Takayuki Takeya is a prolific character sculptor who has created numerous figure prototypes for characters in titles such as Final Fantasy VIII, Kamen Rider, Devil Man, Garo and more. He also recently sculpted the concept model for the God Warrior (based on Miyazaki Hayao’s manga “Nausicaa” ) in the short movie “Giant God Warriors Appear in Tokyo” screened at Hideaki Anno’s Tokusatsu Museum held in 2012.

This book is a collection of his highly detailed drawings and concept art sketches, many of which are used later on as visual references when creating his figures and sculpts.

Many of Takayuki’s character designs bear strong visual cues from Japanese mythology and battle armor worn by the samurai, giving his creations a culturally distinct look.

Takayuki is a graduate of the Asagaya College of Art & Design in Tokyo, and one of his classmates was the concept/manga artist Katsuya Terada. See this older post that features a magazine interview with both of them.

(above) Creature and vehicle designs that Takayuki created for Square Enix’s Advent Children CG animated film. Now looking at the sketch of the giant winged creature I can definitely see Takayuki’s touch in the design, especially the elaborate swirls in the chest plates/body armor.

(above & below) Images of Takayuki’s figures and sculptures, more of which can be found in his book “The Hunter’s Angle“.

This book offers a fascinating look at the original designs of Takayuki’s characters sculptures, and is an excellent resource and reference material for anyone interested in fantasy character design. Highly recommended.

“Takayuki Takeya Drawings, Arrangement And Design 竹谷隆之精密デザイン画集 造形のためのデザインとアレンジ” book details :

Dimensions – 10.1 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
Soft cover, 160 pages
Full color, in Japanese ( contains mostly art work )

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