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I just received both of these books, ILLUSTRATIONS covers characters appearing in the 24 hour specials, & these are polished; whereas the SKETCHBOOK has rough drawings, where the 1st few drawings are much lower quality, though drawn by Tezuka himself. Moreover, these come from all over his works. many from the 1963 series, including a few from the 3rd & 4th season.

For instance, page 2 has rough sketches: Pikku on Garon's shoulder,along with 5 others, 3, has Higeoyaji, Kenichi, Riki, & Atom, among others. Part 2 is anime characters, & these are mostly polished (though not as highly as other book) drawings. pgs 66 & 67: Uran, 68 - 69, Cobalt. A few facial expressions, poses, etc. 70- 71: Higeoyaji: 70, #61, space parasites, hunting & fishing scenes; 71, #88 bacteria corps, diving suit, w/ details of timer dial, boots, & shading guides. End of book has explanation of shading: I think it was a 8 step from black to white. in all, two pages of text at end. 2 pages of Hamegg, 4 of Lamp, each page one episode (1st 2 pages, then #128 Treasures of Inca Empire: 2 pages). These sketches were used as guides for the animators, thus the numbers & lines pointing to areas for shading.

6 pages of the Phoenix birds, 2 of Bem, then only females in the Atom section. Princess Odette, 'Viena' sensei from Robot School, Bess, of #65, brave escapee; Lt. Puko ('Judy'?) of #66 Space Viking, 2 pages of Lulu (the Eloi girl of # 78 world in 500,000 years; Alice, of #81, Dream Machine (1 of Hamegg's was also from this one), 2 pages; Kurara (I thought it meant 'Clara') of #94, Angel in the Alps, Queen Maira of 102, Queen of the Devil's place; Milly, of 128, Treasures of Inca Empire, 2 pages; finally, Elza of #172 Herald Brothers, 2 pages. End of Mighty Atom section. other sketches follow.

TEZUKA CHARACTER ILLUSTRATIONS:

1 million year trip: Bandar book
Bj; Sharaku, the cute morping thing 'Muzu'; Ochanomizu as hunchback 'Igor' ; Higeoyaji, critters.

Marine Express: Higeoyaji, many pages, including 4 of 15 each facial expressions. Atom-- err, Adam, fewer than Higeoyaji's but 2 with expressions. Bj, Rock, Sapphire in skimpy costume, Leo, Sharaku, Milly (Chocola?) Don Dracula, Lamp, Red, Skunk, Boon, other.

Bremen 4: Angels in Hell:

various.

Prime Rose:


Bagi

Galaxy Investigation 2100

one page of text.

Both go right to left.

I saw these books sealed up in plastic wrap in a local entertainment store. Being that both books costed 45 dollars each, I couldn't bring myself to buy them. For any hardcore Tezuka fan though I'd recommend them; both books looked really nice.

I am sure I did not pay that much for either one.

EDIT: $32 for one, $30 for the other at Amazon.

photos on T in E: Osamu Tezuka Anime & Manga Skechbooks (with photos)

Would you recommend these books? I've been eyeing them, but since they're about $45 CAD for me, it's something I need to really consider before buying.

I love Udon Entertainment and am in ownership of all their Megaman/Rockman artbooks, somehow this project of theirs completely slipped under my radar. I am 100% interested in this but will probably wait for a bit until the price goes down some. The cheapest price I could find was $27 on bookfinder4u and I know the price will probably drop soon.

Udon's artbook and manga translations to my experience have always been stellar quality with a lot of care given in the presentation and translations; good thick paper and great printing. Though there were some issues in the past with getting things printed on time but it's obvious these are already in print so that's not an issue.

If one were interested in drawing the characters, I think these would be great; as for me, I do not recall why bought them.