blog:nattoli, +tag:AZ PLAY

Even though I bought Tony Taka's T2 Art Gallery months ago (and I think I even mentioned it in passing) I've only just gotten around to reviewing it after being reminded of the Toranoana artist gallery 'pamphlets' due to Alpha's (有葉) recent exhibit. And in retrospect, though I over paid for it, I would have ended up paying even more if I wanted to get it now -_-

Kurogin's newest illustration doujinshi, titled NSXT and published for Comitia 92 is a far cry from the sci-fi illustrations of his Winter Comiket release Archive Illustrations. The mecha and magic girls are replaced for the most part by every day beauties in normal walks of life.

Takigawa Yuu isn't a new artist---I've seen her work in various collection books like Girls Girls Girls! Illustrations and she used to work with Chisato Naruse (hence the style similarities). But on the doujinshi scene, I just wasn't following her until now. Her recent Comitia 92 release, titled Mori (森) really caught my attention with its anthropomorphism of forest creatures, and lovely greenery in general.

Ukke's colorful and polished art work continues to impress in her TRIP LIP Girl's Illustrations Winter 2009 collection, featuring the most recent assembly of her original illustrations. TRIP LIP was one of two releases by Ukke at Comiket 77, with the other being the Vocaloid book, Megpoid Crosslight.

Oishii Seikatsu (おいしい生活) is CUTEG'S Girl's Collection 1.5, and the first monochrome collection I have from her, though not the first one that has been released. For the most part, the illustrations are cleaner than sketches, but not as finished as monochrome art works usually are. It's a nice in-between for a smaller convention like Comitia 92 that makes me think (and hope) we'll see some of these works in color in the future. Though honestly, there are so many illustrations it's doubtful we'll ever see them all ^^;

The Touhou Project Tribute Arts 2 is the second installment in Toranoana's Touhou illustration collections, and was released for the Reitaisai 7 (博麗神社例大祭) convention on March 14, 2010. While the previous volume came with tarot cards, this time there are two books; one featuring a full color collection and the other a black and white illustrations and sketch collection of the works featured in the color version.

Due to the numerous art book delays at the end of May, I was able to get Mika Akitaka Mobile Suit Girl Art Works a lot sooner than I'd expected. My first impressions are good, it had a whole lot more art work than I had expected---I was bracing myself for more sketch work and process pages based on the contents of the first art book, but there weren't any.

I can hardly believe that Satoh Satoru Illustration Works and YUKIRIN Art Works not only came from the same publisher, but also the same art book series, as the two books are worlds apart in both quality and content. Satoh Satoru Illustration Works includes everything from her Tsukushite Agerunoni! (つくしてあげるのに!) illustrations, to K-BOOKS and Toranoana promotional art works to the cover arts from her own doujinshi releases.

The fifth volume in the Girls Girls Girls! series published by Etsu (E☆2 ) just came out on June 1st, and like always it brings together another beautiful girl collection of illustrations. Girls Girls Girls!5 ~Pure Girl Collection~ features newly drawn art work by Tinkle on the cover along with several more of their illustrations inside.

The first volume of Pixiv Quarterly was released May 28th, marking yet another way to consume the media generated by thousands of artists on the online art community. The premiere issue features a lengthy discussion on Black Rock Shooter, as well as how-to art and interviews with well-known artists.

Monster Hinatar G is an amusing blend of the girls from Koihime Musou dressed up as characters from the popular game Monster Hunter, all illustrated by the official Koihime Musou character designer, Katagiri Hinata. This collection was first released during Summer 2009 for Comiket 76 but can still be found on auction sites, as Katagiri Hinata is a perennially popular artist.

Hinayuki Usa is a prolific artist both in and out of the doujin scene, and Yumemi Shoujo no Yume Sen (夢見少女の夢占) was one of her two books released during Comiket 77. She often works along side Natsume Eri (なつめえり) as their styles just complement each other, but for once, this small Touhou collection includes only Hinayuki Usa's illustrations.