Okami is one of the newest Capcom action games boasting a very unique art style, heavily inspired by Japanese watercolor painting. The OkamiOfficial Complete Works art book will take you behind the scenes to the amazing artwork that defines the wonderful world of this beautiful video game! The 288 full color pages are filled with character and location designs, concept sketches and production notes from the creators giving you an in-depth look at the fantasy world of Okami! A truly inspiring book, translated into English for the first time!
Capcom Co., Ltd. is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Ghosts'n Goblins, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom also developed and published Ace Attorney, Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void. Its head office is in Chūō-ku, Osaka. Originally established in 1983, it has since become an international enterprise with branches and subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and East Asia.
Okami is an action-adventure video game released on Playstation 2 and Wii. And this is not a game guide; it doesn't show you how to take on enemies.
Okami features the most unique art direction I've seen for any computer game. It is heavily inspired by Japanese watercolour painting and wood carving art of the Ukiyo-e style. It's an amazing concept to combine watercolour in computer game art, moreover, use it in the actual game itself.
This thick 288-page art book is filled to the brim with content. There are official character art including the concept sketches, storyboards, paintings created by by Issun the Celestial Envoy while on journey with Okami Amaterasu and even some music sheets at the end. The application of watercolour to create cute character design is very refreshing.
Everything in the book is captioned. Characters have their introductions. The character designs are explained to the detail of why they wear what they wear. Concept sketches come with artists' reflection. And then there's the journal of Issun, which is a whole big section by itself. There's so much stuff to read, so much information and stories into background of the characters and places.
This book is highly recommended and worth taking a look even if you have no idea what the game Okami is about.
Totally worth the wait. The paper stock is high quality and the illustrations are gorgeous. I forced myself to hold out until it was translated into English, but honestly, I think I would have been happy with the untranslated version just because I loved the illustrations so much.
I highly recommend that fans of the game pick up this art book. You won't regret it!
I never did finish this game, so not all of the characters or scenery were familiar to me. I stopped reading all the little blurbs once I got to the unfamiliar stuff, I guess to avoid spoilers even though I don't have the game or even a PS2 anymore. But the stuff I did recognize was a nice throwback to a game I really enjoyed, with amazing aesthetics and cultural appeal. Quirky but challenging, and of course you play as a wolf and that's always a win. It was interesting to learn a little more about the characters I did encounter, and to see how much I never ended up figuring out.
Mega Man Zero has had some of the best artwork of any Mega Man game out there.
Seeing it all together from conception to implementation is great. I've had it since it first came out and I still go back to it sometimes to see what certain characters or enemies looked like before becoming their final versions in the production phase.
I simply love this art book and it's so easy to get lost in the little notes and designs that just exude the game's very unique aesthetic! A must have for a fan!
Um brilho como o do Sol Fenomenal, principalmente pra quem jogou. O jogo é muito estilizado, e o artbook então, muito mais lol. Bem legal saber um pouco do por trás das cenas do desenvolvimento do jogo, conceitos descartados, mudanças na história, e as origens de como alguns personagens vieram a ser.
Magnificent artbook detailing characters and environments from the game. perfect for references, or if you want to dive into the universe of the game without playing the game.
I love this thread! I am always so worried about spoiling the book that my reviews are usually just a few sentences and basically pointless. lol Thanks for all of your input!
I love Okami. I am very happy to be able to have a book of my favourite video game :). Also I mean Okami is just a very beautiful game and has beautiful art of it.
Amazing collection of artwork and notes, behind the scenes on every single character, there's a lot that went into the making of this book, it's brilliant!
It's BEAUTIFUL. The art of Ammy on the cover is in SHINY GOLD FOIL, and the rest of the book is in glorious full-color print on pages slightly narrower but about an inch longer than a piece of printer paper... and it's almost 300 pages long... it's MASSIVE and AMAZING and totally worth $40. :D Not to mention that they kept the book in its original Japanese format, so it reads like manga. Very nice.
It's really interesting to read everything the game's creators wrote about the game design process. It's funny to look at the concept art of familiar places and characters and wonder "What the heck happened?!" Plus I loved reading more of each character's background. I learned some things about the game that I hadn't noticed yet in my five playthroughs. :P While I was familiar with most of the art, there was also quite a bit that was published only in here (at least to my knowledge), so that was great to see. I also found it amusing to read familiar text with a different translation, as you will find in the "Providence Image Scroll".
This is a very high-quality book that all Okami fans must get. All the images and text stuffed in here is almost overwhelming, especially the large images that span entire pages, or even two. Even the bosses look glorious. Another bonus is that the cover already has a beaten feel to it, so I actually wanted the spine to fold and crease. It looks more worn and loved that way. <3 Oh yeah, and the publishers added little side notes in various entries relating them to specific tracks in the Okami Original Soundtrack.
I suppose that if I had to complain about one thing, it would be the smell. It has that 'new fancy book' smell, which makes me a bit lightheaded. But hey, it'll air out in time. :P Also, there are a few inconsistencies... e.g. 'Takamagahara' appears three times in the book, and each time it's spelled a different way: "Takamagahala", "Takamagahara" (the right way), and finally "Takaramagahara" or something.
This is easily the best video game art book I've purchased. The cover and design of this book is gorgeous. Inside, it is crammed full of beautiful imagery from a game that has some of the best and most distinct art you will see. Much of the art in the book is the characters, enemies, and environments, but it is really remarkable how they manage to include almost everyone in what is a pretty long game. There are some early and rejected designs for key characters later on which is always interesting and a small amount of sardonic commentary from the designer who certainly has an interesting voice and sense of humor. I liked some of the Japanese only art that I imagine most people here have not seen before too. Overall, this is the total package. If you're a fan of Okami, you will love this book. It is probably worth picking up and at least looking through if you like Japanese Ukiyo woodblock prints as well.
Okami was an extremely unique video game that was released a few years back. What made it special was its one-of-a-kind visual style. The graphics were a striking imitation of a feudal-era Japanese watercolor painting in motion. Just thinking about it makes me want to dust off my console and turn it on just to marvel at it. It is only natural that such a work of art deserved to be gathered into a printed collection.
This gorgeous volume is exactly that, a collection of images from the game and also concept art and artists' sketches. Here the lively imaginations of the game's creators come to life in sweeping brushstrokes. You can and will lose hours at a time as you turn the pages to study the details of each subject. You don't even have to be a fan of the game to appreciate it. It isn't too difficult to imagine this book on the shelf of an art fan who never even heard of the game.
Summary: This book offers backstories, descriptions and other awesome material from the video game Okami. There are character and game concept sketches and the artist's notes as they're drawing them along with insider information on the game. Reading it really feels like an inside look on the game.
Opinion: I was so, SO excited to buy this book because Okami has been my favorite video game for years! Once I got it, I can't say I was disappointed in the slightest. It was so cool to read all about the concept art and backstories of the characters. I only wish they could of included more! (but maybe I'm just being greedy since the book was nearly 300 pages long)
I recommend this book for anyone who has ever played the video game Okami, or anyone that wants to!
This book collects all of the still art used in the game and paraphernalia for the mythology/drawing game "Okami". It's no secret I fell in love with this game, and the visual style was a big part of that. Interspersed in the adventure are still images done by Issun, the tiny companion to the game's hero. In the game, Issun paints portraits of all the villains and also creates woodcuts of important moments in the adventure. The book collects these drawings and also character sketches, landscape plans, advertising drawings and the like. It's pretty extensive and only heightened my involvement with the game and its characters/universe.
Okami is simply a masterpiece. Therefore, I expected my favourite game of all time to have the most gorgeous art book to ever exist, so I bought it without any hesitation. Did it live up to my high expectations? Yes, absolutely.
I catch myself smiling every time I open the book, something I do often, especially when I feel a bit down. Literally every single page is a joy to the eye, and the notes and comments are very interesting and fun to read. The related OST tracks they put beside the descriptions are also a plus, and listening to them while looking at the drawings helps recreate the wonderful atmosphere of the game itself. I can’t recommend it enough.
Well I can't say much since the edition I could get my hands on was the japanese original and I can't read kanji. However I did like the artwork and all those sketches for the characters in the game. For the most part at least since sometimes the styles used were kind of weird and I really don't like the choices of dog-breeds for those canine warriors since at most 1-2 of them could actually have existed in Japan, plus both Bloodhounds and Boxers apply for cruelty breeding (= they are bred with traits that lower their quality of life). And as you can guess I am not behind this.
Okami is a great game for many reasons, one of them being the artwork. The price seems high, but it is worth it - this book has everything! Concept art that far predates production, sketches and art for every character, weapon design, background studies, and everything else you could want. It has great production value too - about 300 pages, good layout, full colour. Absolutely love it. I hate to be cliche, but a must-have for fans.
As a fan of the game, this book is a perfect companion to it. The books is filled with concepts and sketches that were not included in the game as well as those that were. You will also see the development of some of the concepts from start to finish. Although I do not play video games anymore, I still have this book as an enjoyable art reference and read. Highly recommend for fans of Okami or Capcom.
I bought this for reference use, and its quite awesome. Although, I wished some of the screenshots were bigger, but the other stuff are cool. I liked reading the comments and the character development made by the artists who worked on it. One of the great things about Okami was the artwork, its very unique, Japanese-style sumi-e.
A beautiful artbook to accompany the game, which shows how the characters, enemies and scenert were developed. This book is not only wonderful to look at but contains lots of background information on the mythology and legends behind many of the characters.
This is more a book to look at than to read - lots of concept art and beautiful work around the game Okami. The art style of the game, the watercolor look, works really well on paper as well as it does on screen. There is a little bit of interesting information in the captions, with hints of sections taken out of the game.
Brilliant. Amazing images abound. Character designs, story insights, even music! It's becoming increasingly difficult to find an affordable copy, and I'm so glad I bought this when I did.
Okami has such a unique style... I'll never forget it.
Beautiful artbook for a beautiful game. Most of the concept art is available in the game after you've completed it for the first time, but concept art and explanations for some of the cut concepts that could have been in the game are in this book, too. Perfect for any fan of Okami.