As a massive Zelda fan for almost twenty years, I’ve learned to appreciate the series in ways that extent beyond simply playing the games. While I love conquering dungeons and fighting bosses, I’m also enthralled by the bits in between those sequences. I love the music that helps to annunciate emotional cutscenes, along with the merchandise that could be found in stores. Through the years of being a Zelda fan, I’ve also learned to appreciate another aspect of the series: the official art.
The official Zelda art is simply magical! These official illustrations help us to view enemies, characters, and objects in a more detailed way which, in my opinion, helps us be better immersed in each game’s world. One place where you could find a great deal of official Zelda artwork is in “Art & Artifacts”, a Dark Horse Comics publication.
Published in February 2017 to celebrate the series’ 30th anniversary, “Art & Artifacts” is a bible filled with official Zelda art. If you’re looking for a real treasure, the Master Sword edition of “Art & Artifacts” was limited to 10 000 copies, making it a little harder to find than the beautiful red cover.
This large book features illustrations from every Zelda game up to Triforce Heroes, along with a special three-tiered poster of Breath of the Wild. Breath of the Wild wasn’t out yet by this point, so any mention of it was a treat.
The first hundred or so pages showcase large illustrations from each game. The artwork on these pages are ordered after each game release, starting from the first Legend of Zelda, to The Adventure of Link, to A link to the Past, and so on. The middle of the book, the majority of its content, goes over each game up to that point separately. This includes showcasing every single character, enemy, and item.
Towards the end are pages that illustrate logotypes and packaging artwork. This section features the box art designs of each game in both Japanese and English. I’m not sure if versions of this section in other languages differ. For example, does the French version of the book have images of the Japanese and French box art, or does it still showcase the Japanese and North American releases? I especially like this section because it’s interesting to see the different box art designs for America and Japan, and when looking at them, I wonder why those choices were made.
The last section of this amazing book shows off sprite artwork from the earlier games, a bonus gallery with illustrations that didn’t quite fit anywhere else, a few pages dedicated to Breath of the Wild, and an interview with some developers. This book is 427 pages of pure Zelda bliss. There is little read, instead focusing on the beautiful artwork that makes up this amazing series. I’m hoping that we will possibly get a part two to this book in the future, that could perhaps showcase art from Link’s Awakening remake, Echoes of Wisdom, and Cadence of Hyrule. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom already have their own respective art books, so I think they could sit this one I’m dreaming of out.
