I got all these art books over the last few months (Summer/Fall 2022). Brief reviews:
Makoto Shinkai Collection
Absolutely gorgeous landscape paintings and the interior work is so bright and inviting, even in cold winter scenes. Glad to have all this in print as opposed to just seeing it on a screen. He's my favorite landscape painter in anime, everything is so dreamy and beautiful, an artist with wonderful power of transporting you in to his scenery.
Anime Architecture + Tekkonkinkreet
AA is incredible, tons of pre-production work and final production backgrounds covering Akira, GITS, Metropolis, Patlabor, Tekkonkinkreet, and Evangelion. Incredibly detailed pencil drawings, Tekkonkinkreet a highlight of the pencil work which is why I bought the dedicated book which is full of exceptional pencil drawings.
I found a small gallery of Mateusz's work online and it's so warm and colorful and wonderfully captures the feel of each individual store. Had to get it in print, great collection. Exceptional use of watercolor.
The Art of Edena
I wasn't familiar with Moebius before stumbling on a website that used artwork from Edena as accompaniment to an article. His linework and use of color can appear simple yet produces immaculate imagery that draws you in to the worlds he's created. I want to fly above a world of green in an orb of glass and set down under a moonlit tree alone in a soft field.
If you like Ilya's portaits of cute girls you'll like this book. Divided in to six sections, each begins with a brief story about his journey as an artist, and each is quite inspiring, and speaks to the global reach, and global connection, that anime has brought. A diverse collection of portrait work, and some nice pencil sketches (I love pencil work).
Swedish Folk and Fairy Tales - John Bauer
The most recent purchase, which I bought for the art and I haven't yet read any of the stories. Bauer's story is a sad one, he wished to paint primarily in oils and create "real art" instead of being limited to watercolor illustrations, but needed the money he received from illustrating. At only 36, with wife and child on the way to a new home, their steamer capsized killing all on board. I find his work fantastic, great environments and characters that capture the fairy tale feel very well. I'm glad his work lives on and if he is still out there I hope he finds solace in those that appreciate his fairy tale illustrations.