The Art Of Uncharted 2 Among Thieves (Art of the Game)
£38.60
Ballistic Publishing has partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment America and Naughty Dog, Inc., to produce The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The biggest Ballistic Publishing art book to date weighs in at 272 pages and features some of the hundreds of drawings, paintings, and sculpts that began the process of making Nathan Drake’s world real, and helped make Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Game of the Year. From concept art to character studies, environment art, character modeling, game art, cinematics, motion-capture, animation, and effects, The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the ultimate companion to the award-winning PlayStation 3 game.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Ballistic Publishing, 1st edition (1 July 2010) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1921002719 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1921002717 |
| Dimensions | 22.23 x 2.54 x 29.85 cm |
by Parka
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I’m thrilled to get this book, more so when I opened it for the first time.
This book is pretty thick at 272 pages, glossy paper. Inside, you’ll find concept art for the characters, environments, cinematics, animation and special effects. About a quarter is on the characters, with the environment and story related art making the bulk.
The first thing that captures my attention is the astonishing amount of details from the art, from all the adventure dirt to the facial pores of those Zbrush head sculpts. You’re going to find beautiful textures everywhere, be it from the brushes, on the weather battered walls off some monastery on some mountain, fabric of clothing, etc. The textures are easily what I like most about this book.
For character designs, there are paintings, 3D models of the body and close up on face. The 3D models are really intricate. In terms of the amount of details, the one on Lazarevic belongs to the you-have-to-see-it-yourself-to-believe-it category. Those artists and modelers who created these are definitely at the top of their game.
The environments featured in the book are gorgeous. Tropical forests, mountains, Nepal warzone, villages, temples, monastery, Shabhala and all the places in the game. They really nailed the colours, lighting and textures. Looking at some of the wire frame overlays, I can’t even imagine how much time it takes to paint all those textures in. Most of the illustrations shown in the book are good enough to be framed and mounted on walls.
Oh, yeah, there are also commentary from the staff to fill you up with the concepts and ideas behind all that’s shown.
This book is your adventure in print. It will make you appreciate the game even more after looking at the immense effort that went behind the scenes to creating the visuals.
Most highly recommended. It doesn’t matter if you’ve not played the game but you should definitely check out the game
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
— seriously.
(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
by Mr Brandy 45
Superb collection of game art. One of the few collections that actually discuss the development process and ideology behind them.
by Swordswench
Fabulous book with gorgeous artwork. It takes you right back into the game and its great characters. There’s not just art here either, there’s also interviews with the people who were instrumental in creating these games and developing the characters and situations. It’s really interesting seeing the different depictions of Chloe.
Among Thieves was my favourite of the three games, mostly because I liked the Nepal settings with its mountains and monasteries and this book gives a great insight into its development.
Why has nobody thought of combining a (good) novelisation of the game accompanied by this artwork? That’s a book I would buy.
by TheLastGamer
Packaging – The cover itself is quite sturdy, I wouldn’t particularly say it is a paper back, the cover is more of a card but not the same stiffness as a hardback. Colorful and looks great on a shelf.
Contents – The contents of this book are the most impressive pieces i have seen out of other books similar. The details they disclose are great including the software that they use to create the 3D models. How each section of the game come to be as we know it and what it could have been if changes had not be implemented.
Result – A great book for collectors and an even better book for people looking for a step into game design or art.
Highly recommended
by Cosmonautilus
An excellent, if expensive addition to Ballistics’s fine range of digital art books. Packed full of visuals, this is an inspirational tome, well packed, informative and showcasing Naughty Dog’s talented team of designers. The text is sparse, some more information on the production would have been welcomed. This is a great visual reference for any game designer and along with Ballistics’s Odd-world art book and Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar , should be on the inspirational shelf of anyone interested in becoming a game artist or designer. They should also study the real world for inspiration, as this book clearly shows, a knowledge of the real world is essential in creating an imaginary one.
by A. Gowland
Probably the first thing you’ll notice about this is how expensive it is for a paperback game art book.
Once you have it in your hands you’ll understand the cost, though. The book is large, thick, uses very good quality paper stock, and the printing is superb.
All areas of the game’s artwork are covered, with locations, cinematics, characters, weapons, and VFX all receiving chapters on concept as well as production. The whole thing is also littered with snippets of information from the staff on the challenges encountered and the thoughts that went into the evolution of the concepts.