Regardless of its reputation as an OK shooter (though I quite liked KZ3), the Killzone series has always looked fantastic, and a new artbook out that celebrates this is a very good read.
I got a copy of Killzone Visual Design yesterday, and while it ticks all the boxes of what makes a good video game art bookâartist commentary, nice big images, clean designâone thing I particularly like about it is that it features quite a few examples of prelimiary linework, which is one of my real game art fetishes.
Most art books tend to focus on final, polished and approved art, the kind of thing a publisher will use in a wallpaper dump, or tweet in promotion. Which is fine, thatâs often lovely, but Killzone Visual Design includes loads of very early vehicle and weapon sketches.
Whatâs more, in keeping with the rough and early state of the sketches, theyâre printed like this:
So good.
After a short delay the book should be shipping out pretty soon. You can get it here and here. Below are some images (and even some video!) from the book.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if theyâre big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the âexpandâ button in the top-left corner.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If youâre in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art youâd like to share, drop us a line!
