MangaKa America - WOW. No, seriously, WOW.
Just wanted to take a second to send out a little love for the creators of this beautiful, beautiful book.
I picked the book up over 2 weeks ago (Amazon was taking forever so while killing time before a dentist appointment one morning I spied a copy in the MIT Coop and snapped one up). I've been slowly turning the crew down at my dentist office into manga fans. They're having a hard time getting it because none of them are comics types, right? So when I went in that day I whipped out the book and yelled, This! See this? THIS is what I've been telling you about! Isn't it awesome? Look, there's my boss, right there *points to Svet's stuff* :D And they're like, ohhh... You could tell they were really impressed-- how could they not be with this big delicious artbook in their hands!
The production values and graphic design of this thing are absolutely wonderful. The formatting, the color choices, the structure of the information--everything, just toprate. I LOVE how the designer mindfully tailored their design choices to the personality and style of each individual creator. The care and attention they gave to making appropriate and attractive choices for the material being presented is so apparent. They crafted a dynamic and beautiful setting for the artwork to be seen to its best advantage.
And, of course, the artwork in this book is amazing. Perhaps even moreso since I'm used to seeing most of these artists primarily in black and white. The brilliant color gave me another side of their work to consider. Also many of creators showed us a different stylistic side from their book work-- it really gave me a sense of who they are as artists-- that is, their whole range of expression. Much to linger over here.
And not only is the book a visual feast, it's informative as hell. The tutorials are wonderful! (YES. *pumps fist* A tut from Lindsay & Jared on how to etch tone-- only my most favoritest thing!). Smith's stuff is FANTASTIC, but really, there are no misses here. I enjoyed the Q&A too-- I liked the glimpse into the creator's thoughts and opinions it provided, a nice element to round out the book with. Loved the introductory commentary, it provided some great context-- a common thread that tied the individual entires into a unified whole. Even the foreward by the self-IDed crusty Old Hat is interesting.
Bravo, everyone. You can really, really tell that only your very best went into this book.
(I'm totally buying a couple more copies for xmas presents :D )