Tokyo Ghoul Illustrations: zakki – Art Book Review

Title: Tokyo Ghoul Illustrations: zakki

Author: Sui Ishida

Publisher:  VIZ Media LLC

Year: 2017

Pages: 112

Available at: Amazon

About the artist

Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Sui Ishida is the author of Tokyo Ghoul and several one-shots of the series. One of which has won him second place in the Weekly Young Jump 113th Grand Prix award in 2010. Serialisation began in 2011 for Tokyo Ghoul in the Weekly Young Jump and in 2014, it was adapted into an anime series.

Book description

This book contains over 200 full-colour illustrations from the popular horror manga and anime series Tokyo Ghoul, ranging from full-page complete illustrations to smaller and simpler sketches, some of them have never been seen before! There are also notes from Sui Ishiada, the creator of Tokyo Ghoul, commenting on the creative process and his own thoughts on his work.

Content

Graphic novel covers

Full-page illustrations of the mange series cover from volume one to 14, together with short notes on the artist’s process and thoughts.

Young jump illustrations & more

Full-page illustrations, drafts and process shots of some of the artworks featured in the Japanese weekly Young Jump Magazines, with the artist’s thoughts and commentary.

Additional illustrations

Lots of smaller coloured artworks, sketches, inked artworks, character design, funny versions of different characters, etc.

Afterword

A short afterword by the author.

My Review

I saw this book at a manga store and I bought it instantly after flipping through a few pages. The book comes in a hardcover, wrapped with a layer of paper from front to back. The front cover is a full-page coloured illustration that attracted me to the book. As someone who likes to collect illustration books, this is one of my favorites so far, I love the painterly and colourful style of the Sui Ishida. Reading through the beautiful and sometimes slightly grotesque artworks, it always inspires me and motivates me to keep drawing and practicing. It was also interesting reading the notes scattered around the book on the artists’ thoughts and process. I think this book will be a great reference book for artists who like the art style of Sui Ishida and for fans of the manga/ anime series, it’s also a nice piece of collection. I’ve only watched the first season of the anime and I enjoyed it a lot. There are now more sequels to the anime such as Tokyo Ghoul re which I’m still halfway through.

Tokyo Ghoul Illustrations: zakki re is another illustration book on the sequel Tokyo Ghoul: re which I also have. The book has a similar design to the Tokyo Ghoul Illustrations: Zakki. However, the author notes are still in Japanese, they’re not translated to English like the Tokyo Ghoul Illustrations: Zakki. But I still got the book for the illustrations. Also for those that aren’t familiar with Japanese books, you read from right to left instead of left to right.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this book review. If you are interested in getting this book, please click here. When you click on the affiliate links that I’ve provided, I get a small amount of commission(at no extra cost for you!) which helps me keep writing book reviews like this one.

You may also be interested in my other book reviews:

• Sketch with Asia – Manga Inspired art and Tutorials
• Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
• Colour and Light – A Guide for the Realist Painter – James Gurney

Below are some images of the book: