REVIEW – Persona 3: Official Design Works
I’ve never played Persona or any of the sequels, so why the heck am I reviewing an artbook about Persona 3? Because I speak the language of art and pretty pictures (tosses some glitter) that is why. See a lot of artbooks have this problem where they think making a small 36-page paperback that has as much content as a Contemporary Art museum in Siberia. Persona 3: Official Design Works however does not have this problem at all.
Art is an amazing way of communicating ideas. Opening this book up I was able to study and get to know each character simply by looking at the mix of 3D, 2D, and pencil artwork splashed over every page. I didn’t realize until minutes later there are indeed many columns and paragraphs that give you additional info about the characters and places illustrated throughout the 74-page book. Every page is balanced with just enough information and design work to keep you very interested. It seemed like the book had 3-dimensions of content on every page; the main artwork, the write-ups, and then the small bits of quotes, text, and drawings hidden about that invite you in to find them.
Shigenori Soejima’s artwork not only pleases the eye with its composition of great penciling and colors, but he is able to capture the essence of being human in each character drawing. No one is stale or the same; each character has his, her, or its own traits that come alive visually. Again, I admit I have never played these games but it was a joy and real appreciation to easily identify and feel for each character through such expressive illustration. A tidbit of fine detail I really enjoyed is the pages that include full detail color codes for every character. There are labels for shirts, shoes, logos, ties, hair, and even tongue color, what a great asset and resource for cosplayers (please don’t dye your tongue).
My interest in the Persona universe has leaped and bounded through this book. I spent hours looking at each page and as an artist I have found great inspiration and resource from it. You can all expect me to be playing the Persona series for the first time in the upcoming weeks.
