Book Review: GEDOKU: The Art of Sakiyama

Sakiyama is an illustrator based in Tokyo, Japan. He has over 120,000 followers on Twitter so you can say he's quite popular. His climb to fame was helped by the work he did for music videos, such as the one called "Kansaete Kuyashiiwa" by Zutomayo which reached over 15 million views. Also check out his Instagram for more art.

This book is described to have "ruins, smirking wicked-faced young men, mysterious loners, a riot of wildly scattered flowers" and that's quite true. Sakiyama does have an distinctive style. The manga style drawings are often detailed and kinda bleak looking on purpose, probably due to the desaturated colours together with lots of black ink.

The artworks reminded me instantly of the surreal and avant-garde look of Japanese anime Serial Experiments Lain, except the characters here are different. There's good imagination and experimentation on the style, so the work may be look like it's clearly from a Japanese illustrator, but everything feels different. Unusual art evokes unusual emotions.

This is the first artbook from Sakiyama. And if you're a fan, it's worth the money. The book's a 172-page paperback filled with art. There's no text.

-

This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

GEDOKU: The Art of Sakiyama is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU | JP | CN)

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

The links below are affiliate links, which means I earn some commission from each purchase, but at no extra cost to you.

Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.au | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn