Thesis going... not too well. Some burnout, I guess. I'll get to it. In the meantime, here is a dōjinshi you can actually read in its entirety -- if you're ok with catching some malware. No links, but you can just put the title in and read to your heart's content. Warning: very NSFW.
So, this is actually one of the very first dōjinshi I put in my (now defunct, please come back...) Doujinshi and Manga Lexicon wishlist. We're going waaaay back, 2000 to be precise, with the very European-titled Sich Behelfen 2 ZWEI, which translates into the ballpark of "to make do" or something? Dunno, I know no German.
Anyway, while the circle Studio NEO BLACK is largely a nsfw art joint, producing later on copious amounts of KanColle p0rn, this 26 pages, B&W booklet is really more of a tame compilation of illustrations, featuring only mild nudity and no explicit content at all. Some are stand-alone, some are tied to the then ongoing dōjin series Silent Butterfly, also by Studio NEO BLACK. A good part is sketches, including some rough drafts for pages from the aforementioned series, but there are also a few pinups and a couple of digital illustrations. Most of the material actually comes from previous dōjin, gathered here for, according to the author, "compile as many ideas as possible in one place, before the turn of the century". Commendable.
NEO BLACK (aka Ikuta Daisuke) definitely has a polished tract, especially when it comes to the human figure. Even the rough sketches have a decided liveliness to them, especially when it comes to facial expressions: whole pages are dedicated to headshots, conveying effectively a wide range of emotions. We are far from moe territory - at time there is almost something seinen or even gekiga - like to NEO BLACK's style, though far more polished. A sort of realistic style that seems to have fallen out of style a bit lately.
This is, of course, another now inactive circle -_- seems like their last publication was Madoka Magica / Monster Hunter collaborative work in 2019. Still, I guess a 20-years or so run is not that bad.
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