Kurogin (黒銀) wasn't an artist I was following, but I'd recently seen his work in Dragon Magazine for Chrome Close Chronicle so my interest was peaked. And it was extra lucky that Kurogin's C77 doujinshi was aptly titled Archive Illustrations which included primarily his color works from 2006 through 2009, so I was able to get a very extensive introduction to this artist's work.

This A4 sized doujinshi has a unique design, with the front cover folding out much like a poster to extend the cover art work to its full size, as you can see in the center photograph above. On the reverse side of the folding cover, the illustration titled "Journey of a Witch Remake" is also displayed in a larger than A4 size, making use of the extension for a more elaborate presentation.

Archive Illustrations is 32-pages long including the covers (which in this case are being used as for art work ^^) and includes 33 illustrations, though not all of them occupy a full page. There are 4 pages of monochrome art works which aren't sketches but finished, inked illustrations.

Kurogin's art works have a very sci-fi, fantasy-scape style to them, incorporating detailed backgrounds and intricate mechanical armors with his characters. The opening illustration really does it best in my opinion, with the gorgeous mechanized guardian angel. There are several two page spread illustrations, and thankfully this volume is staple-bound and well aligned, so you don't lose part of the illustration in the gutter.

The illustrations aren't limited to that style either, there are plenty of cute girls in a variety of situations, as you can see above along with a few violent and scary ones ^^; The majority of the girl illustrations don't include background art. Also, rather unexpectedly, there is also some fan art including Suiseiseki, Shinku, Suigintou, and Hinaichigo from Rozen Maiden.

The last section of Archive features 4 pages of monochrome art works. The credits page features a slight variation of the cover illustrations, where the mecha girl has a visor over her eyes. This doujinshi really makes for an excellent introduction to Kurogin's art work and shows a lot of versatility, even though the highlight (for me) is definitely his designs on mechanized girls. Copies are still available on Toranoana too ^^

• Title: Archive
• タイトル: Archive
• Release Date: 12/31/2009
• Pages: 32 (including covers)
• Buy: Toranoana