Props to Art

//Yoshitaka Amano web
Funny thing about Amano is, I wouldn't have known about him if it weren't for the Final Fantasy RPG series. I recall wondering about the strange looking character interpretations in the booklet for FF6 (FF3 in US). But the scenery and mini-sized characters on screen always captured my attention. In fact, I would say it's the art and music of FF that first got me hooked.

Later, I found out how famous he was through the book he collaborated with Gaiman (at the time I didn't know who Gaiman was), the Sandman, Dream Hunter book. He had put on art shows and done many anime series as well as design sets and kimonos! It was after that when he started to put out more art books in the US. Although I must say I was still happy to find one of his Japanese art books at Katsucon. I paid a pretty high price for it but I knew I was beaming the whole time flipping through the book. Amano's colorful print style is more vividly displayed in those art books than the Super Nintendo ever allowed. And who says video games are bad for kids?

//Michel Gagne web
I first found out about him when I picked up a book on display at a small local comic shop (which had more manga for teenage boys than anything else). That was maybe freshman year? Then I saw another book at the Virgin Megastore which had the Rex story and the Shadow story, both of which I loved. Didn't really understand the unicorn or octopus story. They were more on the morbid side, I thought. Not quite children's stories. Recently, I revisited his site and sure enough, I found out that he's been featured in the graphic novel series Flight. I've always wanted to pick up the books but always forgot. Maybe I should add it to my Christmas gift list?

//Hugo Pratt wiki
I literately found out about him today. Again, the discovery was accidental. I was simply browsing through the Swatch site because I was color depraved and there were two limited collection watches featuring a character called Corto Maltese on the front page. Now, I had no idea who it was but I was immediately drawn to the watercolors featured in the ads. And of course, the watches were gorgeous, as most Swatch products tend to be. With help of wiki I got more information on Hugo Pratt, the comic book artist whose character Corto was quite famous.

//Tatsuya Ishida sinfest comic
I've been reading Sinfest since college and one of the draws is really how short and sweet it is. For some reason I never quite got into Mega Tokyo. 8-Bit Theater was a bit hard to catch up and Mac Hall ended (and transformed into something else). Sinfest comics sometimes make me laugh, and other times makes me think hard about existence. Some of my fav. strips deal with the cat and dog themed ones which are very simple yet very funny. And of course, Slick and Monique. One of these days I will buy the comic books and shirts, really, I will!

[note]
It's interesting how many of the above are comic artists. I think subconsciously I had grouped them together. Either that after I wrote about one, I had thought of another. Check them out!