The Art of Cuphead Hardcover – March 17, 2020

My oldest grandson is 9 years old and is absolutely fascinated with Cuphead. He plays the video game, he draws pictures of him everywhere, and is fascinated with the animation of Cuphead.So when he found this book, he put it at the top of his Santa list. I asked his mother if we, his grandparents, could get it for him. And as I’m looking at the book, which is beautiful, I can begin to understand his fascination for Cuphead.This beautiful coffee table book tells the story of how, through artwork, Cuphead was created through the vintage look and feel of the 1930s. Each frame is hand drawn and shows the early concepts, production work, and all of the ideas that went into creating Cuphead.It’s a wonderful video game complete with Cuphead and Mugman. It is clean and stylish and neither me, nor his parents, have any problem with his fascination for the characters, the games, and now the history and the artwork of Cuphead.The book may be a little advanced for a 9 year old, but this is a family who reads voraciously. Highly educated and well rounded. He will grow with this book and who knows what dreams will become a career or a lifetime love of vintage art. There’s no doubt that this will be his favorite gift. He talks about this book constantly and understands that “it is very expensive and important “.I see that there are additional books on his favorite video game. I’m loving nothing more than to begin his collection of vintage art and video drawing with his favorite characters.

As an aspiring artist who was always fond of 30’s-style character design and animation, Cuphead’s oeuvre struck at the core of my artistic sensibilities the moment I saw the first trailer. Cut to the game’s release and the entire experience supercharged my passion for animation and character design. This book has only prolonged that level of enchantment.The book is perfect. Better than I could have hoped, and as much of a love letter to the game as the cartoons that inspired it. Filled with concept art for each character, the creators go into the VERY specific inspirations for every single denizen of the Inkwell Isles, and how each character came to be. They make a point to credit their specific artists whenever possible, and the writing is as cheeky and a joy to read.In addition to character design, they also go in-depth on the beautiful background painting and modeling that adds so much to the feel of the game. They even go into the typography selection and the thought processes behind it. This book is JAM-PACKED with more content than you can imagine.Now for the book itself: very high quality, sturdy hardcover with the pages printed on a gorgeous paper-stock. While I understand the modern inclination to purchase books in digital form, (which according to the lower ratings here apparently has some issues), you really lose something in a “non-physical” art book.At the moment of this review, this lovely addition to anyone’s collection is a whopping 40% off (around $21 US). I honestly feel like I got away with murder for how little I paid for this vs. the quality I received.If you’re on the fence, get the heck off of said fence and do yourself the favor of purchasing this inspiring ode to one of the most ambitious games ever created.

The quality of the book in it's materials is very nice perhaps the best I have seen in a book from Amazon, and the content speaks for itself, if you have ever played the game you know that is made with passion and this book it's a window to not only the sketches and early drawings and then complete illustrations but also to how the artists came to those ideas.If you like illustrations and love these concept art books this is a must have

The book itself arrived in a good condition. I normally have an apprehension of ordering hardcover books online, but mine arrived just fine!As for the contents, it's a really nice look into old designs and how timeless these designs and techniques could be. It goes over the characters and bosses and includes a lot of scrapped designs and stages of production for each level and encounter. Another amazing aspect of the book that's really nice is about how they talk about how they began the project. They started as normal people who started this as a background project with minimal knowledge, and gradually worked up to make it into what it is now. It's a breath of fresh air seeing an art book of a well known game that didn't come from any major studio but normal people. If you're an artist or game dev, it really invokes the feeling that you can do it as well! It also gives an interesting character design idea of using a character as heavy inspiration and capturing their main aspect, while having a completely iconic and unique design itself.If you're looking for a book that captures character design, some history, and inspiration, this is a great book!Other notes were that it was larger than I thought it'd be, the book is formatted really nice for the size, and the covers have a lot more detail than the images online have. It's a pleasure to have!

I bought this as a gift and the little artist loved it.

This book is everything I wanted it to be and more. There are concept sketches, finished sketches, explanations on the designs. It is a beautiful book. It is nice to be able to look at the world of Cup Head while not trying to stay alive. There are sketches and background artwork which are beautiful and so nice to see the thought process. I honestly cannot say anything bad about this book. For the price, I personally got more than what I wanted. I mainly purchased this for reference in a more retro art style, and it is perfect. I would highly recommend this book to Cup Head fans, and fans of this type of art style.

My kids loved the games, and also watched the show. This book has tons of great, artistic insight -- plus a good amount of lore.One of my kids is extremely good at art, so he naturally ate it up.Highly recommended.