This eagerly anticipated collector's book of Takeshi Obata's artwork is out and Death Note News has one!

Takeshi Obata's glorious artbook Blanc et Noir has long been available in Japan.  But only since May 2016 has an 0fficial English translation been published in the West.

Viz Media have produced a limited edition 10,000 copies of this beautifully printed tome containing highly detailed drawings by Death Note's artistic creator. 

We first heard about it last August, but have had to wait until May 3rd 2016 before getting our hands on 132 pages of exquisitely rendered Takeshi Obata artwork.  And by 'we', we really do mean that, as you can see our copy being unpacked in the video above.

The overall verdict for those who don't want to sit through 25 mins worth of inarticulate gushing?

It's surprisingly good.  Much better than anyone without any art knowledge at all expected to unpack.  Whilst being the first to cry foul on any old tacky tat foisted upon Death Note fans, Obata's Blanc et Noir made the grade. It was enchantingly impressive.

It would have to be given a price tag like that.

Blanc et Noir English language copies are limited edition and bound to become collectors' items.  We're definitely going to be handling ours with care, while also taking a long hard look at the hitherto unsuspected detail in utterly familiar Death Note art.

There are some links (right) for anyone considering grabbing one for themselves.  Or else keep an eye on our Death Note book and manga store for further ways to find and buy it.

Early bird purchasers of tickets to see Death Note: Light Up the New World can look forward to receiving a limited edition sensu in thanks.

The Death Note sensu is not apparently mooted for general release.  It will just be available for advance movie ticket holders in Japan.

A sensu is a folding fan, one of Japan's traditional crafts.  This version - pictured in the Warner Bros advertisement (right) - has been labelled Sensu Death. Each panel replicates the cover of a shinigami notebook.

Death Note: Light Up the World is the fourth in the live-action movie series. Directed by Shinsuke Sato, it goes on general release in Japan on October 29th 2016.

In addition, Indonesian cinema chain CGV Blitz announced on Facebook (see below) that it too will be showing the movie.  Though no date was given for the Death Note movie opening night in Indonesia.

Have you created Quillsh Wammy art now or in the past?
Yes - currently.

Any anecdotes about your experiences as a Watari artist?
Well I've only drawn him twice - once holding L as a kid and in sketch.

How would you go about creating a Watari drawing/sculpture?
It'll be an amusing experience if I do that.

What attributes, clothing and/or scenarios, do you feel are essential to include in Mr Wammy artwork?
He's like a babysitter/body-guard of L.

Is there more to recreating Watari visually than the outfit? (Expression/stance/slogan etc.)
I won't change a thing, leave him as he is - a person, who loves L and carries him.

Another epic monthly event! Redeemed after a shaky start by all who flooded in with their submissions to make this a focus worthy of the character himself.

The archives will show that Death Note Month of Touta Matsuda was an unparalleled success!

Good fight all.

So what went wrong at the beginning (and most of the middle) to make this event move so slowly?  Then in true Matsuda style speed up unfathomably towards the end, and in the nick of time to save the day.

While Death Note News has a plethora of writers, columnists, researchers and the occasional guest penning articles too, it only has one person to actually press the button to publish their considerable output.

If she gets carted off to hospital in the back of an ambulance, then everything grinds to an ignoble halt.

We've spotted the obvious flaw in our administrative set up; and Matti is completely fine now.  Once back at her desk, the contributions for Matsuda Month could flow once more and fabulousness ensued.

Meyer additionally took the time to answer a few questions, providing tips on drawing Death Note's Matsuda.

Do you/have you created Matsuda art now or in the past?
Yes - currently.

How would you go about creating a Matsuda drawing/sculpture?
I personally started with drawing his face structure and then went about everything else from that.

What attributes, clothing and/or scenarios, do you feel are essential to include in Touta Matsuda artwork?
I think that the expression is essential to making Matsuda look and feel like the actual character.

When I first saw the Death Note anime, I fell hardcore—like mad hardcore—for Light.

(Like absolutely-devastated-at-the-ending hardcore for Light.) There wasn’t truly another Death Note character that mattered to me that initial time around (later on I fell for L too) but I’m such a Light fan it’s scary.

Feeling rather castrated, for lack of a better word, once Kira fell from grace at Yellowbox, I sought in vain for a creative outlet to vent my love and frustrations, so I got involved in my ball joint doll community with a Death Note photo-story series.
 
Wait. What?
 
To those unfamiliar with the niche hobby that has been rapidly gaining popularity these past few years (enough to garner a rather destructive recast market), a ball joint doll is not a mass-produced item. It's not like Barbie, endlessly chugging off an assembly line of infinite dolls to be packaged and shelved in stores.

A ball joint doll, start to finish is—essentially—a work of art.
(No offense, Babs.)

A BJD is first designed and sculpted by its original artist, who may be working on their own, creating dolls as a passion or hobby or employed by one of the increasing number of doll companies (who at best have maybe 10 - 30 employees? At least, have one. We're not talking major corporations here folks.)
 
The sculptor painstakingly crafts the doll, maybe just the head, maybe the whole body (which is a laborious effort that requires not only skill with anatomy, but engineering as well since these are "ball-joint" dolls and are many pieces strung together with elastic). Then the sculptor casts the head/body in resin and puts it up for order.

A blank doll is the result of this process. In order to bring it further to life, the doll then proceeds to the next artist on the totem—the face-up artist. The face-up artist is what it sounds like: the person who paints the doll’s face (and often the rest of it too.)
 
I am a BJD face-up artist. I don’t sculpt the doll, but I paint it, style it, photograph it and basically sell my internal organs on the black market to support its expensive demands. (It’s worth noting, that I only buy original BJD dolls, and do not support the recast market, which is stealing from artists.)

The face-up is something that takes practice of course. It's a lot of fun and can be both rewarding and frustrating depending on the degree of perceived success on the artist's behalf. It's sort of like putting on make-up; the color goes down in layers with sealer in between. The materials to accomplish this are usually a blend of chalk pastel, colored pencils and acrylic paint both hand-applied and airbrush (I don't use airbrush.)

My method is the chalk pastel x hand-painted acrylic method. I layer on the pastels with Q-Tips and paint in the details. This process averages about 5+ hours (for me) depending on my ADD and the weather. (Humid weather & cold weather adversely affect the sealer spray and have been known to wreck face-ups and sanity. I can vouch for this personally, so can my therapist.)

What began as a creative jaunt, became something of an obsession, and despite my growing collection of resin crew, Light was the King of the Crop, the Bratling Resin Prince. He got spoiled. He got all the fancy clothes he wanted; he got bodies—oh so many bodies.

Bodies are not often an easy thing. For one, they’re not cheap, and you can’t just try them on like clothes (considering it sometimes takes months to get BJD dolls and parts from their original artists)
 
Finding a body for a head requires research to see if the head will match in both resin color and proportion. And sometimes, if you’re not lucky enough to score a body on the second-hand market (for quicker shipping, not necessarily lower prices), you have to buy a full doll for the body alone, or go in on a “split” where one person takes the head and the other the body.

I did all of these things for Light. He cycled through about 4 different bodies before finally settling on a svelte 68” cm body with jointed hands.
 
And once he did that… he decided he wanted a new face.
 
The bastard.

And at last. He was satisfied.
 
The bastard.

Unfortunately, time and other interests have rendered Light less and less the prima donna of the household.

Nevertheless, there really is not another doll in my entire hoard who can equal the sort of attention that Light got. So he still has that to his name, along with all of his spoilings… and his own personal L. And Mello. And Matt. And Beyond Birthday. Did I mention spoiled?
 
These days I still paint bjds when time allows, and you can check out my more current portfolio of work on my Flickr account.

Lately my aesthetic preference is less God of the New World and more, red-eyed, junky rock-star, but whaddya gonna do? Times they are a-changing.