Faults' Artists Highlight: Yoshitoshi Abe

Welcome to Faults' Artists Highlight, where I write about artists or works whom I took influence from, the ones which I admire, or artists whose works which I found fascinating. I will be writing about my experience with said artists, and attempt a deeper look into what was it about aspect of their works that had resonated with me. 


Like so many other people growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s, I have been exposed to the influx anime/manga/Japanese art during a time when I had decided to dabble with drawing. While I initially started aping the popular shounen style art during that time, I did not particularly have any artist that I strongly ripped off based off from.

I wasn't thinking in such depth during that time, but looking back at it now, I would say that although I was very much attracted to the stylized style brought about by the anime/manga art during that time, I yearned for something darker, something more atmospheric and mysterious...

It is impossible for me to talk about Lain without opening up about this one particular series of event in the past, so I will be spending several paragraphs talking about my own history before getting back to the main part of this writing: 

It was around 2003-2004 where I had first came across several arts from the series Serial Experiments Lain - which I believe is where most had their first encounter with him as well. I had seen them from this one girl I knew from one Pokemon message board (ah, back in the days when the dinosaurs roamed the earth), who have on various occasions used Lain's art as her avatar and/or signature.

She lives in the States, and much like the people growing up in the early aughts, was pessimistic and depressed and suicidal. She was moving around states, her parents doesn't understand her, she was in an abusive (I think it was a long distance) relationship with a guy who is being cold to her.

It was while I was in my early years of navigating around the internet, and my experience with this girl - this was the background while I had initially dived in watching Lain. While the more philosophical and scientific subtext of the series pretty much flew over my head during my initial watching, the theme of finding friendship - nay, connection - within the internet, something that is as valid as 'real life' relationship was something that was fascinating to my teen self.

I think that was pretty much what I've been thinking, as I've professed my interest towards her... And perhaps wisely, after experiencing the pain in the current (I didn't think they officially broke up) relationship, she did not feel that she wanted to invest in something as serious as a long term relationship.

Until this day, I would sometime wonder where she is right now. Morbidly I imagined that she had succumbed to her depression and taken her life.... But I had no way to confirm. I've stopped going to said message board years ago, and we didn't keep in touch. not out of intentional neglect or schism, but because we were occupied with other things. So goes with life...

Lain was the first - and I hate to use that word - 'deep' series that I have invested my time in; and given the history on how I was introduced to it, I would not think that it is an exaggeration to say that it was a series that played a huge role in my development - and yes, this is a segue into me talking about my own artistic development!

For a long time this had been the only printed materials of ABe's works that I had in my possession

My first encounter with Lain was of course the hauntingly beautiful illustrations, where I was to quickly learn that they were the work of Yoshitoshi Abe (commonly stylized as ABe). It was also during this time that I had come across the work of Range Murata (of Last Exile's fame), where I soon developed a strong interest in the two artists. Early on it was purely because of of their character designing works, but on hindsight I would say that it was also because of their incorporation of technology in their drawings - which, I suppose is also why that point, I had also admired the work of Tsutomu Nihei (of Blame!'s fame), who had taken the premise to the extreme with technology being front and center in his works, in lieu of story and characters.

Drawing of the artist(s), at a period where I was digesting a lot of materials as inspirations

During the early years before I seriously started to draw again, and just a bit after I picked it up a few years ago (back in 2014), these three - alongside Hiroaki Samura, of Blade of the Immortal's fame -  are what I would have considered my 'big four' of master artists. I remembered desperately searching for any book released from ABe, who was - still is - the less prolific among the rest.

A couple of attempts at emulating ABe's style

Over time, my interest and artistic preference have changed - and I found myself moving away from the aforementioned artists - as well as several other artists that I have looked up during the time where I was still developing my hunger for drawing. It was during this time that I returned to ABe's work, casting a critical eye on what was it about his work that resonated with me after all these years, despite my move away from his contemporaries?

The little amount of Lain's work that I did in the past years 

While I can't discount my bias with Lain - and I will forever associate that work with him - I admired ABe's balance between the 'cute' style typical of Japanese art with beautiful attention to background details, with a strong sense of atmosphere of melancholy or despair. That was what had pulled me in with his work with Lain, and it is a theme that he had continuously explored in his subsequent work - with his work with Haibane Renmei being what I would consider the best representation of his vision in art. 

Illustrations from Haibane Renmei

"I am influenced by everything I experience in everyday life. The things I see and hear every day are burnt into my memory - they rest there and then they come out someday though a filter"

I was talking with a friend on what was it about ABe's work that was fascinating to us. He commented on Abe's style as rather unorthodox, leaning visually towards a more fine art seriousness with a dash of typical anime-style sensibilities. He had also posited that Lain is more of a seinen anime aimed at the age range between 15 to 25, which might explain why the series in particular had struck a chord with us, even if it had took us a while to fully appreciate the series - and in turn, his own art work as well.

What I found out about ABe much later is how he had underwent classical art training prior to his breakthrough as mangaka and illustrator. With that knowledge, it would explain his rather painterly approach in his colouring, and perhaps why he place a lot of attention in the background and technological parts details. A look at some of his drawings on background (he once claimed that he used no rulers in his drawings) and some busts drawing really showcase his mastery of the fundamental of drawing - and if I want to be honest, looking at his work with greater interest is the first occasion where I had realized the importance of working on the fundamentals of drawing, having done a lot of trials and errors up until that point.

Of interest is his other life story, which appears to have influenced him in terms of developing his style, theme of drawings, and openness to embrace technology: from his years of enrolling in preparatory art classes, to taking Japanese traditional drawing course; his freelance work as advertisement illustrator; to him creating his own website in the early years of the internet.

Collage of illustrations from Texhnolyze

I suppose I am rather overselling his early years, but I found it interesting to trace back his early career development, especially with his involvement in multimedia works as opposed to only working in illustration and/or manga  prior to him getting his big break. With the current environment where artists are expected to be as versatile as they can, I feel that an artist would do well to work in multi-discipline if they were to have art being a sustainable career.

"People who like my work actually often draw themselves"

However, despite his notable role in the design of Lain, as well as his notable involvement with Haibane and Texhnolyze (with the former being adapted from his own doujinshi, with him playing important role in production), as this rather critical review article posited, ABe may not necessarily relevant over a long period of time. When compared with his other contemporaries, ABe was out from the public limelight for a long time - with him only having minor role in the last few projects he's been involved in. And given that his most recent anime work that he's been involved in have been receiving rather discouraging reception, I have to admit that I was pretty sad that he hasn't been working on any spectacular work for a long time.

Although he's not been as involved with high production works these days, he does appear to still be producing doujinshi at event, as was the case early on in his career (with the recent one to be release for the upcoming Comiket). I would hope that RErideD is but only a short dud in his portfolio, and that he would be developing works that would lead to involvement in a more illustrious project - hopefully sooner than later. 

Preview for upcoming Comiket release

For a long time I've always grappled with combining my interest in the more whimsical manga/anime sensibilities with a more realistic theme. I am not sure that if I haven't seen the effort ABe put in developing his art, that I would have the clarity nor will to set upon the path to actually set out to develop my own vision, and to give more thought into working on the fundamentals (even if I continuously fail to commit wholly to the latter...).

While I would eventually come across other artists who are technically superior and does the mixing of realism with stylized character design much better than he does, his work was the first that introduced me that possibility -  And it is for that reason that I consider Yoshitoshi Abe as perhaps the most influential artist in my own artistic development.

Happy birthday, ABe sensei!

"I am highly interested in the development of man. With drawing I can experience my own development the best"

Further watching of interviews and review of ABe's work:

Haibane Renmei (灰羽連盟) - Interview with Yoshitoshi ABe & Yasuyuki Ueda

TEXHNOLYZE - Interview with Yoshitoshi ABe & Yasuyuki Ueda

toco toco - Yoshitoshi ABe, Illustrator

Haibane Renmei - The Girl Who Fell to Old Home