Tank Model Diaries Vol 2 – Morinaga Yo Illustration Book Review

Posted By yonghow on May 7th, 2021

Readers of my blog will probably know that I’m a big fan of Japanese illustrator Morinaga Yo’s delightful art work, whom I discovered back in 2017 with his book The Tank Primer. The style of his whimsical water-color art works remind me of Hayao Miyazaki’s Daydream Notes, and I’ve since gone on to review quite a few of his published works.

This particular art book is the 2nd of 3 volumes from his Tank Model Diaries series, which collects illustrated essays that the artist drew for the ModelGraphix magazine published by model maker Modelkasten, famous for its brand of 1:35 scale model kits. Through his lively drawings, Morinaga explores the workings and history of tanks, armored vehicles and more, and the illustrations are lovely to look at and enjoy even if you don’t understand the Japanese text that come with them.

Tank Model Diaries Vol 2 - Morinaga Yo Illustration Book Review モリナガ・ヨウのプラモ迷宮日記〈第2集〉ガンメタルの巻イラストエッセイ

I hold no special interest for tanks or military related content, but Morinaga Yo’s beautiful illustrations make books like these an exception.

The artist has also illustrated quite a few educational children’s picture books that showcase interesting places in Japan like the Tokyo Skytree, Tsukiji Fish Market as well as the Shinkansen, all of which I highly recommend.

“Tank Model Diaries Vol 2 – Morinaga Yo Illustration Book モリナガ・ヨウのプラモ迷宮日記〈第2集〉ガンメタルの巻イラストエッセイ” art book details :

Dimensions – 25.7 x 21 x 0.8 cm
Soft cover, 96 pages
Full color, In Japanese ( book contains mostly art work )