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Eric S. Trautmann
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The Art Of Halo: Creating a Virtual Masterpiece Paperback – 1 Sept. 2004

by Eric S. Trautmann (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 92 ratings
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A collection of interviews, anecdotes, commentary, and artwork spotlights the innovative work of the artists, musicians, writers, and game developers of Bungie Studios who created the best-selling Xbox game Halo, in a dramatic overview of the complete game development process and its characters, weaponry, technology, and alien environments. Original. 55,000 first printing.
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  1. Print length
    176 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ballantine Books Inc.
  4. Publication date
    1 Sept. 2004
  5. Dimensions
    21.59 x 0.64 x 27.94 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0345475860
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0345475862
  8. See all details
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Product description

From the Inside Flap

When Halo® hit the shelves with the launch of the Xbox® in 2001, it was an immediate sensation. This action-packed science fiction military combat game, set on a distant, war-torn, artificial planet, became an instant triumph with gamers and scored numerous awards for its innovations, irresistibility, and sheer thrills. The Art of Halo is a showcase of its stunning visual style, a fascinating guided tour through the making of the phenomenon from bright idea to brilliant result and a testament to the creativity of the artists at Bungie Studios.

Meet the brains behind Bungie, the birthplace of Halo
Feast your eyes on a panorama of all-new artwork from its spectacular sequel Halo 2 one of the most eagerly-awaited games of 2004
Discover the art of game design from the inside out, in interviews with and illustrations by the Halo creative team
Learn the secrets of designing gear from the artists themselves
Follow the construction of a crucial sequence from storyboard to completion, along with pages from the actual script
Thrill to a gallery of glorious Halo artwork, including action figure designs, game packaging, cartoon strips, posters, T-shirts, and more

It s all here the story behind the sensation that GamePro declares above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect in one virtuoso volume!

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books Inc. (1 Sept. 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345475860
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345475862
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 21.59 x 0.64 x 27.94 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 92 ratings

About the author

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Eric S. Trautmann

Eric S. Trautmann

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Eric Trautmann is an American writer best known for his work at Microsoft Game Studios, DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment.

For nearly eight years, Eric Trautmann contributed to Microsoft Game Studios properties such as ALLEGIANCE, CRIMSON SKIES and HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED. He also wrote prose fiction and non-fiction related to those properties, including a CRIMSON SKIES novella and a non-fiction art portfolio book, THE ART OF HALO. In 2006 he left Microsoft to become a full-time freelance writer.

His first comic book work was for Prima Games, a comic series based on the Perfect Dark franchise. His six issue miniseries titled PERFECT DARK: JANUS' TEARS debuted in August 2006.

In August 2007 he wrote issue #17 of the DC Comics series CHECKMATE, with series writer Greg Rucka.

As a result of his work on CHECKMATE #17, Trautmann became the regular co-writer of the series alongside Greg Rucka, beginning with issue #21 and continuing through issue #25.

Following this, Trautmann and Rucka collaborated again on the one-shot FINAL CRISIS: RESIST, illustrated by Ryan Sook and Marco Rudy. He later wrote or co-wrote several DC Comics titles, including THE SHIELD, THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS, ADVENTURE COMICS, and ACTION COMICS.

Dynamite Entertainment comics work includes the monthly adventures of RED SONJA, VAMPIRELLA and venerable space-opera hero Flash Gordon in a series entitled FLASH GORDON: ZEITGEIST.

Now available is the long-awaited DC/Vertigo graphic novel, SHOOTERS, written with frequent collaborator Brandon Jerwa, and illustrated by Eisner award-winning artist Steve Lieber.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
92 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

AdGill1
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2016
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This book is absolutely fantastic, although the graphics are quite outdated nowdays the concept art remains a fantastic reference to the halo universe. The writing is concise and well ordered and the trivia and the the way in which they describe the process of creating the game is fascinating, I couldn't recommend it enough
One person found this helpful
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PIOSOL
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice for fans
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 August 2010
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For everyone who wants to see HiDef pictures it is maybe a little bit disappointing because at the time of Halo 1 the graphic was not so evolved like today. For those fans the Halo 3 Artbook is a better suggestion. But never the less a really nice item for every Halo Fan.
2 people found this helpful
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Jordan Wharton
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2013
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This is a brilliant art book. Not only is there a lot of art, but there is a lot of description to go with it.
Great art book.
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frank
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Halo fans
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2012
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Great book with super illustrations. Halo fans need this book which has superb illustrations and is well worth the money
One person found this helpful
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Marco Ferrigno
1.0 out of 5 stars inaccurate condition label
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2013
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this item was sold to me as 'Condition: Used - Very Good' , however when I received the book there was the usual bumps and dents which were acceptable, however I found that a large portion of the pages had been cropped with what looked like some sort of scissors with a crimped edge and also, a good deal of the pages had been put in upside down. A GROSS NEGLECT TO MENTION THE TRUE CONDITION ON THIS BOOK WHICH WOULD BE THAT IT IS NOT IN ANY CONDITION TO SELL. Beware, items maybe in far worse condition than they are labelled.
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kupocake
4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Fans, but not quite good enough for other Enthusiasts
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2006
The Art of Halo is a great, interesting resource for Halo fans that sadly doesn't overstretch itself and become the more widely recommendable book that it should be.

The Art of Halo contains a higher text to image ratio than the other artbooks I own. It seems to me that the images suffer as a result, with some sidelined and reduced to miniature size. Forgivable perhaps, so long as the text is worth the loss: Unfortunately, the text contains far too much gushing praise for Halo and Bungie, and far too little actual information about the design process, such as you might expect from a book subtitled 'Creating A Virtual World'. There is also a tendency for repetition that goes unchecked, either between team members, or image captions and the main text. The most disappointing problem with the text is its tendency towards basic information: a character or enemy's role in the games, fictional background information on locations and weapons. The kind of thing already in the game's manual and strategy guide and completely irrelevant here.

By far the poorest section is that devoted to weapons. The text here is illuminated by scarce gems of background information, and the image content is even worse, nearly exclusively composed of in-game screenshots and final model renders with concept art available for the minority, it has very little to offer that anyone familiar with the games don't already know, and non-players are unlikely to be interested in such details anyway. Thankfully, other sections are a lot stronger: the Environments chapter is particularly interesting, and contains a more acceptable amount of unfamiliar concept material. Still, my overall feeling is that the book could have contained far more conceptual designs and anecdotes, and far fewer images of in-game and finished material (there is also an inappropriately regular use of outdated E3 2003 demo content). Sometimes the layout of a page isn't perfect either, with large highly detailed images relegated to thumb-sized squiggles in favour of useless text or huge reproductions of simpler works (on page 57, for instance, we lose a beautiful looking Gravemind study to a very pixelated and far less interesting early study that for some reason takes up a quarter of a page). There is also a bias towards the (then unfinished) second Halo game, apparently symptomatic of Halo's troubled and rushed development.

The book is printed with high-quality materials but sadly lacks a hardback edition for true collect-ability. It is also not overly long at 161 pages. At its height it is a marvelous visual delight and an interesting read, but it fails to sustain this level of content and is unlikely to interest non-fans of the game. But then, there are so many Halo lovers out there that the book certainly has a wide market anyway.
15 people found this helpful
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7ruth
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, worth the price
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 October 2008
I got this book yesterday, and I can tell you outright that the reviews (which shower it with praise) still make it seem worse than it actually is. I'm not saying the book is perfect though.

I would have liked to see more descriptions and creators' comments on the art. Some captions don't do the picture justice. But if you really want to admire as much Halo concept art as you can, then get this book. There's lots of art in it that you can't find on the internet. And unless you're a hardcore, salivating psycho Halo fan, there will be some stuff in the book about the Halo universe/game design/concepts/creative process that you didn't know before.

Like the previous reviewers say, if you're a true fan, get this book. I am a true fan, but I'm a cheap true fan. So at first I didn't get the book, because it was bloody expensive. But it's now on discount here on Amazon, and £10+ pounds is definitely not too much to ask for a book with full-colour art on every page. So for the thrifty ones amongst us, here's something that strikes the balance between economy and obsession.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Master Alucard
5.0 out of 5 stars Donde todo inicio
Reviewed in Mexico on 10 December 2023
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Es un libro muy bueno de cuando halo no era un juego tan conocido como hoy 2023 y es que este libro es de 2004 y hasta es primera edicion bueno siquiera el que me llego a mi, y aun con tanto tiempo guardado esta en buenas condiciones ya que estaba cerrado en su bolsa y no estaba dañado y si se daño fue porque lo enviaron en un sobre bueno en conclusion si te apasiona halo este libro no te debe faltar yo en mi caso lo compre en amazon usa y me salio muy barato y viendo el precio que tenia el libro ese fue su precio solo con la difetencia del cambio del peso en este año 2023.
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Master Alucard
5.0 out of 5 stars Donde todo inicio
Reviewed in Mexico on 10 December 2023
Es un libro muy bueno de cuando halo no era un juego tan conocido como hoy 2023 y es que este libro es de 2004 y hasta es primera edicion bueno siquiera el que me llego a mi, y aun con tanto tiempo guardado esta en buenas condiciones ya que estaba cerrado en su bolsa y no estaba dañado y si se daño fue porque lo enviaron en un sobre bueno en conclusion si te apasiona halo este libro no te debe faltar yo en mi caso lo compre en amazon usa y me salio muy barato y viendo el precio que tenia el libro ese fue su precio solo con la difetencia del cambio del peso en este año 2023.
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Oscar
1.0 out of 5 stars Producto en estado lamentable.
Reviewed in Spain on 6 September 2018
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Muy mal estado. Las tapas rotas, las hojas arrugadas. En general un producto no apto para la venta. Muy decepcionado.
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Trenton Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but still a fun read
Reviewed in the United States on 7 December 2012
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"The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World" was written at the time between Halo 1 and 2, and as such it balances its time between giving you insight into the design of Halo and doing its best to highlight the differences that were coming in Halo 2. The images are the best quality for the way both games looked at the time, but more importantly the book does a nice job of breaking down the categories of design, dedicating separate sections to Bungie's history, the story, and then each individual element of the games: weapons, aliens, vehicles, etc.

If you're interested in a nice pictorial history of the early days of Halo, "The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World" is a fun read. There are newer more thorough books now, but I still enjoyed this one immensely.
4 people found this helpful
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Radiohead, Warcraft et Halo
5.0 out of 5 stars Entre les deux épisodes
Reviewed in France on 27 April 2009
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Un livre qui vous montrera la façade nécessaire pour la création de l'univers Halo.

Vous trouverez les dessins et peintures qui ont crée ce monde. Ce livre ne traite que des épisodes 1 et 2 de la trilogie mais cet apsect permet entre autres un comparatif et de souligner l'évolution des graphismes. Un livre vraiment riche en croquis, dessins prototypes, schémas, peintures, prise d'écran à partir des jeux, quelques storyboards et tout ceci avec des explications certes parfois simples mais ô combien importantes pour les fans...Cet ouvrage est une grande claque pour tout fan de Halo.

Traitant de tout les apects du jeu tel que les armes, personnages ou encore les environnements...Je pense que c'est ici le meilleur ouvrage qui décrit l'univers Halo en images que j'ai pus avoir entre mes mains.

Vraiment à ne pas manquer si on est fan de l'univers car vous trouverez votre bonheur sans soucis dans cet ouvrage.

A noter que le livre est en anglais et il y a pas mal de lecture même si le niveau requis n'est pas vraiment élevé. Je ne pense pas que le livre existe en français (après de petites recherches je n'ai rien trouver) et si j'ai raison il n'existera surement jamais.

Je recommande pour les fans, vous ne serrez pas déçus.
2 people found this helpful
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Peter Schmidt
1.0 out of 5 stars Artbook aus mieser Art in jeder Hinsicht
Reviewed in Germany on 30 September 2015
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Die Qualität des Buches ist ungenügend. Das heißt in diesem Fall dass die Illustrationen unprofessionell sind. Da waren Anfänger und Laien am Werk. Der Mangel an gestalterischen Grundkenntnissen wird beim durchblättern sofort deutlich. Sowohl beim Einsatz von Markern, Feder und Bleistift. Die 3D gerenderten Modelle sind unter aller Sau. Die digital im Photoshop gemalten Illus sind aber mit Abstand die schlimmsten. Und dann noch die unkoordinierte, überladene und zu allem Überfluss noch dominante grafische und typografische Gestaltung - Eine Beleidigung der der gesamte Kommunikationsdesign-Branche. Ich hatte dieses Buch gekauft weil The Art of Halo 4 überragend gut. Womöglich das Beste Artbook überhaupt. Dieser Schund allerdings spielt weder in derselben Liga noch überhaupt dieselbe Sportart.
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