Wow, I looove these! Wish I could find Santa Lilio Sangre priced reasonably.This post will feature some truly NSFW to NSFL artworks, I'll spoiler everything but be warned
So, Ayami Kojipma's Santa Lilio Sangre.
To be clear, I have 0 history with the artist nor with her work. I think she's most famous for illustrating Castlevania but I never played any of these games I just watch the netflix show. Keep in my that I have no history nor special nostalgia for any of these artworks and they are all mostly alien to me so my appreciation will be based on the raw visuals rather than their meaning or history.
While I say this, I cannot say I never encountered her art before. Castlevania being so popular and famous, and her art so striking, when you see it, you remember it. Also, when I was in japan last time, when I wandered into akiba and saw this :
It does make an impression on a man, no matter if he played these games or not lol
Anyway, back to the book. It's a collection of body horror, erotic violence, and beautiful japanese characters from the romance of the sengoku period, with some gothic influence with lots of castlevania art. I suspect there might be illustration for other games or novels too.
It opens with a series of pen brush collection of... body horror. This is the very first art you see when opening the book : (SUPER NSFW)
Now, that sets the tone alright. Look at how amazing this is. Beyond the first striking impression of body horror, what do you see ? Is it eating or hatching these man ? She looks like she's taking pleasure from it. Look at how her hair flows into the web pattern, acting as a floor and fading into pavement. Now look back and do you see the beautiful and striking contrast of the hupper and lower part of the composition with the black backdrop and white men but white floor/woman and black hair ? It's amazingly simple yet effective. And it's only the first art of this book.
Next page, another collection of pen brush and this one in particular I want to talk about :
Actually, I don't need to talk about it. I think it's striking enough to talk for itself. I think a lot of people will find this unconfortable to watch or will phased out a second on this one. It's evocative yet brutal enough to give anyone a gut reaction, isn't ?
Still in the early pages and in the gruesome body horror, this one is much simplier at first glance but as evocative as the others :
I love how simple yet effective it is. I love the subtle muscle outlined by the shading in her back and arms, I love how the hands seems to claw out of the of negative space, I love the paint strokes on the lower right corner running out, like light and hope fading and it reinforce the dynamic composition of the piece (some movement to go with the arms)
Another three pen brush pieces, I have not much to talk about for these, but they are striking and original enough that I wanted to share :
Jesus, I'm sorry for anyone clicking this post at random. I'm not a fan AT ALL of horror, this is maybe why I find these so interesting, because of my lack of exposition to this genre. Maybe some horror fans would want to comment on this ? What do you think of these ?
Last pen brush and SFW this time, look at how powerful this spread feels :
Can you feel the wind howling around him, the energy and the darkness twisting from all around him ?
Let's go to color painting now, with at first, probably Kojima's interpretation of the famous Dream of the fisherman's wife :
Let's enjoy the brillant use of soft colors. First the muddy green backdrop and the floaty black hair, then the striking contrast with the white flowers and porcelain skin reflecting the colors of the octopus, making her cheeks light up. The lips as red and full of lust as the octopus itself, the tentacle as soft of the shade in the purity of the flowers and her face, giving up to the forbidden pleasure...
But if you are still reading this, it's because you wanted this :
again, I am not familiar with Castlevania but I've seen these enough around to feel something special. Look at how gorgeous this looks, how perfect, powerful, imposing and confident this looks. What a spread.
But I want to talk a bit about this one :
The whip tells me it might be from Castlevania too ? This part of the book seems very much all about Castlevania but again, I couldn't tell all. I want to talk about how great this works : obviously a beautiful hero (perfect white skin, androgyn looking face, golden hair, beautiful rich clothes) entrapped (surrounded, maybe even at the bottom of a pit) of dark walls, even in between him and us, with cryptic, esotheric engraving all over... this is a dark and foreign places, he does not belong there. Look at how the light (redemption ? salvation ?) lite up from above, look at his hands, receiving divine help, with a pose close to the monks... but not a hand, nor a sword (a sword of light would fit perfectly here isn't ?) but a whip he holds as close to his heart reinforcing its link to his weapon. Must be a Belmont. Very powerful stuff.
Another amazing piece :
Look at this composition. I'll get back to it on the next one. But look at it now. Look at the colors now. ALL THE FUCKING COLORS. This pieces boast ALL the colors in the world. There's gold, red, black, blue, green, yellow, brown even purple and yet none look out of place. She even got the girl gray eyes because fuck blonde kids with blue eyes right. (have you seen how Dracula's cape collar is drawn as its castle and horde of monsters, IN BLOOD ?! Truly amazing stuff)
Another amazing piece, this one spread :
Sorry for the picture, couldn't fold the book more, so proportions look bad...
Now this one, I'm puzzled. I don't get it. The whip guy should be a Belmont thus the hero in Castlevania right ? But he's far from the bigger one here. Even Dracula is tiny... Who might be the tall one ? He looks like alucard but he has different cloth. Anyway, look at the composition here. Look how all the characters, monster, items, locations and informations are in there. This piece reads like a page of manga by itself. Look at how the spread of red on top still managed to drip down into the tubes on the left then on the draps and slowly loose intensity and it progress down the pages, fading into monsters. I love how the castle is lit in blood over the dark backdrop, it's a cool twist on the usual red sky and black shadow figure.
After Castlevania there another series of art but their origins are unknown to me :
I love this spread. Especially that wandering bride, her dress looks like she get lost for year in these forksaken woods, her veil or cape turned into bones, or is it the hand of death, slowy climbing to her ? Yet her face is still so beautiful but already pale as death. It's tragic and yet very telling. I love the soft use of orange to tone down the green vines and avoid give light to the brown woods.
Last but not least :
This feel beautifully gruesome, yet again. From the mess of flesh tumbling down from the coffins to the floor, the stake blooming, the dead flowers at the bottom but the life among the skulls on the top... It's wonderfully weird and beautiful.
I skipped a lot of art based on japanese/ chinese characters, the sengoku or even edo period, not because I don't like it but because as beautiful as they are, I feel they aren't as original as this very narrow selection of 200 pages of arts.
Bonus :
Can we talk about THAT ? Frank's in there too ! (from the Rocky Horror Picture Show)
This post will feature some truly NSFW to NSFL artworks, I'll spoiler everything but be warned
So, Ayami Kojipma's Santa Lilio Sangre.
To be clear, I have 0 history with the artist nor with her work. I think she's most famous for illustrating Castlevania but I never played any of these games I just watch the netflix show. Keep in my that I have no history nor special nostalgia for any of these artworks and they are all mostly alien to me so my appreciation will be based on the raw visuals rather than their meaning or history.
While I say this, I cannot say I never encountered her art before. Castlevania being so popular and famous, and her art so striking, when you see it, you remember it. Also, when I was in japan last time, when I wandered into akiba and saw this :
It does make an impression on a man, no matter if he played these games or not lol
Anyway, back to the book. It's a collection of body horror, erotic violence, and beautiful japanese characters from the romance of the sengoku period, with some gothic influence with lots of castlevania art. I suspect there might be illustration for other games or novels too.
It opens with a series of pen brush collection of... body horror. This is the very first art you see when opening the book : (SUPER NSFW)
Now, that sets the tone alright. Look at how amazing this is. Beyond the first striking impression of body horror, what do you see ? Is it eating or hatching these man ? She looks like she's taking pleasure from it. Look at how her hair flows into the web pattern, acting as a floor and fading into pavement. Now look back and do you see the beautiful and striking contrast of the hupper and lower part of the composition with the black backdrop and white men but white floor/woman and black hair ? It's amazingly simple yet effective. And it's only the first art of this book.
Next page, another collection of pen brush and this one in particular I want to talk about :
Actually, I don't need to talk about it. I think it's striking enough to talk for itself. I think a lot of people will find this unconfortable to watch or will phased out a second on this one. It's evocative yet brutal enough to give anyone a gut reaction, isn't ?
Still in the early pages and in the gruesome body horror, this one is much simplier at first glance but as evocative as the others :
I love how simple yet effective it is. I love the subtle muscle outlined by the shading in her back and arms, I love how the hands seems to claw out of the of negative space, I love the paint strokes on the lower right corner running out, like light and hope fading and it reinforce the dynamic composition of the piece (some movement to go with the arms)
Another three pen brush pieces, I have not much to talk about for these, but they are striking and original enough that I wanted to share :
Jesus, I'm sorry for anyone clicking this post at random. I'm not a fan AT ALL of horror, this is maybe why I find these so interesting, because of my lack of exposition to this genre. Maybe some horror fans would want to comment on this ? What do you think of these ?
Last pen brush and SFW this time, look at how powerful this spread feels :
Can you feel the wind howling around him, the energy and the darkness twisting from all around him ?
Let's go to color painting now, with at first, probably Kojima's interpretation of the famous Dream of the fisherman's wife :
Let's enjoy the brillant use of soft colors. First the muddy green backdrop and the floaty black hair, then the striking contrast with the white flowers and porcelain skin reflecting the colors of the octopus, making her cheeks light up. The lips as red and full of lust as the octopus itself, the tentacle as soft of the shade in the purity of the flowers and her face, giving up to the forbidden pleasure...
But if you are still reading this, it's because you wanted this :
again, I am not familiar with Castlevania but I've seen these enough around to feel something special. Look at how gorgeous this looks, how perfect, powerful, imposing and confident this looks. What a spread.
But I want to talk a bit about this one :
The whip tells me it might be from Castlevania too ? This part of the book seems very much all about Castlevania but again, I couldn't tell all. I want to talk about how great this works : obviously a beautiful hero (perfect white skin, androgyn looking face, golden hair, beautiful rich clothes) entrapped (surrounded, maybe even at the bottom of a pit) of dark walls, even in between him and us, with cryptic, esotheric engraving all over... this is a dark and foreign places, he does not belong there. Look at how the light (redemption ? salvation ?) lite up from above, look at his hands, receiving divine help, with a pose close to the monks... but not a hand, nor a sword (a sword of light would fit perfectly here isn't ?) but a whip he holds as close to his heart reinforcing its link to his weapon. Must be a Belmont. Very powerful stuff.
Another amazing piece :
Look at this composition. I'll get back to it on the next one. But look at it now. Look at the colors now. ALL THE FUCKING COLORS. This pieces boast ALL the colors in the world. There's gold, red, black, blue, green, yellow, brown even purple and yet none look out of place. She even got the girl gray eyes because fuck blonde kids with blue eyes right. (have you seen how Dracula's cape collar is drawn as its castle and horde of monsters, IN BLOOD ?! Truly amazing stuff)
Another amazing piece, this one spread :
Sorry for the picture, couldn't fold the book more, so proportions look bad...
Now this one, I'm puzzled. I don't get it. The whip guy should be a Belmont thus the hero in Castlevania right ? But he's far from the bigger one here. Even Dracula is tiny... Who might be the tall one ? He looks like alucard but he has different cloth. Anyway, look at the composition here. Look how all the characters, monster, items, locations and informations are in there. This piece reads like a page of manga by itself. Look at how the spread of red on top still managed to drip down into the tubes on the left then on the draps and slowly loose intensity and it progress down the pages, fading into monsters. I love how the castle is lit in blood over the dark backdrop, it's a cool twist on the usual red sky and black shadow figure.
After Castlevania there another series of art but their origins are unknown to me :
I love this spread. Especially that wandering bride, her dress looks like she get lost for year in these forksaken woods, her veil or cape turned into bones, or is it the hand of death, slowy climbing to her ? Yet her face is still so beautiful but already pale as death. It's tragic and yet very telling. I love the soft use of orange to tone down the green vines and avoid give light to the brown woods.
Last but not least :
This feel beautifully gruesome, yet again. From the mess of flesh tumbling down from the coffins to the floor, the stake blooming, the dead flowers at the bottom but the life among the skulls on the top... It's wonderfully weird and beautiful.
I skipped a lot of art based on japanese/ chinese characters, the sengoku or even edo period, not because I don't like it but because as beautiful as they are, I feel they aren't as original as this very narrow selection of 200 pages of arts.
Bonus :
Can we talk about THAT ? Frank's in there too ! (from the Rocky Horror Picture Show)
All of the FFXIV art books are a sheer visual treat on the eyes. Will definitely be adding it to my collection. The only snag with these books recently is that SE have restricted the sale of them to their store, at least in Europe.FINAL FANTASY XIV: STORMBLOOD | ART OF THE REVOLUTION - EASTERN MEMORIES
Was just announced during Fanfest.
Release date: May 15, 2019
Artbook will feature 304 pages, will cover from patches 4.2 to 4.5.
The cover for the book is done by another artist presumably Yusuke Mogi.
The cover for the previous artbooks were all dobe by Kazuya Takahashi except for the first.
Not gaming, but I recently received the Jeremy Geddes book which covers a decade of his work and it's pretty great:
these are my absolute favourite series of books, each one is great. just picked up the eorzea encyclopedia II, which is also fantastic.FINAL FANTASY XIV: STORMBLOOD | ART OF THE REVOLUTION - EASTERN MEMORIES
Was just announced during Fanfest.
Release date: May 15, 2019
Artbook will feature 304 pages, will cover from patches 4.2 to 4.5.
Comes with a Tataru minion.
The cover for the book is done by another artist presumably Yusuke Mogi.
The cover for the previous artbooks were all dobe by Kazuya Takahashi except for the first.
The two Lord of Shadows books are fairly cheap, but no Kojima pieces.
The Portrait of Ruin 20th Anniversary edition came with a 48-page book, but I haven't seen what it looks like inside.
I'm really tempted to pick this up, but there's a ton of text, and I'm apprehensive that it will get localized at some point. Then again, the large amount of text (just based on screenshots I've seen) might mean it's less likely to get localized anyway. Would you recommend it for a semi casual Monster Hunter fan?The nearly 600-page Monster Hunter World artbook-slash-encyclopedia released late last week here. I picked it up yesterday on the way home and it's a real big boy. Only complaint is that at 600 pages it would have worked nicer as a hardcover, as heavy softbacks tend to bend, also the price is nearly as much as the game (5400 yen); so again, hardback would have been nice (I might try do it myself, actually).
Some phone snaps:
The nearly 600-page Monster Hunter World artbook-slash-encyclopedia released late last week here. I picked it up yesterday on the way home and it's a real big boy. Only complaint is that at 600 pages it would have worked nicer as a hardcover, as heavy softbacks tend to bend, also the price is nearly as much as the game (5400 yen); so again, hardback would have been nice (I might try do it myself, actually).
Some phone snaps:
Yeah, weirdly the store also had another copy for $30. But it was opened so I don't think the signed postcards were included. Kinokuniya has some weird prices I guess.
Crazy, which Kinokuniya was this? The one in Seattle always seems super expensive.
