Water: Vagabond Illustration Collection

by Takehiko Inoue

Water features Inoue’s masterful work in color. It also highlights artwork created specifically for this volume.

 

In a recent interview, Takehiko Inoue claimed that in his first major follow-up to Slam Dunk, he wanted to delve as deeply as possible into visual artistry. The result was the incredibly realized world of Vagabond, the Sistine Chapel of manga. This artbook captures the very best of Inoue's work, with images hand-selected by Inoue himself. Not one to skimp on color and image quality, Inoue also hand selected the specific printer. Water features Inoue’s masterful work in color. It also highlights artwork created specifically for this volume.

Genres: Manga, Art, Fiction, Comics

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2006

About the author

Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for Slam Dunk and Vagabond.

Reviews

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

The edition published by Viz Media is soft cover with a dust jacket. But the cover is actually quick thick and hardy. There are 164 pages to give this book a nice thickness.

This is the art book by Inoue Takehiko. It's based off the manga Vagabond. If you like the manga and the water colour section that starts each comic, this book is definitely for you. It contains many water coloured full page illustrations, some of which comes from panels and covers from the comic book.

These water colour paintings, when blown up to full page, show an incredible amount of detail. I'm talking about details like the kind of texture created when water colour touches paper and the gradation. The colour reproduction on the book is perfect. Every page is a delight.

This book has no captions. It doesn't need them.

Fans of Inoue Takehiko or his comic should find this book very satisfying.

There are two art books released based on the Vagabond comic. This is one of them. The other is called Sumi: Vagabond Illustration Collection which contains black and white line art illustrations. Check out the my review for Sumi too.

This review was first published on parkablogs.com. There are more pictures and videos on my blog.

[امیرمحمد حیدری · Rating 4 out of 5]

اینو هم به‌عنوان جلد نصف و نیمه‌ی ۳۸ در نظر می‌گیرم. چطوری کسی می‌تونه چنین مانگایی رو دراپ کنه؟ چیزی که واقعا شاید می‌تونست با برزرک به‌عنوان یه کار رئال (نه‌چندان رئال خالص و نه‌خیلی فیکشن) رقابت کنه؟ هم از لحاظ طراحی هم داستان. حیف شد، امیدوارم مانگاکاش سر عقل بیاد. جدال‌های این کتاب مثل جدال‌ بودا در مانگای رکورد آف رگناروک بود؛ نبردی از منتهای اراده، تفکر، هدف و فلسفه‌. تجربه‌ی فوق‌العاده‌ای بود.

[Dabbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woooowooowwww

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest: even though I was at some point responsible for choosing the artbooks for the company of bookstores I work for, I never thought artbooks were "for me". They were pretty, sure, and nice to look at, but why waste money I could use for "real" books for books with just pictures in them.

I've come a long way, baby.

Yes, I definitely could have spent the money I spent on both "Sumi" and "Water" on more volumes of "Vagabond" - but I don't regret my purchase at all. Having recently come into the possession of two artbooks by Kazuya Minekura, I had already had an idea of how gorgeous and pleasurable artbooks can be, I didn't need that much persuasion to give these two a try - especially since the reviews had been really enthusiastic. (And even though enthusiasm can be misleading, in this case it was really endearing - I wouldn't necessarily part with my internal organs like one reviewer would - I'd save them in case I need them for some more of Minekura's artbooks - but I can understand where he was coming from.)

And really, this is breathtaking. Times like these, I kind of regret not having the proper vocabulary to talk about art, but these are the kinds of pictures you can lose yourself in. Both "Sumi" and "Water" are equally beautiful - "Water" contains water colour artworks whereas "Sumi" contains pictures drawn with pen and brushes. It's incredibly detailed and vivid, and as I said, I really lack the words in order to describe this properly. Just - it's beautiful.

The only downside is in my opinion the binding - it's not a hardcover, and so you can't really "flatten" the pages properly, which makes it a bit more difficult to look at them. But despite not being hardcovers, both books are quite sturdy. (And I do agree with the reviewer who said that you have to get both of them - I couldn't say which to pick if I had to, and they complement each other nicely.)

[Hafiz Azam · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a massive fan of Inoue's work,especially Vagabond,I find that this one is a must have. It is a bit weird because I paid 25 quid for an art book,which is so alien to me. I've never been an art book fan,simply because it has no story to tell. At least from my standpoint. However,Water is a different story. A long standing admirer of his work on Vagabond,this one just relates so much.

Upon buying it,I feel somewhat complete. Upon reading it,appreciating it,I feel eternal. It's just too good. The water colour degradation,the tones,the saturation,along with Inoue's godly strokes makes this piece of work a masterpiece.

Buy it,read it,and fell in love with it.

[andré crombie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes: Unbelievably gorgeous.

[Mapo · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌊

[Daniel A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes me wanna learn how to watercolour

[Andrea Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book is AMAZING. The artwork is so $^%#$%^ beautiful that I almost can't stand it. There's a lot of artwork that isn't in the series and it all is in glorious full color. This book is required for fans of Takehiko Inoue's art!

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such beautiful artwork! The colors are amazing and the line work exquisite! It was nice to see Inoue's work in color and large. There is such detail and emotion in the pictures! Well worth the price!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!!!