Book Review: 光と闇 小倉宏昌画集 (Art of Hiromasa Ogura)

小倉宏昌 (Hiromasa Ogura) might not be a familiar name but he's an impressive background art painter. He has worked on backgrounds for films like Ghost in the Shell, TV series like Last Exile and many other.

Some of his featured paintings are from these animation titles:

• イノセンス (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence)
• オネアミスの翼　王立宇宙軍 (Royal Space Force)
• 機動警察パトレイバー (Patlabor 2 the movie)
• 獣兵衛忍風帖 (Ninja Scroll)
• Ghost in the Shell 攻殻機動隊
• 人狼 (Jin-Roh)
• 迷宮物件 File 538 (Twilight Q)
• チャイナさんの憂鬱 (The Spirit of Wonder)
• フリクリ (FLCL)
• Last Exile

There are more art from Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor and Jin-Roh. The rest of the titles are pretty underwhelming, with just 1 or 2 pages of art each. Most of his art featured here are scenic landscapes, idyllic suburbs and busy cities. A heavy mood can be felt in his paintings because the animation titles deal with rather serious themes.

At the back is a step by step workflow tutorial, an interview with Hiromasa Ogura and a discussion on background art with 4 other background artists, including Oga Kazuo. Everything is in Japanese.

Nice book but note the dark style.

This book is available at:
Amazon.com | Amazon Japan | YesAsia USA | CDJapan.co.jp

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This book is available at:
Amazon.com | Amazon Japan | YesAsia USA | CDJapan.co.jp

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