Book Review: ストリートファイターアートワークス 覇 (Street Fighter Art Works)

Update: The English edition SF20: The Art of Street Fighter is now available.

Here's the Japanese product description:

総ページ数320ページ、収録画像点数1500点以上!歴代『ストリートファイター』シリーズ公式イラストの集大成!『ストリートファイター』派生作品のイラストも特別収録!カプコンデザイン室秘蔵の初公開原画、準備稿も大量掲載

This art book is a 20th anniversary tribute to the video game Street Fighter which was released in 1987.

At 320 pages, the paperback book is pretty thick and comes with a dust jacket. On the non-glossy pages are printed with over 1500 illustrations, paintings and sketches.

The illustrations are divided into chapters by artists, namely:

• あきまん (Akiman) | blog
• 西村キヌ (Kinu Nishimura)
• CRMK
• イケノ (Daigo Ikeno)
• 大ちゃん (Daichan)
• えだやん (Edayan)
• 森気楼 (Shinkiro)

Akiman is the designer for the classic Street Fighter characters. Daigo Ikeno is the art director and character designer for Street Fighter IV. The last chapter is a collection of work from other artists.

Since this is a character based game, most of the art are character designs. They are a mixture in sizes with small single portraits to the usual full page group splash pages. Most are full colored illustrations in myriad anime styles. There are captions for everything and several artists interviews but are all in Japanese.

Work comes from all the various different versions of Street Fighter, including spin-offs like Super Puzzle Fighter II, or even some SNK-vs-CAPCOM illustrations — rivalry between King of Fighters and Street Fighter is strong and burning. Included also are the latest Street Fighter IV character profile designs used in the game.

In this book spans the work of Street Fighter art over an impressive 20 years, I'm very sure there will be more to come. This satisfying thick compilation is recommended for all Street Fighter art lovers.

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Also check out other Street Fighter art books I've reviewed, namely Street Fighter Tribute and Udon's Art of Capcom, which I both like very much too.

The English edition of this book is SF20: The Art of Street Fighter.

Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon Japan | YesAsia US | Play-asia.com

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Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon Japan | YesAsia US | Play-asia.com

If you buy from the links, I get a little commission that helps me get more books to feature.

Here's the Amazon Japan buying guide for your reference.