The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Art of the Game)
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.
Reviews (103)
Absolutely phenomenal from cover to cover
Uncharted 2 is a gaming masterpiece from technical and artistic viewpoints. After I played through the game multiple times and viewed the unlocked artwork galleries, I wished there was a way to view the art without loading up the game. A few weeks later I learned about this book and purchased it without hesitating. The quality of this book, from the thickness of the paper to the printing quality is not to be questioned. It's about an inch thick and very heavy for a book of its thickness. (I have the paperback). Just picking the book up for the first time and not even peeking inside, I knew it was a quality product just by the sheer weight of it. But it's on the inside of the book where the magic occurs. There are thousands of images...illustrations, concept art, 3D renders of the characters (both textured and untextured), etc. It would not surprise me if nearly every art asset created during the production of this game (negating things like texture maps) were included in this impressive book. (Side Note: Naughty Dog, developers of Uncharted 2, employ some of the most talented fine artists on the planet in my opinion. I had to look twice at a lot of the pieces of art contained in this book to verify that they weren't photographs. As a once budding artist, I was overwhelmed with jealousy flipping through this book.) Accompanying the photos are hundreds of paragraphs of explanatory text, technical details, etc. I can't wait to read this front to back. Bottom line: If you are fan of Uncharted 2 or are an aspiring game designer and/or game artist, this book will be an invaluable asset to you, and certainly one that I will proudly display on my coffee table.
quality
First: congratulations to the publisher for the care in the making of this book, this is the first book i order that came in a box, nice detail. Know that i don't play games...just love concept art, drawing etc, so that is my viewpoint. The good -Thick, great quality in the binding, the pages and the colors of the print are great...all is 100% shiny quality. -interesting notes made by the artists and producers involved in making the game, so you are rarely seeing just a picture...you are seeing a concept piece and the explanation and logic behind...there is a reason for things looking like they do, and as they say, it took a lot of trial and error, dozens (even hundreds) of sketches to reach the sweet spot for a character's look, an environment's look, or whatever's look. -inspiring and refreshing concept art all over the place. very subjective from the perspective of a person who can't creat (with the frustration involved)cool concepts out of thin air: -this book and the comments in it made me the favor to be very bold in their constant emphasis to the role and importance of RESEARCH....none of the final concepts were done in the first attempt and/or from imagination...is more about hard work, good and appropiate reference, perseverance , perfectionism and care for the final user..than about pure talent (wich they all have for the other hand...but that is just the minimun requirement!) The """"bad""""(not realy but read it if you are hoping to see a lot of character designs) i feel the book is a little heavy in the environment part compared to characters, but this is not a con, i guess there is more to talk and to show about enviros than characters, since i didn't played the game i wouldn't know if this is the case. For the other hand if you are into environment art...this is a great resource of information and inspiration. All in all, a gem to have in your "art of" bookshell. thanks for reading, cheers.
Amazing book!!!!!!
First off, I LOVE THIS BOOK. As a huge fan of the game series I've enjoyed getting a behind the scenes glimpse at character & game development. Every page is in full color on thick glossy paper with tons of drawings, scene sketches, 3D modeling and game scene captures and other developer art & art concepts. All of Naughty Dog weighs in about Uncharted & they're part in the series. You get a better understanding of the game mechanics by reading this book. Not to mention its gorgeous!!!! I'd wanted this book forever & I'm so glad I finally bought it! The actual book comes enclosed in a box from Ballistic that keeps the book extra protected from "dings" during shipping. It also makes the book extra special because the publisher took the time to protect it before it lands in the hands of a proud Uncharted fan. If your a fan of Uncharted or just into how games are made, get this!
A must-have art book!!
Even if you have not played the game you should take a look at this book. I own quite a few art books from film, animation, and videogames. And this is one of the BEST. It is structured as the real production/development process so in the end you get an idea how it is to work on a videogame. It is very very similar to the filmmaking process. All the info you get from the artists just confirms that they have an extensive research in order to deliver a fantastic videogame. Yes the book is a bit expensive but I recommend you to get it. All the artwork you will find in there is worth the price!! Seriously, go get the book now if you want to see some truly inspiring art!
Inspirational Art Book!
My favorite game now begets my favorite art book. This art book is packed full of beautiful screenshots and descriptions and is categorized between characters, environments, paintings, models, etc. It really extends the life of the game because I can easily look at the art book and get inspired in my own work, whereas with the game I would have to turn on the Playstation and load a good save point and all of that takes time. It is obvious that everyone on the team at Naughty Dog knew what they were doing for this project, as the Art Director is a genius and the work is best of the best from every employee/artist. It is good to see the process of how the best studio makes greatness happen, and if you want to emulate the best then you have to get this book. It is also half the price of when it was released, and I specifically made sure to wait until a price drop and to test myself to see if I still wanted it. The third Uncharted is released but it has no art book, so this is even more reason why to buy this. Uncharted 2 was also my favorite in the series, although I admit that I have not played the original. Being a game developer myself, a colleague once told me not to waste time with the first one if you had the choice to play it or the second one, so I followed his advice and it seemed to be true. Wonderful game = wonderful artbook. If you are an artist interested in video games or working in the industry, you must get this book as part of your library for reference and inspiration. -Ken Flemming Author, How to Get a Job in Video Games
Five Stars
Great art for Uncharted. Beautiful.
Fantastic overlook about Naughty Dog's masterpiece
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves takes a very special place to me. I can't recommend them enough to anyone who likes games, as it's worth buying a PS3 just for these titles. I like and respect a lot Naughty Dog's working pipeline, how hey care about details and how they treat and respect they employees. This book is pure eye candy! There's a lot about concepts, characters and how they evolved from one game to another, environments and special effects done for the game and, of course, Ballistic's books are outstanding in quality. Worth every dollar I've spent on it.
Worth every penny
This is definitely a must-buy for any Uncharted fan or anyone wanting to go into game production. The book isn't just filled with concept art, it's filled with commentary from the artist. The commentary gives a wonderful view into the whole process of making the game, from how they decide on character designs to how the concept art becomes an environment in the game.
You will appreciate the Game more
Yes this book is an adventures itself, great layout design, lot of art material, really love it. you will aching to sketch it again :)
Great artbook for fans of Uncharted
Quality of print is Superb ! Essential artbook for Uncharted fans ! Waiting now for the Art of the Naughty Dog artbook!
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