Featurin' Pop Art

You'll find various articles on pop culture artists or artworks featured here. This is James Jeans' "Rift"

Featurin' Anime/Manga

You'll find various articles on anime + manga artists or artworks featured here. This is KYMG's "butterfly M82A1"

Featurin' PC/Video Games

You'll find various articles on PC + video game related artists or artworks featured here. This is Jeong Juno's "Last Rebellion"

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Archive for 2010

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Review :: Kine in Aqua Illustrations - Lee Sun Young

                One of my favourite Korean dongin artists out there, her art is instantly distinguishable and even in her earlier days I was always left wondering and anticipating her full colour art book. For a comic artist it's evident that her true skill shines in her colour works, which isn't as common as you'd think with artists in this industry. I have to say with all things considered,  I'm satisfied with the result.

Basic Stats
Title: AQUA: Kine in Aqua Illustrations 2003-2009
Author/Artist: Lee, Sun Young (Kine)
Publisher: Self (Private Publication)
Pages: 160 pages
Dimensions: 21.5 x 29.5cm :: Soft cover with Dust Jacket
Date of Publication: Jan. 2010
Retail Price: 15000 won

*I have to apologize for the quality of some of the photos. I did quite a few retakes and some aren't as clear as they should be.










Construction

                With many doujin/dongin releases you can't achieve the quality of a professional commercial release due to financial constraints or the lack of availability of options. I'm satisfied that this book doesn't suffer from this common issue and looks as good, if not better than many commercial books. The format is a nice ample A4 and the overall build quality of the book itself also appears to be great. The spine is strong, and the glossy dust cover is also a fine detail in terms of the finish. Usually, I can't help complaining about soft cover art books, but the dust jacket does add enough protection for this to be a minor issue in this case. I must say though, that the strongest detail of this art book is the paper quality. I absolutely adore the paper and it is one of the finest examples I have ever seen. It's not very fancy or innovative, but a heavy weight matte card stock just is "discreetly" perfect for the job. There is absolutely no reflecting or bleeding through the pages and it feels so nice to just flip through leisurely without having to worry about bent or damaged pages. I don't mind it at all if some details appear to be a bit dull due to the lack of gloss. It is quite simply put, one of the best possible paper types for art book use.
                Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the slipcase the book came with. It's pretty with its metallic gold inlay, but the cardboard is too thin and it feels flimsy. Also as you can see, the glue is already coming off one of the sides and it's falling apart. A nice attempt to include a slip case that can house the book, but the quality prevents it from being very useful.


 Content
                From what I can tell the artwork is a collection of every previously "published" piece since 2003 until 2009, which is a six year period. Like I said, I haven't been able to find any unreleased or new pieces and everything has been available in some form before (i.e. buttons, bookmarks, calendars, posters, donginji, etc).. not that that is a bad thing. Just don't expect any surprises. The book is roughly two thirds of original work and a third of fan pieces from various fandoms. The art is also ordered chronologically from newest to oldest.  Her original works consist mostly of the ones featured in her calendars and shopping bags but many have also been previously printed as other goods and even promotional materials. The fan artwork is mostly Bleach and Naruto orientated but you'll see a scattering of others as well (Prince of Tennis, Reborn, Black Butler, etc)
                I have no problems with the selection included since it is diverse and collects pretty much everything,  but the best point is the presentation. This art book is printed in my favourite way, full page bleeds or double page spreads. You will see minimal white in this book since almost every image fills the entire page. Aside from the title, a brief afterword, and publishing notes there are absolutely no words in this art book. You get as much art as you possibly can. Interviews and commentaries are nice but nothing beats pure unadulterated art work. 



Ending Notes
-  The quality of the release for a dongin art book. For the most part the quality is fabulous. The paper being the best part.
- The price is cheap by North American standards
- Her gorgeous colour works are represented true to their original form

Final Rating
- Strongest point: The cardstock matte paper. Not only is this perfect for displaying the images, the paper quality adds heft to the book to make it appear very thick.
- Weakest point: The slipcase. It's cheap and easily comes apart. 

9.5/10 <- MOST EXCEPTIONAL

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Review :: Junography - Jeong Juno

I thought this day would never come. 

              Mr. Jeong Juno.. arguably my favourite artist of all time (he beats out hundreds of others) has published a completely personal and MASSIVE compendium of almost all ( I would guess) of his artwork spanning a very dynamic 10 years. The artworks featured are not only restricted to his professional career, but you’ll see a few of his personal fan creations as well.  In other words, it’s the most complete collection of Jeong Juno’s artwork ever released to date. To put a scope of how much that is… this book is almost as thick as a phone book and his art is displayed in full page format on almost all of the pages. Yes, this is at least 95% of pure unadulterated artwork spanning 400 pages.  I know.. simply mindboggling.

**Please keep in mind that for the interior photos, I tried to take samples that are rare and hardly ever been seen before. These photos are not true to the proportional representation of the artwork featured in Junography (i.e. you'll see alot more Lineage pieces in the actual book than what I preview).

Basic Stats
Title: Junography – Juno’s Illustration Work Collection Book 1998-2010
Author/Artist: Jeong, Juno
Publisher: Viel Books
Pages: 390 pages
Dimensions: 21.8 x 25cm :: Softcover (Turtleshell)
Date of Publication: Nov. 25, 2010
ISBN: ISBN-13: 9788996468608 | ISBN-10: 8-99646-860-6 l
Retail Price: 35000 won / $55.00USD Shipped to ASIA $69.00USD Shipped ELSEWHERE when purchased directly from Viel.


Construction
                The construction of Junography is fairly standard fare to the usual high quality printing standards of South Korea. You won't see many hardcover books like you do over here in North America, and this is no exception. Junography is presented in the common dual layered paperback format which is popular in Asia and also referred to as the turtleshell. It's studier than normal paperback and similar to a hardcover book which  I personally like to call paperback 2.0. A textured black piece of paper is an introductory wrap around the book, noting the basic details of the book's contents. The cover has a glossy coated finish with holographic inlay used on the title. I can't  comment on colour reproduction since I have never seen the original, but I would guess it to be fairly accurate. The interior pages are somewhat thick, with thankfully only a semi gloss finish. I find  that although high gloss paper is great in portraying the fine details of digital images, the reflection of light is often too distracting to fully enjoy the piece printed on this kind of paper. This is a perfect balance. However, I'm not completely satisfied by the thickness of the paper,  itself. It's thick enough to work most of the time but there can still be some reflecting through the pages if they're blank and the light source is bright. It's not a huge issue but it's still there.  Unfortunately, the exterior covers appear to be a bit easy to scuff. This is most likely the only real construction flaw of this book.

 








The preorders of Junography were treated as a special editions and you received some bonuses if you manage to snag a preorder. Included was a cardboard hard case used to enclose the book and a smaller sketchbook. I was impressed by the quality of the case since it's strong and rather heavy weight and houses the two items very nicely. The sketchbook was also a very nice bonus since Mr. Jeong's artwork is seldom published in such a raw form. The illustrative sketches are especially impressive due to their details and complexity. I'm sure amateur artists are eager to try colouring using his line work.




























Content

                Again, all the artwork featured here are pieces from his ENTIRE art career. His most prolific work was done for the Lineage II franchise, but in all honesty, you’ll see all the work he’s done for a whole variety of different projects organized in a rough chronological order from his newest to his oldest pieces in the twelve year span.  



  
Some other examples of his usual concept design and illustration expertise include works from: Ghost Fighter, Immortal Online, Dragooneer's Aria, numerous Korean fantasy novels, N-Age Reverse, N Pluto,etc. Many of the games will not be familiar to people outside of Korea or Asia.

 

The layout is very simple since it is an art book and therefore the art takes on the main focus. Usually, you’ll see a character design on one page with a monochromatic background. However, he doesn’t skimp on the much more detailed and elaborate illustrative pieces either, as most are done 3/5 spreads across a double page. Fortunately, this set up was well thought out since although a full double spread would be larger, the book’s spine usually ruins the centre (and usually focus) of the illustrations.  Naturally, the elaborate illustrations are my favourite pieces featured in the book and you'll see about a hundred or so of these more illustrative pieces.  Peppered throughout the concept designs you’ll also see notes and short commentaries that add a little bit more of an interactive experience to enjoy while admiring the art work. I was also very pleasantly surprised to see a whopping amount (I believe about two hundred and eighty) of Mr. Jeong's never before published/released pieces also included in the book.
        Included near the back are some black and white pieces related to his manhwa endeavours. Very cool stuff since this kind of artwork is rare from Jeong Juno and much more harder to find. A couple of his series shown are Earthper and EZ2DJ dated mostly from the early 2000s and late 90s. I can't wait to go through some of the more detailed panels.
The very back has a GIGANTIC tutorial section of about 100 pages. I haven't had a chance to look at it very in-depth, but I can tell it is extremely detailed and immersive. He basically starts from ground zero and covers all steps and processes involved in the creative process. Light and Shadow, anatomy, colour, even things like what settings he uses in Photoshop are all covered and explained with easy to follow screencaps captures and shown on the pages.
 
Needless to say, everything about this book screams colossal.




 I was planning on posting a flip through of the entire book on video, but the publisher beat me to it before the books' release. Enjoy!




Ending Notes
- Loved enjoying  the never before published pieces. Definitely a great treat to see art that you never even knew existed.
- The price is very reasonable at 35000won for an almost phone book sized release. If we see this book localized for a North American release I would expect the price to at least double, or even be released heavily abridged.
- I had been waiting a very long time for a collective work of Mr. Jeong Juno. I think I first became familiar with his Lineage character designs soon after the debut of the game and I instantly fell in love with his artwork. It was apparent he would be one of the Greats in the Korean industry.


Final Rating
- Strongest point: The amount of work is so extensive it’s almost exhaustive
- Weakest point: This is really, really nitpicking but I was a bit disappointed that this book wasn’t a hardcover release, and I really wanted a huge layout size (larger than A4 for sure). I can't help but feel the dimension of the book is a bit small. Outside covers also seem to scuff a bit easily. 


9.8/10 <-MOST EXCEPTIONAL, ALMOST PERFECT


*** I've received word from the Publisher (Viel) that international sales will be possible. Correspondence in English will not be a problem. If interested, leave a note with your contact information or email Viel Books at jennifer[@]vielbooks.com

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