Daydream is the title of the first commercially published illustration book by Osaka based artist Ukumo Uiti (浮雲宇一), who has been active in the doujinshi scene since 2012 and now commands a huge online following. Released in October 2021, I’ve come across the book many times when I’m shopping on Amazon Japan, but because the cover art did not initially appeal to me, I fell into the “judge the book by its cover” fallacy, and kinda forgot about it.

It was only recently when I was able to look at more preview images that I realize there are great illustrations in the book that I like; another reason why I hope my book reviews will be helpful to those who want to make an informed decision before spending money on any art book.

With a highly versatile art style, Ukumo’s colorful illustrations sometimes resemble impressionist paintings rendered with loose brushstrokes, and other pieces are drawn with much more defined line-work and finished with unshaded colors that bring to mind the Superflat style. Regardless of the painting style, what runs uniform through many of the artist’s work are the strong Japanese visual motifs ( torii gates, koinobori, etc ) inspired by popular mythology and folklore.

Daydream is released by Japanese publisher PIE International, and the company has great editors/curators that are always sussing out fantastic artists ( Ilya Kuvshinov, Yoko Tanji, Yoshida Seiji just to name a few ) to showcase, and Ukumo Uiti is one of the latest to join the collection. I look forward to more of the artist’s work, and this book comes recommended.

“Daydream : The Art of Ukumo Uiti Illustration 白昼夢 浮雲宇一作品集” art book details :

Dimensions – 257 × 182 mm
Softcover, 192 pages
Full color, In Japanese language

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