Art of Bioshock - artbook review

Introduction:

To tell the truth I odered the artbook even before I saw the game for the first time. The reason why I did it was pretty simple - a lot of my fellow artists, and not fellow too recomended to have it like a great directory of concept art. So when I was ordering my artbooks based on WoW, SwtoR and other games I just included Bioshock in the list. Usually I order everything on Amazon, and it takes at least a month to be delivered, so for a while I just forgot that I included to my order something I have never seen before.

But then the package arrived, and it was heavy like hell (seriously, some of my artbooks I even can't hold with only one hand), and I remembered:) 

What I must say for the very beginning - I don't regret that I odered "Bioshock". It's truthly awesome. As always in such artbooks the print quality is super-high, it has hard cover and super cover. So, let's start the first part of the review:

The contents contains evelen chapters:

• 1. Finding Columbia
• 2. Elizabeth
• 3. Booker Dewitt
• 4. Songbird
• 5. Founders, citizens and Vox Populi
• 6. Heavy Hitters
• 7. Advertisments and propaganda
• 8. Vigors
• 9. Sky-hook
• 10. Weapons and airships
• 11. Columbia

A plenty of material to go through!:) So today we'll stop on the first chapter.

The whole artbook includes numerous environment concept art. In the game itself it' really a pleasure just to wander the world, discovering it. Not many games are so well thought out. Every item is on it's place, you can stop to listen the citizens conversation, the architecture is unbelivable. Welcome to the steampunky world!

It's even hard to me to find the right words. I can't imagine the ammount of work performed with the game. Every detail, every tiny detail is worked with such huge effort and love to the world and to the style. While the concepts of environment look paintingly, the character concepts are sertainly drawings, graphical. 

And quick look through some of them is enough to provide yourself with nightmares for the next year or two;)

But anyway it's the kind of creepy artistic beauty.

Completed steampunky character concepts are really my favorite here. The game is so atmospheric and dynamic at the same time - like almost no other.

The most awesome part of the artbook - detailed review of really tiny items. Like the "Ghost touch". Every detail about it's using and effect from it is here.

With this kind of instruction Ithink we all can make it at home, ha-ha:)

This review is just the first one, more are coming later. The first one is always short, cuase I write an intro for them and don't want to put too much text. So, see you in the next one, with more concepts and... Elizabeth:)

Thank you for watching:)

Love, Inber