A few months ago I picked up a subscription to ImagineFX, a fantasy and digital arts magazine out of the UK. Their latest issue (July '07) is predominantly video game art related and features works from Heavenly Sword, Metal Gear Solid, Halo, Half-Life 2 and many more. The articles focus on concept development with tips and commentary from notable industry artists such as JP Targete, Xavier Marquis, Christian Bravery, Daniel Dociu and Viktor Antonov. If you're a concept artist yearning to break into the industry try to look past the rather steep bookstand price as it's well worth the import cost.

Another recent release out of the UK covers much of the same, EDGE Presents: The Art of Videogames. From the publisher... "As its title suggests, this new Edge special edition showcases the visual aspect of gaming, its 260 pages adorned with paintings, renders, sketches and more materials from some of the industry's leading artists.
Also included are interviews with key creatives in which they explain the thinking behind their work, with contributions from developers at Bungie (Halo series), Eden (Alone In The Dark, Test Drive Unlimited), Epic (Gears Of War), Maxis (Spore), Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword), SCEE (Wipeout) and Valve (Half-Life 2), to name but a handful."

And lastly, a few days ago I picked up a copy of the God of War 2 Strategy Guide, less for the guide and more for the included book bonus The Art of GoW2. While all the artwork is fantastic I found the attention paid to environmental design the most inspiring.

On a related note, the GoW2 concept art team (Andy Park, Charlie Wen, Cecil Kim, Dwayne Turner, Erik San Juan, Ryan Meinerding, and Scott Seeto) was honored with an art show and book signing this past May at Gallery Nucleus...

The Art of God of War art show / book signing
May 12 - May 13, 2007
Opening Reception Saturday May 12 7pm - 11pm

"We beckon all mortals to revel in the visual feast that is The Art of the God of War. Too often we only see the final product and not the inspiration that goes into creating that product.
This event will give everyone a chance to take a closer look at the artists and creative talent behind the scenes of one of the best games of 2007. The work, although commercial, proves worthy to be framed and hanged and appreciated by game lovers fantasy lovers and art lovers alike."

(Coin-op TV Show Coverage)

After seeing the show's poster design on the Gallery Nucleus site I called them up to inquire about its purchase availability. They quoted a price that seemed a little high for a poster and I nearly passed on it. Before deciding to pass I asked how many were printed and they said, "Oh... well actually it's one of a kind. It was the promo poster from our gallery. We didn't actually mass produce it." After hearing that I snapped it up. If you happen to own one just like it please keep that info to yourself and allow me to go on happily thinking mine is the only one :-)

Here it is...