{"product_id":"the-art-of-the-box","title":"The Art Of The Box","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Celebrating a more innocent time when purchasing decisions were often influenced by the quality of a game's cover, \u003c\/em\u003eThe Art Of The Box\u003cem\u003e shines a long-overdue light on the talents of legends such as Bob Wakelin, Tom DuBois and Susumu Matsushita, and is a must-have for any self-respecting retro gamer\"\u003c\/em\u003e 9\/10, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/the-art-of-the-box-celebrates-a-time-when-cover-art-could-sell-a-game\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eNintendo Life\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBefore the days of brand awareness campaigns and digital marketing, a game’s only source of advertising was often limited to the box artwork you’d see on high street shelves. With early game graphics offering little visual interest, it fell to the packaging to conjure up engaging images of deep space battles, medieval knights and wizards, explosive military operations, and monstrous alien creatures. And every cover had to be hand-crafted by an artist using traditional media – often with a short deadline and the vaguest of briefs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Art Of The Box\u003c\/em\u003e features 26 biographies of those artists who, at some point in their careers, found themselves illustrating video game packaging, including Bob Wakelin, Steve Hendricks, Ken Macklin, Tom DuBois, Steinar Lund, Marc Ericksen, Julie Bell and Susumu Matsushita among many others. With information drawn from live interviews wherever possible, we discuss their beginnings as an artist, their inspirations and influences, the games they illustrated, and where their artistic careers have taken them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSome artists created just a handful of covers over a short period; others were instrumental in developing the look and feel of video game brands, such as Ocean Software, Konami and Capcom. But all have their left an indelible mark on the industry, with sumptuous pieces of original art, many of which now command high prices on the collectors’ market.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWith artists from the UK, Europe, North American and Japan, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Art Of The Box\u003c\/em\u003e encompasses the full gamut of game packaging illustration, from the early days of Atari’s iconic VCS box art, to modern-day collaborations between designers, CG artists and game developers for the latest AAA games. Each biography is accompanied by lavish, full-colour box artwork, supplied by the artists themselves, and each piece is presented without the usual logos and retail elements, so you see each piece as the artist intended.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs the gaming world moves irrevocably toward digital downloads and gaming subscription services, traditional box art will one day become a thing of the past. But a small selection of these vivid flights of the imagination will be forever celebrated in \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Art Of The Box\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis substantial and exhaustively researched book is 564 pages in length, with over 100,000 words and more than 350 full colour images. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Art Of The Box\u003c\/em\u003e is produced to Bitmap Books’ usual high standards, available in hardback format with heavy, gloss paper, incredible print quality and including a ribbon bookmark. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003eNote that the free PDF with this book has watermarks on all images.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFeatured artists:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/charlesbae.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCharles Bae\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.borisjulie.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eJulie Bell\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bromart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGerald Brom\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eFrank Cirocco\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/iamgabz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGrzegorz Domaradzki\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/retrographicbooks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTom DuBois\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.marcericksen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMarc Ericksen\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.oliverfreyart.com\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOliver Frey\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.sundancecreative.com\/Home.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSteve Hendricks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.paulkidby.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePaul Kidby\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.sporkunltd.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMichael Koelsch\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.denisloubet.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDenis Loubet\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.steinarlund.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSteinar Lund\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.artstation.com\/kenfivefiftyfive\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eKen Macklin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.leemacleodfineart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLee MacLeod\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.susumumatsushita.net\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSusumu Matsushita\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.rodneymatthewsstudios.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRodney Matthews\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.motzkusart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRoger Motzkus\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eShinkiro and Eisuke Ogura\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/peringer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eStephen Peringer\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dermotpower.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDermot Power\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.davidrowe.net\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDavid Rowe\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/juniortomlin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eJunior Tomlin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.dudutorres.com.br\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDudu Torres\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/uk\/shop\/BobWakelinArtwork\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBob Wakelin\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.winterbauerarts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMike Winterbauer\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bitmap Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardback Book","offer_id":42743504568513,"sku":"AOBHB","price":49.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/3604\/files\/TAOTB_BB_DSCF0758.jpg?v=1724234613","url":"https:\/\/us.bitmapbooks.com\/products\/the-art-of-the-box","provider":"Bitmap Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}