Book Review: The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants

This is a book published in 2005 and is in very limited availability at sane prices. When I saw it at a local bookshop, I grabbed it immediately. The full title is The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 - 2004.

Oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in video game form, created by game developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning.

This art book covers a decade of art work spanning a few game titles which are Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.

There's extensive character coverage with chapters devoted to Abe, Munch and Stranger. That's on top of other concept designs included for all other characters that feature in the games. There are extensive sketches with scribbled notes, 3D renders and full colour illustrations.

Also included are concept paintings for the backgrounds, weapons, vehicles and other props for the game.

The captions provided describe the world of Oddworld and the ideas behind. It talks about changes in designs, such has the requirement of a three-finger character instead of four fingers because of negative connotations in the Japanese market. The writeup is great and there's something to read on every page.

This is a paperback book published by Ballistic Publishing. They have recently released a limited 100 copies folio edition for this book priced at (a whopping) US$170.

There are both paperback and hardcover versions for the normal edition. If you're getting, get the hardcover because the binding on the paperback isn't that great, and this book is thick at 256 pages.

This book is recommended more for Oddworld fans and game artists.

The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants