The Art of Werewolf the Apocalypse

Part of the product line of anniversary editions to the World of Darkness are several artbooks. Subtitled A Visual Guide to Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition, this book gives an impression of the world of werewolves. Divided into six chapters, the book introduces key aspects of the Garou world: transformation, their role as defenders of Gaia, the three central powers of Wyrm, Weaver and Wyld, and the Umbra. In this book, the images are the main focus; the texts are only short explanations of the subject and the mentioning of the illustrator. Unlike other artbooks, this one is not about the process of creating the illustrations but primarily about the graphic representation of the Garou's world in selected illustrations. As expected, a wide range of styles can be found here, but what all the images have in common is that they depict the werewolves' struggle against their enemies in a very vivid way - with large, fearsome werewolves, grotesque monsters, brutal fights, and mysterious spirit worlds.

The book provides an atmospheric insight into both the wide range of illustrations and the game world. Those who already own the Werewolf Anniversary Edition books will, of course, already have the illustrations in their collection. Still, those looking for a focused look at the graphic design will get an artbook worth seeing here, with the commentary focusing on the game world rather than the artistic creation process - which, in my view, is the better approach.

(Björn Lippold)