Book Review - Overflow: The Art of Bryce Kho

December 21st 2025

Concept artist and illustrator Bryce Kho is back with another artbook, following a release for his work on the video game Sea of Stars last year. This time though, he gets to share his personal artwork and details about his life and career in Overflow: The Art of Bryce Kho!

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Released on December 16th after being successfully funded on Kickstarter, Overflow sees Kho partner again with publisher 3dtotal, delivering a showcase for older fans and those, like myself, that discovered his talent though his work with Sabotage Studios. Excited to see more from the artist after delivering one of my favourite books of 2024 in Sea of Stars: The Concept Art of Bryce Kho, a copy of Overflow has joined the collection and I can now share my thoughts on the book!

Build Quality

Overflow comes as a 23.5cm x 31cm hardcover book and has 218 pages inside. It is will made, with a strong cover, thick quality paper, and binding that allows the page to fully open and lay flat. 3dtotal do a great job on the production of their books, so there was little surprise here that this is also very good. The standout element is the custom cover art with gold foil stamping that Kho created. It catches the eye and is perfect for letting those unfamiliar with his name see his fantastic art, which will no doubt have people wanting to check out what’s inside.

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Content

Inside you’ll find an impressive display of Kho’s art, as well as details about his life and approach to creating his images. It acts as both a biography and peak at his process, making it appealing to fans and artists. It features traditional and digital techniques throughout, though most is done with paint, as his go to is watercolours.

Studies take up the bulk of the book and are split into anatomy, costumes, characters, and ‘Gallery’. The first 3 are self-explanatory, highlighting art that focuses on each one in a variety of styles that still carries Kho’s recognisable touch. I particularly like the pieces made of block colour myself, though it all looks fantastic and the characters designs are incredible as always. Something that carries over from his illustrations and concept art, even in the studies, is the use of a variety of colours, making the art more interesting, but without being outlandish. This is aided by the high print quality of the book too, making the images pop off the page.

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What is interesting is that these 3 chapters are for dividing the art, but not the text, as this dives into the early life and career of Kho. It covers a lot, including his art as a child and his influences, through to university and creating the game Aegis Defenders, to his position today supporting himself through art and working with Sabotage Studio. I quite like this as it allows him to write freely, without being constrained by the chapters. However, while he does also discuss creating art within this, having some separate notes or descriptions for what’s on the page would have been nice to see too.

The ‘Gallery’ chapter is one I really liked as it explored ideas for stories and concepts that Kho created art for, such as a magical-sports anime called 'Summoners Club', highlighting another side of his imagination. It is also here where you see much more of his maximalism art style, with lots of details and elements to look at in each piece. Beyond his expert use of colours, I like busy images and his composition makes them fun, without being messy, so I loved seeing these inclusions.

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The last chapters are tutorials, split into painted pieces and digital art. It explores his process from the initial idea coming from a description or purpose, to thumbnails, and then the final result. It’s interesting to see his stages and will be no doubt useful to aspiring artists, or even those that are interested in a new approach. The digital tutorial being included was great too, as it’s not the same as painting and gives a look at the creation of the superb book cover, allowing you to see it come to life as he works his way through each step.

Overall, there is an engaging mix of artwork and insights throughout that hits on three fronts; learning more about Bryce Kho, getting some insights into creating the art, and being an impressive collection of his work. As a fan, I enjoyed seeing more from of what I like from Kho, but also other curations like the studies, all adding to my appreciation of the artist.

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Credits

This is a part of all of my reviews, but there is only one artist featured and his name is on the front cover!

Use of Space

As you can see in the previews, Overflow does well to use up the page space without being cluttered. The placement of text gives room for the art to be the focus and the layouts change throughout. There is nothing fancy here, but it doesn’t need it, it all works very well and you can’t ask for much more than that. Images that cross the centre fold avoid image loss as well due to the binding, so I’m very impressed with this as well.

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Value

The book has an RRP of £30/$50, which for those in the UK is a very reasonable price as it is lower than most. In the US it is still not bad though, within the normal price range for an artbook in 2025. For the size and production quality of the book, fans and collectors won’t be disappointed.

Checking Amazon as always for consistency, on the week of its release, Overflow can be bought for $39.39 in the US and £24.93 in the UK. Both of these price drops are excellent and improve upon the existing value found in the RRP. These will come and go of course, but highlights the pricing that can be found. The book is also in the multi-buy deal on the 3dtotal website too, which offers great value. Taking into account that 50% of all profits at the publisher are donated to charity on top of this, you can’t go wrong here with what you pay.

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Verdict

Overflow: The Art of Bryce Kho is a spectacular showcase of the talent of the artist in a well-made and designed artbook. Whether you want to know more about the man himself, or are looking to add more of his work to your collection, you won’t be disappointed with what you find inside. Though there are different techniques and styles throughout, it still has Kho’s fingerprints all over it, making it perfect those that admire what he creates. After enjoying his last artbook with 3dtotal last year, this became a must buy for me and I’m happy to say I was not disappointed!

If you enjoyed the review and previews, you can order Overflow: The Art of Bryce Kho here;

Buy Here / Buy Here (UK)

Overflow was also released alongside a second book from the artist, a 64-page hardcover for the DLC of Sea of Stars. You can read my review of that book here; Book Review - Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker: The Concept Art of Bryce Kho.

You can also read my review for the first book made by Kho and 3dtotal here; Book Review – Sea of Stars: The Concept Art of Bryce Kho.

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Tags; #3dtotalPublishing #BryceKho