MOMENTARY: The Art of Ilya Kuvshinov

by Ilya Kuvshinov

Ilya Kuvshinov is a Russian illustrator and comic artist based in Japan. In this first book collection of his work, readers can see a fascinating combination of adorable girls with large, manga-influenced eyes, and soulful Japanese landscape illustrations. Momentary features never-before-published finished work and sketches, as well as written commentary (in both Japanese and English) from the artist himself. Kuvshinov has a significant social media following on Instagram, Twitter and DeviantArt. On Instagram alone, over 1.6 milion followers from all over the world eagerly await his latest posts.

Genres: Art

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2017

About the author

Ghost in the Shell was Ilya Kuvshinov's first encounter with Japanese Anime. This totally new experience, at the age of six, gave Ilya a shock and inspired him to delve into the world of Anime and Manga. Ilya started learning how to draw at age 11 and eventually studied architecture at University in Moscow. In order to seek a career in a creative field, Ilya joined a game developing company, and then moved on to work as a concept artist and a director at a motion comic company where he produced Anime-like motion pictures. At the same time Ilya started posting illustrations on social media. In 2014 he moved to Japan to build a career in a country that he had long dreamed of working in. In 2016, Momentary was published, and became an instant bestseller. Eternal is his eagerly- awaited second book.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich bin kein Freund von kindlichen Mädchen mit großen Kulleraugen und ultrakurzen Röcken, wie sie für die Mangas typisch sind. Die Artwork des russischen Künstlers Kuvshinov finde ich allerdings sehr attraktiv. Eine Google-Suche vermittelt schon einen sehr guten Eindruck:
https://www.google.de/search?q=Ilya+K...
Das Buch könnte im Format etwas größer sein, auch etwas mehr Text wäre schön. Aber auch so habe ich es immer wieder zur Hand genommen und die Artwork bewundert.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Momentary is a beautiful artbook by Russian artist Ilya Kuvshinov. This thick volume has plenty of illustrations to offer, but in addition, it also inserts a few pages throughout sharing a bit of history about Kuvshinov's journey as an artist and his introduction to the anime art style. This first introducting is quite similar to my own in the sense that when I first came across anime I fell in love with the aesthetics before knowing it originated from Japan. Nowadays, the style is common throughout East Asia but not many artists really seem to get anywhere outside of that region. I've only come across very few Western artists who've managed to truly managed to publish their works with great success behind it. This is definitely not due to lack of talent though, there are so many talented independent artists out there who have also developed an anime/manga art style. Kuvshinov is one of them and I don't need to be a fan of any particular series to appreciate the art, which is why I am more than happy to add an artist's beautiful artbook to my collection regardless of whether it is related to any known work.

This particular artbook is quite thick, meaning it offers plenty of illustrations ranging from classic anime style to more realistic. Most are digital but there are also several sketches or glimpses of work in progresses. There are illustrations of cute girls, action scenes, fantastical and dark and simply gorgeous backgrounds. If you appreciate anime style, you definitely can't go wrong picking this up.

[Ricky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice collection of images of Ilya Kuvshinov's works. I've followed the artist through deviantart and to finally hold a physical representation of the artwork was a real treat. The version of this book that I purchased was the Japanese version, but since there isn't a lot of text, and the English translation was set right next to the Japanese, it was no problem to follow it.

The book is divided into six sections and features mainly portrait-like pictures of women. I especially liked the size of the book as it's not too large nor too small. The size also fits with the artist's use of square canvases. The little bits of introductory text to the sections also gives some insight into the artist's influences and artistic background. I felt these added a nice touch and allowed the reader to relate a bit more with the artist.

I found this book to be a delight to page through and also an inspiration. The images were lovely, though there wasn't a whole lot of variety since most of them were portraits, but there was a good amount of content to sift through.

[John Stanifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this by "chance" at an indie bookstore and couldn't say no to the lovely manga-style artwork contained therein. I'm a fan of just about every piece--but there are a few in particular that are far and away my favorites.

. . . those would be the ones that feature characters reading books and/or standing against a bookish backdrop of some sort.

There are six chapters loosely arranged by theme. One of the chapters contains a series of tributes to the artist's favorite anime and manga. They aren't labeled, but most otaku should be able to identify the characters and scenes easily enough.

And you don't have to be a fan of Japanese animation or artwork to appreciate the beauty of this work. They're just great pieces, in and of themselves.

I'm glad I bought this, and I'm looking forward to glancing through it again and again.

[eyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of artworks! Ilya Kuvshinov is one of my favourite illustrators ever, he knows how to create an atmosphere with his art. The characters are always gorgeous but the backgrounds, oh my god the backgrounds, they always reminded me of the backgrounds in 君の名は。and 声の形 (which are two of my favourite animated films and manga). This collection was very well done and I loved the little paragraphs he would insert before each section/chapter - it felt more than just an art book. The added section with all the rough sketches of people on the train was a nice detail to add as well. It was like a snippet piece of human life. I am happy whenever I pick it up and have an occasional flip through it and never get bored of seeing all the incredible artworks! ここ数年の成功おめでとうございます!♡

[Julieta Tobon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. Seeing Kuvshinov´s progress and sketch and his favorite work, is stunning and very inspiring. I´ve been following his work for a while now but having this book in my hands is another thing. I can appreciate more of the details, line work, composition... Anyway. This is definitely one of the most beautiful books I have in my collection :)

[Daniyal · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a section where she shows pencil drawings taken in subways. The pages use a different kind of paper reminiscent of sketch pads, partially transparent, instead of the glossy paper in the other sections. Seeing faded parts of sketches on other pages highlights the care in showcasing her work. I really enjoyed looking through this.

[typewriterdeluxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book highlighting some of Kuvshinov's work. I love the bilingual section notes and the progression-to-completion pages, and I was blown away by the entire section of commute sketches (talk about inspiration). I am looking forward to his next book, if/when he has another published.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Ilya Kuvshinov's beautiful artwork, a lot of portraits of women. I liked seeing the early sketches of some of the artwork.

[La Chronique des Passions · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ilya Kushinov est une artiste que j'ai découvert sur le net . Je suis tombée sous le charme de son coup de crayon 2.0.
J'ai craqué pour son ArtBook, Momentary. Il n'est pas trouvable en France sauf sur le net. Honnêtement il est un peu cher . Je pense que c'est sa rareté qui explique son prix. Il reste un très beau livre. Les illustrations pleine page parle d'elle même. D'ailleurs je préfère vous montrer quelques unes de ses œuvres pour vous faire votre opinion par vous même...


http://lachroniquedespassions.blogspo...

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Ilya Kuvshinov on Instagram and have followed him ever since. This book definitely doesn't involve much reading, but serves as a wonderful reference for aspiring artists or as a coffee table book for any manga and/or art lover.

Divided into six sections with different themes, it is a lovely collection of some of his most acclaimed illustrations. Each section comes with a written introduction that gives you a tiny glimpse into the thought process and emotions behind each set of art pieces.

[Jesse Crepeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good, but there simply isn't enough input from the author/artist in terms of written material. The art is astounding as always, I've been following Kuvshinov since the early 2010s.

Maybe I'm the one who is biased considering it's my first art book. Cheers!

[David Dâng · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021年3月25日阅于光明港。作者自述生平有提到自己在俄罗斯出生、长大，曾在莫斯科诸多游戏公司工作。小时候看了日本动画，从一发不可收拾。于是我们便看到作为一个俄罗斯人眼中的日本元素在画作中显身——诸如旭日、兜鍪等等。更多则是日本动画的元素，如表现青葱岁月的河堤、神社、执手男女，光怪陆离的SF场景等。一位俄罗斯出身的日本ACG爱好者会如何作画，是本书一大看点。

[Zuzana Be · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book of artworks of Ilya Kuvshinov. interesting thing is that he draws everything in the square format. and it is wonderful.