Tags
art, art book, crimson shell, jun, mangaka, mochi, mochizuki, pandora, pandora hearts
The dark whimsy of Jun Mochizuki’s world comes to vivid life in this art book that features over 120 color and black-and-white illustrations from the New York Times-bestselling PandoraHearts series, as well as her first work, Crimson-Shell, among others. Favorite characters from the series take center stage in elaborate, breathtaking, full-color tableaus that fans of Mochizuki’s work will instantly recognize. Also included in this beautiful hardbound, slipcased book are brand-new, never-before-published pieces, as well as countless rough and colored sketches! Readers of Mochizuki’s series and art lovers alike will not want to miss this sumptuous feast for the eyes! (goodreads)
I think sensei’s work is very professional (traditional?) gothic art work, which reminds me of Vampire knight, and UraBoku (the betrayal knows my name). Personally, I felt a bit disappointed about the art book; I was excited for it but, I feel like she wasted pages…Some pages (maybe like 10, or around there) are mostly empty, or filled with little art that doesn’t matter (dandelions, a thorn, just 1 color, etc.); and that some works could be shrunk to fit one page, in order to put more art in the book.
For $25-$35 (depends on where you bought it from), I’m pretty disappointed about it. Sure, it was translated into English, had some art from sensei’s manga Crimson-Shell (which was kinda meh), colored art, black and white sketches, doodles, commentary, etc.
I feel like the art of Vampire knight by Matsuri Hino ($20-$25) did a better job as an art book. I’m not saying this because it’s cheaper, or because I like Vampire knight more than Crimson shell or Pandora hearts (which I don’t care about), I just feel like the Pandora hearts art book wasted more space/should be more organized. Both mangas are different, but the art style/what’s in their art books are pretty similar (colored art, black/white sketches, commentary, characters, colored pieces from the manga…). And, the vampire knight book came with a redrawn colored picture/steps on how she did it + it came with that as a wall hangable/poster to pin on a wall (not that I would display it, but the tutorial is interesting).
If you like art to be big, a fan of Jun Mocihzuki/Pandora hearts/Crimson shell, than go for the Pandora hearts art book.
If you like PandoraHearts, then you’ll love Crimson-Shell, Jun Mochizuki-sensei’s debut! Rescued from the darkness by Xeno, a mysterious swordsman, Claudia the Rose Witch is the foundation of the Crimson-Shell, a special division of the Red Rose-an organization aiming to capture the results of one mad scientist’s experiments, the deadly Black Roses. But when Xeno’s loyalties are called into question, will Claudia be strong enough to believe in her dearest friend? And what is the color of the rose blooming in Xeno’s heart-a deep, passionate crimson…or a traitorous jet-black? (amazon)
Hm….I really want to compare the vampire knight, pandora hearts, and uraboku art book someday…I know people say that the art for them, especially vampire knight, and uraboku are really similar; and I think they’re similar, too. They’re both gothic with lace/frills/white with black straight lines….