【Singer】よっぺい

Finally a significant WordPress original post! Sorry for all the reposts from before, but I thought it was necessary. orz.

Anyways, よっぺい (yoppei) is seriously my favourite male singer on nicovideo. I usually listen to mostly female singers on there, but whomg yoppei.

What makes me like him the most is that he is kind of a troll maybe?! A happy and really skillful one. He picks lots of popular songs to sing (and break), and it turns into a really nice mess. He is more than capable of singing a serious and good rendition, but he just CHOOSES to do whatever the hell he likes, and that is what makes me like his songs so much. It’s so RAW. Okay not really.

Since he is totally unrestrained, he adds a million little things to the song that ups a song’s relistening value by about 500 times. I mean, there’s only so many times you can listen to Cagayake!GIRLS and not get sick of it, but for yoppei’s version, I somehow keep finding new stuff in with almost every listen.

Of course, his renditions also kind of ruin the real song to some extent. After listening to his version of 炉心融解, I can’t listen to the serious version anymore without filling in his yelling in my head. It’s insane! No wonder they tag his videos with 原曲ブレイカー (Original version breaker).

yoppei’s stuff might be an acquired taste though, I think. He is extremely noisy and some people don’t find it funny, but HEY.

So in summary, distinct things about yoppei:
- Really loud
- Really popular
- Really strong + good voice (ゴム-like even. See おっくせんまん on Nico)
- Total freedom = him adding in 9385026 improvisations to the song
- Uploads little talk show-like videos which are full of lol
- Also uploads videos of him singing!! Really rare for usual utattemita artists, but.
- Did many Cirno substitution songs
- Is somewhat a topic of fanart on Pixiv

Nicovideo profile: http://www.nicovideo.jp/user/3131320
Videos transloaded on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=よっぺい&search=tag

【Illustrator】redjuice

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

Long overdue coverage on the incredible redjuice (also known as しる, which he says is equivalent to the Mike of Michael, because juice in Japanese is “shiru”.), remembered because of icie’s lovely coverage of the Summer 09 issue of Gelatin, in which redjuice participated in.

Anyways, redjuice is touted as one of the new generation of artists who have made their name from contribution to popular internet sites like Pixiv and Nicovideo, and he reached widespread recognition due to his work with supercell and livetune, providing artwork for both popular Vocaloid composers. (Notable songs include World is Mine and Last Night, Good Night, respectively.)

However, what sets redjuice apart from other illustrators (other than his artwork style), is that he is not ONLY an illustrator, but is also capable of really high quality web design (he designed his own website as well as supercell’s 1st album home page) and really knows how to interact with the English community as well, creating a page on Deviantart and filling out his profile in English.

As for his drawing style, it’s extremely distinctive (unless he is trying out a completely different style), and some notable features include thin lines, narrow eyes, and relatively “cool” colours. Most of his original stuff also has a techy kind of theme where he enhances the feeling even more with metallic backgrounds and renders created in AfterEffects and lots of mechanical components.

Lastly, by visiting a few of his streams, I have concluded that he has really varied/good taste in music, and he also has pretty nice voice…A++++!

Site: http://redjuicegraphics.com/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=3446
Deviantart: http://redjuice999.deviantart.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/shiru
Ustream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shirumamire
Old website: http://redjuicegraphics.com/2007archives/

【Illustrator】Archlich / Licheus

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

Archlich/Licheus is another one of my absolute favourites, up there with the professionals, although Archlich is currently an art student and not yet a professional. He might as well be, though. Some other details is that he is 20 years old and is a Chinese-Canadian. He has done quite a few commissions for Deviantart users and for various Chinese Touhou doujins.

What I like most about his style is how uninhibited and dynamic everything is. Usually anime-style art artists use line art and colour inside them, but Archlich seems to like making a draft then colouring over it so everything melds together and there are little to no lines to be seen in the final product, which is EXTREMELY effective since his pictures always evoke a sense of movement and for myself, emotion. Use of colour as highlights are also incredible. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been staring at every stroke in his pictures. Brush strokes, lighting, composition, theme, Archlich’s art is seriously, to me, the pinnacle of anime-style art, although I do think that it’s really blurring the lines between “anime-style” and “regular” art.

Website: http://malus.cc/ (under construction, top image only)
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=19407
Deviantart: http://licheus.deviantart.com/

【Singer】リツカ

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

Well since I’m talking about music anyways might as well talk about one of my favourite singers for the past like, 3 months. Haha. I realize that not a lot of people really read my entries but it might be helpful if someone was googling and found info they were looking for.

Anyways, リツカ (RITSUKA) is a female (amateur?) singer who submits songs to the 歌ってみた (try to sing) section at Nico video, and she is truly one of the best, in my opinion. She mostly sings covers of Vocaloid songs, and her most famous song is definitely 炉心融解 (meltdown), but she has also sung various anime and Sound Horizon songs (and more etc). Her voice is really gentle and it’s really easy to recognize. Uhh, I don’t really know how to describe it since I’m not too musical, but in short, IT IS IMPECCABLE. Sometimes I wonder why she’s not professional yet, and then I remember how much of a hassle going pro is. Maybe she’ll do some doujin stuff later? She’s certainly capable.

Her releases are pretty constant and she’s doing a free Live show on May 3rd in Tokyo with other artists like 実谷なな and ちょうちょ.

My favourite works of hers include bpm, 桜ノ雨, and STEP TO YOU (duet with 実谷なな), but really, I like everything she sings. haha.

Blog: http://yaplog.jp/chase/
Nicovideo Mylist: http://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/5062970 (Need an account first)

【Music】相対性理論

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

For once this is not an artwork-type artist post, haha. Anyways, I found 相対性理論 (soutaiseiriron) after lurking on huke’s stream for a while and wanting to know where his awesome (looped) BGM came from. I’m not really sure if they are an indie band or not, but I really like their subdued tones and the cute/gentlevocals. The lyrics are also pretty interesting (with a hint of slightly geeky references?) and fun to sing along with. I love the guitar work as well. The picture above is the jacket for their 2nd album, ハイファイ新書 (Hi-Fi Anatomia).

My favourites, if I really had to choose, are ルネサンス and テレ東, but honestly all of them are good and catchy. It’s been a while since I’ve been addicted to something more “professional” than 歌ってみた artists on Nico, so it’s a good change. Please have a listen!

Official website: http://mirairecords.com/stsr/
相対性理論 Working BGM Mix: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6205755 (Nico video)
相対性理論 playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=01ACC5B90A8C7541 (youtube)

【Illustrator】yocky

I am now obsessed with posting. Anyways, yocky is probably also one of my favourites, but really, I love all the artists I post about. They are all so incredible I can’t rationally pick favourites and stick with them.

Original rough sketch. Click to enlarge.

yocky (pronounced as よっき, and real name is いしだゆきひろ) does mainly card illustrations of the fantasy genre for series such as The Key of Avalon 2 (アヴァロンの鍵弐) and Duel masters, but lately has delved into doing character designs for video games such as Deltora Quest and Populous DS. He mostly specialized in drawing monsters or other big fantasy things, but lately he’s been drawing a lot of top-notch portraits and characters.

Cover illustration for the novel Time Dive 1986. Click to enlarge.

His style is really easy to recognize because all of his drawings are so uniquely intricate, and there’s always a really high degree of realism in them, despite the fantasy-type style. Sometimes I think that they’ll come to life or something. His colouring is really effective too. There are usually a lot of different colours in them, but they all seem to blend in somehow, and they’re rarely overdone, if ever. I don’t know, but something about his illustrations move me so much that I feel like crying when I look at them, especially the picture in this post and this picture. I really could just stare at one of his sketches forever. Sorry for my inability to articulate just what his art is like, but it’s really hard to describe.

It pains me that even though 590,000+ hits on his website, he doesn’t really seem to be talked about anywhere. I really do believe that he deserves more attention (and more artbooks please), because my goodness he is talented.

Site: http://www.yocky.biz/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=252221

Is it just me or are these posts getting longer?

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

【Illustrator】エナミカツミ

Another one of my top favourites whom I think most people already know about. /o\

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

I just cannot get enough of エナミカツミ (Enami Katsumi)’s works…EVER. He is most well known for his work on most of 成田良悟 (Narita Ryohgo)’s light novels, probably most notably, Baccano!. His style is really distinct, even though he has a few of them, and I can spot them from a mile away, seriously.

He’s not only good at the shiny anime-ish style, but his realistic style and even his landscape/scenery pictures are marvelous as well. The colours he uses vary with the subject, but they always fit right in…I think my favourite thing about his illustrations are how different they are. So many poses and styles! He also did the Star Ocean 4 character designs.

Website: http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~enami/index.html
Blog: http://enamikatsumi.blog92.fc2.com/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=15820 (Goes by ナムナム)

【Illustrator】放電映像

(Reposted from polymetrica@Tumblr)

放電映像 (Houden Eizou) is one of my ABSOLUTE favourites, if not my most favourite…His illustrations can be pretty ecchi or whatever sometimes, but the colours are extremely beautiful, and sometimes even when he draws a girl half nude it still looks really artistic. He also sometimes adds mechanical components to his characters, which makes them EVEN COOLER, if that is possible at all. I can’t get enough of the gentle…wispiness of his pictures. It’s so awesome I cannot describe it.

Ahh, sorry for rambling. He has done illustrations for many light novels, the most well-known of which include Wagaya no Oinarisama. (我が家のお稲荷様。) and Asobi ni Iku Yo! (あそびにいくヨ!), the latter of which is the subject of his one and only artbook (so far, I hope!). He has also drawn short one-shots for the collaboration art magazine Robot, and right now he is also featured in the new quarterly art magazine Gelatin. Lastly, he did some artwork for a defunct game (?) called Blood Opera (the image in this post is from that).

Site: http://neonvision.blog29.fc2.com/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=6334