| Title | : | The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1616551607 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781616551605 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 576 |
| Publication | : | First published June 7, 2011 |
The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy Reviews
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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. -
*I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review*
Wow. Just…wow.
I can draw. I’m actually pretty decent at recreating anything you place in front of me. But the thing is, I can’t create. I can’t sit down, imagine a horrifying monster or a beautiful fairy and make it come to life. My lines always end up wrong or the features not quite what I picture in my mind. That said, I’m always more than a little in awe of anyone that can flawlessly pull creatures from their imaginations and with the tip of a pen or the stroke of a paintbrush give them life on a piece of paper or a canvas.
This is not a pretty book of animation that you can flip through in a few minutes, nor is it one to set on your coffee table so that guests have something to do. At least I wouldn’t recommend putting it there if you plan on conversing with them because the second they pick it up they’re likely to fall under its spell and be lost to conversation and company.
What this book is, is completely transcendent. Within it is page after page after page of gorgeous artwork. I can’t tell you how many times I paused for minutes on end staring at a creature or a landscape and marveling at the talent that it must have taken to create such a being or place. My fingers ran over lines drawn in pen and ink, the swirling mists of watercolors and rough yet brutally mesmerizing sketches.
The art was ethereal, exotic, alien, terrifying, feral, mythical, creepy and whimsical. Each painting or sketch pulled an emotion from me, each drew the eye.
Mind? Blown.
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An ARC of this awesome book was given in exchange for an honest review.
As a long time fan and gamer of the Final Fantasy series by Squaresoft / Square Enix, I felt very honored and overwhelmed when I was given an ARC of this baby on Netgalley. I've always been fascinated with Yoshitaka Amano's artwork, for the way he draws, colors, and creates individuals, humans and monsters, is simply amazing, unique, and creative. Unfortunately, I've only seen very little of his works, most of them from freebies of the games I bought (conceptualisation of characters, etc.), so this illustration book has somehow rekindled and revived my love for him and the game series I remember being fond of.
And once more, I am simply astounded and amazed of Yoshitaka's gorgeous art and sheer talent for drawing and creating creatures I never would have imagined. And I consider myself having quite the imagination, but his take the cake. Looking at all of them, I remember the many hours and weeks I spent lost in the characters, the stories, and the games overall. The unique way he draws people, from their facial expressions down to the details of their costumes and garments, is impressive. The monsters? Even more so! They are striking, unusual, exotic, just the kind you'd expect from fantasy artists like him!
I seriously recommend this to all FF fans, especially those who played the earlier games and loved them. Buy it, if not for the nostalgia, for the art, because the illustrations themselves justify whatever price tag it gets. Now if only the series redeems itself... I'd gladly ditch all the recent Final Fantasies and lose myself in the classic ones! -
The Sky : The Art of Final Fantasy is a gorgeous collection by Yoshitaka Amano and his art work on all of the Final Fantasy series. Intended to be a collector item, this book consisted of a variety of detail that centered on his vision of the Final Fantasy series. If you are familiar with the game series, you'll be more appreciative of this book since you could still see the genius behind this master of art. Although most of the game series are out-dated with its turn-based system and scratchy 3D that many would cringe, the art of the original game series pre-FF7 are surprisingly even more better than the game itself. Its like the original game series developer failed trying to imitate and adapt Amano's work until the technology got better.
The review copy I had only consisted the first two volumes and missing the final volume which I didn't mind much. There were multiple of watercolor and pen work in the volumes. Majority of the volume was just on the various monsters in the game and you could see how the Amano's visionary made the storyline even more intense and surprisingly, more adult and serious.
I am a gamer of the series since I was 10. I saw and experience the transition and betterment of the game series with gaming technology. But surprisingly, Amano's artwork remain consistent and simply awe-inducing. I completely adore the steampunk, fantasy and the dystopian scenery. The intricate and colorful depiction of an airship, the grand castle in the middle of the desert, the characters itself (which if you played anything before FF6, you'll notice all of the characters looking like child-like or teenager with bad 3D and this part certainly will surprise you even more), frightening creepy monsters even more frightening on pen art than on the game itself and you could see that Amano's vision of the game was severely limited by the game technology and it shows.
Thankfully, we have seen his ideas realized with FMVs in the later series (especially the fantasy element in Final Fantasy 9 and above) and with the advancement of Playstation generation, game developers have certainly on par with adapting Amano's art into the gaming scene. But somehow that is also a poor comparison since there was no way for Squaresoft to fully adapt everything Amano does because his work surpass realism and completely saturated with the fantasy element of the Final Fantasy.
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an 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. -
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. -
There are literally no words (100% artwork). But I could stare at the beautiful drawings for days and get lost in the details. As a non gamer I can subconsciously invent my own narrative. If you’re a huge fan I can only imagine this to be an incredibly covetable collector’s item.
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Amano is an awesome artist. I just wish I had access to all his books,his artwork continues to fascinate me...and it just seems to be endless. (I wish I could read his biography...if it is published in Japan I don't know about it).
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This review originally published in < ahref="
http://www.lookingforagoodbook.com&qu... For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5
I've never played Final Fantasy but I'm certainly familiar with the video game series, but my requesting an ARC of a book of Final Fantasy art has much more to do with my interest in art than it does with the subject matter in this case.
The art here is by Yoshitaka Amano. It is delicate and beautiful - even that of the more dangerous creatures. Much of the artwork looks like more of a sketch than a finely detailed finished painting but I suspect that this is Amano's style.
I liked what I saw and this would make a nice coffee-table art book, drawing the attention of not just fans of fine fantasy art, but also anyone familiar with the Final Fantasy video games.
As nice as this book is to look at, there is something missing however. Words.
My ARC of this book has no introduction, no description of what Amano is painting. Not even a paragraph letting me know the goals behind the characters. Who created the characters? Was it Amano or a writer behind the story-lines for Final Fantasy (this is me assuming there are story-lines behind the video games). If there was a writer, how did Amano take the descriptions to make his creations?
Surely the main audience for this book will be fans of the video game, but I would like to think that even the fans would want to know a little about the artwork, and for those of us who aren't fans of the game(s) a little background would be more than just a little helpful.
Looking for a good book? The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy by Yoshitaka Amano is pretty to look at but without any background to the art, only the most dedicated of Final Fantasy fans are likely to really enjoy this book.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. -
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. -
When I was growing up I collected as many of Amano's pictures as I could find on the internet. This greatly designed slipcase with three hardcover books contained all of those plus quite a few more which I had never seen. So this was a trip down memory lane. The printing quality is good enough to allow for close studies of Amano's style. The only real detractor is that (apart from some character names, chapters, and half a dozen pages with less than a sentence on it) there are no actual accompanying texts. Even just giving the original sizes, dates, and the medium used for the drawings and paintings would've been nice. But I got this edition for a bit over 30 books and therefore I regret nothing. It's great for what it is.
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Beautiful artwork from one of Japans master illustrators. This gorgeous set really shows the conception of Final Fantasy's iconic characters, monsters, and settings. Amano's painterly style of illustration creates a sense of depth where the sky is the limit for imagination and creativity. My only issue with this set is that not all art pieces are properly named. Some are but most are not, making for an inconsistency where the reader would like to know the name of the creature Amano conceptualized. But otherwise a gorgeous set well made for any Final Fantasy Fan.
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I'm a huge fan of Final Fantasy. I've played some of the games and those that I cannot afford to play, I watched gameplays online to sate my hunger to play. The main thing I loved about the FF franchise is the art and world. I am awed by Yoshitaka's artworks and have always found them inspiring. It's one of my biggest frustrations as an artist that I am not able to draw and paint portraits. Seeing Yoshitaka's works made me want to pick up a pen and paper and try to pursue the art.
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Yoshitaka Amano has always been a huge inspiration for me, and to own this collection was a dream come true. This is an AMAZING collection of his works spanning various entries in the Final Fantasy series, and every single work contained within is absolutely masterful. I cannot recommend this enough, to everyone who loves Final Fantasy, Art, or is an aspiring artist. His work is truly immortal.
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A large collection of images with excellent scan quality. However, there's no text or information in the entire book which I personally think is a little disappointing. Would have liked more thoughts behind the designs or even where they are in the game as I recon most people actually haven't played through the 3 first Final Fantasy games in the franchise.
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Amazing quality of illustrations!
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beautiful Final Fantasy concept arts 🤩😍
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Now I need to learn how to draw like Yoshitaka Amano. :p
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(
More pictures on my blog)
In 2012, Dark Horse released the first edition of The Sky limited to 1000 copies. Many who pre-ordered were left sorely disappointed when their books did not ship when the shipping date went by. 1000 limited copies for fans of Final Fantasy, a game series that has over millions of fans. Now that's truly limited.
Well, it's all good now. Dark Horse has released, this time, a non-limited edition of The Sky that is more easily available. Although there are no additional goodies with this release.
This is a slipcase set with three hardcover books. The cardboard slipcase is covered with some silky fabric with a beautiful print across and to the back. It's very sturdy cardboard and even has a cover for the opening. The presentation is very nice.
Inside the book there are the three large format artbooks. Volume 1 collects works for FF I-III, Volume 2 for FF IV-VI and 3 for FF VII-X. This is a collection of artworks from 1987 to 2001. Altogether, there are 576 pages.
This box set might not be what you're expecting depending on the type of FF fan you are.
I suspect there might be a group of fans or designers looking for art that is closer to the games. You know, like those art-of books typically released alongside games? The Sky is not like those artbooks. There's no full list of characters or enemies, environment art (I'm still looking for these), weapons, vehicles or promotional art.
The focus in on character designer Yoshitaka Amano and his character designs. There are over hundreds of drawings of characters and enemies in the unique Amano style of art.
It really interesting to see, for the first few games, how those dot matrix game sprites are translated into or from the concept art. If you've not played the games, these designs will appear foreign. Even if you've played the games, they might still appear foreign because they can be wildly different from their video game form. Therein lies the brilliance of Amano, who can create such a huge cast of characters for the FF world.
The amount of content for each game varies. Book 2 is the thickest so you get a bulk of work from FF IV to VI. Book 3 is quite thin with only ten pages for FFVII. Much is of Cloud and Aeris, with occasional appearance of Sephiroth and RedXIII.
Not all characters or enemies drawn are labeled. It's a challenge to identify them sometimes.
Depending on where you buy it from, there might be additional weight surcharge. This box set is heavy. It ships with its own custom sized cardboard shipping box designed to prevent damage. That's the way to do it for an exquisite set.
You might know that there was an earlier book called Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy. Much of that book's content is duplicated here so there's no reason to get that book anymore.
Ultimately, this boxset represents great value for money. Grab it fast if you like the art. -
Wonderful looking box set (I believe the books were also sold separately?) on the series Amano is best known for. This is his art for the first ten games (though he was only the main designer for 1-6 and 9).
I've never much enjoyed playing the Final Fantasy series but I often loved the visual designs and the very powerful soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu. Amano's designs early on owe more to european fantasy and old Dungeons & Dragons style games and he illustrated the japanese editions of writers like Moorcock and Gene Wolfe but there was also arabian and gypsy elements.
I especially like the various designs for Alexander (the giant living castle) and the transformed hairy Terra. The FFX designs are quite atmospheric and it's interesting to see what design elements he reuses. Nice variety of techniques too. Some things are sketchy but there's also lots of fully realized illustrations.
He once said in an interview that he wasn't even sure if his favorite design for the series was in these books, so I don't know that they are completely complete.
Minor complaints: I think some of the drawings for the second game are less strong. In VII, VIII and IX he occasionally lapses into more traditional manga styles and occasionally the anatomy is so loose it doesn't even work for his wispy style.
There was another Final Fantasy book called Dawn comprising the first four games but it's nowhere near as complete but it does have a couple of amazing new drawings (one of them is huge). So know that if you're going to buy Dawn after this, it's only for a couple of very strong drawings.
I doubt there's going to be a better Amano Final Fantasy book for quite some time. But I would like a collection that included the covers and whatever miscellaneous things he did for the later games. -
Very cool, and quite a nostalgia trip.
The three books come in a nice slipcase and the books themselves are high quality - heavy paper, good size and good quality and colour on the prints.
(And, incidentally, really heavy if you decide to pick it up from the post office while already carrying a week's worth of groceries.)
I was mainly interested in book 2, and within that mainly interested in the '1994' entry. Which, as it happens, takes up about half the book. That book itself is about the same length as the other two combined, give or take.
It is easily the best of the three, even without a nostalgia bias (though, man, try turning to page 164 – you can almost hear the music), but the first book is quite good, too. The third is disappointing. It is fairly short, yet covers more entries than the other two. However, the style change in the final 'chapter' is neat.
Fair warning to anyone mainly interested in '1997' (I wasn't, but I was interested) - it's covered in maybe 25 pages, and not with much variety. For good reason, but it does mean that book 3 is not worth buying on its own. The only one worth the money on its own, unless you really have an affinity for the earlier work, is the second one. So, the high rating here is based mainly on that, and partially the first book.
Of course, most sensible people should be interested in the second book, and anyone mainly interested in third book is of course an___________ You can insert your own favourite insult or slur on the empty line, be it based on politics, nationality or that one small island off the west coast of Denmark that you've never quite trusted.
(Kidding. Mostly.) -
Right up front, these books are not good "reads". There is actually almost no text in any of the books. Most of the illustrations are not even captioned. My one disappointment is that there was not more commentary on the art, and Amano's vision for each game, or more background about the development of each game's world.
That said, these are gorgeous books. They include the Amano's art from the original Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy X. I'd seen a lot of it before, but the art for the lesser known games was very nice to see, and certainly made me want to explore the ones I missed. Each book is huge, with generous amounts of space for each illustration. Some of the middle games don't have as much art, which is unfortunate. Amano's style is often rough, sketchy, colourful and always imaginative.
Obviously, this set is for fans of the games, or fans of fantasy art. If you are on the fence, I pre-ordered this at a discount, and used some gift cards I had earned. I wouldn't have paid full price. Certainly the first run sold out quickly, but I don't believe this reprint will sell as well. As of this writing, you can still get it from Chapters at a good discount and Amazon is still taking pre-orders. -
This is a BEAUTIFUL collection of concept artwork by Yoshitaka Amano that I think any fan of Final Fantasy, character design, illustration or just beautiful art would enjoy.
This edition collects almost all of Amano's character designs and concept art from Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy X in three volumes. The set is presented beautifully, the slipcase is bound in silk that has the cover artwork and title printed onto it and is clearly very well made. The three volumes inside are gorgeous big hardbacks with the art inside printed on glossy paper.
Yoshitaka Amano has a loose, sketchy and incredibly elegant art style that really lends itself to these types of concept drawings. Fans of the game series will notice the evolution of airships, chocobos, moogles, technology and weapons throughout these books.
I particularly LOVE Amano's weapon designs, from the ridiculously detailed rapier-like blades from the earlier games to the gunblades from later ones.
I also loved how the general art style moved from an almost middle eastern-inspired in the earlier games, to traditional medieval, to cyberpunk-ish designs. -
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. -
Hard to rate an art book but this was filled with fantastic stuff. The only knock is that the last volume is very slight as little work was contributed to the final few games.
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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. -
I've been a fan of Amano's work ever since I first discovered Vampire Hunter D, and The Sky didn't disappoint. Whereas in the VHD graphic novels Amano's work is all inked in black and white, with the exception of the covers, here his talent is shown in its full glory - his use of watercolour makes his art come to life in a way which is not possible to achieve in black and white. He has a very unique and instantly recognizable style, and his creatures are delightfully and insanely bizarre. It was a delight to 'flip' through the virtual pages and see how his art has changed through the years, and I have a feeling I'll be spending my money on the print version at some point in the near future. A massive thank-you to Diamond Book Distributors for providing me with the visual feast in the form of an e-galley.
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This will most likely be one of the very few reviews I shall ever write but it has to be done. Ever since I was 9 I've been a fan of final fantasy, IX being my first and favourite. I find myself replaying ffIX twice a year, no speed runs just for the nostalgia and memories. I have the same with these books, I find myself browsing through them at least once a month, I am no artist when it comes to drawing, the opposite I must confess ; my stick people would turn out ugly. But these books shake my memories and lift my spirit when I gaze upon their content. 18 years of final fantasy (for me) all packed in this beautiful case. I cannot imagine but still owning it and browsing through them when I'm old and grey, just like I will be using a simulator and ROM to replay ffix at that age. A good friend told me about these books and I'm glad he did, every ff fan should have these.
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These are Yoshitako Amano's character designs for the Final Fantasy games. He has a particularly fluid sketchy style, with a good feeling for the lines of motion, and an incredible variety of costumes. The images are large square full pages, with no text at all. (I got a great deal on this-- all three books in a slipcase for $13. That's about a dollar a pound.)
I do wish they would have included other artists, too-- the architecture of the series is just as good as the costumes.
