Two New Artbooks from Takehiko Inoue

Two new artbooks from Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk, Vagabond) were released on October 23rd. The two artbooks, "WATER" and "Sumi," contain artwork from Takehiko's latest manga Vagabond. "WATER" is a collection of colored artworks, and "Sumi" is a collection of monochrome pictures. Each artbook contains different artworks.

It can be difficult to present the original color tone in magazines or manga. In fact, colored artworks of Vagabond from magazines and manga do not represent their true quality because the original artworks are delicately colored, and Inoue sometimes uses fluorescent colors in his works. To solve this problem, "WATER" and "Sumi" are printed on high-quality paper using the latest technology, which presents the color tone in its full glory.

"WATER" carries of many unpublished and new artworks. One of the most remarkable artwork is a picture drawn with water, where Inoue tried to draw a picture with water, just as Musashi, the protagonist of Vagabond, did in Vagabond volume 22. Inoue said that he hopes this artbook will be a gift to all the Vagabond fans.

Although Sumi is an artbook centered on monochrome art, it actually is very colorful. Inoue added new colors to originally black-and-white artworks, which created new moods in the pictures. In addition, Sumi contains photographs of Inoue's studio. Through these photographs, one can see how Vagabond is created as if he or she is there at the studio. The artbook also contains the original design of characters and storyboards before Vagabond appeared on Morning. With these information, the reader will better understand how Vagabond is created.