Warning : The following post contains nudity/adult content.

Famed for his iconic creature and character designs utilizing skeletal and skull motifs, Yasushi Nirasawa ( 韮沢靖 ) was a prolific artist that contributed to many Tokusatsu titles like Kamen Rider, Garo, Devilman, Godzilla, Ultraman and more. Even if you’re not intimately familiar with his name or work, you probably would have come across some of his excellent character/creature designs previously. For example, he was the creature designer for the asymmetrically shaped aliens in Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within (2000).

The artist passed away in 2016 at a relatively young age of 52, and as a result his work received great posthumous attention, with many of his art books selling out and becoming unavailable.

This particular art book Creature Core ( クリーチャー・コア ), first released way back in 1992, has finally been republished after been out of print for a very long time. The first half of the book showcases intricately detailed physical model/figures of characters and creatures designed by the artist, and then 2nd half covers some of the concept art drawings and illustrations from which the figures are created from.

(above) A fascinating ‘Failed Guyver’ figure. A fellow Twitter user in Japan was kind enough to inform me that it was actually on display at the Guyver 40th anniversary exhibition held earlier this year-

???????????????3???????????????????? 40???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/C872x7NhoU

— guinnessbook (@guinnessbook) May 31, 2026

(above) Guest artist illustrations by Katsuya Terada based on character designs by Nirasawa.

Yasushi Nirasawa’s creature creations are singularly striking in design and grotesquely wonderful; it is a real pity that he passed on early and that his books are rather hard to get hold of. As such, this reprinted edition of a long out of print title is just splendid news for Nirasawa fans. Highly recommended.

“Creature Core – Yasushi Nirasawa Art Book 韮沢靖作品集 クリーチャー・コア details :

– Dimensions – 11.69 x 8.27 x 0.53 inches
– Hardcover, 128 pages
– Full color, in Japanese

  
Buy From Amazon.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | CDJapan

You might also be interested in these items :