Atelier Third

I was about to review Yoshitomi Akihito's excellent 'Unrecorded Works', since I've already branched outside dōjin in the past... but I realized it's been fully scanlated already, so just take my word and go read it. Instead, I'll be reviewing a magazine issue. Yeah.

One of the things that I kind of expected, yet still surprised me when I was over in Tokyo and Kyoto, was the sheer number of commercial art galleries. These big Japanese cities have been, and still are, a flowerbed of ephemeral trends and micro-cultures (for the mainstream take on this you can pick up any FRUiTS back issue, take a look at Tokyo Fashion, or even watch a few Kawai.i International episodes - very mainstream sources, but sometimes they do strike gold). I even ended up, more or less by mistake, in the mid of a Yasuto Sasada vernissage, artist included. I have a print of his in my house too, by the way.

Published ephemera in the field of Japanese contemporary art (subculture-oriented, of course) is kind of difficult to get a hold of, so I usually buy mine secondhand. I've only recently become acquainted with Talking Heads: released by art publisher Atelier Third, this magazine straddles the line between ephemeral and collectible, as each issue is themed; fairly beefy (almost 200 pages on average); and professionally glue-bound. Topic vary but usually focus on the intersection between fine/ commercial arts, fashion, and that peculiar horror-meets-kawaii aesthetics that has been dominating japanese subculture for... pretty much decades now.

Each issue follows an anthology format, with about a dozen artists featured. Photographers are usually reserved the twenty or so color pages at the beginning and middle of the issue, while illustrators, manga and essays take up the bulk of the b&w pages. Contents are usually very NSFW: issue 32, for example, features a few bondage artists, as well as guro illustrators. I tend to enjoy that kind of fringe-themed artwork, so generally the contents of Talking Heads are right up my alley. While images dominate, the publication is not beginner friendly language-wise, and there are a few fairly lenghty essays collected toward the end of each issue.

Atelier Third is also worth exploring in its own right, as its range of publications has a lot to offer, to those into the darker side of Japan's alt culture: a slew of monographies, slightly more mainstream art periodicals (the very interesting ExtrART, for example), and the horror/dark fantasy short story quarterly Night Land. A publisher worth keeping an eye on.

BrownS by ニリツハイハン

While I steer clear of openly H dōjinshi, which I find not only in poor taste but also often shoddy in layout and execution (I mean, I really don't get how an ahegao with a mess of speedlines around it could ever be erotic...), I occasionally purchase works that conjugate high production values, or an interesting visual style, with... umm, let's be generous and say, 'my personal preferences'. A case in point is the short dōjinshi I'll be reviewing this time around, which features the bullseye combination of tanned skin and short, blonde hair. Blue eyes optional, I'm not that picky*.

BrownS by ニリツ is an illustration book that, while a bit short on the page count, make up for it with excellent production values: large A4 format, full color, nice glossy paper. Each illustration is a pinup, focusing on shōjo who conjugate tanned skin tones with a variety of other desirable traits - flaxed hair, provocative swimsuits, and so on.

The subject matter, in the context of Japanese anime-style illustration, is of course as trite as it gets: in these cases, it's usually the craftsmanship that makes all the difference, and Nilitsu has plenty of skill to show. Often entirely devoid of backgrounds (though, where they are present, they are of very good design and execution), the illustrator focuses solely on the human form, which conforms to a manga aesthetics but with the added values of a keen eye for complementary color combinations; and a strong sense of shading and chiaroscuro. Every image is also accompanied by a short description detailing the creation process, and a few rough sketches are provided at the end of the book. As I mentioned, while there are a few ecchi pinups, nothing really forays into H proper.

With its only flaw being the very short page count, BrownS is a nice addition to my collection of Pixiv artists' books, and  sign that Nilitsu is someone to keep an eye on - while the subject matter is certainly not revolutionary, it's all in the execution, and they have that figured out.

*Coincidentally, I've never been in a relationship with a blonde. What a waste. 

SAILORBON by Various

In between the job hunting and taking care of my estate and dogs, one thing I'll be focusing on early 2019 is the first draft of a... young adult mystery novel. Yup, that's right. I've been selected as one of eleven participants to Il Battello a Vapore's A Caccia Di Storie, a residency that has spawned quite a few literary careers in the past few editions. Details on my story will be forthcoming (and we're actually forbidden to blog the details, from what I gather), but I've been reading a lot of New Orthodox mystery fiction lately, so...

New year, new dōjinshi review. Sailorbon is actually a group effort, featuring about 100 different artist and helmed by dōjinka 午前4時, ostensibly centered around a nautical theme - which is, surprisingly, largely followed by participants. Sure, considering the topic it'd be way too easy to cheat and simply draw a girl in a sailor suit (and some artists certainly do), but all is forgiven considering Sailorbon's overall quality. There is no clear low-hanging outlier, and all featured artists have done a very good job of providing a nice, on topic illustration, regardless of differences in style. Since reviewing every single illustration would probably overkill, I will focus on highlighting in no particular order a few of my favorites, and a few that stuck to the theme in ways that I found interesting.

I have mentioned before that, while I enjoy the very detailed and pseudo-realistic style a lot of Japanese artists seem to embrace, I al always very open to slightly more abstract visual choices. For example, I really dug  のすけ's playing with very simple basic colors, contrasting with the complex starry patterns.

On the other hand, artists such as ざいん choose instead to play with perspective, softer colors, and almost pastel-like coloring. Shōjo are, of course, the dominant subject in Pixiv-style illustration, and it's also the case with Sailorbon - I'm pretty sure every illustration that doesn't feature a cute girl features a cute boy...

The nautical theme offers a lot of interesting subjects to play with, and some do. ノナ offers us an extremely simple image, composition and coloring wise, counterbalanced by the awesome visual cues and melding of the pretty girl and sailor themes and iconography.

Just in case you thought I had something against pretty 2d girls, let me show you a snippet of 麦白子's offering - blonde on tan, yummy.

And finally, of course, there is no lack of troll pictures. Check out ケロ's pretty marinarette:

All in all,  an excellent collection of illustrations that really displays the variety of styles that can be found among the Pixiv community. The only faults, really, are the minuscule size of the book - barely an A6 size - and, as mentioned, some artists' lazy choice of simply putting a girl in a school uniform and call it a day. Faults that I am more than ready to forgive, given the overall quality of the illustrations within Sailorbon.