"Slam Dunk", "Dreamland", "Akira" ... Three successful manga and three artbooks that go well with (and do well in the library) -
© 1993 by Takehiko Inoue and IT Planning, Inc. / Reno Lemaire - Pika Edition / 1991 Mash-Room Co., Ltd., Tokyo
The term artbook most often refers to collections of illustrations on manga or mangakas
The Japanese adore them, and French readers too, more and more
Three beautiful artbooks were released in the fall, on
Akira
,
Slam Dunk
and
Dreamland
If there are illustration books on all the arts, and therefore comics, the term artbook immediately conjures up manga for fans.
The artbook can even be considered a Japanese specialty, with collections on anime, video games and pop culture as well.
You just have to go to a Japanese bookstore in France, for example the Junku institution in Paris, to realize that these works are put forward, sometimes more than the manga themselves, and therefore that there is a demand. French readers.
We are talking about import here, but more and more artbooks are published in France, like the recent
Akira Club
at Glénat,
Slam Dunk Illustrations 2+
at Kana and
Dreamland
by the French Reno Lemaire at Pika.
"An artbook highlights the work, the author's drawing"
“The artbook accompanies a successful series, and it's a bit the same thing in Japan,” explains Satoko Inaba, editorial manager at Glénat Manga.
The manga are prepublished in magazines in Japan, with regular color pages, opening or cover images, which are not reproduced in the bound volumes.
The artbook is an opportunity to put forward the work and the work of the author, even if it is fundamentally not intended for all readers, rather for enthusiasts who want to have everything, know everything about a series .
An artbook does not intervene in the understanding of history, it is dedicated to drawing, to graphics.
Glénat has published artbooks on
Dragon Ball
,
Tokyo Ghoul
,
Bleach
,
Berserk
,
Blame
,
One Piece
and Studio Ghibli films.
Join the ... 🔴 AKIRA CLUB 🔴
💊 With more than a hundred unpublished illustrations, alternative visuals, preliminary drawings, production sketches, take a look behind the scenes of the series.
💊 Available individually and included in the AKIRA - Original edition box set.
pic.twitter.com/XFybDmgkKM
- Glénat Manga (@Glenat_Manga) November 27, 2020
Mangakas involved, very involved
If illustrations have pride of place in artbooks, in color and large format, they are not their only content, often with interviews, behind the scenes, etc.
“This is what prompts us to translate and edit them in France, otherwise the import would suffice,” comments Satoko Inaba.
There are also what are called Guide Books, a wealth of information.
The mangaka is often involved in artbooks, even in their French editions, like Katsuhiro Otomo, who is very keen on quality.
Published in 1995 in Japan, his
Akira Club
was released last November in France, why so late?
“In fact, part of the artbook was the 14th volume of the first French edition, in color, corrects the editor of Glénat Manga.
With the new edition, we wanted to re-edit it, but it was difficult, because the reference books on this artbook are rare, even the Japanese publisher does not have any more, and we therefore had to find the files, the colors ... A long process, but we knew that the readers would be there.
"
It is finally here !
Don't miss the "Slam Dunk - Illustrations 2+" artbook!
96 pages of superb illustrations by Takehiko Inoue, to admire the talent of the author in large format!
Available on our store in limited quantities: https://t.co/aHIwKHnXjt pic.twitter.com/iUmZxBPm2f
- Editions Kana (@EditionsKana) November 6, 2020
A complex production, an impression in Japan
The manufacture of an artbook is thus more complex than a manga, because it is necessary to reproduce the colors identically, with special inks, sometimes only available in Japan.
This is the case of the superb artbook
Slam Dunk Illustrations 2 +
, released by Kana as an accompaniment to the reissue of the manga and in very limited quantity (1,990 copies for the moment).
Why ?
Because printing is technically only possible in two printing houses in the world, both of which are in Japan.
It takes that to find the gilding effect of the cover, the basketball rendering on the cover pages or even 130 illustrations by Takehiko Inoue and his powerful and inimitable line.
"You have to have access to the stuff you've never seen"
For 15 years, Reno Lemaire has enjoyed critical and public success with his manga
Dreamland
at Pika, and, always invested and generous, he decided to offer an artbook to his readers.
He himself is fond of these beautiful books, moreover more video game works and collections of artists and illustrators (Katsuya Terada, Kim Jung Gi, Moebius, Jamie Hewlett) than artbooks on manga, to share “the 30 years of
Dragon Ball
”.
But its approach is not exactly the same as for a Japanese artbook.
“The artbook must be designed by the artist for the public,” he explains.
You need to have access to stuff that you don't know or that you've never seen: the preparatory sketches of the sets, the designs of the video game characters, the animated storyboards or the sketches, that only the staff knows. .
"
@RenoLemaire has not finished surprising you with the Dreamland Artbook!
Arm yourself with your cutter and go to the last page;) # dreamland pic.twitter.com/l8EfNUlblE
- Pika Edition (@pikaedition) October 15, 2020
The author-designer has thus provided more than 800 unpublished illustrations, on almost 400 color pages, for a price he himself has set (35 €): “I wanted it to be a beautiful object, something concrete that I will be proud.
Manga exist for their story, their characters, the pleasure of reading, not by the object that is the book.
The proof with the evolution of digital.
Obviously, readers are proud of their manga shelves, but you don't have an attachment to a tome, rather to a series.
The artbook is the opposite delirium, it's very contemplative and concrete, you feel the weight in your hands.
It exists.
"
Good morning all!
As promised here is the official announcement of our first #manga license!
Here is #VEIL de Kotteri!
An editorial crush for a unique title at the crossroads of manga and artbook!
A moment in suspense, a few hours of happiness far from the outside noise ... pic.twitter.com/Zj91QyQJnx
- noeve grafx (@noevegrafx) September 10, 2020
This culture of the artbook, the beautiful object, seems to rub off on the very edition of manga, like the work of Ki-oon on the Lovecraft works of Gou Tanabe, or of Noeve, publisher specializing in art and photography books, whose first manga title,
Veil,
is at the crossroads of the artbook.
And it is very beautiful.
Culture
"One Piece": Eiichiro Oda's manga reaches its 1,000th chapter, and will nothing be the same?
Montpellier
In "Dreamland", the mangaka Reno Lemaire represents Montpellier as in a dream
Culture
Japan
Art
Manga
BD