The GHZ Forum

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:46 am**

Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book
10-07-2016 17:28
Updated: 10-07-2016 17:42
Art company Cook & Becker and SEGA announce today that they are working on an official Sonic the Hedgehog art and design book. The book – made for Sonic’s 25th anniversary this year – will be the first stand-alone art book ever made of the iconic video game character. The book will cover the entire history of Sonic the Hedgehog and includes design sketches, official character illustrations, in-game art, pixel art, rare promotional art and game box art. It also features never-before published artwork and contains interviews with the key designers and artists of the beloved video game character such as Yuji Naka, Takashi Iizuka, Kazuyuki Hoshino and Yuji Uekawa.

The Sonic the Hedgehog: 25th Anniversary art book is expected to be available for pre-order worldwide October/November 2016 and will ship early 2017. The book will be available as a Standard Edition and a special Collector’s Edition. More details and images of the book will be released in the near future.

"We’re very excited to be working with SEGA on this official art book for one of video gaming’s most iconic characters. Sonic is such a great character with such a vibrantly designed world", says Maarten Brands of Cook & Becker. "Everyone that has seen our fine art prints and books knows that Cook & Becker is always a 100% committed to bring an outstanding level of quality to everything we work on. And with the Sonic the Hedgehog art book we want to raise the bar for coffee table art books on video games and showcase everything that is great about Sonic."

Cook & Becker worked previously with SEGA on a Sonic the Hedgehog art product with this official print by Paul Veer, one of the artists currently involved with Sonic Mania.

If the front cover is anything to go by, hopefully this will have lots of previously unseen concept artwork.

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2016 12:22 pm**

I'm not tempted by the Mania statue etc., but I am by this. Oh, help me I am. Despite, yknow, the internet being a better repository of art work than books ever were, and doubtlessly the contents here will find their way there eventually.

Is it really that thick? What's so special about the special edition? How much will either cost??

Dare I dream this will /finally/ close the case on the mysterious D. Mato????

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:28 pm**

This looks very promising. I am excited. :)

Posted: **Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:15 pm**

I'mma hijack this thread for a mo'. The new book "Art of Atrari" was just released and it's some high quality shit, covering the eighties era Atari, primarily 2600 art. What's more, it sheds light on the hitherto uncredited artist. Most astounding is that all my favorites were primarily made by one guy, Hiro Kimura.

He has what I think I like most about vintage video game aesthetics, one that remind me of some level of early to mid-'90s Sonic-- bold colors and dynamic geometric shapes telling a whimsical scene:

He's also responsible for retroactively setting Centipede in a Tolkien-eque world.

I think I may like this Pac-Man as much as the canonical Namco one.

This one maybe not so much. (The original contained in the book is bonkers crazy!)

He also did Sega work, so it's not completely off-topic!

He's also responsible for Yars' Revenge, Joust, 2600 Mario Bros., Frog Pond, Galaxian, and Crazy Climber, among others.

His site contains some gems, too, but like a lot of Japanese artists, he frustratingly posts only tiny jpg images of his art. Grr!

Superlative stuff! Anyone interested in doing Sonic stuff or just whatever could do a whole lot worse than learn all they can about this man.

Posted: **Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:36 pm**

addendum: some of those centipedes (hence, "BURRELL) and Pac-Mans weren't Kimura! Goes to show you shouldn't used Youtube reviews as a reference!

Posted: **Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:32 pm**

https://www.candb.com/en/artwork/2080/s ... -sega.html

https://www.candb.com/en/artwork/2076/s ... -sega.html

Preorder time!

Special edition is 60 more dollars for an exclusive Yuji Uekawa painting. Pass.

P.s., All the Atari pacmans /were/ done by Kimura. Neat!

Posted: **Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:20 am**

https://t.co/iqltEwfhhr
^ Oooh, Metal Sonic concept design sketches.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Sonic CD pull out. Not that it's not pretty or anything, but the space could be used for something we haven't seen before. Although it looks like the book will have plenty of new stuff, so it should be amazing. Excited for the release!

Posted: **Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:46 pm**

I know these are pencil sketches, but would it hurt to up the contrast just a smidgen. And all that wasted space... Blow 'em up or something. Not all negative space is artsy.

Posted: **Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:12 am**

I don't mean disrespect to Pietepiet, I'm just really curious why he gets a credit in the tweet for an easy screen shot edit but whoever actually drew Metal Sonic doesn't.

Posted: **Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:44 pm**

excerpt

Interesting that ST feels that Modern Sonic is more "Western"; it always struck me as more Japanese, ie, superflat.

The whole thing feels sleazy in its writing. I mean, yeah, it IS propaganda, but yeesh at least attempt impartiality. More "mature," more "trend driven," "better." Blech, blech, blech.

Posted: **Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:30 am**

I'm glad the book is giving insight into Sonic Team's design decisions, even if it is a bit like marketing spiele. I was starting to worry about the book, as it seemed to be relying too much on stock artwork, but it looks like it will reveal some new things.

Posted: **Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:24 pm**

Yeah, I'm reminded of Neal Gabler's Walt Disney biography in a way. Primarily how he praises Fredie Moore's redesign of Mickey as superior to Ub Iwerks', 'cause it's more "refined" and less "crude." I can't believe I read that massive pile of a book.

Like, tell me, would any of you rather be caught in an Ohshima Sonic shirt or an Uekawa Sonic shirt. Honestly, I'd rather wear neither as I'm not in a habit of drawing attention to myself, but between the two I'd pick the not smug douchie one.

I can't see myself actually reading this if I have to sift through so much chaff to get to the wheat.

Posted: **Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:35 am**

Oshima's latest posting on social media have been really good. I hope this book is able to compete.

Posted: **Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:06 pm**

I had my worries about this book, but Adamis got a copy and it's awesome

He's posted some photos on Sonic Retro:
http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php? ... 6039&st=75

There's all sorts of unseen concept artwork, even of minor characters such as Mecha Sonic. And then there's that other thing...

My copy is still in transit, so I don't think I'll get it until Monday at the earliest, but I can't wait.

Posted: **Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:23 pm**

It's great to finally see concept art for Mecha Sonic, after all these years. Can anyone translate the notes next to it?

Posted: **Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:52 pm**

All these years, I was so sure that Mecha Sonic was designed by Americans, his sprite's so awkard and cluttered. Guess this means it's a Yasushi Yamaguchi creation, then, would've thunk.

Posted: **Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:27 am**

My copied arrived.

This book has some beautiful concept art. Unfortunately, they tend to place several items on a single spread, so some of them are a bit smaller than they should be. Worse still a couple of pieces are obscured by the center binding.
I could understand if this was due to space issues, but then the book has several pages which contain nothing more than single sprite that's been scaled up so large it looses all recognition. Couldn't they have done it the other way around and given more space to the art and less for the sprites and emulator screenshots?
I suppose the large sprite artwork has been done to appeal to casual fans, but the concept art is so beautiful that I think that casuals will gain as much enjoyment from it as the hardcores.

There's extensive commentary from Sonic Team, but this tends to focus on the history of Sonic, so it's stuff we've heard before. They really should have got Sonic Team to talk about the artwork, especially some of the unused concepts.

They also should have got English translations of the Japanese notes on the concept art. Hopefully the community can do this, as I'd love to know what some of the notes say (especially for Mecha Sonic, which makes reference to a 'Fox').

I think I was also unlucky, as one of the pages has lots of scratches on it, but I've email them about this.

Overall, it's an excellent book and it's a must have for Sonic fans.

I believe there's only a few copies left, so don't wait to get one. Even despite the problems (which are only minor anyway), it certainly something that belongs in every Sonic fan's collection.

Posted: **Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:56 am**

Another issue I forget to mention: Most of the concept art is from Classic and Adventure, which is of course very welcome. But, there's very little post Adventure (outside of character art for characters like Silver, Blaze and Cream, which is really lovely, especially for Cream, because it seems they didn't know what animal to make her!). I'd have loved to seen some concept art from Colours and Generations. There is a lot of stock Modern art (e.g. which you see on game boxes), but I wish they had omitted all this and made just a concept art book (Although I appreciate that this has to appeal to all audiences, so doing just concept art might not be economically viable.)

Posted: **Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:23 am**

If this is intended to have broad appeal, then why the limited quantity? "First Print" thing going on here?

I regret not getting the Prohías Spy vs Spy omnibus because I wasn't even aware it was being published, but now it costs a fortune to buy via second-hand/scalper. This book has enough negative aspects I'm willing to take my time, but not if it's going out of print.... Ugh, I hate pressure tactics.

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:01 pm**

Mine just arrived, if anyone is wondering how US shipping on these is going. I guess it's going well?

Posted: **Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:56 pm**

I just got mine today. I'm from USA. The book looks great. really nice. I liked how little knuckles has changed over the series (and then they show Sonic Boom knuckles

).

Posted: **Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:33 am**

big_smile wrote:Hopefully the community can do this, as I'd love to know what some of the notes say (especially for Mecha Sonic, which makes reference to a 'Fox').

Looks like it's mostly attacks/weapon ideas. Many of which don't appear in the game.

*Laser from eye
*Finger-missile from finger
*Super Gravity Smash from the body(???)
*Iron Blade Chainsaw inside the neck
(Something) (possessive) tire (comes from???). Roll dash.
(Something)FOX(Something)

Posted: **Sun Aug 13, 2017 4:11 am**

Thanks chriscaffee! I am glad they cut out some of those weapons. It would have been overkill.

Posted: **Thu Aug 17, 2017 10:08 pm**

I decided to take another look:

A FOX is trapped inside.

Gravity Smash
(Absorbs rings from Sonic.)

Posted: **Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:01 pm**

chriscaffee wrote:A FOX is trapped inside.

Guys, I think we just figured out who Infinite is.

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