A Look into The Art of Anthem: Limited Edition book

The amazing thing about film and games is that art that goes into making them. So many creative minds go to work to create a world that feels so live that you could feel the atmosphere surrounding you. While so much is presented in games, gamers rarely get to see all the conceptual work that go into crafting what they see in the final product. Lucky for us, a genre of books were created to give us more insight into these creative processes. From the up-close details to the faraway vistas, The Art of… and The Making of… books provide an unique insight into how the games, shows, and films that intrigue us are created. Today, we are taking a special look into one particular game that wowed audiences at its debut: Anthem by BioWare.

Where It All Started…

When Anthem was first announced, many were excited. So many are fans of BioWare (Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age) and were very interested in the new IP they were creating. To have a new intellectual property be supported and backed by a large publisher like EA, it’s usually a sign that faith was placed in the potential of the game. In 2017, the world was presented with a gameplay reveal of the game and it looked promising. Audiences witnessed a world that felt realized and alive. The mech suits, named Javelins, were creatively designed and the open world looked beautiful. The main concerns that some players raised were about the title being heavily multiplayer based and needing to be always online. BioWare is mainly known for their single player titles and this game seemed to want to chase the success achieved by titles like Destiny and GTA V.

The official cinematic trailer showed some of the same elements as their initial trailers but was not as impressive.

Sadly, after the game released, the title did not live up to the potential that many had for it. The movement of the mech suits felt good and the score was awesome. For me the art design shined brightest but the overall game left much to be desired. Due to the lukewarm reception, BioWare announced that they were going to stop supporting the game. The title is still available to play online at this time but there’s no telling how much longer the game will be available to play.

While the title was not a success, the art team still created something that artists and fans of game design can appreciate even when the game is gone: The Art of Anthem from Dark Horse Books. Recently, the book was on sale at Barnes and Noble and I wanted to check out how the art was being displayed in this book. Originally, the book was published in 2019 but after looking through the book, it appeared to be something that was worth sharing with others.

A look at the book, the art print, and the miniature replica that comes within the clamshell design.

First Impressions of the Art of Anthem

The book gives a nice first impression with a clamshell case that housed the artbook, art lithograph, and small replica from the game. The replica is a scaled down model of a mural found in the game. The lithograph is a designed to emulate a movie poster that highlight a few of the main characters of the game. While these pieces are fine, the star of the show is the 208 page tome. The overall construction of the book is well done and similar to other books that are published by Dark Horse Books. The pages have a red-ish gold leaf on their edges.

When going through the book, one can appreciate that the book was not only filled with art designs but also captions written by designers from the game, including the art director. Derek Watts, Ken Fairclough, Alex Figini, Alex Negrea, Rael Lyra, and Hernan Melzi provide great commentary on how their team wanted to flesh out the world of Anthem and give the players something that felt foreign and familar at the same time.

The Calmshell Case

The cover of the clamshell case. The triangle design is die-cut to reveal the center of the cover art.

The view after opening the case

After opening the case, you are greeted with the book and see a white ribbon that allows for ease of access to the contents of the case.

The Art Print

Within a small folio, an art print is included.

The Fort Tarsis Mural replica

The mural replica that comes within the game. It’s feels like a thick cardboard, wrapped with a bronze painted paper. The etched design looks nice but would feel more like a replica or model if made with better materials.

What Could Have Been...

These are some of the early design ideas of the homes and work sites that the people in the world of Anthem would have lived in (pages 22-23).

Weapon Designs

One of the pages that highlighted some of cool designs of the weapons for the javelin (page 91).

Costume Designs for Engineers

To continue with the design motif of the world of Anthem, the designers worked to provide specific looks for different individuals of this world. These pages explored the look of engineers and their work environment (pages 158-159).

Waterfalls in Anthem

On pages 116 to 117, we are treated to a look at the designs of some of the waterfalls that were featured in the game.

Additional Javelin Weapon Designs

A few more pages from the section reviewing the art design of the weapons for the javelins (pages 92 -93).

Javelin Design

A cool javelin design that included real world elements. (Page 14)

Storm Javelin

A portrait design of the the storm javelin. Derek Watts described how the helmet was inspired by the look of a praying mantis (page 62).

Final Thoughts

If you’re an artist or someone who enjoys looking into the creative process that goes into designing a sci-fi world, this book is a good book to read and ingest. The book stands as a testament of the love that was poured into the aesthetic of Anthem. While it’s reception was not as many would have wished, there’s still much to appreciate about the ambitious project that was Anthem.

If you would like to see more about Anthem, check out their official website: https://www.ea.com/games/anthem