Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy by Yoshitaka Amano

Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy Reviews

• 
  Parka

  
  
  (
  More pictures at parkablogs.com)
  
  I'm always on the lookout for good Final Fantasy art books. It's incredibly difficult — Japanese arts especially — to differentiate game guides, screenshots books and concept art books.
  
  The first Final Fantasy art book I had was Final Fantasy IX Visual Arts Collection, which was sold away because it's basically a screenshot book with a few sketches. Yoshitaka Amano did the character designs in there too, if I remember correctly.
  
  Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy contains the development sketches of the first four Final Fantasy games, I to IV. All the characters in this book are foreign to me since my first acquaintance with the game was Final Fantasy VII. All with the exception of the monsters and summons which are also used in later series. An index of titles is provided to identify the characters.
  
  This is a character design book. Right at the start are a few foldout pages that unfold into larger illustrations. Most of the illustrations are done in pencil and watercolour. The designs are filled with detail although they are really sketches with furry pencil lines. A few black and white designs towards the end of the book.
  
  If you're played the games before, you'll see familiar characters like Cecil Harvey, Rosa Farrell and Cid, just to name a few. There are of course lots of creatures — high level ones — like dragons, Leviathan, Ifrit, Odin, Bahamut, Chocobo, etc. It's interesting to see how the designs of these traditional legendary creatures have evolved since the first game, which was released in dot matrix. I'm really glad to see that Chocobo is now cuter in the later versions (original Chocobo in the pictures below).
  
  There are no game screenshots or highly polished splash pages in this book. All are concept art by Yoshitaka Amano.
  
  This book is recommended to character designers and game artists with reservations. Whether you like the book will depend on how much you like the style of Yoshitaka Amano.
• 
  Marina

  Not bad. Good monsters and dragon's. The artist I feel is better when he finishes a piece. The sketchy feel of his many work's don't appeal to me. Great use of color. Great design.
• 
  Dean Guadagno

  Yoshitaka Amano may not sit on the same pedestal as Van Gogh or Picasso in the realm of 'household artists', but in the gaming community, his work is unmistakable. His career spans across decades of Japanese pop-culture - from Vampire Hunter D to Speed Racer to Gatchaman; you've no doubt seen it yourself, perhaps without knowing it.
  
  Most notably however, and the subject of this book, is his iconic work in one of gaming's most beloved franchises, Final Fantasy. Having worked in some capacity on nearly every game in the series, Dawn archives his work from the franchises early entries, spanning FFI to FFIV.
  
  Now I'm about as big a Final Fantasy buff as they come, and this was personally a fantastic addition to my collection - but if you're looking for anything beyond art, you'll be disappointed. Outside of the character index, the pages are devoid of any text or explanation. As an art book, it's as pure as they come. Single page character sketches. Stunning 2-page watercolor spreads. And my personal favourite, 4-page centerfold panoramics.
  
  If you're familiar with any of the first 4 installments, then you'll no doubt enjoy flipping through the pages and recognizing your favourite characters and summons. It adds an entirely new imaginative layer to the 8-bit/16-bit sprites you're accustomed to. I highly recommend it, but if you're a hardcore art buff and love the franchise, then I suggest looking into a collection called SKY instead.
• 
  Robert Adam Gilmour

  This is the first 4 games, but not nearly as comprehensive on the same period as The Sky boxed set (which is the first 10 games). As far as I can tell, the only things not featured in The Sky are this new cover art and a wonderfully wide long piece of art that is featured for the first dozen or so pages of the book and a guide telling you who every character/creature design is.
  
  It is a bit of a puzzling release, maybe it was meant to be a more affordable alternative to The Sky but I don't think there was any follow-up volumes, so it's yet another Amano book with a ton of overlap with the others.
• 
  Tung Lam

  Luôn luôn mê mẩn art của bác Amano, vừa tả thực lại vừa mang đậm chất fantasy. Cuốn sách là tuyển tập artwork mà Amano-san đã thực hiện cho các phiên bản Final Fantasy từ I đến IV. Từ nhân vật chính đến phản diện và cả những loại quái vật đều được thực hiện tỉ mỉ, chi tiết, không quá chi tiết nhưng lại vô cùng sống động.
  
  A must have book if you are a Final Fantasy fan!!!
• 
  Wiseman

  Gorgeous images.
• 
  Eric

  This is a collection of art that helped with the making of Final Fantasy. I was pretty disappointed with the book as I thought it would talk about the history of the games and the art and talk about how the two came together. There is almost no writing at all. Each page has a couple of pictures and there is a one word description in the back for each. Some of the art is nice though.
• 
  Morbus Iff

  Mainly an artbook; I just like this guy's work.
• 
  Arianna

  The artwork on pages 59, 66,67, and 99 are my favorites from the book. I wish I could create things as beautiful as this.