Topic: Ayami Kojima's first illustration book "Akai Yuri" out 08/12/2010

[VampirehunterB]

agree, Trevor was really well done(the scar was genius of her!)

[DragonSlayr81]

You can find more scans here: http://parkablogs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=353 and here: http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/multi/Memorabilia/collect-santaliliosangre.htm
Also you can find a link to Kojima's site on on Mr P's page.It features some artwork , as well as an interview  of Ayami.Here's the link to the interview:: http://www.asukashinsha.jp/s/kojima/interview.html .
 It would be great if someone could translate it. It's times like this that i wish i knew how to read Japanese -__-

Interesting to see black haired Alucard(who's also dressed a little different than his SotN version). Wonder if that was an early SotN concept sketch, or if it was something she did for CoD(and Alucard was to appear, looking much younger, but the idea was cut pre-production)?

[thernz]

that would've been interesting. cod's story had a lot of potential that it just dropped.

as for simon, im thinking that she was trying to create a design both distinct from her own and classical. probably didn't work out that well in some respects. im pretty sure the fur was supposed to be reminiscent of northern barbarians, conan and etc, but with a idiosyncratic flair. didnt work out for some people!

[Odile Kuronuma]

Interesting to see black haired Alucard(who's also dressed a little different than his SotN version). Wonder if that was an early SotN concept sketch, or if it was something she did for CoD(and Alucard was to appear, looking much younger, but the idea was cut pre-production)?

I think it's an early SOTN concept, since there is also another sketch of an early version of SOTN Dracula. I can tell since there's a lot of similarities between those sketches and the official artwork.

[Odile Kuronuma]

Sorry for the double post, but just wanted to say that you can find  some scans of the artbook here:
http://castlevania.armster.org/scans_kojima4.php
The artbook is not completely scanned yet .There's 200 pages to scan, and some pages have more than one illustration, so it's gonna take a while to scan all of it.  Btw that gallery is probably the best place to hunt for Castlevania artwork, and other artwork done by Kojima.

[danceofgold]

These pics are beautiful. Although I've seen most of them before, I never tire of them. Thanks for sharing, Odile.

[赤月]

Someone would have to buy that for my birthday.
My life will be complete~
Ayami Kojima is my favourite artist of all time, no one could create images like her.

[PFG9000]

Has anybody found a decent site to order this from?  Cdjapan is the only one I can find that has it in stock.  They're charging $41 for the book (Not bad!) and $67 for shipping (Crap.).  The cheapest I see it on ebay is $100 after shipping, and I know that douche bought it for half of that.  Any suggestions?

[Odile Kuronuma]

Have you tried Play-Asia?
http://www.play-asia.com/Santa_Lilio_Sangre_Collection_of_Paintings/paOS-13-71-lt-49-fr-70-43b7.html

I really want this artbook, but looks like you can only get it on ebay or sites that import japanese goods. Unfortunately I can't order from those sites .I really hope this artbook gets released outside of Japan someday, but I highly doubt it.

[whitedragon_nall]

Has anybody found a decent site to order this from?  Cdjapan is the only one I can find that has it in stock.  They're charging $41 for the book (Not bad!) and $67 for shipping (Crap.).  The cheapest I see it on ebay is $100 after shipping, and I know that douche bought it for half of that.  Any suggestions?

I ordered mine off Play Asia a few months ago and the total came to just over $70. That was with the cheapest shipping option.

[PFG9000]

Thank you!  When I went to Play Asia yesterday, I couldn't find the book.  I was searching by "Ayami Kojima" and "Akai Yuri."  I should've known to just try the title as it appears on the book.

[赤月]

I don't know why but I really dig Trevor's design, I mean, if you think about it it's pretty ridiculous but I still see it sooo awesome  Ultimate Belmont IMO

Yep, Ayami Kojima's design for Trevor is just breathtaking. The scar made him look badass.
I also liked what she did with Richter for SoTN, it gave him a majestic feel.
She also did a wonderful job for Dracula X Chronicles.