Serenade is yet another Korean anime artist I have come to deeply admire. The painterly detail of all her textures is beautifully done, and on top of that, she knows how to make her purple-pink-blue color palette glow with a spectacular moonlit aura.

I am particularly amazed and somewhat confused by the versatility she has between cute and mature (for anime standards). Most of her work on Pixiv, and shown here, has a cuteness to it that is typical for anime. However, on her personal site, you will see that she is fully capable of a more mature look with more realistic facial anatomy (an example is the 5th image here, with the woman in the kimono). I have found a few artists who are capable of both the cute and mature/more realistic styles of anime, but usually they are more well versed in one style over the other — this is not the case for Serenade. Serenade is somehow quite good at both styles, and I like both of them just about equally. It is for this reason that I consider her to really understand anime art, being capable of two very different styles of it. Though, strangely she doesn’t have many finished pieces of the mature style, which is why you don’t see any here or much of it on their Pixiv.

For serenade’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=556801

And for her site: http://sinohi.egloos.com/

By now I have most likely shared plenty of artists that most people would consider strange. However, none of them are all that strange to me, and none of them bother me in the slightest. When it comes to strangeness, I have become rather used to most anime art. There are a few exceptions though — the art of Toiku (といく) is one of them.

If Toiku’s doll-girls don’t fall into the “uncanny valley” then I have no idea what does. Though I think it is obvious that Toiku wants that. The whole experience of Toiku’s art takes place in that valley, polluted by a ghostly mist, rocking back and forth between alive and dead, human and doll, anime and reality. Toiku is a blur.

For Toiku’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=782461

The work by “hong” is rich with a fairy tale aesthetic that seems to tell a story with every image.

I consider every aspect of hong’s work to be superb — but what I find them to do best, and what I enjoy most in their work, is their amazing handling of light and the way they put down their (digital) paint.

For hong’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=525629

And for their site (in Korean): http://dkfktl1004.egloos.com/

Note: Interestingly, hong seems to be married to the artist “loped”, who I was already planning on featuring.

If you have seen The Shining then you should know the eerie aesthetic of a luxurious resort getaway with a murderous past — but more specifically you should know the once-cute-now-deadly-terrifying little twins of the story. Torikawa (とりかわ) brings that same possessed-doll look to their characters and art.

Not every image is nightmare worthy. Torikawa is a bit more playful than a horror movie, often more cute than creepy, and more bright and colorful than dark and desaturated. Their distinctive texture gives their digital work a traditional feel, matching their pseudo-old-time aesthetic nicely.

For Torikawa’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=212336

And for their site: http://blog.livedoor.jp/torikawa0902/

Torikawa is also being featured in the Hyakka Exhibition (百化展), along with a few of my other favorite artists that will be shared in the near future: http://pixiv-zingaro.jp/exhibition/100cca/

The art of Anmi gives me this… magical feeling like I just woke up to the morning sun and a kitten. And I will leave it at that.

For Anmi’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=212801

Yes, the art of Mitsugo (みつご) is cute — really cute. But it is also a lot more things than just that.

I know that a lot of people (in the USA, at least) have a hard time looking at art objectively when it contains very cute things — especially if it is anime. Influences from Japan have been changing this and you can see “cuteness” becoming more acceptable here like it is in Japan. For instance, look at the cartoon mascots of the new Firefox. I don’t think that sort of childish aesthetic (used in a lot of things nowadays) would have done so well without some influence from Japan. However, I still know that the USA is far from being able to accept art like Mitsugo’s as Japan does. Don’t get me wrong — I am not saying I wish everyone liked this art, and any cute art like it. I am simply saying that if you are downplaying the artistic brilliance of Mitsugo, or any other “cute” artist like them, simply for being cute, you are making a large mistake. If you can imagine the art with something less cute in it, I think you will see why. Whether this is eventually realized by the larger art world or not matters not though — Japan is a pretty big place, and it has its own thriving community of artists all about this.

And for those of you who didn’t need to hear this, I hope you enjoy Mitsugo.

For Mitsugo’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=14773

For their site: http://gogogo.zatunen.com/

For their Tumblr: http://mtgtm.tumblr.com/

And for their Drawr: http://drawr.net/mitugo

I personally love their potent color palettes and the thick, clay-like texture of their characters and objects.

For Yuuki’s Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=9686

And for their site: http://www.geocities.jp/you0504taka/index.htm