A nice little soft cover volume with a very self explanatory title, this sketchbook is a collection of renowned manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto’s ( PingPong / Sunny / Tekkon Kinkreet ) doodles done over a period of 3-4 years from 2018-2021. The subject matter are very much scenes from every day, mundane life, but seen through the keenly observant eyes of Taiyo Matsumoto, they are imbued with a playful, charming aesthetic. Each sketch is accompanied by a short caption/write-up that offers a little more background information about the drawing, a value add if you’re proficient in Japanese.

This is probably unexpected coming from me because I am a fan of books that come in a big print format, but I actually found the almost pocket sized format of this sketchbook to be rather endearing and adds to the charm, especially when you can carry it around easily and enjoy it in a leisurely manner over a nice coffee.

(above) In this doodle, Taiyo Matsumoto depicts himself visiting the ‘AKIRA ART OF WALL’ mural at Parco Shibuya on Kaneda’s red bike. Much to his disappointment however, he visited it too late and all the murals have already been removed.

I documented the murals extensively over 3 visits to Tokyo from 2017-2019, and there is also an excellent art book that collects all the murals on display. You can read more about it in this post.

A most delightful collection of Taiyo Matsumoto’s charming sketches, packed niftily into a 336 paged pocket sized soft cover volume. My highest recommendations, especially if you’re a fan of Taiyo Matsumoto’s manga art/illustrations.

“Taiyo Matsumoto Sketchbook 2018-2021 松本大洋 スケッチブック” details :

Dimensions – 7.36 x 5.31 x 1.18 inches
Softcover, 336 pages
B&W/color, In Japanese language

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

You might also be interested in these items :