B/W ( Black/White ) is the first published art book by Japanese manga artist/illustrator known as Acky Bright (アッキーブライト). The artist found success and garnered a huge following through his live-drawing events and streams, with the characters in his illustrations often described as かわカッコいい ( kawakakoii ), a combination of the Japanese words “cute” and “cool”. With palpable influences by renowned artists like Katsuya Terada, Toriyama Akira, Sushio and even Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz fame, Acky Bright’s bold black and white drawings of his “mecha girls” teem with dynamism and energy.

This book showcases about 200 carefully selected pieces created by the artist during some of his streamed live-drawing sessions as well as original pieces drawn specially for this book.

(above & below) Although the bulk of the contents are black & white ink drawings as suggested by the book title, there are a good selection of colored illustrations featured toward the end of the book.

(above) The expression and pose of this red dragon brings to mind the illustration by Katsuya Terada for his 1010 Kyoto exhibition I visited back in 2013.

Acky Bright is an impressive up & coming illustrator, and while his subject matter choice of dragons, monsters, robots and cute girls aren’t exactly advant-gaarde material and/or are particularly original, his execution and technical skills shine, and I do like his drawing style, in particular the pieces boasting intricate and elaborate hatching. I look forward to seeing the evolution of his art work in the near future. This book comes recommended.

“Acky Bright B/W Illustration Book” details :

– Dimensions – 21 x 14.8 x 2.35 cm
– softcover, 256 pages
– Full color, in Japanese & English language

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