The Sky-The Art of
Final Fantasy
By Yoshitaka Amano
Genre: Fantasy, Art, Gaming
Published July 2013
Pages: 576
Pages: 576
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Summary: "Yoshitaka Amano is one
of the world's foremost fantasy artists, and The Sky I, II, and III
showcase Amano's ethereal illustrations for the first ten Final Fantasy
games. Each hardcover book in The Sky Slipcased Edition is 11 5/8" high
by 10 5/8" wide, and printed on glossy stock. Volume 1 contains Amano's
work for Final Fantasy I-III, Volume 2 his contributions for Final
Fantasy IV-VI, and Volume 3 features his art for Final Fantasy VII-X.
The elegant slipcase containing The Sky I, II, and III features the same
wraparound exterior artwork as The Sky Boxed Set, with a double-hinged
flap that folds around the open edge and is held flat to the back side
with a hidden magnetic closure, making it easy both to remove the books
and to display the set closed."
Review: 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-FF10 ??????????????????? 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.
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-FF10 ??????????????????? 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.
Great review!
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