Book Review - The Art of KPop Demon Hunters

September 8th 2026

KPop Demon Hunters was one of the biggest releases of 2025, picking up a huge amount of awards thanks to its story, animation, and of course, the music. The impressive visuals and designs also won people over and cannot be created without an art team, and it's The Art of KPop Demon Hunters that shares a look at their wonderful work for fans to jump into.

This is the third release of the book, which was originally released for free digitally, before getting a physical paperback version from Gallery Nucleus. Now the book has received a wider release from Penguin Random House as a hardcover under the title ‘The Art of KPop Demon Hunters: Platinum Edition’, hitting major retailers on September 8th, 2026. Below are my thoughts on the book, which may have had the soundtrack stuck in my head all over again!

Build Quality

The hardcover volume comes at 22.5cm x 28.5cm in size, with 144 pages of art to enjoy. It features with a dustjacket with the above cover art, as well as some nice pieces underneath of Rumi and Jinu, and it’s always good to see that a cover isn’t left blank. The print quality is great and lets the many bright colours pop throughout. Overall it’s a well-executed release and what you expect from an artbook.

Content

The Art of KPop Demon Hunters shares a look at the concept art behind the vibrant visuals of the movie, giving the artists that worked with Sony Pictures Animation the chance to showcase their incredible artwork. The chapters follow the order of the movie, starting with a brief chapter about the origin of the animation, then diving in to the designs and moments of the scenes.

The artwork as you’d expect is superb throughout, coming in multiple styles that still capture the personality of the characters and world of KPop Demon Hunters. From pastel texture-esque character concepts, to keyframes using more abstract visuals, the variety of techniques seen in the previews here all compliment each other across the spreads, becoming another great example of artists with different styles all contributing to a sublime final result.

The book features the characters, costumes, locations, keyframes, food, storyboards, and more, covering all of the important elements of the movie. I particularly like the keyframes as you can see how the groundwork for some of the moments, colours, and composition were expertly created in 2D and translated to the screen. This also comes with a lot of moments not seen in the final release, and that’s often a favourite part of any good artbook for me, so I was very happy to see a good amount collected here and perfect to explore when the credits roll after another watch.

The colours of the movie don’t go unnoticed, all of which are reflected in the artwork, including the greens of the bathhouse and the reds and pinks of the demon world, making their bold use a highlight of the concepts and book as well.

Alongside the art are interviews with the creative team, including writers and directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, as well as artists, animators, and more. They offer interesting insights about the inception of KPop Demon Hunters, the approach to designing the HUNTR/X trio, the thoughts behind the scenes, and background details about the characters and places too. Of course, there is mention of K-pop influences for the costumes and hair, as well as mentions of the real-life music artists that worked on tracks in the movie.

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While art focused for the most part, all of this makes The Art of KPop Demon Hunters more than just a look at the visuals, as it adds some details about the making of the movie. It’s not as deep as a ‘Making of’ book, but there is a lot here to engage people and share some fun behind-the-scenes details. It’s a book that could have got away with a small overview of what was happening in each scene with pages of just art, so I appreciate the number of interviews and added details to make it a deeper celebration of what became a global phenomenon.

Credits

The artists are noted on each page which is great to see, all mentioned at the bottom. However, it doesn’t make it entirely clear who did which specific piece. I have to assume they are done in order from top to bottom and left to right, but something to clarify this like a numbering system would have been useful. The credits of the entire movie are also printed across a couple of spreads at the back, as well as a page for the songs, something that isn’t common in an artbook, but it gives others that worked outside of what is seen on the pages some well-earned recognition.

Use of Space

The page design is simple across the 144 pages, using block colour and mostly white backgrounds to let the art speak for itself. It’s a common approach because it works well, also benefitting the character concepts that are loose on the page and not boxed with a background. The spreads are filled up well too, with minimal empty spaces so that they could fit a lot in, while still giving a range of image sizes so some pieces can really shine. It’s a very good job all round with the presentation.

Value

A copy of the book comes with an RRP of $40 in the US and £25 in the UK. On the American side it feels a little high for the size of the book, but is much more reasonable in the UK. The quality of the book is there, but for those in the US, it’s beginning to compete with larger offerings from other publishers for the same price, but fear not, as there is also good news.

Using Amazon as always with my reviews to compare prices, this look at the musical and deadly story of Rumi, Mira, and Zoe can already be bought with deep discounts. In the US at the time of writing this, it can be bought for $24.50, which is incredible value for money. In the UK it is down to £18.09, also an undeniably good deal for fans and collectors. Deals come and go of course, but seeing discounts this deep on the week of release is a good sign for those looking for a great price.

Verdict

The Art of KPop Demon Hunters is the perfect book to jump into while listening to the soundtrack, allowing readers to fall back into the world of K-pop and demons with sublime artwork. The book is a celebration of the hit movie and a testament to how a visual powerhouse is made with the help of talented concept artists. A variety of art styles and its mix of final and unused material is what I always hope to see in an artbook, and this delivers strongly on both, making it a ‘Golden’ release that deserves its place on your shelf.

If you enjoyed the review and previews, you can order a copy for your own collection here;

Buy Here / Buy Here UK

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