OXIDE The Art of Genesis

Posted by Zeb in Artbook Reviews on May 8th, 2005 | 0 comments
Title OXIDE The Art of Genesis
Artist Hyung Tae-Kim
Published 05/08/2001
Publisher Softmax
Content 129 pagse in total; 17 pages of index, intro and title pages; 101 full colour illustrations; 2 pages of black and white sketches; 9 pages of guest illustrations; Softcover
Extras Book comes housed in a Hardcover slipcase; also has a special holographic foil sticker with edition number printed on, watermarked SOFTMAX
Cover Price 1400 won
ISBN N/A
Rate Excellent
Purchase 24/06/2004 | Tokyo Central | US$62.50
Comments First off, it should be noted that this book is not a Japanese printing, but infact a Korean one. Hyung-Tae Kim is Korean and so are the War of Genesis games. This book is the first of a series of three artbooks released by SOFTMAX show-casing Hyung-Tae Kim’s work, and was not sold anywhere else other than Korea. It’s availability was extremely limited, and for a long time it could only be found from within Korea itself. When Tokyo Central were able to source copies of this book, I was very very glad that I was able to get a copy for myself.

The book covers art from ‘War of Genesis III’ and ‘War of Genesis III part.2″ as well as varied other works, and also includes artwork from guest artists (Korean artists.) It reads from left to right, like standard western books (versus right to left with Japanese artbooks) and contains all colour illustrations, including the cover of the book (pictured below right.) The slipcase image (pictured below left) can also be found in the book, and is made of thick card board, with the olive green paper pasted onto it. Thick enough so that the slipcase won’t wear and tear easily. On the slipcase there should be a silver holographic foil sticker with the SOFTMAX watermark, and a number which is basically the books identification in the limited run that was released for this book.
The pages are of a nice thick, slightly glossy type, and this I believe show cases the images perfectly.

In terms of art style, I think you can either love it, or hate it. Initially when I saw Hyung-Tae Kim’s work, I wasn’t too enamoured. Sure it had all the common features that would appeal to gamers and art fans, but his proportions were off, thighs and legs too thick and oddly angled to be right. His colouring style just jarred. His style still is a bit off putting, but I have to say, it’s grown on me. The more I look and contemplate his execution, the more I can appreciate his uniqueness. His characters are interesting, and the costumes even more so, his women aren’t “thin.” Infact they are very curved and shaped, which I do like. Too many stick figure girls being drawn these days!!!

All in all, a good artbook, but one that is very difficult to get. After TokyoCentral sold out of their stock, the book sank back into the realms of “rare” and “expensive.” I’ve seen copies being sold on eBay for US$200 and above, and as time goes by, the availabily of this book will become even more rare, and the price will just keep going up.
Get it if you can, otherwise get a copy of Oxide 2x which was printed for the Japanese market.
Oxide



Leave a Reply