enjoy the reflected photons from the covers of my sci-fi books, however.

Not sure, but i do know that it's based off of the TWIN SNAKES version of the game.

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Art-of-Metal-Ge … .m20.l1116

I'm thinking that was more of a 'does a bear poop in the woods' sort of question.

And you'll find both answers in 'The Art of METAL GEAR SOLID: Version 1.5'.

Except for the one about the bear poop.

Do you work in advertising, Jay?

Ah, i didn't think of it that way at first..

Coolness.

I'm going to have to track those down eventually, to compliment my Megaman Zero artbook.

I can never fault Capcom for having less than amazing art in any of their games.

Or is it?  When I ordered from Amazon last week, they only had one copy left -- but it looks like they have more in stock now.  Ebay auctions for the book have also come down from the hundreds. 

In any case.... SCORE, BABY, SCORE!

You'll also see that I picked up The Art of Bolt and The Art of Kung Fu Panda, two of my animated faves from '08.  They too are very beautiful books.  I'll probably grab "The Art of Ratatouille" along with "The Art of Up" by month's end.

Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy is being released in the US, hardcover, from Dark Horse comics. They've been reissuing Amano art from Japan for awhile now, but this marks the first time we get FF art. It's a really good price, I think it's coming May 13th (I preordered @ Amazon).

This will be the first artbook I ever own.

I remember Dawn from many years back.  I remember always seeing it at places here in NYC, including the Kinokuniya and Asahiya Bookstores.  I hesitated to pick it up back then, because 1) At the time, I wasn't entirely familiar with Final Fantasies I-III, and Dawn apparently only covers up to IV -- so it didn't seem worth it to me, and 2) As a teen strapped for cash, it seemed my hard-earned monies were better spent on purchasing game music CDs.  It's no coincidence that I spent more on VGM albums during those years than any other time in my life.  (I also blame that on the premium prices that import shops used to charge back then.)

That said, I think Dawn is now worth a second look.  Maybe I'll throw it in with the Ratatouille/Up order. :)

I have Dawn sitting on a shelf somewhere. I remember being disappointed with it. Not because the Amano art isn't lovely. It is. But with the 8 and 16-bit games, we spent our time mostly staring at little pixeled sprites and close to no time at all looking at Amano artwork.

My imagination had sort of wandered off on its own so, by the time I got Dawn, there was pretty much no connection between the artwork I was looking at and the games I had played.

I think I need this to live: http://halcyonrealms.com/illustration/t … -artworks/

So much Chun-Li goodness. That Darkstalkers book looks mighty tempting as well.

Whew, the Street Fighter one is pricey, but I sure do want it.  However, if you're looking for the Darkstalkers one, you may as well just pick up the Udon-released Graphic File.  It appears to be the same content, and Amazon's carrying it for cheaper.

And speaking of Udon and Darkstalkers, I'm definitely on board for their Tribute Book, coming out later in the Fall.