I’ve been buying artworks and art books since 6-7 years ago. Art books can be pretty expensive and I'm a penniless student, hence, the small collection (sadly). I mostly buy them at
Code Geass: Illustrations Relation
A4 // Hardcover // 143 pages // Full colour
Price: RM40 at Sunway Pyramid (I went to check online and it’s priced at least around USD16 which is around RM70. From the writings, I think mine is the Chinese version, which explains the cheaper price I guess? )
Artist: Taniguchi Goro
Series: Code Geass
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
Date released: March 2009
Language: Chinese
The first art book I've ever gotten! I was 16 at that time. Being a huge fan of the Code Geass series, I couldn't be any happier when I stumbled upon this art book.
Chobits Art Book: Your Eyes Only
A4 // Softcover // 128 pages // Full colour
Price: RM3 at Big Bad Wolf Books
Artist(s): CLAMP
Series: Chobits
Publisher: TokyoPop
Date released: December 2007
Language: English
This one is a major steal! I love BBWB sale! It’s priced at USD16~30 on Amazon.
MUTUALITY: CLAMP Works in Code Geass
A4 // Softcover // 107 pages // Full colour
Price: RM110 at Kinokuniya (I think you can now get it for only RM88. That’s RM30 less! /crey ;_;)
Artist(s): CLAMP
Series: Code Geass
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
Date released: 2008
Language: Japanese
This is one of my top favourite art books. The illustrations are simply magnificent. Kudos to CLAMP! I had eyed this art book for quite a while before saving up enough to buy it. Worth every penny!
INSIDE BEATLESS
A4 // Softcover // 64 pages // Full colour
Price: USD22.99 (~RM99) on Tokyo Otaku Mode
Artist: Redjuice
Series: BEATLESS
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
Date released: 2014
Language: Japanese
My first art book from Redjuice! Huge fan of Redjuice right here. Also my first time buying from Tokyo Otaku Mode – which was tremendous btw – more on that later in this post.
REDBOX
A4 // Hardcover // 192 pages // Full colour
Price: USD35.99 (~RM158) on Tokyo Otaku Mode
Artist: Redjuice
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
Date released: 2014
Language: Japanese
Still covered in plastic, I haven't even taken a look inside this one. It's too precious! This is probably the most I had spent on an art book, including the choking international shipping fee of $16. That's around RM200+ in total!
ANALOGHACK
A4 // Softcover // 52 pages // Full colour
Price: USD17.99 (~RM78) on Tokyo Otaku Mode
Artist(s): Redjuice, Asagiri, Masaki Arakawa, Wednesday, Atsuya Uki, Ame Kurasuba, Zain, Dangomushi, Chamooi, toi, Tokiya Sakba, Torako, Yuta Nishio, neco, noraico, mizu, Minasenayu, Yurinko
Series: BEATLESS
Publisher: Unicorn
Date released: 28 December 2014 (Launched at Comic Market 87)
Language: Japanese
Third art book from Redjuice! Well it's not exactly Redjuice's; it's a compilation of art works from various artists.
Chinese Watercolour Art Book
A4 // Softcover // 111 pages // Full colour
Price: RM60 at Comic Fiesta 2015
Language: Chinese
I have no idea who the artist is since I can't read Chinese, lol, but I really liked the water colour illustrations in this.
Apart from the magnificent art books, I’d like to talk about my first experience with Tokyo Otaku Mode. Tokyo Otaku Mode — or TOM for short — is a premium online store that sells authentic products from Japan, mainly that would cater to the otaku, such as anime merchandises, figurines, art books and such.
I stumbled upon this website not long before Redjuice announced that he was releasing a book — INSIDE BEATLESS — which can be ordered through TOM. So I quickly placed my order for the book before it sold out as I've had several bad luck in acquiring his art books previously.
It took a couple of weeks to arrive at my door step. It arrived in a specialized TOM box which I thought was pretty neat. But that’s just the beginning; as I opened the parcel, I was surprised with some freebies — a TOM clear file with a beautiful artwork on it by one of TOM’s artists, which was used to place the invoice and a thank-you note, and also a small TOM pin badge. The book was wrapped neatly in a beautiful red gift-wrapper (my favourite colour!) which I got it for free as a holiday promotion.
Awhile later, I received an email from TOM regarding my first purchase, where I had to provide them with a feedback through the questionnaire given. I eagerly filled up the questionnaire and returned the email, along with a short Instagram video of myself excitedly unboxing my parcel. To my surprise, they replied to me and personally thanking me for my feedback and also my short video.
I was blown away by the amount of effort by the customer service from this company. I’m tremendously satisfied with their premium service that I wouldn’t mind paying a hefty international shipping fee just to buy from them again. They definitely had scored another returning customer! In fact, I went to order a couple more art books (by Redjuice, of course) after that. ;)
Maybe I should add in my doujin collections too?
