Being regular practitioners of gaming, it is only natural that we come to adore CG artwork. For gamers specifically there is no platform for us to just sit and appreciate the true expertise behind character designs. Ballistic Publishing has created a platform for artists to submit their work and gain recognition, and ever since discovering them I have a new found love for digital art. Some of you may remember me reviewing the God of War III art book, which was published by Ballistic. I was very impressed with that particular product, especially from a gamer perspective. Exotique 6 however is a completely different beast, or perhaps beauty would be the better word?
Exotique is a yearly series in which Ballistic showcases the world’s best digitally rendered character art, which are submitted from artists from all over the world. Exotique 6 brings together the world’s most beautiful sci-fi, anime, photo realism and fantasy characters and presents them in one excellent package, which anyone would feel proud to own. Obviously it’s the fantastic art featured in the series that makes Exotique a joy to own, but much appreciation has to be given to Ballistic themselves for presenting it all in such a desirable package. Upon seeing the book the urge to begin collecting these art books will grip you instantly. Whether you own the soft cover or the special edition of Exotique 6 you can be confident that you own a very special collector’s item. I own the soft cover myself, and its presented so well that I can’t even begin to imagine how the special edition would feel in my hands. If you do have the extra money to spend on the special edition you gain the privilege of a black leather cover embossed with metallic gold.
While it is so difficult for me to sit here and describe the actual art featured in the book itself, I cannot stress enough how extraordinary it is. Amongst the 208 pages of Exotique 6 are the most beautiful women I have seen in my life. It’s no secret that the majority of character art featured in Exotique 6 are of female gender, but you will see a fair amount of exceptions here and there. Whenever reviewing Ballistic art books I have made it a stipulation to choose a favorite piece, but it is way too hard to just choose one. So some honorable mentions are “Hear No Evil” by Siliphiel and As Shanim from Italy on page 51, “Gaming girl” by Andrew Hibner from USA on page 102 and “The Living Dead: Go Girl” by Gracjana Zielinska from Poland on page 105. I could name a hundred more but I would just be listing the index.
Upon very carefully examining the book cover to cover, I did not see one piece of art that I didn’t think was totally amazing. The showcase is so mind blowing that I feel like contacting all the artists personally to praise them for their work; which is actually possible thanks to the artist index in the back of the book. It is easy to imagine the folks at Ballistic having a hard time actually choosing which art will be featured in the book. An editorial in the book written by publisher Daniel Wade reveals that they received 3000 entries for Exotique 6, this gives you an idea just how much this series has become an authority in Digital Artwork.
I would one hundred percent recommend this book to those who appreciate digital art on a level even beyond gaming. Not only is Exotique 6 one of Ballistics many awesome art titles, but it fast becoming a number one platform for artists worldwide to have their work recognized. This alone makes the series a very valuable product to add to a collection.
Purchase Exotique 6 here.
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