What we need is a new Darkstalkers game in the vein of Street Fighter IV. Shit, I'd even accept an HD Remix of Darkstalkers 3.

Picked up The Art of Up today, but not Ratatouille's, despite the fact that I love Ratatouille far more as a film.  Up, however, comes off as the more fascinating art book.  With lots of terrific sketches, story board sequences, hand-drawn backgrounds, and prop/location shots, I felt the need to share a more in-depth look at this one.   

-The book's front cover.  The direct contrast between Russell's happy-go-lucky expression and Carl's grumpy, disgruntled one is priceless. :p
-I really dig the various sketches and interpretations of the characters.
-Various pieces of young Carl and Ellie.  Too cute.
-Ellie's "My Adventure Book" and mementos.
-Ellie!
-Carl!  In Battle Mode!
-Russell and his badges
-Kevin!  SPOILER: He's really...... a she. ;)
-Dug!
-Muntz's dirigible
-"Adventure Is Out There!"
-Exotic Kevin
-A sample of some of the neat storyboards.
-Underneath the dust jacket.  Feels kinda humbling to own my very own "My Adventure Book."  ^_^

My wife got me Dawn, Worlds of Final Fantasy I - IV for Father's Day this year.  It's a great book and totally nostalgic for the FFIV fanatic (myself).  It was great looking through all the character and enemy sketches and being able to say "Whoa, the Magus Sisters!!"  Definitely a great pickup.

I was wondering, has anyone else preordered these things. I put in an order so I wouldn't forget about them - especially the X one. Now that I got X3 and have all the X games (save the GBC ones) I definately want it to amend my X collection.

Well, certainly I've got no excuse not to do so, considering how excellent the MM Zero OCW turned out - that thing's absolutely perfect. The only thing holding me back is vague unease about what my finances will be like, since October's when I do holiday shopping.

I'll do a preorder on the Mega Man books when it comes closer to release.  Not to jinx it or anything, but I've got this nagging feeling they're somehow going to be delayed....

I am considering that Zero Official Complete Works book, though, given the universal praise lavished upon it.  Problem is, I've never been fully vested in the Zero series.  At least, I never thought the art style was as creative as the main and X series.

Wow, really? I rest in the opposite camp. I think its wonderfully distinctive.

I guess I kind of feel the same way, though I don't think the art itself is the deal breaker. None of the characters in the Zero series (even the old characters that reappear that period of the MM timeline like Zero) really stuck me as a gamer compared to those from say the X series like X4's cast. Iris, Colonel, and Magma Dragoon oh my!

UDON is apparently at it again:
http://www.udonentertainment.com/darkstalkerstribute/
http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?p=1036

The main point of interest in the latter is the inclusion of stuff from Street Fighter EX and other spinoffs. The main point of interest in the former is, well, LOOK at it. I wasn't planning on buying much in August anyway.

Yep, both of those were mentioned earlier in the thread, here -- though that they're bringing the 20th Art of Street Fighter over from Japan is news.  And very awesome news at that.

I'm definitely down for both, but I'll probably wait out for the inevitable non-hardcover version of the Darkstalkers Tribute.

For the Capcom art lovers here, this is going to be one hell of a Fall lineup for books.  Assuming these dates stick:

SF20: The Art of Street Fighter -- September 15, 2009
Darkstalkers Tribute -- September 30, 2009
Mega Man: Official Complete Works --- October 14, 2009
The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- November 13, 2009
Mega Man X: Official Complete Works -- December 14, 2009

Go, Udon, go!

EDIT: Release dates updated.

I down for the Mega Man and Mega Man X books. Now only if they make a DASH/Legends one.

QFT.

Criminy, I didn't know they were bringing the PW book over too. Those insidious dastards. Time to make budget plans for the rest of the year.

EDIT: Being who I am, I'd also appreciate if they brought over whatever other MM-related artbooks they have, Legends, BN, Star Force, et al. And a Megaman Tribute volume on the order of the SF or DS ones would be The Best Thing Ever.

Why do you keep doing that?

QFT.    Point taken.

Dammit, Capcom. If only your art weren't so good, my wallet wouldn't be anorexic.

I mostly have bought imported artbooks for my wife.  They make good research materials for cosplay. 

Some can be bought at the local Kinokuniya, but others I have to order online.  I don't use ebay, as that is a total crapshoot.

Breath of Fire collection (I through V)
Genso Suikoden V (the character art for non-major characters are very small)
Genso Suikoden III
Knights in the Knightmare
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia
Persona 3
Persona 4
Phantasy Star Univers
Phantasy Star Online
Shining Tears
Wild Arms: Alter Code F
Valkyrie Profile Material Collection (original)
Valkyrie Profile Material Collection (Lenneth and Silmeria)

And probably a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

Udon's updated their webpage with pictures of the book:

http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?p=1089

I really didn't want to double dip on this after picking up the Japanese edition.  But..... English text! 

Too bad they won't be including art work for Gyakuten Kenji/Investigations.  I'd gladly wait a couple more months after the game's February 2010 release if they did.

Two new acquisitions.  You guys convinced me to pick up the Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works, and I'm really glad I did.  It's a sweetly comprehensive collection, and the more I peruse, the more the art style grows on me.  Will definitely be a great companion piece for the upcoming Mega Man OCWs.

Even more exciting, however, is Pixarpedia, a 340 page monster of a tome:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp15 … _cover.jpg

From shorts to films, it covers every single piece of Pixar's work, lovingly detailed with gorgeous hi-res art, character and location profiles, and spiffy factual insights.  Check out some of its pages:

-Toy Story
-Finding Nemo
-For The Birds
-The Incredibles
-Cars
-Ratatouille 1
-Ratatouille 2
-Wall•E
-Up

My copy just came in.  In a word: definitive.  Here's some snapshots.

-SF20: The Art of SF 01
-SF20: The Art of SF 02
-SF20: The Art of SF 03
-SF20: The Art of SF 04
-SF20: The Art of SF 05
-SF20: The Art of SF 06
-SF20: The Art of SF 07
-SF20: The Art of SF 08
-SF20: The Art of SF 09

I love how they organize the art work by illustrators, so you can easily peruse from Akiman, to Shinkiro, to everyone else in between with total ease.

Confession: everytime Angela posts something in this thread I get a little jealous.  0_o

Heh, well, I love me art books.  I must admit I've picked more of 'em up this year than I've ever done before.  I've got this irrational fear that the ones I eventually want will quickly go out of print.  I'm thankful they've brought back Udon's Art of Capcom, but I'm surprised The Art of Kung Fu Panda went away so quickly.  And I'm still kicking myself for not picking up The Art of Monsters, Inc. for a reasonable price when I had the chance.

Hey Enterbrain, where's our Valkyria Chronicles art book already??

After a bit of address-related delay, my HC DarkStalkers book finally arrived. It goes without saying there's lots of great pictures and a wide variety of styles, but I do wish there were more stand-alone shots of Hsien-Ko and Raptor. No instant favorites like the chicken pulling a gun on Rolento, but my favorite is either the one where Pyron's modeling with the subtitle 'I'm Hot' or where Huitzil has no ice snacks for Sasquatch. On the flip side there's at least one completely deranged pic of BB Hood and another of all the female characters as quite elderly and quite obese from out of nowhere. Geez.

So, I walk into work today, and discover this big ol' package waiting for me on my desk.  And inside.....

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp15 … lls001.jpg

A thank-you gift from my co-worker friend and her two children for watching over and taking them to see the movie last week.  She tells me it was entirely their idea to get me the book.  That two nine year olds would remember my affinity for film art books and propose the idea for a present..... well, it just shows how terrific those kids really are.

And I've gotta say, this is about one of the most ENJOYABLE collections I've ever had the pleasure of perusing.  Its presentation is top-notch: hard-covered and bound in a sturdy slipcase, the book is written and published by the same folks responsible for the superb The Art of Kung Fu Panda.  And like Panda before it, this one is jam-packed with wonderful pieces and informative writing.  It's got a few neat surprises, too; every dozen or so pages, there's a pouch insert that holds individual like-replicas of some of the props in the film.  For instance, there's "top-secret" blueprint documents of main character Flint Lockwood's inventions, a full map of Swallow Falls (the location of the film), and a mini sticker food book of the scratch 'n sniff variety. (I wondered why the package smelled faintly of ripe strawberries.)  There even appears to be a CD-ROM that holds some of Flint's quirkier "PC application programs" that we see in the film.  Totally wild.

Some obligatory shots:

-The book in its casing
-The book outside of its casing
-Flint Lockwood
-Sam Sparks
-The sticker book
-Flint's "top-secret" documents
-The Swallow Falls pull-out map
-The map itself; the other side shows some of the "tourist attraction" spots in the film.
-Concept rendition of Swallow Falls
-The Lockwood Residence
-The CD-ROM.  Nifty.
-Food Props
-Snow Day!
-Landmarks under siege
-The aftermath of the spaghetti twister attack

Awesome!  Aren't kids the greatest (sometimes)?

My own copy finally arrived today.  Plenty of great pieces, but I find myself gravitating toward the Felicia and Talbain pieces most.  Call it animal magnetism.

A few of my personal faves:

-DS Tribute 02
-DS Tribute 03
-DS Tribute 04
-DS Tribute 05
-DS Tribute 06
-DS Tribute 07
-DS Tribute 08
-DS Tribute 09
-DS Tribute 10
-DS Tribute 11
-DS Tribute 12
-DS Tribute 13
-DS Tribute 14
-DS Tribute 15

A heads-up, it looks like they've finally set a concrete release date: January 20, 2010.  Now titled "Development Artworks", the final page tally weighs in at 400, size A4.  Play Asia's currently taking preorders, but at a costly premium of $81 USD. ($65.90 + $14.90 shipping.)

Just got the X book. NICE! It's also there in black in white that Zero was meant to be the main character - my one buddy can take that all the way to the bank.

Heheh..... I'm about to one-up ya:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp15 … ManOCW.jpg

I've only briefly skimmed through them, so I'll have shots up later -- but yeah, they are really nice.  Certainly look to be worthy followups to the Zero OCW.

I just got my copies that I purchased for a friend for the holidays... yeah, I'm going to have to pick up copies for myself. These are really well done, certainly better than the Darkstalkers Graphic File I purchased with them.

Hopefully my MM book will arrive 2maro

Edit: Didn't care for the Zero series or it's art that much. It's better than that over-cooked ZX stuff, so in that respect it's not so bad. Would like a full-blown Legends book with super awesome Kobun action! I'll keep dreaming on that one.

Scratch that, stupid holiday. Like bankers and my local post master need another day off... yeah right.

But anyway, I have a lot to say about the contents in the X Book and some of the quotes inside - one of them actually regarding the soundtrack of one of the the games - as soon as I get some time to write and post them (going to work on 5hrs sleep beacuse I couldn't sleep! - arg!). I'll be sure to "hide" the text as to not ruin certain things for anyone.

Edit: Actually, couldn't this topic be in the "gaming" section of the forum?

These should tide you over till then:

-OCW Front Covers
-OCW Back Covers
-OCW Inset Layout
-Mega Man 1
-Mega Man 2
-Mega Man 3
-Mega Man 4
-Mega Man 5
-Mega Man 6
-Mega Man 7
-Mega Man 8
-Mega Man & Bass
-Rockboard & Soccer
-Powered Up
-Mega Man 2 Boss Concepts
-Group Shots
-Manga Art
-North America Renditions

And the X Series:

-Mega Man X1
-Mega Man X2
-Mega Man X3
-Mega Man X4
-Mega Man X5
-Mega Man X6
-Mega Man X7
-Mega Man X8
-Maverick Hunter X

This should go without saying, but with these books, it should be doubly emphasized: my increasingly out-of-date camera does little justice in capturing the true quality of these badboys.  The art designs featured here are insanely high resolution and absolutely beautiful to behold.

I don't know if there are any fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender here, but I just discovered the upcoming art book for it and I'm completely psyched!

Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series)

$23.37
184 pages
June 9th, 2010

The only thing that's disappointing is that it seems to be one-shot deal. They could easily make one art book per season and I would have loved that. I guess I can cross my fingers and hope that good sales encourage an eventual sequel. I don't feel too optimistic though. I mean, they haven't even bothered releasing a soundtrack yet.