The Art Of The Box is a sumptuous, 564-page celebration of video game box art, featuring the work of artists from across the last four decades.
Featuring 26 biographies of 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.
Each biography is accompanied by lavish, full-color 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.
The Art Of The Box 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.
Founded by Sam Dyer in 2014, Bitmap Books creates meticulously researched, visually ambitious books that bring your classic gaming memories to life. Bitmap partners with game industry figures like Mark Cerny, Ste and John Pickford, Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert, SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda, and many more. Many titles are proudly unofficial, but others are done with SEGA, SNK and Atari, officially-licensed books that come complete with enhanced access and exclusive assets. Bitmap’s best-sellers are: A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games, The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games.