[review] artbook: 墨染狂言 by Liu Wei & Yi JIng
TITLE: 墨染狂言--御风舞雷 卷 & 素水眠火 卷--
ILLUSTRATOR: 柳玮 & 异境 （Liu Wei & Yi Jing)
RELEASE DATE: 07/2010
PRICE: 120RMB
PAGES: 80pages per book
FORMATE: a4(260×200mm), hardcover
SPECIAL: only 666 copies were printed, 2 special booklet, signed, and numbered
SHOP: out of print
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Art........................................4/5
Content.................................3/5
Layout/packaging...................3/5
Since the first time I heard about this artbook, it took literally a year to get it in my hands. My first reaction was, why was the books not bonded to the hard cover? The packaging design was bad; the books didn’t stay in place within the cover. The hard cover, which acted more like a folder was bigger than the books, so when you hold the books together with the elastic band, it also caused the covers to bent inward. It didn’t start great and it didn’t end there.
The content for Liu Wei’s book was BS. About 2/3 of the images are from her first book. The rest 1/3 of the art work were lacking in substance. The only images that stood out were the cover image and a few sketches here and there.
Until this artbook, I have never heard of Yi Jing, so her book was a bit more refreshing, but if you’re someone who’s following these artists and their novel illustrations, then you’re not going to be surprised by what you see because the materials are hardly new.
The layout of the books was even more disappointing. To put it simply, they had artist’s commentaries and novel excerpt taking over ¼ of the page and sometimes even on the images. I understand they want to create some context and mood for the viewers, but it was so clogged and distracting that it made it hard to just enjoy the art itself. Sometimes this text takes over a page and the pause just disrupts the flow of the view experience. My only guess is that they ran out of money to add “list of art” at the end of the book where all these miscellaneous things are suppose to be found.
The only redeeming part of this package is the two little booklets which features black and white sketches, illustrations, and comics.
This should have been a magnificent collaboration; it had so much potential, but like many self published books, it doesn’t know how to be generous to the viewers. I felt they were trying to hard to impress us with the presentation of this book when they should have just put their art work on the line.