Book Review: Exotique 5: The World's Most Beautiful CG Characters

Exotique 5 is out. The fifth volume of the Exotique series of art books that collects some of the best CG characters.

There are 342 illustrations this time, contributed by artists from all over the world. The variety of style and quality of work is top notch, of course. There are 3D, painted, photo-realistic and even the Lost-smoky-monster inspired style. It's a great volume if you want to check out character designs. Majority created from pure imagination and a few re-interpretation of classic characters.

Out of the 208 contributing artists, 72 are new. So much that I went "Hey, this looks like the work from so-and-so" a few times to find a new name in the caption. There's an index of all the artists with their websites provided should you want to check out more art.

I read from the press release that Chinese artists are "well-represented". It's not so much of representation but there's an unmistakable Asian look and feel to them. Again, it adds to the diversity of visual style.

One of my favourite pieces is from Rui Shen (China) who really went all out in creating the Chinese opera costume with all the detailed embroidery, and - oh - the opera singer sheds a tear. The other is a 3D illustration from Jan Jureczko who renders a why-not-just-take-a-photo realistic basketball player.

As usual, you can check out Ballistic Publishing's website for the whole book preview. The first 300 who order the book from the website also get to download a video that shows how Steve Argyle created his character Naya Battlemage, which appears on the back cover of the book. Just remember to keep your order ID.

This is a book recommended to character designers and anyone who loves fantasy art and computer graphics.

Special thanks to Ballistic Publishing for providing me with this complimentary copy for review.

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