You should definitely get this book if you want to learn how far self-promotion can take you. Or alternately, you could save your 30-some-odd bucks and just take this review to heart.
I bought the book to keep around as inspiration--printed out jpeg's just don't cut it and they don't last, right? I also bought it to check out what my competition was doing out on the Left Coast, sort of to light the fire under me.
Well.
The book is printed nicely, and I felt that a lot of the text was pertinent and interesting. The images, though?
Well.
The bulk of the book (the first part) is the seven LA guys showing off their work, and a lot of it. Some were pretty ok, but there are several guys who may be experienced, commercially viable pros, but whose work blows. I mainly found the best images to be in the "and friends" part, which is the second half of the book where various other guys get an image or two displayed.
There are some nice visual pauses that come from z-brush and sculpy images, but there are just too many instances of very high-tech high school art. There were no Craig Mullins, Dussos or Syd Meads in the bunch, it's safe to say.
So, take the tip: even if you suck or are abysmally average...promote, promote, promote--and one day, you too can get seen!