The Art of Sky is Here!

From Isle of Dawn to Eye of Eden, Sky tells its story through art. This year, it’s finally time to tell the story of the art itself. Starting today February 9th, pre-orders begin for our first ever Sky art book: The Art of Sky!

Diving into Sky’s History

Since 2012, we’ve lost count of how many sketches, notebooks, files, and digital illustrations have helped us explore how to bring Sky’s world to life. We’ve spent the past several years going through this enormous archive to find our favorite images, and we brought them together with a couple goals in mind:

First, share a serious, serious amount of the art created before Sky’s release. And second, go deep into the history of how Sky evolved—even into the “cloud adobe” and cityscapes that existed only as concepts.

The Art of Sky is the result. This artbook is available as a deluxe collector’s set at thatskyshop and features, well, a serious amount of art: pieces from over a dozen studio artists are packed into more than 250 pages. We wanted to give the book itself as much care as the art inside of it, so every hardcover is individually numbered and printed on premium paper to showcase the images inside—from the 15-some different Sky child prototypes, to sketches of an early version of Aviary, to the fantastic and sometimes bizarre creatures that we once imagined roaming the clouds.

“Pictures are great,” you say, “But what about LORE?” Oh yes, we have the lore fans covered too!

Each section depicts and describes some of the backstories we wove into the realms. The art book also documents the creative process we went through, recounting the journey that Sky’s development followed. From cover to cover you’ll see the ideas that can be found in the game today, as well as the concepts that ultimately remained only in our notebooks.

Extra Touches

The Art of Sky does more than just present Sky’s art and lore—it also comes with a STAR feature! If you have a Nintendo Switch or compatible iOS or Android device, scan the STAR chip embedded in the book cover to equip your in-game avatar with a placeable book. Place that book in a level, and you and any players nearby can interact with it to view a special cutscene and glimpse the technical art that built the lands around you.

Our fanartist community is amazing, so we couldn’t release this book without featuring some of the fanart that has captured our imagination over the years. A special epilogue includes a few of the pieces that players from across the world have shared with us. And finally, as we open pre-orders, a limited bonus of three posters and eight postcards will be included with each book while supplies last.

Sharing Sky’s Story

Most of all, our aim for The Art of Sky is to open new ways to connect with Sky’s story, whether you’re a brand new player or have flown through the realms since soft launch days. We hope that sharing our development process may even inspire the next generation of players, developers, and artists seeking new ways to tell their own stories through the games they play or create.

To pre-order The Art of Sky, head over to thatskyshop.com. Pre-orders continue until 23:59 PDT (UTC -7) on April 22!