nem books and stuff

[nembookshelf]

these three are all published/designed by senyuman https://m.tb.cn/h.gWq8GmCXrfYPp9E

leisure / 余暇 by [日]昼间 / hiruma (22irum@twitter)

the duck(goose?) on the inside cover is soo cute

its like a sketch book! I really liked the slightly textured slightly off-white paper it was printed on bc it really sold the feel of ink bleeding slightly into paper and pencil graphite rubbing onto paper. loose and comfy clutter sort of illusts.

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fan story / 扇形物语 by 扇贝人 (十元一个扇贝人@weibo https://m.weibo.cn/u/2580434357)

thick sketchbook with figure drawings. you could say the content is overall repetitive but I really vibe with their figure drawing style so this was great. 🤤

oh yeah it came with a (rather crinkled) foldable fan? 😂

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小狗樂园 by 山鬼 (carey_leslie00@twitter)

I'm honestly not a fan of outer cases BC I prioritise ease of access/flipping through but this is still cute.

Carey's art.. I wanted to sit with every page for a while just to soak in the colours and vibes. its got that naive (a little childlike & not bound to realism but instead v true to feeling) quality I really admire

came with a mini booklet with artist q & a

[nembookshelf]

the daydream of fire / 白日梦火 by 京知秋华 (weibo@-京知秋华-)

wow! I picked this up thinking "even if I'm chinese-illiterate and this is a comic, I'm sure the visuals will carry" and yeah it sure did. you did not have to read to feel the creator committing raw and bloody murder on paper. it was insane and beautiful. I love the use of collage, the use of heavy black and colour, the paint & oil pastel textures...

also isn't that cover/case crazy?! man

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life drawings vol. 3 by Sophie li (twitter@mmcoconut)

it's a neat collection of life drawings, mostly cosplay themed life drawings + some racer themed colour illusts at the back.

admittedly this didn't vibe with me as much as I'd like BC there were many life drawings in monoline (or a brush with little size variation) & I was craving a bit more juicy thicks with thins & splashes of bold colour (not to say this wasn't present at all)

[nembookshelf]

the art of chasing blue by Helen jee (twitter@helenjeeeeee)

a cute little book filled with visdev(?) for an original project. There was a tiny bit of disappointment though BC my favourite illusts/layouts were in the accompanying (much more fragile) newsletter and only as v small thumbs in the artbook. like this is where the real charm is y'know? 🥹 but I'm scared to handle it too much

anywhere is by feleven (feleven__ @ twitter)

a one piece fanbook bought on a whim. it's apparently the artist's fourth one piece fanbook and this one is pretty thick! it's just a very warm collection and I like that the illusts have a trad feel to them.

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天赐百色 by merasgar (merasgar @ twitter)

first thing to know is that this book is fucking huge and the box it came in looks like a pizza box. I want to say 30cm by 30cm?

the books illusts are sorted by colour (often with a matching little symbol). the unwieldy size is absolutely justified by the level of fine texture & detail in merasgars paintings. like you really appreciate being able to zoom in close. mostly religious & traditional/historical Chinese themed (as the cover indicates) but there's some modern & western themed too. their illusts really feel powerful it's scary.. a religious experience indeed..

[nembookshelf]

from taobao haul

a tomato for amuro by nauy (nauy.ke)

this one was on a whim.. it's a Gundam fanbook(?) for a guy named Amuro(?). anyway it's a mix of small grey scale closeups and full colour illusts with lots of lovely textures and it feels quite intimate. even without context there's a sense of quiet aftermath + recollection + mourning which I really really like.

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the blue boat by sheya (twitter@dingkuang1)

(images are reverse order oops I'll fix later)

this was so lovely.. illust + text page introducing the fairy tale followed by a matching spread with some kind of interesting panels or comp. sheya's work is just so delicate 🥹

the 1001 nights illusts at the start and end were perfect too.

there extras including a mini book of unfinished comps.

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yesterday once more by sheya (again!)

not much to say but sheyas sense of light + detail is soo perfect. it's another full illust spread and matching quieter/sparser spread type of format. this one seems to be about childhood experiences + wonder overlaid with fond nostalgia..

max 30 images per post so I'll post in a series.