In the year of Sonic's 25th Anniversary comes...

This very thick looking hard cover book. It's supposed to be an art & design book along with some history for Sonic. It will have 2 editions: Regular & Collector's Edition. It is not branded with the 25th Celebration logo, though.

The book was a while in coming, but once printed correctly it is a super collectors piece.So far, it's reported to have "Never before published art" and "Concept Designs" along with scarce interview transcripts and some rare articles. (So, like, maybe something that was published only once in a gaming magazine before the internet, or similar early pieces that were only in select places that people may not know of)

Once available, this book will appear in the Gear Store because Amazon will have it.

At the right is the bonus item you get with the special edition.
It's a print by Sonic Channel official artist Uekawa. This illustration of all 3 types of Sonic: Boom, Modern & Classic was made especially to be included as a bonus item for the book. They're all shown jumping, and, in the usual style with some of the sketch lines left on the final colored art.
This is a fun, action-type art piece that's a great choice for inclusion with the big 25th Anniversary book that covers all Sonic styles.

The book has special pages like 'fold outs' to show large scenes like this one from Chemical Plant Zone. It also has the occaisional semi-transparent page like the one shown above for Knuckles. Pages like this tend to have little character model sheets on them with the original notes still there in Japanese.No previous book has featured special pages, so they make it extra collectible.

This is an ART BOOK.
It is not necisarily an 'education book' (which is slightly unfortunate) It has a focus on big, splashy images and collected sketches. It DOES have unpublished 'to be stock art', that never got to be stock. This includes items like "Sofa Sleeping Sonic" who never got used. If you are a hardcore fan, it's likely you'll have seen most but not all of the stuff somewhere before BUT it's great to have it all together...just don't think it's going to get explained! (which is, again, somewhat unfortunate)
Clearly, with the absolutely huge badnick there, they had room to do things like translate the text from the sketches, but they never do. The zone examples above are written in English, but the note for Sonic 2's Mecha Sonic (who had a very Tails-like nose/lower face for a while) are not.
Are there proto-character sketches?
Because the fans love these, yes. Some of the Silver ones are rare, but online, while others like some Proto-Shadow are not. "Emo Bangs" Shadow is especially hilarious.

Shadow fans: You got VERY lucky you got his final design, as this book proves.
This book is large & also heavy. It is about 12 by 11 inches and weighs 5 pounds!
It is made of very thick quality paper with each page being glossy & nice. It's certainly something any fan should add to their collection! See a Special Edition Video for another look. (It has a sleeve that turns into a stand & a heavy cover/box too)

Book Review:
This IS something any fan should have, but it does not fulfill all hopes or desires while looking like it could have. Several things are quite noticibly missing WHILE keeping in mind that "Its an art book not an explanation book" and so not trying to impose the wrong set of rules on it & then bust it for not following them.

Where are the Chao?
There's perhaps 2 Chao images in the entire thing and they were a big part of Sonic for a while. Even if only Cheese is left (Chocola shout out! Do you remember that one???) No mention of the different types, nothing on their art or design. They're just missing. Why?

What WAS Cream the Rabbit?
She wasn't always a rabbit, as the book proves. She spent time as a cat and maybe a squirrel? None of this is explained. Her two derivitives Marine Raccoon & Sticks the Badger are also conspicuous in their abscence of design explanation. All 3 of these characters are clearly, clearly design-derived from eachother and the old sketches.

Mention/show Sonic the Comic but Archie 100% absent.

Skimpy Sections:
They can devote an entire page to a single badnick (more than once, hello Crabmeat) but not give the Chaotix members their own page? At all? Babylon Rouges same treatment. The Deadly Six (if they have any fans) also get about a page, but their design was likely more interesting than a very large Sonic stock art and nothing else on the page.

Really Great Image: Page 99

The classic section is really extensive & that's where the book spends the most of its time and effort. You have the whole "Sonic rock band" that got dismissed, the ill-concieved 'Madonna human girlfriend*' who was thankfully also dismissed, game box art, early level sketches, Alex Kidd stuff, and other early items explained. As it becomes more modern, explanation and fleshing out goes away.

Coulda Shoulda Woulda
WHY is so much stuff missing/skimpy-content pages?
Could they just not get the images for someone like Marine, or a Chao?
Red Master Metal Sonic (or whatever that end boss in Chaotix is called) also no sign of at all.
Books always have to balance page number with content. It's more expensive to make a thicker book with more pages. However, this one seems to expend pages on purpose for 'trivial' things like an Orbinaut while excluding fan favorite items like Chao hero/dark, or the version of Metal Sonic from S&K. They also publish a Japanese intro comic page with 0 translations even though there's a good bit of dialogue. It's understandable they couldn't publish the entire thing, but at least write what happened in the rest of it. IF there were no sketches for say...Espio, just throw in him doing the color-shifting from Chaotix, and publish some of its beautiful scenery that everyone has access to just like they can access Orbinaut.

That aside, it really is still a great book to have.
Just because everything didn't get 100% equal treatment, doesn't mean it's not good. It's still cool to have, don't let nit-picking diminish it, but you should also know what's inside.

Cook & Becker Sonic Book Update:
In 2019 this art book gets an update that is an expansion of 32 extra pages! It's rather unusual for a book to get an update. If something else about a book needs to happen it is generally given a sequel, or some kind of 'special deluxe edition' or some kind of supplement. However, C&B have decided to release it again, but this time with 32 more pages that weren't in the original.
SO. If you never bought it when it was first released, 2019 / fall is a better chance to do it.
The extra content will be Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces & Team Sonic Racing. The cover will NOT change much, the 25th Anniversary branding will NOT re-occur & the special edition will always be special because that won't be duplicated either. So, collectors who bought those can rest easy knowing they have valuble editions of them that won't be messed with or re-released. For people without the book, it's a nice incentive to get it. The website also reports that the previous books are almost all gone, which is also very nice news.

Read more & see pages at Cook & Becker Sonic Art Book Update.

But what did the update look like?
Here are 8 pages from the updated area inside the book that they published so you can take a peek. You get full page shaded art for Mighty & Ray, the art from the poster, a level scene, a boss sketch, and several good shots of the variously styled new Egg Robos from the game. So, these fit right in with the rest and are expect-able on an update like this.
If you didn't already own the book, this update is the perfect excuse to go and get it.

*Madonna
You've probably seen the art of her around, she's basically Who Frame Roger Rabbit's "Jessica Rabbit" but with yellow instead of red hair so as not to infringe copyright but still "have that character because we like it". She's named "Madonna" because....the America-hating "edgy" singer at the same time was super popular and they basically wanted that exact person to be "Sonic's girlfriend" in the game. So yes a stolen badly drawn celebrity is making out with little silly cartoon old Sonic. (Evidenced by 'kiss mark' all over face) She's regarded as one of the few 100% Mistake things that hide in Sonic's past & never ended up happening. (Thankfully) Emo-Bangs Shadow is silly and bad, but he's not next-level bad like she was going to be.