Anyone Else Collect Concept Art Books?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2025 4:27 am
Got into them real early, got a copy of the Mass Effect trilogy's artbook back in grade 6 (inspired me to try and get into game design/art, stuff happened though) and since then I've been fascinated by all the behind the scenes brainstorming that goes into movies and games. Seeing how it started, the path it took and ultimately where it ended up, seeing what parts were cut out or otherwise dropped.
Since then, I've got almost a shelf's worth (they're a little pricey lol).
- Anthem (my heart is still broken)
- Borderlands 3 (wickedly cool to see where the ideas started)
- The Nolan Batman trilogy (haven't looked into it as deeply, didn't care for the movies but I got it as a gift)
- Darksiders 1 & 2 (lot of fun development stories snuck in there)
- Dead Space (one of my favourites, entire book is dripping with passion from the artists)
- Destiny (also a really cool origin)
- Diablo 3 (my dad and I both got copies together and read through, was a great time)
- Doom 2016 & Eternal (2016 was super disappointing as a book, very little actual building blocks or progressing ideas)
- Mass Effect (the OG, my beloved, still my original copy and genuinely brings me to tears some days)
- My Neighbor Totoro (got it as a gift from my little sister, also made me cry at christmas lmao)
- Overwatch (kinda heartbreaking seeing some of the dropped character art)
- Ratchet and Clank (Dave Guertin is an absolute G, and has a fascinating journey art-wise)
- Tomb Raider (the reboots)
- Titanfall (love me the big robots, lot of fun ideas I wish were in the game though)
- Spiderverse (the 1st one) (does more need to be said?)
Hell, nowadays I even eyeball concept books for things I haven't even interacted with, just to see the progress
Since then, I've got almost a shelf's worth (they're a little pricey lol).
- Anthem (my heart is still broken)
- Borderlands 3 (wickedly cool to see where the ideas started)
- The Nolan Batman trilogy (haven't looked into it as deeply, didn't care for the movies but I got it as a gift)
- Darksiders 1 & 2 (lot of fun development stories snuck in there)
- Dead Space (one of my favourites, entire book is dripping with passion from the artists)
- Destiny (also a really cool origin)
- Diablo 3 (my dad and I both got copies together and read through, was a great time)
- Doom 2016 & Eternal (2016 was super disappointing as a book, very little actual building blocks or progressing ideas)
- Mass Effect (the OG, my beloved, still my original copy and genuinely brings me to tears some days)
- My Neighbor Totoro (got it as a gift from my little sister, also made me cry at christmas lmao)
- Overwatch (kinda heartbreaking seeing some of the dropped character art)
- Ratchet and Clank (Dave Guertin is an absolute G, and has a fascinating journey art-wise)
- Tomb Raider (the reboots)
- Titanfall (love me the big robots, lot of fun ideas I wish were in the game though)
- Spiderverse (the 1st one) (does more need to be said?)
Hell, nowadays I even eyeball concept books for things I haven't even interacted with, just to see the progress