There’s nothing more endearing than the sketches and notes in an art book. Stuffed with lost designs, art books are where artists behind well-loved video games and animated shows release their inspirations and process. Interwoven with notes from creative directors and developers, they show the behind-the-scenes of complex media creation and inspire me endlessly.
I love how they look on my desk with their spines shining by lamplight. I can glance over and see the titles of media I have so many memories with, branded by each of their distinctive colours. My favourite and newest is The Art and Making of Arcane, which goes in-depth into the multi-year production of the animated series Arcane spanning across decades. At any moment I can pick it up and crack open the pages. Maybe I’ll learn something new about a character I never got to meet, since they never made it to the final cut, or discover a new detail about a character I already love. In every case, my heart fills more as I peer into the artists’ heads and try to understand their intentions.
Reading art books reminds me why I’m in a design major: to create with beauty and meaning. They’re a beautiful, messy, passionate visualization of the amount of work going into everything we play with and watch. Without artists, how happy would we really be?
