Artists I Like: Obata Takeshi

One of my favorite artists of all time is Obata Takeshi. I first discovered his work when I was back in middle school and Hikaru no Go was active. I remember initially being impressed by both how solid his style was, and how well he did at drawing that goban at several different angles riddled with stones. I also remember falling in love with his use of line to shade, as opposed to just toning things.

One of the most impressive things about reading Hikaru no Go to me was literally watching Hikaru grow up from a round faced kid to a jaw-having young man. I had never seen a character physically develop intentionally throughout the course of a story. It left a huge impression on me, because I'm not entirely sure the idea had even crossed my mind at the time.

But he wasn't my favorite artist then as he is now. I didn't realize how utterly impressed I was with him (and likewise, how impressive he really is) until Death Note started in 2003. At first, I didn't even notice it was from the same artist. The only thing the two works really have in common is how amazingly solid they are artistically.

 
Death Note is a much darker work visually and implores a more realistic style because of it. I've been taking most of my influence from this style for about eight years now. The way he draws facial features like noses and eyes has always interested me greatly, especially the stark difference in the way these are drawn in Hikaru no Go and in Death Note and his subsequent works.

From that point on it was pretty much a matter of finding and reading everything he was involved with*, which unfortunately isn't a whole lot. He's had amazing success since everything he seems to get himself into recently turns up as a hit. I even hear the one-shots he's involved with garnish a good amount of attention. He's also praised often for making his characters very up-to-date-fashionable.

Ral-Grad, while indeed overly fan-service-y, was never not fun to look at. Though, I suppose those two statements don't contradict each other very much, if at all. 

He also did character design for a Castlevania fighting game that wasn't.. exactly the best, but goodness was it fun to look at.

It is also of note that Takeshi is almost always just the artist for the works he's involved with, not the writer. Do be surprised if this isn't the last time I talk about him at great length.

*note to Alexander: I have started Bakuman finally but am going at it at a snails pace, but this statement isn't a lie so don't call me out on it