Halcyon Realms - Animation.Film.Photography and Art Book Reviews » Anime

Kaba 2 – Otomo Katsuhiro Artwork Book Review Part I

yonghow — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:56:09 +0000

Wow. There’s so much Otomo awesomeness in this book I’m completely geeking out right now ! Kaba 2 is Otomo Katsuhiro’s latest artbook, a culmination of more than 20 years of anime/manga/illustration work.

Words and captions to come later. In the meantime, feast your eyes !

There’s too much material to cover in a single article; I’ll post images from the 2nd half of the book later on in Part II.

This is more than likely to go out of print, so order yours before its gone.

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Otomo Katsuhiro Genga Exhibition

yonghow — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:32:01 +0000

Oh my gosh this is such good news I can barely contain my excitement !

From the 9th of April – 30th of May 2012 a major exhibition showcasing Otomo’s key animation drawings from the many films throughout his (thus far) illustrious career will be held at the 3331 Arts Chiyoda Centre in Tokyo, Japan.

Back in 2007 I had the great fortitude of meeting Otomo-san while working on Freedom Project, where he was the character/mecha designer.

Nothing’s confirmed yet, but I’m currently making plans to head down to Tokyo in April so that I can catch the exhibition.

There’s a fair bit of information on the website but I don’t have time to translate all of it right now, so do check back again for more details. I will try to update and translate as and when more details are available.

Some quick bullet points :

- ticket at 1500 yen
- Unpublished work featured in Kaba 2 will also be on show.
- is a charity event with 30% of ticket proceeds to help the 3/11 quake victims.
- more to come.

In the meantime, check out the official website here. Also be sure to check out Otomo’s new art book Kaba 2.

Yoshiyuki Momose Studio Ghibli Works Art Book Review

yonghow — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:50:28 +0000

Yoshiyuki Momose is a veteran Ghibli animator whose portfolio spans many of the Studio’s most successful films, including Whisper Of The Heart, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso and Mononoke Hime, just to name a few. This book is a collection of his expansive body of work with disciplines in animation, layout, illustration.

(above and below) Layout, character design and background art for the PS3 game Ni No Kuni. I’ve heard only good things about this game but have yet to play it – anyone ?

(above) Concept boards for Grave Of The Fireflies. Its such a sad film I’ve only ever seen it once. I remember my Japanese colleague telling me its shown on Japanese television once every year during WWII memorial day to remind everyone the horrors of war.

(above and below) Concept boards for Pom Poko and My Neighbour The Yamadas.

(above) Yoshiyuki-san is also involved in several Ghibli produced commercials and embraces CG technology. (below) The last section of the book focuses on the artist’s beautiful watercolor illustrations, and ends with a short watercolor comic strip.

For fans of Ghibli Studio’s films, this is definitely worth picking up. Highly recommended.

“Yoshiyuki Momose Studio Ghibli Works″ details :

- Dimensions – 26 x 18 x 1.8 cm
- Softcover, 171 pages,
- Full color, In Japanese

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The Anime Works of Satoshi Kon Book Review

yonghow — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:19:50 +0000

More of a retrospective than an actual art book, The Anime Works of Satoshi Kon examines and discusses the films of the late director, with interviews and excerpts from various anime directors, voice actors, etc.

(above) Sneak images from Satoshi Kon’s yet to be released Dream Machine. I’m not bowled over by the design of the robots but we’ll have to see them in the context of the film, whenever it’s ready for release.

(Below) A small collection of character design sheets from the director’s films. I wish they had published individual art books for all of his films, like this excellent one for Millenium Actress. ( Read the book review here. )

“The Anime Works of Satoshi Kon″ Art book details :

- Dimensions – 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
- Softcover, 88 pages
- Full color / b & w, Japanese language

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The Art Of Spirited Away – Storyboard Book Review

yonghow — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:32:47 +0000

The storyboards for Spirited away, drawn by Miyazaki-san himself ( just as he did for most of his other films ) allows you relive the film again at your own pace, shot by shot. At a whopping 648 pages, this is even thicker than the Princess Mononoke storyboard book.

Its always an enjoyment to pore through the notes and captions accompanying each board, sometimes with interesting trivia and mini comics that Miyazaki doodles to amuse himself.

(below) A crash course in anime camera techniques, as illustrated by the master himself. This is included in all of Miyazaki’s storyboard books.

Now we only need Ghibli to release the blu-ray for the film. Hurry please !

Spirited Away – The Storyboard Book details :

- Dimensions – 8.8 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
-648 pages
- Soft cover with cardboard slipcase
- Black and White, in Japanese

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