1999 a Work of Clover

Posted by Zeb in Artbook Reviews on Mar 6th, 2004 | 0 comments
Title 1999 a Work of Clover
Artist Nobuteru Yuki
Published: 26/12/1999
Publisher: Doujinshi Circle = The Man in the High Castle
Content 104 pages in total; 3 pages of colour illustrations; 3 pages of gold toned illustrations; 3 coloured title pages; 3 pages of semi coloured sketch (of the colour illustrations); 92 pages of pencil sketches of the main characters; reads left to right; Softcover
Extras Special envelope dustcover jacket/sleeve
Cover Price ¥10,000
ISBN N/A – limited
Rate Excellent
Purchase 18/02/2004 | COMIKET | ¥10,000
Comments By far one of the most loveliest of Nobuteru Yuki books I have ever seen, the beauty of this book lies in the fact that is perfectly portrays just how amazing an artist Yuki is. The sheer level of detail, each pencil stroke is so carefully placed; the expression, the slight movement of a hand or the tilt of the head… wow. This book gathers together the character designing done for the Clover music video which aired in Japanese theatres before the first Card Captor Sakura movie; and while Mokono Appapa did the artwork for the Clover manga, Nobuteru Yuki may have even out done her, in his stylisation of the characters for the music video ;)

The cover of the book is a collage of cogs & wheels with an image of a singing Suu overlayed on top; all printed on a thick dark gold embossed card stock. Going through the book, you will find mainly character designs (poses, looks, scenes) of Suu and Kazuhiko, with a few sketches of Oruha and Gingetsu (note there is one colour illustration of Oruha, and the other two are of Suu.)
Each of the sketches is drawn on white, backed on thick black paper. The book itself is housed in a slipover dust jacket. If you look at the image below, you’ll see that the one to the right (in red) has a greyish circle in the middle? This is a seal and the idea is that you peel the seal off and unwrap the cover, to reveal the book beneath. DO NOT, and I repeat, do not! peel that seal off! You will rip the paper. It’s a very simple job of just slipping the book out from the bottom of the dustcover :)

At the time of purchase, this book was bought for around US$75.00 which is a fairly reasonable price that you’d expect to pay for this doujinshi artbook; it’s rarity and the fact that it’s a collection of Nobuteru Yuki artwork, has driven the price of this book well past the US$150 mark in the past!
As a guide to technical drawing composition, as a collection of beautiful artwork, or if you are a fan of CLAMP and the Clover series, get this book! It’s well worth it.
1999 a Work of Clover



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