Probably the most famous arcade fighting game ever created, Capcom’s Street Fighter has spawned countless other wannabes since its release more than 20 years ago, and has undoubtedly defined the look and feel of today’s fighting game genre.
As part of the game’s 20th anniversary celebration, Capcom has published the artbook “Street Fighter Artworks”, a culmination of more than 2 decades of character design work, concept art and illustrations that made Street Fighter the brand that it is today. At a whopping 320 pages spanning over 1500 illustrations (easily twice the thickness of The Art of Dark Stalkers artbook ), this is the most comprehensive collection of Street Fighter artwork ever published.
The book is divided into various chapters by artist, namely Akiman, Nishimura Kinu, CRMK, Ikeno, Daichan, Edayan, and Shinkiro. The final chapter is a collection of miscellaneous artwork by various other artists.
(above) Some chibi-fied character designs. I wonder what these designs were used for ?
(above) Artwork by the one and only Shinkiro, one of my favourite game character designer/concept artist. He is also one of the lead designers behind SNK’s King of Fighters. (below) Sumi-e style character designs for the latest Street Fighter IV, created by Polygon Pictures. Anyone playing this on PS3 now ?
Street Fighter fan or not, the book is definitely worth checking out for its huge collection of amazing artwork.
You can get a copy of the book here.
Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK
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May 7th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
awesome stuff
May 8th, 2009 at 3:07 am
the chibi-fied designs reminded me of an old game called pocket fighter.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Classic!!
May 9th, 2009 at 8:59 am
i would’ve liked to play street fighter with those chibi models.
May 9th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
bk201 > you can. Search for “Gem Fighter” (complete name’s “Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix”. A quite funny game.
May 10th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I’m playing SF4 on PS3 and my ID on PSN is canoneblue
Feel free to add me ^^
May 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Oh Chun-li…
May 10th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I’m still awaiting for my copy to ship, this has got to be my most awaited art books so far. SF4 is one of the biggest disappointments ever for me but the concept art behind it is some of the best from the in-house artists. Kinu, Akiman and Bengus left before SF4 but was commissioned to do promotional illustrations.
It’s nice to see some of Shinkiro’s work that I haven’t seen before. I think he got even better after he joined CAPCOM.
Unrelated tangent, are you excited for KOF 12 ?
May 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
On my list to get! You should have done a mini review of the Tribute book alongside this review.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Vong –
very nice book. tempting. 🙂
There’s a pretty good article on the making of the game here:
http://www.softimage.jp/user_case/street_fighter4/index.html
-T
May 13th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Hopefully this book will come out stateside like the Darkstalkers one did (or was the Darkstalkers one in the US first? Amazon shows a publish date of Dec 08 by Udon).
May 13th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
louki – Thanks for the invite ! Unfortunately I’m not playing at the moment, but perhaps some other challenger might just add you !
weigy – Wow you sure know your artists ! I’m actually not too familiar with the KOF series but tell me where there is Shinkiro art and I’ll love to take a look. :]
Otto – Tribute book…do you mean the one by Udon Studios ?
Todd – :] Highly recommended, and thanks so much for the lovely making of link !
Matthew Long – Given that SF is so popular in the states, I would think the chances are pretty high. :]
May 14th, 2009 at 6:35 am
the chibi-fied designs are definitely from the game puzzle fighter (ps1) and pocket figher (GBA). check it out its fun to play 😉
May 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
great! this will make a perfect gift for a *very special* friend. ^^;
May 15th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
hey yonghow, Shinkiro doesn’t seem to be working with SNK anymore. I’m not sure if he’s freelancing for CAPCOM or not but I’ve found several hi-res art from Shinkiro. The latest few artworks from him have been CAPCOM (ghosts n ghouls, tatsunoko vs capcom and resident evil series) properties so I think he “defected” from SNK to CAPCOM. Hahah.
KOF 12’s art seem to be handled by his understudies and colleagues, they’re in a very different style. They’re still excellent but very different. They actually look somewhat CAPCOM influenced.
As for Bengus, Kinu, Akiman, Ikeno and Edayan, I’m an immense fan of them all, probably the reasons why I picked up a pencil as a kid. Kinu seems to be working mainly for Bones Studio now, there’s been one or two series from that studio with her as the character designer. I’m still waiting for my copy of this book to arrive… My best friend in Japan picked it up for me and I’m still eagerly awaiting the book.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
i’m not sure wether Shinkirou defect to capcom at will. He’s forced to move when the original SNK goes bankrupt on 2001. Unfortunately he didn’t came back when SNK was re-established as SNK Playmore. That’s kinda sad but i’m okay with it since there’s still Hiroaki, Tonko and some other illustrators whom are responsible for legendary series like Fatal Fury.
Yonghow if you’re serious to dig for shinkirou’s past artwork then i would totally recommend you to search for KOF artwork ranging from the year 1994 to 2000.
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/ARTBOOK-THE-KING-OF-FIGHTERS-FIGHTING-EVOLUTION-10TH_W0QQitemZ400051288566QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFR_JG_Livres_BD_Mangas?hash=item5d24ea39f6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A835|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50
+
http://anime.com.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=299
His last masterpiece for SNK was one of the poster art for SNK vs Capcom: Chaos. Which is the the current style he’s using at capcom.
http://img.jeuxvideo.fr/00176494-photo-svc-chaos-snk-vs-capcom.jpg
I’m also waiting for my copy of the SF Artbook to arrive (ordered it through a friend). 🙂 Simply bought because it had shinkirou’s art and due to the fact that this latest artbook contains all arts in the previous SF artbook release.
May 30th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Sorry for the double post, my copy of the book has arrived today. Took a week for it to arrive. But i’m satisfied anyway the book is in perfect condition. 😀 Thanks again for such a quality product.
http://man3k.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/street-fighter-20th-anniversary-artbook/
June 9th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
man3k, thanks for the info! I’m more of a Capcom fan though I sincerely respect, like and appreciate SNK’s work. I can’t say if he defected at will or not but his work for TvC doesn’t seem to be like the work of one unhappy with his position. The gorgeous work you linked us to is also included in that book, quite a surprise to see SvC Chaos art too! Thanks for the link and the info on Shinkiro.
Yonghow, I found some Shinkiro artwork for Ghosts n Ghouls off some random game site, it’s pretty hi-res. If you want, I’ll send it to your email! Shoot me an email just in case I forget to check back to this page in the next few days and I’ll reply it with the image attached.
September 23rd, 2011 at 3:25 pm
The arts are really nice and cool!..But the designs are old. Anyway, nice job!
July 22nd, 2013 at 12:49 am
Hey! Great review!
I was tempted to buy this Street Fighter 20th anniversary artbook but I just fount there is a 25th anniversary artbook for sale with about 450 pages. (wooooW!) I just wanted to ask if you know something about that new artbook.
I kind of quit being a gameplayer, the last console I got was a Dreamcast (so… the years since that are… OMG, I’m old!!)
Reading this blog has made me spend so much money on books!! HAHAHA I’m delighted with the art even if I don’t really know the games!