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4.68 AVERAGE
4.68 AVERAGE
I received a free ecopy of this from NetGalley.
There are really only so many things that I can say about this book. Beautiful is definitely right on the top of that list.
This book is literally hundreds of pages of almost nothing but gorgeous artwork for the long running series of video games it names. It's a showcase of stunning watercolours of characters, places, and monsters from the games, starting right from the beginning with the first. Well, it's mostly characters and places but on the occasion that we get a panning scenery shot it's more than worth the rarity of them in the book (a particular favourite: the first illustration for VI, showing Terra overlooking a city).
The art is beautiful, but to fans of the series it's also interesting and insightful. There was something certainly fun about getting to see these pieces re-invoking the games I played from my childhood, piecing together how they translated from these pieces to what we see in the earliest systems.
A stunning piece for collectors and fans.
There are really only so many things that I can say about this book. Beautiful is definitely right on the top of that list.
This book is literally hundreds of pages of almost nothing but gorgeous artwork for the long running series of video games it names. It's a showcase of stunning watercolours of characters, places, and monsters from the games, starting right from the beginning with the first. Well, it's mostly characters and places but on the occasion that we get a panning scenery shot it's more than worth the rarity of them in the book (a particular favourite: the first illustration for VI, showing Terra overlooking a city).
The art is beautiful, but to fans of the series it's also interesting and insightful. There was something certainly fun about getting to see these pieces re-invoking the games I played from my childhood, piecing together how they translated from these pieces to what we see in the earliest systems.
A stunning piece for collectors and fans.
This is actually three books of gorgeous quality reprints of the art Amano has drawn over the course of his collaborating with Square Enix on the Final Fantasy franchise.
It's all laid out chronologically so it was extra fun to see the "birth" of certain creatures and characters that are franchise mainstays. You also see his style evolve and change over the years. It's great!
It's all laid out chronologically so it was extra fun to see the "birth" of certain creatures and characters that are franchise mainstays. You also see his style evolve and change over the years. It's great!
This was a fun book to reminisce with. I love playing the final fantasy games so I had a great time going through this collection of amazing artwork. The only regret I have now is that I never played a lot of the early games that the artwork here depicts.
This is one of those books you just want to stare at, noticing all the details. You really come to appreciate the world. It has left me wanting to go play the games. So, when I have some free cash, I get to head over to the used game store to see what I can find. So here are some points of interest I found for the various games art the artistic use shown. Please note, I am not an artist by any means, not do I know the terminology. I am just a gaming fan who happens to like artwork as well.
Final Fantasy 1-1987: Some art is very detailed-worthy of wall art. Others sketchy, quick drawings. Both color, paint, pencil, etc. A nice blend of work shown.
FF2- 1988: Lots of collages. Edgier work. Covers the names of beloved characters. which was a nice bonus.
FF3-1990: Maturity in color use. Some outfits were too busy however, in color and style, showing trends to close to late 80’s look in real life. Fitting for the time but a bit too much to look at now.
FF4-1991: Richer color use. Bold blues, reds, greens,etc vs pastels. More dragons which was fun to see being a dragon fan.
FF5-1992: Solid colors, and schemes with red and black being predominant with other accented colors. Not all characters were this way. Such as Gogo the mimic who was extremely colorful! Drawings for this game also shows more battle scenes.
FF6-1994: The best blend of work so far in my opinion. A maturing blend of styles. Also, the characters seem more expressive in this one. Plus there are pictures of Mog, who is just adorable!
FF7-FF9 ??????????????????? I do not know where these are. Please note my copy of this was a review copy, not the finished work but for some reason it does not show the last third of the artwork. It seriously just stopped at page 383! I do not know if it is either a glitch in my copy or because it was only meant for review and being this isn't a novel I don't need to see everything. I do not know.
My only real complaint is I wanted information. More that just a character name. Final Fantasy is about plot. Give me some information about the characters. Monster info would be nice too. Don't get me wrong the art selection is incredible, worthy of 5 stars, but I like to know a bit about what I am looking at, especially since I haven't played all the games. Oh well. Still I has so much fun viewing this. The artwork is so detailed! A very enthralling book to view.
Special Thanks to Diamond Book distributors and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this. This book was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This is one of those books you just want to stare at, noticing all the details. You really come to appreciate the world. It has left me wanting to go play the games. So, when I have some free cash, I get to head over to the used game store to see what I can find. So here are some points of interest I found for the various games art the artistic use shown. Please note, I am not an artist by any means, not do I know the terminology. I am just a gaming fan who happens to like artwork as well.
Final Fantasy 1-1987: Some art is very detailed-worthy of wall art. Others sketchy, quick drawings. Both color, paint, pencil, etc. A nice blend of work shown.
FF2- 1988: Lots of collages. Edgier work. Covers the names of beloved characters. which was a nice bonus.
FF3-1990: Maturity in color use. Some outfits were too busy however, in color and style, showing trends to close to late 80’s look in real life. Fitting for the time but a bit too much to look at now.
FF4-1991: Richer color use. Bold blues, reds, greens,etc vs pastels. More dragons which was fun to see being a dragon fan.
FF5-1992: Solid colors, and schemes with red and black being predominant with other accented colors. Not all characters were this way. Such as Gogo the mimic who was extremely colorful! Drawings for this game also shows more battle scenes.
FF6-1994: The best blend of work so far in my opinion. A maturing blend of styles. Also, the characters seem more expressive in this one. Plus there are pictures of Mog, who is just adorable!
FF7-FF9 ??????????????????? I do not know where these are. Please note my copy of this was a review copy, not the finished work but for some reason it does not show the last third of the artwork. It seriously just stopped at page 383! I do not know if it is either a glitch in my copy or because it was only meant for review and being this isn't a novel I don't need to see everything. I do not know.
My only real complaint is I wanted information. More that just a character name. Final Fantasy is about plot. Give me some information about the characters. Monster info would be nice too. Don't get me wrong the art selection is incredible, worthy of 5 stars, but I like to know a bit about what I am looking at, especially since I haven't played all the games. Oh well. Still I has so much fun viewing this. The artwork is so detailed! A very enthralling book to view.
Special Thanks to Diamond Book distributors and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this. This book was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I am not a familiar with the game but I am a fan of beautiful artwork. Yoshitaka Amano, brings his characters to life with amazing detail vidid colors and very emotional drawings. The creations are so magnificent I found myself just staring at the pictures trying to take in all the little details. He brings out the actions of his creations so completely you can see the movement in every muscle, cloth, hair.
A must have for fans of this game and a wonderful coffee table book for artwork fans. There are endless conversations to be had while looking through this.
A must have for fans of this game and a wonderful coffee table book for artwork fans. There are endless conversations to be had while looking through this.
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
The Sky features the artwork of Yoshitaka Amano who developed the characters in the video game series Final Fantasy. This is a reprint of three previously rare books and is a high quality work.
There are pages of sketches of heroes and creatures encountered in the games. Some are pen and ink with a simple watercolor accent of one color. Others are fully painted. All are pretty amazing, and show a vivid artistic imagination.
What you won't find are many words. There is no introduction, and while there are some character names sprinkled throughout, there is a lack of description. It's been a while since I played some of these games, so I vaguely remembered some of the characters, but the art is consistent. It's probably for more of a niche collector, and one who is more familiar with the Final Fantasy series, but I enjoyed poring through the pages and enjoying a top fantasy artist.
There are pages of sketches of heroes and creatures encountered in the games. Some are pen and ink with a simple watercolor accent of one color. Others are fully painted. All are pretty amazing, and show a vivid artistic imagination.
What you won't find are many words. There is no introduction, and while there are some character names sprinkled throughout, there is a lack of description. It's been a while since I played some of these games, so I vaguely remembered some of the characters, but the art is consistent. It's probably for more of a niche collector, and one who is more familiar with the Final Fantasy series, but I enjoyed poring through the pages and enjoying a top fantasy artist.
Initial reaction: I think you guys probably expected this rating from me, but I loved every part of this artbook - beautiful illustrations, stunning clarity and color, and a wonderful reintroduction to characters from the series that I fell in love with.
Full review:
I have an immense amount of respect for Yoshitaka Amano. Final Fantasy was the first series that immersed me fully into the world, the music, and the overarching storylines and characters in gaming from when I was a young girl. Even today, I still have my games and pull them out to play from time to time, but Amano's artwork and concept of the characters fascinated me when I would look in the inserts and packages that came with the games. "The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy: Slipcased Edition" is certainly a collection worth owning for anyone who loves the series, and it compiles his conceptualized art into one volume for the collector. The coloring is vivid and beautiful, the progressions between familiar characters and recurring creatures (including the chocobo and Mog) were interesting to see over time. As well, I loved the concept drawings of the settings featured in the games, just as much as some of the characters I loved and recognized over time. My galley lacked the third part of the collection, but I was able to see the first two section, which covered up to one of my favorite games in the series: FF6. The full pages are probably far more pristine than my digital galley provided, but the quality in this collection came across even in digital form, for scale and for immersion.
I would highly recommend this for the collective value. I don't think you'd be able to find a more thorough compilation of the work Amano has done to date in the scope of this series than this. Beautifully organized and presented.
Overall score: 5/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Dark Horse Comics.
Full review:
I have an immense amount of respect for Yoshitaka Amano. Final Fantasy was the first series that immersed me fully into the world, the music, and the overarching storylines and characters in gaming from when I was a young girl. Even today, I still have my games and pull them out to play from time to time, but Amano's artwork and concept of the characters fascinated me when I would look in the inserts and packages that came with the games. "The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy: Slipcased Edition" is certainly a collection worth owning for anyone who loves the series, and it compiles his conceptualized art into one volume for the collector. The coloring is vivid and beautiful, the progressions between familiar characters and recurring creatures (including the chocobo and Mog) were interesting to see over time. As well, I loved the concept drawings of the settings featured in the games, just as much as some of the characters I loved and recognized over time. My galley lacked the third part of the collection, but I was able to see the first two section, which covered up to one of my favorite games in the series: FF6. The full pages are probably far more pristine than my digital galley provided, but the quality in this collection came across even in digital form, for scale and for immersion.
I would highly recommend this for the collective value. I don't think you'd be able to find a more thorough compilation of the work Amano has done to date in the scope of this series than this. Beautifully organized and presented.
Overall score: 5/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Dark Horse Comics.
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
You can’t have played games in the Final Fantasy series without becoming aware of Amano’s art. His work borders on legendary. And even if you haven’t heard of him, take a moment to browse through some of his artwork and chances are you won’t be able to deny that the man has some serious talent going on.
So when I got the chance to even browse through a digital copy of the rereleased copy of The Sky, I wasn’t about to say no. This thing is packed with hundreds of pages of beautiful artwork from Final Fantasies 1-6, and if all you’ve ever played is the original versions of the games, in all their 8- or 16-bit glory, here’s a great chance to see more detail than you get to see with blocky sprites.
And also the chance to see many of your favourite characters wearing long flowing dresses (females) or skin-tight pants that show off one’s butt (males). Seriously, Amano seems to have a thing for tight pants.
The description does say that it contains work up to Final Fantasy X. It may well do so, but the digital review copy I got seems to have only contained the first 2 collections and not the 3rd. Which was a bit disappointing considering art from some of my favourite games would have been in there… And sadly, due to the collection’s hefty price tag, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to afford a hard copy of my own so that I can peruse and admire Amano’s art at my leisure.
This isn’t an artbook I would recommend for everyone. I can’t even say that I would recommend it for every die-hard Final Fantasy fan, though that’s mostly due again to the collection’s cost. This isn’t an everyday purchase. But for the fan who has the money to spare, it’s definitely worth buying this collection. The art is beautiful, the insight amazing, and there will be no regret in acquiring this artbook. I can assure you, you won’t be disappointed.
So when I got the chance to even browse through a digital copy of the rereleased copy of The Sky, I wasn’t about to say no. This thing is packed with hundreds of pages of beautiful artwork from Final Fantasies 1-6, and if all you’ve ever played is the original versions of the games, in all their 8- or 16-bit glory, here’s a great chance to see more detail than you get to see with blocky sprites.
And also the chance to see many of your favourite characters wearing long flowing dresses (females) or skin-tight pants that show off one’s butt (males). Seriously, Amano seems to have a thing for tight pants.
The description does say that it contains work up to Final Fantasy X. It may well do so, but the digital review copy I got seems to have only contained the first 2 collections and not the 3rd. Which was a bit disappointing considering art from some of my favourite games would have been in there… And sadly, due to the collection’s hefty price tag, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to afford a hard copy of my own so that I can peruse and admire Amano’s art at my leisure.
This isn’t an artbook I would recommend for everyone. I can’t even say that I would recommend it for every die-hard Final Fantasy fan, though that’s mostly due again to the collection’s cost. This isn’t an everyday purchase. But for the fan who has the money to spare, it’s definitely worth buying this collection. The art is beautiful, the insight amazing, and there will be no regret in acquiring this artbook. I can assure you, you won’t be disappointed.