Art of Mass Effect, The [Hardcover]

This book was published in 2007 and so I have the chance to read through a few reviews on Amazon before I bought mine. After reading the book, I'm surprised that their reaction were pretty mixed.

There are five chapters in the book. The first two chapters are on the design of characters and creatures in the game. Chapter Three: Transport is on the different vehicle and airship designs. Chapter Four looks at concept art of objects like furniture, equipments and weapons. The last chapter contains matte paintings for the environment.

This book packs a lot of full colour illustrations with a few pencil sketches. All the art shown are very polished, as in they can be shown to any director who would then give the go ahead order. There are short captions on each page.

The very few game screenshots included are used mainly to compared the final rendering with the concept art. For example, there will be 3D model renderings compared to an actual set which is rendered with texture. There are plenty of matte paintings to look through, with several 3D models to go with some.

What's missing are the individual credits for each illustration. So we'll not know who did what. However, there's a list of artists who worked on the project are at the back of the book on a page. They are:

* Derek Watts
* Matthew Rhodes
* Sung Kim
* Adrien Cho
* Fran Gaulin
* Mike Spalding
* Mike Trottier
* Michael Jeffrey
* Sasha Beliaev
* Mike Higgins

This is a nice book for concept designers, sci-fi and game artists.

There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.

A wonderful book. Full of top-notch art, which also happens to be very inspiring. Too bad there is no "Art of Mass Effect 2."

French review follows.

Following the advice of my illustration mentor, I purchased The Art of Mass Effect. You see everythiing from character to furniture design. I must say that, even though the book is well made, there is something missing that I cant get my finger on. Nevertheless, it is a must for anyone interested in entertainment design.

Suite à la suggestion de mon mentor en illustration, je me suis procurer The Art of Mass Effect. On y voit de tout allant de la conception de personnages, à la conception de mobilier. Même s'il est bien fait, il manque un petit quelque chose que je n'arrive à mettre le doigt dessus. Néanmoins, je crois que c'est un livre indispensable à tous ceux qui sont intéressés à l'art conceptuel.