Camilla d’Errico is a world-renowned painter, illustrator, comic artist, and clothing designer. This gorgeous hardcover compilation of her artwork is the perfect addition to the collection of anyone that appreciates manga-inspired fine art.
Click the jump for preview pages and a review of Rainbow Children: The Art of Camilla d’Errico.
Whether full-color illustrations or black and white sketches, d’Errico’s art is fascinating. The color work has lots of depth, coming off the page and drawing in the eye. The sketches are beautifully done; even a simple shading of hair is something you want to linger over.
Done in a pop surrealism, manga style, some of the images might make some people uncomfortable, as a lot of them are highly-sexualized, half-clothed women who often look pretty well underage. If that bothers you, this isn’t a book you’ll necessarily enjoy. But manga is often filled with that kind of imagery; I understand it’s a stylistic choice to draw adult women very childlike and innocent. It’s not one of my favorite parts of the scene, but it doesn’t offend me overmuch.
The art itself is just worth a little squeamishness to me. The colors really are amazing, and the pictures often have the look of a hallucination or a fever dream. Some border on the steampunk, like one image of a girl in a mechanical hat, talking to a multi-tailed cat wearing a gas mask. It’s odd and lovely. Another image of a blue-haired girl, cradling an antlered sheep that’s tethered to fish-filled balloons is striking and beautiful.
She also has artwork featuring characters from films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Sailor Moon, and Pan’s Labyrinth, and others that are probably from several anime that I’m not familiar with.
The last portion of the book is dedicated to: her painting process, showing some of the pieces as they evolved; a sample of her designer toy creations; and her textile collection, as she’s a talented designer of clothing, furniture, and accessories.
The book definitely makes me want to look up more of her work, especially her issues of Slave Labor Graphics’ Nightmares & Fairy Tales. (SLG also publishes work by Aaron Alexovich, so I was in just for the publisher alone.)
She’s also published her own work in a series called Tanpopo, based on the story of Faust. Looking at the surreal, bizarre images in this art book, that’s bound to be disturbing, sexy, and beautiful.
Description and preview images courtesy of Dark Horse.