Flip Through - The Art of The Last of Us

The Artbook Collector
Aug 8
2 min read

August 8th 2025

The latest preview on The Artbook Collector YouTube channel is a look at the book for the critically-acclaimed game, The Last of Us!

Dark Horse Books and Naughty Dog partnered up to deliver The Art of The Last of Us, a showcase of the incredible artwork behind the post-apocalyptic survival game. The 184-page hardcover includes artwork for the characters, environments, world design, and the grotesque infected. The book was released in 2013 and is still available online over 10 years later, perfect for fans discovering the game after the 2022 remake and the TV series released on HBO.

This artbook is another display of the talent of the team at Naughty Dog, who have had multiple artbooks released by Dark Horse, including The Art of The Uncharted Trilogy, The Art of Naughty Dog, The Art of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and The Art of The Last of Us: Part II. With this partnership lasting for over 10 years, as well other books being published by Dark Horse from PlayStation's other first party studios, there is a good chance that Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, will also get the artbook treatment from too.

The Art of The Last of Us explores the early designs for Joel and Ellie, a now iconic duo following the game's massive success and endless awards, as well as featuring the rest of the characters the player encounters. It has a lot of environment art too, showcasing their work on showing how nature has taken over the towns and cities in the wake of the deadly infection. The highlight for many though will be the early designs for the infected, the poor humans that have been taken over by the fungal virus, turning them into horrifying and relentless killers.

The Last of Us was originally released in 2013 and follows Joel, a hardened smuggler, who is tasked with taking a young teenager called Ellie across the country after humanity was ravaged by a deadly virus. As possibly the only person that is immune to the fungal infection, Ellie could be their last hope, so Joel must protect her from both the horrifying infected and other not-so-friendly human survivors. The game uses stealth combat, gruesome action, and cinematic storytelling to create one of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time.

Since its launch on the PlayStation 3, the game has been released two more times. First, as The Last of Us Remastered on the PlayStation 4 in 2014, then as The Last of Us: Part I in 2022, which was a remake of the game with improved visuals and gameplay for the PlayStation 5. Both of the rereleases included the DLC, Left Behind. A sequel, The Last of Us: Part II came out in 2020, also receiving industry praise. HBO have adapted the games into a TV show, simply titled The Last of Us, and the first season from 2023 covered the story of 'Part I'.

If you are a fan of the game and enjoyed the preview, you can order The Art of The Last of Us here;