Next month I will finally have a home, till then, I just got my goodies from the Japan Expo. This year again, Shiitake was present and she signed my doujinshi! She is really a beautiful artist, and she was wearing a yukata.

Sadly no, I don’t have another photo of her booth. Anyway, she had 2 doujinshi which she had released in April, Hanaotome and Eternal Wings, 32 pages each. Hanaotome is themed around traditional clothing, meaning yukata. Eternal Wings features, well, wings. This time I took photo of the book, but not with my usual point and shot; I borrowed a Nikon D300S.

Book opens on one of her old illustration, which was featured in previous doujinshi, as well as a little message in Japanese. THe version in English, French, Korean and Chinese aren’t translation, it’s the usual description she puts for her circle when she travels.

The book is quite impressive as it’s printed in A4 format, rather than the usual B5 format and is bound by stapples. Printing is good. For this illustration thought, it seems like the copy on the right was upscaled, but that would be the only complain I will have on quality.

Most of the art seems recent, though some illustrations are from her older style.

I experimented a bit on the photo end as well, as I shot at least 5 times before being satisfied by the photos. This one is particularly bluffing as it can fool people into thinking that it’s a scan.

The end of the book got comments on each illustration as well as the rough sketch and a quick showing of her CG step by step of the cover under SAI and Photoshop.

You can buy the doujinshi easily since it’s available for worldwide shipping:
Asianbeat

And to be frank, I have a preference for Eternal Wing, but it’s mostly about my taste since I quite like angels and so on; and butterfly wings are beautiful as well.

When I go to a convention, I’m only looking for artbooks, and eventually doujinshis. Last summer, I had the surprise to discover a circle, here in France, Gensoudou ( artist is Shiitake ). I will first present quickly French’s convention, then move onto the circle and doujinshi.

In France, there is 2 conventions, the big Japan Expo, popular enough to get guests like CLAMP ( I failed at getting my artbook signed ) and a smaller one, nicknamed “Chibi”. There are professionals booths, mostly chinese selling bootleg artbooks, and some rare Japanese booth, Toranoana and Cospa Inc. There are also fan booths, mostly filled by French fans, but this is where I discovered Gensoudou, this summer.

My eyes turned right at it; it just felt different from the other artist present there. It might be because I had already seen the art somewhere, or I remembered another artist. So I just approached and had a look at the wonderful art. The circle sells posters, postcard, letter papers, and of course, doujinshi. The only message in French was a description of the circle. Aside of France, she also goes to France, Korea, China and Thailand. Here it’s only a small booth, but in other countries it might be an exposition.

Of course I bought a doujinshi, so that I have several illustration. Gensoudou have 2 doujinshi, Power Stone, 36 pages B5, and Gensodo, 84 pages B5. I only managed to get Power Stone, since the other one was out of stock.
Power Stone is a doujinshi on the theme of stone. Each illustration feature a stone and an explanation on it. At the end, there is a couple of pages dedicated to birthstone, astrology, stone for wishes. For the foreigner, a sheet is added with English translation.

The book start with a 2 pages spread illustration of the stone Celestite. It’s just captivating how much detail there is and is also a change from the usual CG I’m accustomed to see. The closest artist would be Tukiji Nao, but Shiitake is a much more focused artist. Girls, flower, and heart warming feeling are the basics of her drawing.

Power Stone is a good doujinshi for a first contact with the artist. But as an artbook collector, it’s not thick enough. Lucky enough, I managed to find the second doujinshi at the Chibi Japan Expo, at another booth, Manga-pal. Shiitake also had a banner on her website telling her fans that this booth would be selling her goods.

Gensodo is a recollection of art back from 2003, when she started her circle. Every artwork has a title in Japanese and English, but no date. Covering 5 years in one book usually shows an artist progression, but here it’s not really apparent. The last few colorer pages must be the oldest art which are already great. The rest of the book is more uniformed in the style. Not all illustrations are pages spread, and some are also present in Power Stone.

The book finish with some sketches of the colored illustration. It’s not too big, and it’s actually nice to see the lineart. She is one of the artist still sketching on paper, and not directly on computer.

If the circle didn’t go to international convention, I don’t think I would have ever seen the artist, or get the doujinshi. One can hope that other artist will follow Shiitake’s path, but it will be a long way before getting other circle on the international scene.

Now, I didn’t scan any pages; it’s an honorable effort from the artist to get a foreign audience, and I would like to support it. Also, the doujinshi are not hard to get; no needs to get a deputy service. Manga-pal, the booth where I got the second doujinshi, has an international website, and the artist herself puts link on her homepage for selling goods. If you like her style, or just girls and flowers, I greatly encourage you to get her works, which will show also support for international circle.

On a side note, I changed the theme to a more simple one, without transparency, and I changed the presentation of my article. I hope you like it.