Hunting the Elusive

In July, KEI’s first collected artbook was released to the commercial market. KEI is of course the illustrator of the famous Vocaloid characters and it comes as no surprise that the jacket cover is Hatsune Miku. I know, some of us are sick of Vocaloid already, but rest assured this artbook is about more than just that. KEI, for the uninitiated, has a very distinctive style which is increasingly being imitated by others. I think we might actually be better served if I just copy what the blurb in the book actually says in Engrish. [Download: All pictures in this post @ 454MB] [JPG version @ 21MB]

This book contains more than 150 color illustrations including the most popular character nowadays “Hatsune-miku”, “Kagamine Rin, Len”, other works for commercial magazines and light novels. In addition, 26 new works are also included! This book is packed with KEI’s watercolor-like CG painting and illustrations of the coloring expression with the depth. You will be fully satisfied with lovely and fantastic KEI world.

Quickstats:

Title: KEI’s Gallery (Japanese: KEI画廊)

Format: Soft cover artbook

Vintage: 23 July 2008

ISBN: 978-4-86100-574-9

Cost: 2380 yen (ex tax)

Pages: 152

The inside cover (after stripping the jacket), and the blurb page as quoted above.

The book is not actually structured with any hard division. It’s basically a collection of pictures which transition from one theme to the next. Of course there are little captions for each of the images just describing the source. The most obvious first part is Vocaloid. As you can see, KEI has a variety of styles. There is that character art style where the colours are more solid, and then there are the painterly styles, where details can either be vague, or jam-packed into the image.

Note that many of these pictures are just parts of page spreads which cover both pages with colour and lines.

The next thematic section I could detect was for this glasses girl, whose name I do not know. In the last picture we also see the third style of KEI, which involves high contrast colours in an almost cut-out look, usually red, black and white.

And then we move on to more generic and assorted stuff. To be totally honest, I feel the artbook really gets into its element when we are out of the character-bound sections. These illustrations are of course sourced from a number of different commissions, and they are each uniquely attractive. Note the last picture is that of “Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na”, which is a great example of how KEI’s style can give a very different (and much darker and sophisticated) look to a subject.

Many of KEI’s stuff I wouldn’t really classify as “moe” as such. Of course there are a number of cute girls but if you are new to his art, it does take some getting used to. Much of it has a very dark atmosphere, with harsh lighting effects and girls looking like wraiths. But it does eventually suck you in.

The works just get darker and darker. The overtly gothic nature of the second picture above in particular jolts me to remember CHOCO’s Gothic Lolita trilogy. Also note the realist styling in the first picture.

The descent into darkness is followed by a return to the light, with some cute style illustrations.

There are no obvious Touhou illustrations in the artbook, but I think KEI’s style will lend itself well to Touhou illustrations.

Note that although not present in this review, there is vague nudity in the book, although it falls within “tasteful” nudity.

I think the first picture is about as close to chibi as KEI can get (not counting Vocaloid chibis).

This simple cut-out style gothic picture is as great an image to close this post with as any.

The book itself is quite heavy and very substantial. The paper is of good grade and quality without too much texture. The spine glue is a bit weak however, although it was easily repaired with a bit of hot air.

I think one can make pretty interesting comparisons between KEI and Tokiame, even though Onineko might be seen to have similar aesthetic atmospheres. Both artists, in my mind, have displayed mastery over ink-style painting, although Tokiame does his mostly for monochrome, while the watercolour look is predominantly the territory of KEI. I did not scan a page near the end of this artbook, where KEI uses black ink in a style that strongly reminded me of Tokiame’s works.

It makes sense that the art book started with a Vocaloid theme (as a primer for those who joined the carriage at the Hatsune Miku stop), then went into more common ground before descending into the depths of darkness and re-emerging again in a flash of brightness. You can almost tell that the artbook is trying to expose the reader to a phased exploration of what this artist is about, and the variety of his style.

In my opinion, the quality of the second half of this book justifies getting this volume. This is a solid release and a recommended get.