Just got the Art of Halo 4 book. Looks like some stuff got spilled on my covers, both from and back. I took a wet paper towel and got most of it off, but it still kinda sucks. That, and a wierd spot on the first page that looks like someone spilled a huge drop of water, which stained/warped the page. First time Amazon has not given me something in prime condition.
On to the actual book. I'd say the first 40% of it is dedicated to the various environments, so that's awesome if you're into that kind of stuff. Me, I love to look at character concepts, and while the book has quite a few renders, I think it would have been cool to see more mocks of the spartans, marines, and enemies.
Speaking of, there were some cool spartan renders that never made it. That, and a fully-armored elite with mjonir-like armor. Maybe i can snap a picture and post it, if anyone wants. It looks all kinds of badass. Cortana has a whole 2-3 pages with her tig bitties splashed on huge concepts, so that was nice/a bit unnerving to think that the dude that draws her(all pics I saw were from the same artist) just gets to sit there and draw T & A and make a living out of it. Lucky bastard. Also, Chief had a two-page diagram showing every possible angle of all of his armor. So if you're like me and enjoy drawing him/other spartans, seeing that is very helpful.
Didact only has like three pages dedicated to him, wish it could have been more. Forerunners are actually surprisingly absent, IMO. They have a few pages, but there could have been more.
A few weapons/vehicles pages. Looks like they did a full game-style rendering of the SMG. I never noticed it in the game? Does anyone know if it ever made it in? That, and a different turret style. A lot of different warthog concepts.
Lots of multiplayer/infinity concepts toward the back. Kind of wondering if any of them are for any of the maps in the upcoming map packs, but I can't be sure. A lot of them look like SpOps, but I can't be sure. Last page has a big picture of a few spartan II's (mid 20s?) with helmets off. One could possibly be John. Behind him is a girl with blonde hair, maybe Kelly?
Overall, good book. Very few pictures taken from in-game, so I have to congratulate them on that. Lots of great concept art that I'm going to dive head-first in to later this evening. My only complaint is not quite so many pages dedicated to the environments, and more to the characters and creatures and stuff. But that's definitely my opinion, as I love drawing that stuff, rather than the background environments, personally.
If anyone has any requests on some pictures, I'll take a few if they're within reason.